Pre Mix Setup VS. Just Going For It.

[C_F_H_13]

Something I've been curious about for awhile, but how many of you actually do prep work before mixing?

For years, I've always distinctively separately mixing from tracking/editing. Before I mix anything, everything is edited/tuned/printed. No midi, no synths, nothing...just straight audio files. Everything gets labeled a certain way and everything is setup the same way every time.

Recently though, I've noticed that this particular step takes a lot more energy then it once did. Or perhaps, it's always been like this, I just am now getting sick of it. All those years of prepping sessions for other mixers has left me almost unable to mix if these things are setup that way.

I enjoy walking into a session when everything is "right". I enjoy starting from the same blank slate every time, and I absolutely need to know that everything is where it should be. But I'm wondering if I need to care less, and just go for it.

Thoughts?

 

[Uros]

No, you should stick with what you are doing already. When you say that you enjoy when everything 'feels' right, I think I know exactly what you are talking about. For me, when I don't feel that way, I actually feel kinda lost and uneasy. Not just in mixing, I like when I put everything on paper in rl (sort of the equivalent of a well laid out DAW mixing project), otherwise I feel that uneasiness. It's pretty weird.

My .02 dB

 

[amarshism]

I prefer to have everything in its place.

 

[JeffTD]

If everything isn't in its place, I spend hours obsessing about stupid little shit instead of just mixing.

 

[Mikaël-ange]

Prep stage is a obligation for me... Same feeling as you but it simply work

 

[greyskull]

Everything in it's right place.

I know what you mean, sometimes it'd be easier to just dive in and be creative; but If you do that you end up chasing your tail for one reason or another

 

[if6was9]

I find if I don't do the prep work I end up wasting more time and every change to the mix becomes a chore and hassle. I'd say to stick to what you know with the prep work and make it fresh another way.

 

[Nimvi]

If everything isn't in its place, I spend hours obsessing about stupid little shit instead of just mixing.

THIS, a 1000 times. I'm still making this mistake a lot, especially with synths and programmed drums. Instead of just rendering them, I often use the midi while mixing, because who knows, maybe I hear a slightly off snarehit and the world ends....

The more I do this, the more I realize that "keeping your options open" is one of the WORST things to do. From now on, I'm setting up everything from the start so I get no chance to obsess. The mixingphase should be as creative as possible. Not to mention that in my case, I'm using a lot of processingpower for nothing.

So CFH13, stick to your practice! It may be annoying after doing it a thousand times, but I think you had it right all along.

 

[Darren "Jenk" Jenkins]

I like to prep my mixes, that way I can be creative in the mixing process and not have to waste time editing and fixing mistakes. If possible, try and take a few days (or even a week or two) break between prep and mixing. That way you can start fresh and not have to worry about the painful stuff.

 

[bryan_kilco]

I like to start with a rough template and go from there. Just having certain FX and plugins on each channel already saves the time of having to go in and pick each one out later.

 

[DanLights]

for me it depends, lately I've preffered to start working the mix before some final vstis or even some slight editing is finished, I get more fired up when I can feel it's getting somewhere good but it's just lacking a couple fixes, and THEN I actually do those fixes. It seems assbackwards I know, but I've naturally done it that way for the last two or three projects I've worked on.