My mind blew off... Professionals are "slow"? & Pensado's Place

[GabeFry]

I was watching my new favourite youtube show, Pensado's Place, where several time Grammy award winner Dave Pensado hosts a 40-80 minute full on audio related shows with other random guests, mostly some "noname" audio engineers, producers and guys who worked on records that have sold maybe a few billion copies :Spin: Also for example on episode #25 is the guy who originally made the 5150, George Saer and episode #17 is Joe Baressi.

But after I watched the show for a while (I haven't watched all of them yet, I just discovered the show like this week), I just realized that the pro's are actually working kinda "slow". I mean, Dave said on some episode that it takes him roughly about FOURTEEN(14) hours to do a rough, almost finished mix and the guest said the same thing. That's roughly two full work days and all the editing and bouncing to audio has been done at that point. But yeah, they might work on ~200 track mixes so it can easily sum up, but in general when I was eyeballing some of his "In The Lair" mixes, he only had roughly 50 tracks per mix.

Another thing that I was wondering that he said that even he is still struggling with really basic stuff too like hearing compression etc (or then he was just straight up LYING )

So I came to think, that should I actually also start take my time on the mixes too?

I just started watching this show on Friday. I love it!

 

[Ultimate_Tsundere]

I feel like I need an ETERNITY to get my mixes sound satisfying. I'm mixing my solo project, and i've already got a dozen of mixed and mastered variations of the whole sound. i listen to it every night, every time i go to work, making some notes and trying 'em out.

Imho, when the fantasy is flying free, outside the time limits, it can create a rrreal good things.

Hate short-time clients. The inspiration do not come on a demand. So it can take some time, hehe.

I remember what Joey Sturgis said in his interview. He said it takes him months to get into right state of mind. Then the actual mixing takes 30 minutes. I think, this is what separates men from boys in the world of mixing...

IMO!

 

[koalamo]

I have nothing constructive to say about how long it takes to mix because I generally take a long time but I've only mixed a few things for clients so and I was rushed, but these videos are pretty amazing and he shares some pretty sick ideas, stuff I would never think of. Like chaining three brick wall limiters together and putting an octaver before a reverb send on some vocal tracks, at the very least cool stuff to try out.

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

I remember what Joey Sturgis said in his interview. He said it takes him months to get into right state of mind. Then the actual mixing takes 30 minutes. I think, this is what separates men from boys in the world of mixing...

Yes, but I'm not sure we agree on which side is which

 

[egan.]

Imho, when the fantasy is flying free, outside the time limits, it can create a rrreal good things.

Hate short-time clients. The inspiration do not come on a demand. So it can take some time, hehe.

I remember what Joey Sturgis said in his interview. He said it takes him months to get into right state of mind. Then the actual mixing takes 30 minutes. I think, this is what separates men from boys in the world of mixing...

This isn't how it works in the real world and no one engineering for a living can possibly take that attitude. Labels have schedules and often very unrealistic deadlines. I won't put words in Joey's mouth but I'm willing to bet he's didn't intend his statement the way you are interpreting it b/c he is constantly turning full productions around in a month.

 

[Ultimate_Tsundere]

Ok

 

[ahjteam]

This isn't how it works in the real world and no one engineering for a living can possibly take that attitude. Labels have schedules and often very unrealistic deadlines. I won't put words in Joey's mouth but I'm willing to bet he's didn't intend his statement the way you are interpreting it b/c he is constantly turning full productions around in a month.

http://audiogeekzine.com/2010/07/exclusive-interview-with-music-producer-joey-sturgis/

Anyone that’s been following you on Twitter knows that your schedule is crazy. It’s not uncommon to see you still mixing at 5am to meet deadlines. I’m sure you love every minute of it. Any tips for keeping the quality level high while working all day, everyday?

Ears:
First and foremost, Turn your monitors down. Then turn your monitors down some more. Learn to seperate what you hear. Most of the time I’m listening to timing, editing, pitch, or something else. Not the mix. Listen for mix when you and the song are ready. Until then, listen for what needs improvement to become ready… I spend a few months getting to that ready state. Then the actual mix takes about 30 minutes. If you’re mixing for hours and hours, you’re going to get lost in all the relativity of volume and frequencies and end up with something thats leaning too much in one direction.

Mental:
Be appreciative. When I start to edit something I just think about how the money I am earning has put this roof over my head and fed me earlier that day. It really comes full circle when I finish things and just feel grateful to be lucky enough to do this for a living. When you think about things in the way that none of what you have would exist without these people who you are sharing a creation with, you really gain a lot of patience and determination. The mental stability that comes from this is what makes it possible.

 

[egan.]

Ahjteam I don't get what your point is other than your constant need to try to correct people. He's saying he mixes as he goes, but it's beside the point b/c if you actually ask you him I'm sure he can tell you many tails of deadlines just like every other engineer on the planet who does paid work.

 

[mjlaudio]

I think Dave is being ultra humble when he keeps saying that he doesn't get compression, or any of that stuff, He gets it but maybe not in the way that he has complete and total dominion over all aspects......Also when the mix is expected to sell in the millions there are lots of extra people involved such as A and R, Managers, Producers, Parents, Artists, Hairstylists.....sometimes it takes a while to get feedback. Also alot of times in that world tracks are pushed through really really quickly, so there can be alot of fixing to do because either the artist was on a really tight schedule or the producer did get time to prep the song in the right key or the tempo needed changing the night be for the mix. The ITL stuff is also not the really really big pop production stuff he is doing. I think the show is great, but there is some interpolation needed to really get at what is going on.

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

Ok so yeah, back to the original subject, Dave understand compression and uses it very well, what he is saying though is that he's constantly confused by master bus compression, as when bypassing the master bus compression he always thinks it sounds better without it.

 

[jangoux]

my best mixes are the one I worked around 12hs to get it done. Now, I have a busier schedule, a impatient boss, so mixes are going between 2 and 8 hours (btw, I have a project that for the first single, I have spent more than 20 hours easily. Me and the band just can't get along on the exact 'sound' the song needs)