so recently i've started working with an assistant and some (largely boring) things are really reigning true. I guess I'm writing this as I wish I was told these things repeatedly until they really were engrained.
organising files:
this goes with naming tracks, colouring tracks, putting pictures if your DAW has that option. consolidating, naming conventions etc too. It's often possible to work your way around a project when its just you that's familiar with it but its much better practice having thing's laid out so that anyone could open the project up in the future and make sense of it. not only is this going to make your life easier, someone further down the line may need to open it and it suits everyone to be able to work out what's going on.
concentrating on one job:
its very easy to fall into the trap of thinking you can handle EVERY single aspect of a recording. sure some people not only like working like that but have become very successful at it. the reality is most people aren't cut out for working like that, and furthermore, when recording is essentially a billion different little jobs if you're working alone you'll be too tempted to do them in whatever order suits.
doing things in a conventional order means your brain can concentrate on doing one job at a time - something we as humans are far better at doing. if you're subconsciously thinking about a bad edit that may exist when you're mixing, you won't be doing as good of a job on the mix. mixing is far easier when that's ALL you have to think about.
if you are doing a project completely by yourself, its likely that by the time you get to mixing the song, you'd have heard it that much that not only will you have lost perspective on it but you'll be unable to pick out the things that make the song good. there's a reason all the big mixing engineers have teams of people prepping their files and setting up their templates. a lot of those big guys do their mixing very quickly while the song is fresh. they're not worrying about little decisions or spending time making sense of the project. things are laid out the way they like so they can come in and immediately mix.
now then - if you combine those first 2 points you'll realise how important it is to organise things RIDICULOUSLY well so that anyone can make sense of them. if different people are coming in and out of a job then its essential everyone know's what's what.
committing to sounds and making decisions
you'll often see this mentioned a lot, and particularly by the big names. there's nothing worse than mixing a song and wondering if the guitar tone should be reamped, or if you should use some different samples on the snare. as far as I'm concerned these are tracking decisions that should be made earlier in the process that are well thought out and intended WELL before the mixing stage. if you're worrying about these at the mixing stage (not uncommon), it likely means that someone's been scared (or incapable) of capturing what they need at the point they should have.
with using plugins, its easy to track very raw and worry later on. there should be an understanding of the plugins that are used as part of the essential sound of an instrument, and the plugins that are being used at the mixing stage to balance/mix the parts together. ALWAYS AIM TO MAKE THINGS SOUND AS THEY SHOULD ON THE RECORD.
room treatment/monitoring
now, if you're going to be making decisions and committing, its pretty damn important you can hear accurately. room resonances/nodes are going to make your life difficult. you may even spot recurring frequencies that a room exaggerates, or frequencies where its difficult to perceive what's going on. all basic stuff but can't be emphasised enough.
having several different monitors and flipping between them is not only a good way of making sure your mix translates over different speakers, it will keep your ears fresh and saving you from going down the wrong path mix wise. flipping monitors every so often and checking references regularly is a great tried and tested way of making sure your balance is good. on top of that, mixing on a small speaker like an auratone will mean you can mix quieter and therefore for longer hours each day. lots of big names do a large percentage of mixing on small speakers at low volumes, using the larger and midfield monitors for checking and playing back loud to the band/label etc.
using a dedicated mastering engineer will mean that (hopefully) they'll have an incredibly well treated room and amazing monitors to check over any deficiencies you may not be aware of, or that you may have missed due to focussing so much on one part of the job. they'll likely have a room and equipment (as well as the actual skills) that's far more suited to that part of the job than you. there's nothing wrong with doing rough masters or attempting yourself, but its far more advisable having another set of ears checking over it.
hopefully the points seem somewhat related, I'm slightly wary of the post lacking a bit of coherency. they're all kind of boring things but the importance has really hit home recently. its so easy to overwork yourself in this line of work, to lose perspective and to try to do to much. as much as possible its good to narrow down what you are good at and really concentrate on that, and to bring in other people who are skilled at different things and work together.
