heatmiser
mr. green christmas
Hi,
I imagine that different facets of this question have been answered here already over the years, but I'm trying to organize my thoughts on all of this, so I pose this as a general question in the Mastering forum hoping that it is relevant enough to belong here. I'm thinking others have been, or currently are, in a similar situation...
Say you are a hobbyist who writes and records your own tunes. Over the course of say 2 years or so, you compile maybe 8 tunes that seem like they might actually be able to form a complete "album". You're pretty happy with each individual mix, but never mixed them with the intention of having them played back to back to back, so there's no real continuity. How does one approach this?
In my case, a lot has changed over the last 2 years, so the mixes, levels, and overall tone of each tune varies greatly. The first 3 have really nice sounding drum loops with big, airy sounds from the overheads and room mics and lots of cymbal work, while the other 5 have me playing a nice beginner kit with not so great mics and mostly just kick, snare & HH. Really gives them a distinctly different overall feel. Both sounds are ok, but I actually prefer the real drums.
So, can an M.E. (maybe I should say, would they be willing to?) work with wildly different source material and still create a cohesive whole? I guess it depends on the material itself and how much one is willing/able to spend, right?
Or, as a hobbyist with no great ambition in terms of success/sales, would one normally just work with the existing tracks, throw them all in one project and master them yourself to the best of your own ability?
Or, do people in this situation typically go back and re-record all of the songs consecutively so that they sound more like they're all part of the same project?
Maybe I just retrack the drums on the ones with loops and hope that brings the 8 songs together more somehow?
Lastly, are 8 tracks (maybe an average of 4+ mins. each?) really enough to comprise a "CD", or is that really more of an "EP"...?
Sorry, just really confused by all of this...any thoughts?
I imagine that different facets of this question have been answered here already over the years, but I'm trying to organize my thoughts on all of this, so I pose this as a general question in the Mastering forum hoping that it is relevant enough to belong here. I'm thinking others have been, or currently are, in a similar situation...
Say you are a hobbyist who writes and records your own tunes. Over the course of say 2 years or so, you compile maybe 8 tunes that seem like they might actually be able to form a complete "album". You're pretty happy with each individual mix, but never mixed them with the intention of having them played back to back to back, so there's no real continuity. How does one approach this?
In my case, a lot has changed over the last 2 years, so the mixes, levels, and overall tone of each tune varies greatly. The first 3 have really nice sounding drum loops with big, airy sounds from the overheads and room mics and lots of cymbal work, while the other 5 have me playing a nice beginner kit with not so great mics and mostly just kick, snare & HH. Really gives them a distinctly different overall feel. Both sounds are ok, but I actually prefer the real drums.
So, can an M.E. (maybe I should say, would they be willing to?) work with wildly different source material and still create a cohesive whole? I guess it depends on the material itself and how much one is willing/able to spend, right?
Or, as a hobbyist with no great ambition in terms of success/sales, would one normally just work with the existing tracks, throw them all in one project and master them yourself to the best of your own ability?
Or, do people in this situation typically go back and re-record all of the songs consecutively so that they sound more like they're all part of the same project?
Maybe I just retrack the drums on the ones with loops and hope that brings the 8 songs together more somehow?
Lastly, are 8 tracks (maybe an average of 4+ mins. each?) really enough to comprise a "CD", or is that really more of an "EP"...?
Sorry, just really confused by all of this...any thoughts?
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