My Worst mix ever......Beware!!!!

[John Haddad (Shiva Industries)]

Im putting this up mainly for a learning expierience to you noobie mix masters who might not have expierienced this type of client before.

I recently was In the studio for this band and they came in thinking they were prepared and new what they wanted as an end result. Lemme tell you, that was not the case at all. Performance on Tracking was sloppy and during the mix everybody had something different to say (no one was on the same page), mainly each muscian thought he needed to be louder than he was. Right off the bat I knew I was in trouble!!! I will never allow this type of session take reign in my studio again. Theres way more to why we reached this outcome but im in no mood to even think about this project right now. I even had to take a week off cause of the stress this created.

Im not proud of this mix by any means but thought it was more helpful in the manner of a learning expierience for my fellow forum users, watch out for this type of situation because in the end you are the one that gets blamed. We always do!!!

http://revolutiondrum.com/speaker.mp3

 

[Splat88]

I know exactly what you went through. That's why I quit recording bands that I did not know well. The performances are bad, but I think you mixed it well for what you had to work with. Oh, and Opeth wants me to tell you to tell them that they want their song back. I love bands that make original material.

 

[A Toolish Circle]

Im not proud of this mix by any means but thought it was more helpful in the manner of a learning expierience for my fellow forum users, watch out for this type of situation because in the end you are the one that gets blamed. We always do!!!

http://revolutiondrum.com/speaker.mp3

damn right john , i've had exactly the same situation happen to me last month , where i gave up on doing this metal band because they weren't good players plus worst of they had the most slack attitude i've ever seen , just kept drinkin( beers ) in the studio while tracking

i ended up losing $2grand even though they used up all their time in the studio. non of the gear on the recording was theirs because it was all in shit condition

 

[bjp]

I know exactly what you went through. That's why I quit recording bands that I did not know well. The performances are bad, but I think you mixed it well for what you had to work with. Oh, and Opeth wants me to tell you to tell them that they want their song back. I love bands that make original material.

Just slightly HA, same acoustic light breakdown/bridges too. Mix aint THAT bad but the level conflicts are obvious...

 

[KeithRT99]

actually i think that sounded pretty good. sure it was a little sloppy.

 

[felipe-x]

i really dig the sound and the band is not bad at all

 

[Nebulous]

Mix sounds pretty fine, was it supose to be a demo? the only thing that i can really say that would make this sound more "album" would be if there were more tracks to thicken the sound up, since at the moment it sounds a bit thin/ empty in places, but i guess that could have been intentional.

 

[PZ]

From an outside perspective, that sounds pretty good. I'm a little biased because I enjoyed K.O.C. previously, but it's unfortunate that things 'behind the camera' weren't copacetic. It's not a bad tune (folks who say opeth are missing the proper frame of reference), the production suits it, and I guess at the end of the day, bands will sound like themselves (or themselves at that particular point in time).

 

[LSD-Studio]

*deleted*
(band complained about posting )

 

[Barth]

during the mix everybody had something different to say (no one was on the same page), mainly each muscian thought he needed to be louder than he was. Right off the bat I knew I was in trouble!!!
http://revolutiondrum.com/speaker.mp3

I make a mix without the band. Send them my basic idea and they can fight in their rehursalroom who has to be the loudest. Then I ask two members for the final tough! Works best. Not that it is always my mix. But thats no problem for me. The one who pays decides!! Always!

 

[Keiffer]

I liked it... maybe because I liked the song. Sort of Opeth like.

 

[Volcane]

Do you guys get them to bring in some reference material and sit down before the session to go through where they want to end up (realistically)?

First demo I ever recorded in 1989, we went to the studio first, listened to some stuff the engineer/producer had done before (80s AOR), and what he had in mind, and then played him something like Exodus/Metallica, 'cos that's what we wanted, and came out four days later with something that was neither... but you get the idea.

Do you guys use reference material with the band in this way so you can point at 'pro' stuff during the session and compare the playing standards and sonics/levels, even if the style/songwriting is subjective on what you have to work with? Surely that's the best way to end any arguments?

...unless they want to sound 'like no-one else...' of course!

 

[John Haddad (Shiva Industries)]

Dont get me wrong guys these are old aquaitances of mine, I just wish I had the production role from the beginning. I believe time and the lack of communication was the main downfall for me to get the results intended. I wish things were tracked a bit smoother and I had full reign to do what I felt was neccesary for the album after all, they came to record with me because of my past projects they've heard.

I ended up giving them the files to try and mix themselves, I do wish them the best of luck, im a little bummed that the project wasnt finished in my syudio the way it was meant to be.

 

[felipe-x]

I liked it... maybe because I liked the song. Sort of Opeth like.

x2