My Mastering Perspective

Autist said:
I would suggest at least trying to mix it before you out source, just to see what happens. The worst that can happen (providing you do not delete tracks, etc... MAKE BACKUPS) is that you find out you need someone else to do it. By at least not trying to do it yourself you could be missing out on a lot of fun and learning.

I don't think I have ever seen a commercial CD that was mastered by the same person/people that mixed it.
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I sure will do a rough mix as an example for the outsource (see http://www.myspace.com/shryne for the demo mixes I have done--I'm not all that proud of my mixes or my vocal performance on the song I wrote, but what the hell!), but I would prefer not to mix because I don't have a quality monitor system to mix through.

All the mixes I have done have been through my AKG headphones, which are tons nicer than the speakers built into my display.

When hearing my mix on other systems, it lacks a lot of mids and bass, which I suppose makes sense, but I would much rather send it out and let someone with more experience do it rather than me give an ME a headache!

My band is not big time but we have some good music and good aspirations. I'm fine with engineering it, but after that, I want it out of my hands.
 
Alexbt said:
I sure will do a rough mix as an example for the outsource (see http://www.myspace.com/shryne for the demo mixes I have done--I'm not all that proud of my mixes or my vocal performance on the song I wrote, but what the hell!), but I would prefer not to mix because I don't have a quality monitor system to mix through.

All the mixes I have done have been through my AKG headphones, which are tons nicer than the speakers built into my display.

When hearing my mix on other systems, it lacks a lot of mids and bass, which I suppose makes sense, but I would much rather send it out and let someone with more experience do it rather than me give an ME a headache!

My band is not big time but we have some good music and good aspirations. I'm fine with engineering it, but after that, I want it out of my hands.
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I guess, that given the circumstances it may be a good idea to out-source the mix. Certainly if you aren't content with the results you are getting with what you have now then that would be the best solution, at least until you can get some decent monitors set up in a good mixing environment and can spend some time experimenting. There are some monitors out there that aren't very expensive, but as usual, you get what you pay for and the quality of the monitors is somewhat dictated by the quality of everything else that the signal passes through before it gets to them.

Mixing through headphones can be difficult. I am not familar with the AKGs. I use Sony MDR-7506's for tracking and Sennheiser HD600's for other things. I have experimented with mixing with the Senn's, but always go back to the monitors, even though the sound I get through the Senn's is very close to that of my main monitors (Event 20/20Bas V2). My room isn't perfect either (although not bad), but the Senn's have been helpful when it comes to hearing certain things that are more affected by the environment when using monitors. I find that working with both helps me to EQ things slightly better and makes it easier to get the bass the way I want it.
 
As a recording/mixing engineer, your job is to get the album sounding the way you want it to sound. You want to send it off to the mastering engineer knowing that with a slight volume boost, you'd get exactly what you're looking for.

The mastering engineer is there to hear the limitations of where you're at and to get you to where you're going. Often changes are made to compensate for your monitoring environment. A tiny (but important) detail to mastering is the improved sound you'll get from just running your music through high end gear. Even without touching the knobs, your music will sound better after a pass through Manley and Tube-Tech gear.

If you're going to master your own mixes, be aware that a year from now you'll regret it. It takes a while for your ears to re-adjust and to allow yourself to hear what you're actually doing. If you're serious about a commercial release, pay someone else to do it. Many studios (like the one I work at) offer an "indie rate" that will save you money.
 
ryanlikestorock said:
As a recording/mixing engineer, your job is to get the album sounding the way you want it to sound. You want to send it off to the mastering engineer knowing that with a slight volume boost, you'd get exactly what you're looking for.

The mastering engineer is there to hear the limitations of where you're at and to get you to where you're going. Often changes are made to compensate for your monitoring environment. A tiny (but important) detail to mastering is the improved sound you'll get from just running your music through high end gear. Even without touching the knobs, your music will sound better after a pass through Manley and Tube-Tech gear.

If you're going to master your own mixes, be aware that a year from now you'll regret it. It takes a while for your ears to re-adjust and to allow yourself to hear what you're actually doing. If you're serious about a commercial release, pay someone else to do it. Many studios (like the one I work at) offer an "indie rate" that will save you money.
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After my initial post here I decided to have this project professionally mastered, although that won't stop me from experimenting myself, just for curiosity's sake. I fully understand what you are saying about running it through high end gear. Even cable upgrades in my signal chain made huge improvements. We have looked into the indie rates at some mastering facilities and found that the services offered at those rates (from what we have seen so far) do not cover some of the more elaborate things that this CD will probably need (custom fades, etc...).
 
Make sure to talk with the ME and see if you can bargain such things out. I don't know what kind of fading you're talking about, but I don't see why it could be a problem...
 
Thanks.

I am still trying to figure out how to approach the ME's. I have to have someone else communicate with them for me (which can be very difficult because other people don't always accurately conveye what needs to be conveyed) if I need to in any way other than e-mail and I haven't figured out just what needs to be communicated yet. I still have to mix the project, so that gives me some time to think about things.
 
IMO, communication witht the ME is very important. You're spending the money and you are the client, so the ME should be making an effort to satisfy his customer.

I'm sure that sending an email or letter with your goals on the project would be just fine. I tend to prefer sending out emails myself, at least initally, so I can get all of my ideas out in the same place.

Good luck with the mixing process.
 
Thanks again.

I agree that communicating with them is extremely important. I want to make sure I have my thoughts organized well before I even try, so that I am not wasting my time, or theirs.
 
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