how long does it take you to mix one song?

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StarvingEyes

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I've been starting to notice and read about all the little details and little procedures people go through in the mixing process.. theres about a million things ive got in my head about what to try out during my next mix.. i usually tell the bands ive recorded i will get them their mix of about 5 songs back to them in 2 weeks...working on it maybe 5 times for a few hours each session. now im starting to think about how long it would take to do all of these little things everyone talks about doing(carving out instruments with EQ, gating, compression, check for phasing on each track,etc.)

so how long does it take you guys to mix..say...one song?

and one more thing...how loud do you have your monitors? i read that 80 db is advisable..and i think i'm going to buy a db meter to check..

thanks
 
hmmmmm.....rap music takes a 30 minutes to couple of hours if they dont want any effects aside from whats on the beat. keys/guitar/vocals......3 hours maybe. rap rock can go 5 to 6 hours. the last song I've been working on i scrapped and will be retracking after about 6 hours of messing with things and moving them around..its easier to just retrack it how i want it and then it shouldnt take me no more than 3-5
 
It really depends on the budget. If I recorded it and the budget is small, I can do a 'safe' mix in about 1/2 hour. It won't be spectacular, but it will be good sounding and everything will be heard. A big production will take up to 8 hours and maybe more. I tend to tweek as I am tracking so I have things coming together before I actually start 'mixing' it.
 
I heard a quote from an engineer once that goes:
"Tell the client, 'Cheap, fast, and good....pick two of those.' In other words, if you want cheap and fast, it won't be good. If you want it Fast and Good, it ain't gonna be cheap. And if you want it Cheap and Good...i'll get around to it when I can."
 
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Four to Fourty hours.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
If I really like the song...forever, ...if I don't like it...a couple hours cuz that's all I can take
 
Depends on the track count for me. High track counts can take 3-5 hours, and never all at once. I find that the longer I sit with something, the less I can be partial, because even the bad stuff starts sounding good if it gets too familiar.

Low track counts, (like around 10), I can do in about 1 1/2 to 3 hours.

But that's only to get everything level. After that, it could be days of tweeking to get it right.

And that's just on my own stuff. Someone else's it depends on how much time they want me to invest (I don't get paid for it per se, but I've gotten lots of gifts).
 
It Depend's On...

A. If it's one of my songs* I have already mixed it a thousand times in my mind, and it takes only one or two takes to get a good master (30 minutes max)

B. If it is for a client (paying customer) then they usually get concerned about the co$t after an hour and it "sounds great" to them (1 hour)

C. If it is for my friend's project (Non-paying, hyper-picky, "make me sound great", "one more time") guy. (3 years, no kidding!) :eek:

MORAL OF THE STORY: Make them pay for studio time by the hour, and you'll be amazed at how quickly mixdowns can be completed.

oh BTW, I mix at 85 db on nearfields, Then I check it out on the big playbacks REALLY LOUD! and also on a boom box in the kitchen for a "real world" test.


Dom Franco :rolleyes:
 
Small budget - I can can turn around something usable in a couple of hours....

Medium budget - anywhere from 6-12 hours, sometimes more......

Large budget - "you want it when?????" ;)
 
If the band is in the room maybe 4 hours without them maybe 2. Most of the prepwork is done prior to the final mix. Clean up and adjustments are not really mixing. If you include this too however, maybe 4-6 hours per song.
 
To get it to sound sorta like a record i'd say about an hour, 2 or 3 if the tracks are broken into kick, snare etc.
 
I think I came up with 5 minutes per track minute, that's 4 hours on a 3 minute 16 track song. A lot of what I do is mixdown live recordings though, so once I get that first tune dialed in, the rest go a lot faster.
 
Rokket said:
... I can do in about 1 1/2 to 3 hours.
...But that's only to get everything level. After that, it could be days of tweeking to get it right.
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Right on. And especially considering a whole set of songs, I want to come back to them as my perception of the finished context gets dialed in. Even if I took the time to do it in one pass, it'd be too close and familiar by then.
For my best, and if the band is of the mind, you want to see it in different lights.. ;)
Wayne
 
It varies depending on how many tracks. Usually if there are alot of vocal tracks (like backing vocals, and harmonies etc.), it takes me longer.

It usually takes a "few" 2 hour or so "blocks" of time to finish. After a couple of hours, I lose percpective on the mix, and my ears need to rest. I mix one time, then wait a day or so and listen again and make further adjustments, and again, and again... till it sounds the way I want it to.

I am very particular on everything, so I don't accept it as finished until I think I truly made it sound the best that I could possibly make it sound. I'm a bit of a maniac when it comes to mixing.
evt
 
StarvingEyes said:
I've been starting to notice and read about all the little details and little procedures people go through in the mixing process.. theres about a million things ive got in my head about what to try out during my next mix.. i usually tell the bands ive recorded i will get them their mix of about 5 songs back to them in 2 weeks...working on it maybe 5 times for a few hours each session. now im starting to think about how long it would take to do all of these little things everyone talks about doing(carving out instruments with EQ, gating, compression, check for phasing on each track,etc.)

so how long does it take you guys to mix..say...one song?

and one more thing...how loud do you have your monitors? i read that 80 db is advisable..and i think i'm going to buy a db meter to check..

thanks
Click to expand...

It takes exactly one minute per song. :p

But seriously, it takes as long as it takes to sound the way you want it to sound. It's kind of like how do you know when to stop painting a picture...you kind of don't. you just stop when it feels right. someone will ALWAYS have other ideas or tell you to mix something different than what you did. It's really a subjective thing.

good luck!
 
RIGHT ON THE NAIL, DUDE! That's me right here

Robertt8 said:
It takes exactly one minute per song. :p

But seriously, it takes as long as it takes to sound the way you want it to sound. It's kind of like how do you know when to stop painting a picture...you kind of don't. you just stop when it feels right. someone will ALWAYS have other ideas or tell you to mix something different than what you did. It's really a subjective thing.

good luck!
Click to expand...
 
depends, if the tracking and the overall sound come together well and I don't need a lot of production tricks, it could be done in under 2 hours. If I have a lot of tracks or vocals or other things that incrementally have to be tweaked to make everything gel, it could be 12-16 hours (over a couple of days).
 
I´m working with my own band so I lost the count of how many hours I spent mixing our material.
I think at first you try and try until you reach a point where everyone is satisfied. The problem is if you never find this point.
 
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