What do you guys think?

[bdam123]

I did my forth mix tonight and A/B-ed it against a known producer's beat that we've been writing for. I'm pretty positive that his were rough mixes but they were very well done. I'm aiming to match him cause I'm assuming he is running on industry standard. If his is 100% I'd say I'm at about 35-40%. I'm also using his beat as a reference inside the session so it helped a lot.

I want to describe by current session setup and would like you guys to pick it apart. Please scrutinize willingly. I'm running PT8 btw.

Basically I am loading the dry audio bounced from my Logic sessions with rough leveling intact. I organize my tracks by instruments ie drums, bass, synth. My drums are being fed into a Drum Sub Mix aux which is being listened to by a Drum Master (to monitor clipping). The same is done for anything I can group. Everything is then being fed into a Sub Mix aux that also is being listened to by a Master. And finally Master Fader going to my outputs. I have auxes for all my effects ie reverb, delay, chorus, etc. which are also being fed into the Sub Mix aux.

I copied this basic setup from a couple different sessions from people posting videos online. I just took bits and pieces of everyone i checked out and kinda made my own. What do you guys think. Is there anything that I'm doing that you think is unnecessary?

Thanks.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Is there anything that I'm doing that you think is unnecessary?

Two things; assuming that there is any kind of "industry standard", and trying to judge yourself by comparing yourself to other people.

G.

 

[chamelious]

+1 to Glens answer. You've started a new thread ignoring advice in your old one. You're talking about ways of organising software, its got no bearing on the final product you're going to make. I really don't get what kind of advice you're expecting to get from people? Personally i don't bother grouping anything.

Try some projects with your current set up, it'll become apparent very quickly if you're doing anything "unnecessary".

 

[bdam123]

Well lets not be ignorant here and agree that the top guys are operating on a certain level. Since I want to be as professional as possible when presenting my songs to a label or an A&R I'm going to try to mimic someone thats better and more successful than I am. Now we don't have to call it a "standard" if you guys don't feel comfortable with that so lets just say its a level that one should make a conscience effort to be above to try to keep the favor on their side.

I've only received vague advice about how there is no right or wrong and as much as experience mixers want to believe that, for a beginner there can be a lot of things that are wrong. And telling a newbie that there is no right or wrong doesn't even begin to point them in the right direction. If i could afford to go take classes on mixing I'm sure the professor wouldn't begin the semester by saying, "there is no right or wrong" and let the students loose on the very complex topic of mixing music. I'm sure they would get taught how to properly set up a session for optimal organization and ease of workflow. Since I'm a broke and struggling musician I assumed that a forum dedicated to mixing would be the next best thing.

I'm just explaining myself the best I can and asking for everyone's opinion on the topic of my post. I don't want to be brash but it could be as simple as, "Actually bdam123, its really unnecessary that you do blah blah blah since your blah blah is already taking care of blah blah blah" and so on.

I actually would like to hear how some of you guys set up your sessions so that maybe i can take something from that to help my workflow go a little smoother. Thanks.

 

[chamelious]

I think the main point here is, your workflow is fine. You can produce industry standard mixes with it, if such a thing exists. It sounds like you're getting bogged down on what is ultimately a nothing issue.

Mimicking pro's is only going to work to a certain level. The reason they're pro's is not how they set up their sessions or the gear they use. Its the experience they have, and the ears.

 

[chamelious]

for a beginner there can be a lot of things that are wrong.

Whilst this could be true, its not really true when it comes to setting up a mix. All that matters is what people hear when they click play. No one cares how the mix ended up that way.

 

[bdam123]

Whilst this could be true, its not really true when it comes to setting up a mix. All that matters is what people hear when they click play. No one cares how the mix ended up that way.

I understand that but there has to be certain guidelines to which these things are set up; at least general ones. I'm just looking for all the tips I can get. I'm really diving into this head first and I'm just assuming that I'm not doing everything right or at least not optimally considering I'm just gathering info off the internet. I am taking everything with a grain of salt but thats why I'm here pestering you guys.

I'm gonna mess around with setup for a few more mixes and get some more reading done. Thanks for all the replies.

 

[chamelious]

I understand that but there has to be certain guidelines to which these things are set up; at least general ones. I'm just looking for all the tips I can get. I'm really diving into this head first and I'm just assuming that I'm not doing everything right or at least not optimally considering I'm just gathering info off the internet. I am taking everything with a grain of salt but thats why I'm here pestering you guys.

I'm gonna mess around with setup for a few more mixes and get some more reading done. Thanks for all the replies.

Well thats fine. I'm just saying, what you listed is totally fine, to the point that any changes you make are just personal preference. Diving in head first is fine, but theres no quick fix for this stuff, getting good at it just takes lots of experience.