its quite incredible what you can achieve working with other people, and there is absolutely a reason that the variety of different recording jobs in professional situations exist as they do.
organising files:
this goes with naming tracks, colouring tracks, putting pictures if your DAW has that option. consolidating, naming conventions etc too. It's often possible to work your way around a project when its just you that's familiar with it but its much better practice having thing's laid out so that anyone could open the project up in the future and make sense of it. not only is this going to make your life easier, someone further down the line may need to open it and it suits everyone to be able to work out what's going on.
concentrating on one job:
its very easy to fall into the trap of thinking you can handle EVERY single aspect of a recording. sure some people not only like working like that but have become very successful at it. the reality is most people aren't cut out for working like that, and furthermore, when recording is essentially a billion different little jobs if you're working alone you'll be too tempted to do them in whatever order suits.
doing things in a conventional order means your brain can concentrate on doing one job at a time - something we as humans are far better at doing. if you're subconsciously thinking about a bad edit that may exist when you're mixing, you won't be doing as good of a job on the mix. mixing is far easier when that's ALL you have to think about.
if you are doing a project completely by yourself, its likely that by the time you get to mixing the song, you'd have heard it that much that not only will you have lost perspective on it but you'll be unable to pick out the things that make the song good. there's a reason all the big mixing engineers have teams of people prepping their files and setting up their templates. a lot of those big guys do their mixing very quickly while the song is fresh. they're not worrying about little decisions or spending time making sense of the project. things are laid out the way they like so they can come in and immediately mix.
now then - if you combine those first 2 points you'll realise how important it is to organise things RIDICULOUSLY well so that anyone can make sense of them. if different people are coming in and out of a job then its essential everyone know's what's what.
committing to sounds and making decisions
you'll often see this mentioned a lot, and particularly by the big names. there's nothing worse than mixing a song and wondering if the guitar tone should be reamped, or if you should use some different samples on the snare. as far as I'm concerned these are tracking decisions that should be made earlier in the process that are well thought out and intended WELL before the mixing stage. if you're worrying about these at the mixing stage (not uncommon), it likely means that someone's been scared (or incapable) of capturing what they need at the point they should have.
with using plugins, its easy to track very raw and worry later on. there should be an understanding of the plugins that are used as part of the essential sound of an instrument, and the plugins that are being used at the mixing stage to balance/mix the parts together. ALWAYS AIM TO MAKE THINGS SOUND AS THEY SHOULD ON THE RECORD.
room treatment/monitoring
now, if you're going to be making decisions and committing, its pretty damn important you can hear accurately. room resonances/nodes are going to make your life difficult. you may even spot recurring frequencies that a room exaggerates, or frequencies where its difficult to perceive what's going on. all basic stuff but can't be emphasised enough.
having several different monitors and flipping between them is not only a good way of making sure your mix translates over different speakers, it will keep your ears fresh and saving you from going down the wrong path mix wise. flipping monitors every so often and checking references regularly is a great tried and tested way of making sure your balance is good. on top of that, mixing on a small speaker like an auratone will mean you can mix quieter and therefore for longer hours each day. lots of big names do a large percentage of mixing on small speakers at low volumes, using the larger and midfield monitors for checking and playing back loud to the band/label etc.
using a dedicated mastering engineer will mean that (hopefully) they'll have an incredibly well treated room and amazing monitors to check over any deficiencies you may not be aware of, or that you may have missed due to focussing so much on one part of the job. they'll likely have a room and equipment (as well as the actual skills) that's far more suited to that part of the job than you. there's nothing wrong with doing rough masters or attempting yourself, but its far more advisable having another set of ears checking over it.
hopefully the points seem somewhat related, I'm slightly wary of the post lacking a bit of coherency. they're all kind of boring things but the importance has really hit home recently. its so easy to overwork yourself in this line of work, to lose perspective and to try to do to much. as much as possible its good to narrow down what you are good at and really concentrate on that, and to bring in other people who are skilled at different things and work together.
its quite incredible what you can achieve working with other people, and there is absolutely a reason that the variety of different recording jobs in professional situations exist as they do.
