mastering vox up 1db?

[vineband]

I just finished an initial mix on 16 songs for my largest and most elaborate project yet. I really value the man I hired to do the mix and love his previous work & i trust him. He is going to come down one more time to just tidy up some of the mixes and bounce them for mastering (from pro tools TDM, its all in the box). I can afford him and the studio for 8 hours tops! He wants to bounce each song several times (vox up and down 1db, bgv up and down 1 db, etc...) Bouncing alone will take 6 hours for all the tunes with this method. I can understand the lead vocal needing to have some variation but do you think i need to have up to 6 different versions for each tune? Is this standard?

I would love to have more time to amend the mixes vs bouncing stuff the mastering engineer will never need.... any mastering folks give me a hand on this

[masteringhouse]

Originally Posted by vineband

I just finished an initial mix on 16 songs for my largest and most elaborate project yet. I really value the man I hired to do the mix and love his previous work & i trust him. He is going to come down one more time to just tidy up some of the mixes and bounce them for mastering (from pro tools TDM, its all in the box). I can afford him and the studio for 8 hours tops! He wants to bounce each song several times (vox up and down 1db, bgv up and down 1 db, etc...) Bouncing alone will take 6 hours for all the tunes with this method. I can understand the lead vocal needing to have some variation but do you think i need to have up to 6 different versions for each tune? Is this standard?

I would love to have more time to amend the mixes vs bouncing stuff the mastering engineer will never need.... any mastering folks give me a hand on this

Have him create stems (aka submixes). A stereo bounce for the music and a stereo bounce for the vocals. The ME should then be able to create a mix with vox up/down and master from both. I've done it with as many as 5 separate pairs.

[vineband]

i forgot to mention he also bounces lead vocal only and no lead vocal.... is that common?

[Massive Master]

THAT's my favorite kind of stem system... A music mix, a vocal mix and a vocal effects mix.

Not nearly as expensive either (compared to a drum stem, guitar stem, vocal stem, effects, vocal effects, etc...).

[masteringhouse]

Originally Posted by vineband

i forgot to mention he also bounces lead vocal only and no lead vocal.... is that common?

Don't know if I would call it common, but why do vox up/down if he does this?
Sounds like he already has stems or the capabilty to remix the lead vox.

[FALKEN]

Quote: Don't know if I would call it common, but why do vox up/down if he does this?
Sounds like he already has stems or the capabilty to remix the lead vox.


$$$

[bblackwood]

Why not simply have him print vocal up/down mixes and be done with it?

I guess this means you aren't using any buss compression...

[vineband]

thanks for the comments. i really don't mind having as many stems as the ME prefers. seems to me like i have always skimped on the mastering, the money is always running low at that point. this time i want to save up and really enjoy and use all the mastering tools at our disposal, not to mention the ME ears and opinions. thanks again

[bblackwood]

Originally Posted by vineband

thanks for the comments. i really don't mind having as many stems as the ME prefers. seems to me like i have always skimped on the mastering, the money is always running low at that point. this time i want to save up and really enjoy and use all the mastering tools at our disposal, not to mention the ME ears and opinions. thanks again

You should ask the mastering engineer what they prefer, then.

Many (myself included) dislike stems...