Time mixing a song

[Tuffsnake]

Well, I know this might be a n00b question and I'm new to the Forum, but...
How much time a song takes to be mixed down?

I mean, let's take for example the Metallica's Death Magnetic (which I think the mixing sucks). How many hours probably took to mix down a 8 min song like "The Day that Never Comes"? 8 hours?? ahahahahaha

I know it depends on a lot of things, but usually, how much time you, producers, take to mix a song?

 

[006]

DM is probably the worst example. I don't think there really is a standard amount of time to be honest. I've never found there to be a general time for when I mix. It is all so dependent on a lot of factors. The quality of the tracks to begin with - having the proper mic placement from the get-go is a big deal breaker on how much time it will take. If the mic placement is crap on anything, it will take more work to get it sounding right...and for drums it can end up just being replaced...then you have to take the time to get the replacement plug-in performing correctly, finding the right sample(s), etc. For guitars I like having a lot of options, but this can make the process take longer too. Having a DI means you can reamp, but then you have to spend time reamping and testing the tone out in the mix, re-doing it however many times, etc. And then with impulses you can go through so many trying to find the right one. On top of that you may have the mic'ed cab tracks as well...if all the tracks sound great and the proper placement was used, it could be a breeze to mix.

There are just too many factors involved. This recent project I just finished took about 7 hours total, if I had to guess the amount I spent, to mix. The way I mix is I switch between songs on the project and tweak a little at a time until every song has a good mix. Then I may automate things as needed, etc. Overall it probably took about 7 hours to mix the entire album which had 8 songs. So about 50 minutes to mix each song I suppose when you break it down by song/hour.

~006