What I think Glen was trying to ask in his roundabout way was something like this:
"Do you really want to do this yourself?"
That is the key question, for sure. And based upon my five years in this BBS, IME, just because someone initially comes in here thinking they want to do this themselves (which is fine, BTW), it doesn't mean they understand what they are getting themselves into. Often when they DO understand that it's not the walk in the park that they have been led to believe it is, it's too late; they've already spent the time and the money. Talk about learning from mistakes; it's a tough lesson to learn that you've just spend a grand or more and several weeks working on that stuff only to find that you actually don't sound like a Rick Rubin record the way you've been led to believe.
All I'm trying to do is help set expectations before they make the final decision. If after hearing that, they still want to go ahead and go it alone from the get-go, more power to them, and when they have specific questions (not , "How do I mix", which is basically what this thread is asking), I'll try to help out when I can.
But if they realize *before* they make the investments that it's not as simple as, "oh, all you need to do is do this and this" to get the results they usually expect, then they have been saved unnecessary time and money.
But either way, I still think that getting at least a start by getting a little hand-holding experience under their belt is probably not a bad idea for anybody starting out for the first time. Is it necessary? No, not at all. Dinty didn't need it and neither did I. But I can't speak for Dinty, but I would have *loved* that opportunity back when I started out.
There will always be time to practice and learn and make mistakes and learn more ater that; it's not like one simply has to spend a couple of hours with an engineer and they've then learned all they need to know. But it's a great learning opportunity, a great kick start to their knowledge (probably a better one than just books or BBSs - though those are useful as well), and a great way to see just what they are getting into for a lot cheaper than the time and gear of just jumping blindly into the unknown.
And notice I never said "let the engineer do everything for you". I said let the engineer pilot the gear for you as you tell him where you want the mix to go. That helps avoid getting a mix you don't want; so many new acts hate the mixes they get from "pros" because they just leave it all the decisions to them and don't communicate what they actually want. But even more germane to this thread, one can see and learn first-hand in an interactive Q&A manner that "I wanted this, and that is what he did to accomplish that exact thing". What a great learning opportunity that presents. Is that POV so wrong?
And regarding Armistice's comment (jokingly people - lighten up
), even Jesus had 12 AEs on staff to help.
G.
