Mixing as one giant session, Or individual song sessions

[Soundlurker]

I used to do a session per song but for the last couple of years I've moved to just one session for all songs. It's more consistent and it also helps you keep a larger view of things, you hear how the whole thing is coming along, not just the separate songs. Another good thing is that during mixing you can constantly switch songs, otherwise when you listen to the same song or in fact the same 20-30 seconds of a song you can go insane or lose objectiveness really fast.

Of course you have to make a lot of backups; be careful when manipulating settings/markers/etc. that are shared for all songs; have cpu and ram in mind and if need be export/freeze/bounce some tracks or virtual instruments and also the drums once you are done editing since all those cuts and crossfades tend to make everything slow.

 

[musickey]

One session.

 

[gabriel g.]

I´ll track everything in seperate projects. Then copying the settings from one final mix to another project. Super easy with logic 9 (you can now copy channel-settings+ AUX sends with one click)
was a pain in the ass with logic 8.

I do mixing jobs up to 5 tracks in one big session.
But when I track the stuff I am to affraid of crashing the one big project, and loose everything (had that one time with windows and cubaseuke

 

[Mago]

Seperate for the songs. CPU + too lazy for Temposetting + too much automation is confusing.
even if it would be nice to do one giant session, in case you make up your mind too often....which I do a lot of times lol.
I just fix the sound while mixing one song or two, and then do the others in that stlyle with presets.

 

[pipaguapique]

1 session por cancion...

because each song gets a different approach during mixing and i can always store presets and a screen shot to make drums sound even per say.

also, adding all the extra tracks you have from session to session on only one big session will suck up CPU like crazy, everything gets slower, freezing and all that crap you dont want when your mixing.

 

[VH1]

One session per song for me.

 

[Z3R0]

Project Tabs and SWS Snapshots d00d. Dig deep into Reaper, program is amazing.

I'll have to give that a go.

I like doing everything in one sessions, my computer's beefy and there are no issues having 30+ tracks for an entire CD.

ONLY downfall i've hit is that even after tempo maps are all layed out. If, say, the guitarist when laying scratch tracks forgot to repeat a riff for 4 more measures, and we have to throw it in on the fly whilst tracking drums. I extend that tempo out further, screws up all the other songs tempo maps.

And it really really sucks and wastes time just to get things laid out how they should be.

Any suggestions in Reaper on that Adam?

 

[musickey]

^ Yup had it happen a few times! Sucks

 

[darthjujuu]

i've always done one giant session since forever. then i got my LE rig and the very first time i tried doing one huge session, PT started to freak out after a few songs. in reaper, however, i've never ever had an issue. MAYBE it might make sense to comp/edit separately, since reaper gets bogged down with extremely excessive amounts of splits/fades, but...once you're edited/comped, fackin one big session. the tabs are cool, but still, it's unnecessary. i see no benefit to mixing songs separately.

 

[Scott C.]

I use one song per session, for me it seems like it would be a nightmare trying to use multiple playlists and comp different takes if it was one big session. not to mention tempo changes and shit......but I must admit it would be nice to be able to jump around song to song and just hear the album kinda as a whole while you're mixing it.

 

[Erkan]

i've always done one giant session since forever. then i got my LE rig and the very first time i tried doing one huge session, PT started to freak out after a few songs. in reaper, however, i've never ever had an issue. MAYBE it might make sense to comp/edit separately, since reaper gets bogged down with extremely excessive amounts of splits/fades, but...once you're edited/comped, fackin one big session. the tabs are cool, but still, it's unnecessary. i see no benefit to mixing songs separately.

Not that I've had one GIANT session with edits and stuff still unglued/comped/consolidated/whatever, but I edited the drums on one of the songs I'm working on and ended up with about 10000 items for the drums and Reaper didn't give a flying fuck about it. Everything was running smoothly still.

 

[jrx10]

In the new Tape Op there's a long interview with Kurt Ballou (of Converge fame) and he mentions that he mixes in one session unless there are songs with significantly different styles. I imagine in metal and hardcore there isn't enough deviation in sound to warrant the effort in copying settings and plugins and stuff.

 

[Charles J]

I do EP's and demo's in one session, but a full-length, never again. I ran in to ALL KINDS of weird quirks and errors.... god damn Cubase.

The latest full-length I produced I did in individual projects, and everything is running smooth, but god damn FML when it comes to mixing time. Going to be a nightmare copying all those settings and shitttttttttttt.

Oh well. =D

 

[::XeS::]

A single session is usefull also if you already know the order of the songs. If the band haven't already decided the order of the song, it could be a pain in the ass to switch all the songs, automation,etc...

 

[Let it burn...]

A single session is usefull also if you already know the order of the songs. If the band haven't already decided the order of the song, it could be a pain in the ass to switch all the songs, automation,etc...

you leave spaces and bounce every track on itself before you master your album. Should be easy to change order that way

 

[AudioGeekZine]

I do EP's and demo's in one session, but a full-length, never again. I ran in to ALL KINDS of weird quirks and errors.... god damn Cubase.

The latest full-length I produced I did in individual projects, and everything is running smooth, but god damn FML when it comes to mixing time. Going to be a nightmare copying all those settings and shitttttttttttt.

Oh well. =D

You can open all your sessions at once and copy/paste between them I think, or at least quickly switch which session is active to compare one mix to another. easier than PT at least.

 

[Cacoph0ny]

In the new Tape Op there's a long interview with Kurt Ballou (of Converge fame) and he mentions that he mixes in one session unless there are songs with significantly different styles. I imagine in metal and hardcore there isn't enough deviation in sound to warrant the effort in copying settings and plugins and stuff.

I didn't actually realize people did this until I read that interview. But yeah, one session is so much easier, especially if you're making an album with gapless playback like most albums nowadays.

 

[James Murphy]

one song per session.. that's the way to do it.... especially if you track anything to send to on to a professional mix engineer... and even more so if it's going to come out on a record label after that mixer is done.... "every song in one session" pisses most mixers off, and the last thing you want as an engineer is the mixer telling the label that YOU did things in a way that caused them any extra work at all. believe me, if you cause the mixer any extra work in this scenario, you WILL be thrown under the bus.

this may not apply for mixers like Ballou that mix almost entirely with hardware.... those guys treat the session like a reel of tape, so it comes down to being aware of what the mixer will want.

easily 80-90% of the time though, the mixer will want individual sessions.

i know many of you will want to debate this one... but it's usually best to do separate sessions...trust me.

it bears mentioning, especially to those of you that will say "but i always mix everything i track", that you will not always have that choice, even after you've mixed. if a band gets signed after tracking and mixing with you, your mix is definitely not guaranteed to be used... and you'll be expected to deliver sessions to the mixer that's chosen for the label release.

the best bet for everyone here looking to move forward in the industry is to do things in a way that makes you easy to work with.

for the record... before anyone pisses and moans about my "attitude"... i DON"T CARE what you do. this is just advice, based on real-world experience... and it's good advice. do whatever you want though.

also, this is like the third of or fourth thread on this same topic in the last couple years. like, exactly the same topic.

 

[James Murphy]

especially if you're making an album with gapless playback like most albums nowadays.

no no no.... you can bet 99% of "gapless" albums were NOT done in one multi-track DAW mix session file.

gapless CDs are put together on a 2-track editor (Sadie, Peak, Waveburner Pro, etc) during mastering... quite easily i might add. much MUCH easier than trying to do it in one multi-track session.

 

[greyskull]

if it's a very quick two/three track demo or something, (which I haven't done in AGES) then one session.
But if its an E.p or album then Definatly seperate sessions.
import session data, and tweak for each song.