question to all you guys who already did full albums

Fragle

Fragle

Member
Jul 27, 2005
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hey folks,

i'll start tracking my first real full length record this month....planning on finishing the recordings around september, mixing at the end of september....so still quite some time left :)

anyways, i wonder how much time everyone usually spends on mixing a full length?
the one in question will be around 10 songs, total play time arounds 45min if it matters...

i'm planning to pick the track which i feel that represents the album best, and doing a mix template on that one....i want to really take myself some time to try out all kinds of stuff (different (re)amps and whatnot).
the one thing i'm wondering about, after that template is finished, shouldn't the other songs be done kinda quickly? after all the mix basics will be set, so all there's left is automation stuff, some extra tracks depending on the song, and slight adjustments in the overall spectral balance (although i'm not sure whether this should be adressed in the mix or during the mastering stage tbh[i'm planning to have the album professionally mastered btw, as this is quite a serious one for the band, so i want to leave the mastering to guys with more experience rooms and gear in that stage]).

so, how do you all usually approach this? am i mistaken somewhere? or should the other (9) tracks really not take as much time as the template one?

thanks in advance everyone :)
 
they shouldnt take as much time at all as long as you keep shit consistent while you record it
i remember with my old bands ep which never got actually got finished, once i mixed the first track, it was all just an hour fixing a couple of things and doing some automation and i was done, piece of piss.
 
yeah if you recorded everything the same way, the other 9 tracks should be a piece of cake, just automation and such. But make sure you record everything the same way (mic positions and that stuff). You should try recording all rhythm guitars in the same day, all bass in another, etc. for a more consistent sound of the instruments throughout the whole album.

If not, take pictures of mic placement, preamp gain levels and that stuff
 
i'm planning to track everything DI first (guitars and bass that is), and later on reamp all the stuff prior/during the mixing stage.

drums will be programmed for this one, so one thing (or actually a lot of things lol) less to worry about ^^

i guess i should be getting quite consistent sounds this way...
 
ten days? i'd say one day for setup, probably two or three tracks mixed a day, then having a day off to rest your years and go back and do final adjustments. i roughly mix a full length album in five to six days
 
Fragle said:
i'm planning to track everything DI first (guitars and bass that is), and later on reamp all the stuff prior/during the mixing stage.

drums will be programmed for this one, so one thing (or actually a lot of things lol) less to worry about ^^

i guess i should be getting quite consistent sounds this way...
Click to expand...

Ah well that leaves A LOT of variables out of the picture, you should be fine then! just make sure musicians are always in the same (ideally good) shape throughout, it's better to finish the other day when they have energy than cram it up into one day and the last tracks come out sloppy and fucked. happened to me once (as a bassist), the band's vocalist wanted me to do everything in a day and all I wanted was to go home, last 4/5 bass tracks were total shit, I left the band after that and never finished recording that album.
 
After tracking, I recommend that you take a few days off and start mixing with fresh ears. Get everything right at the source and quick mix as you're going along and you'll do just fine!
 
I was producing this band known as Orator for quite sometime now. Made several sessions of their EP and finally got done with the drum take. The last guitar and bass takes turned out somewhat good, but I kinda wanna open up my options for reamping so we're tracking them down again on the 17th, followed by the vocal take. To make things easier, I'm tracking everything to one session. There are 5 songs of 5 different tempos. Shouldn't be much of a problem. Moreover, that way I can assure myself that I wouldn't have to spend more than a month mixing the EP. Oh yes, I'm pretty inexperienced, but at the same time a perfectionist. :)

digitaldeath said:
After tracking, I recommend that you take a few days off and start mixing with fresh ears. Get everything right at the source and quick mix as you're going along and you'll do just fine!
Click to expand...

This.
 
5 songs mixed in the same session shouldn't be a problem if you have consistency on the sound of the tracks, I've done it with up to 4 songs and turned out fine, a pretty fast and effective way to work. The tempo issue shouldn't be a problem at all IMO, I worked with different tempos on the 4 songs I mentioned
 
Yeh man, the guitars are gonna be tracked over a span of 12hrs. Starting at 10am, ending at 10pm. The guitarist has super sweaty hands, and this is osdm. So we are obviously gonna change the strings after finishing around 2-3 songs. As for the drums, they are very consistent. Tracked within 8hrs. It was the drummer's first studio take ever, and I'm pretty surprised how well he pulled it off. Maybe it's the beer. But anyways.

So yeh, Fragle, make sure there's consistency in the sound of each track. The best way IMO is to write everything down. Compose a table in microsoft word or something, print it out and jot down everything while tracking.
 
Baddo said:
Wow you guys are fast, It usually takes me at least a day to mix a track. And that is 10 hours at least.
Click to expand...

IMO a mix should never be called 'done' in a day. Human psychology - If we keep on listening to one stuff over and over again, we 'get used to it', if you get what I mean. Our ears need rest.
 
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