Mixing a CD: how long?

[zacanger]

Myself, I'd spend a weekend solid doing it, and at the end of the weekend, leave it how it is, no more changes, cuz I'd be sick of it.

 

[TexRoadkill]

A mix is never done. At some point you just decide to stop.

A high quality mix usually takes about 8-16 hours. A decent but cheap mix is 4 hours per song. A really cheap mix is 2 hours per song.

 

[Freudian Slip]

I assume you're going to record everything all at once for the most part. So if you do that the players are paid and gone before the mixing starts. I would personally devote the time needed to get a really good performance from everyone and then send them down the road.
At that point you could delay mixing for a bit if you need to come up with more cash.

F.S.

 

[DavidK]

Thanks for the swell responses fellers.

I am gonna go with 64 hours, 8 days of 8 hours. The rock tracks will get the majority of the time since I need the most help there. The more classical stuff is my thang and will be much easier for me as producer.

I assume you're going to record everything all at once for the most part.

Not really. There will be a LOT of synths. The orchestral stuff will be done in one day, people will just read the parts down. All the players are close friends and I literally work with them every day, they are all serious pros.

It will be a VERY unusual album Hopefully there will be a few things never tried before. Its a genre-morpher, almost genre-less. Its been a good learning experience, as I dive into the commercial world, I cant help but put a lot of my stamp on it, even if I try not to. There is some weirdness. Oh yeah, its a Christmas album Mozart meets Mannheim Steamroller meets Pink Floyd meets DavidK.

 

[TerraMortim]

Well, I'm a newb, so don't listen to me...but from what I've seen in the past 6 years I've worked with audio, you can really take as long or short as you want. Some people spend, literally, years mixing their perfectly tracked album. I've seen people mix a full length rock album in 2 days also.

Just depends on what all you want to do with the album. I know that doesn't really answer the question, but I just find it funny how much time people can spend mixing an album, versus people that have just as much experience taking little time at all. Maybe it depends on whether you already know exactly how you want it to sound when it's done or not.

not a newbie viewpoint at all. Some albums take a long time, some don't It all depends on the record. There are some revered albums that took years to do, and some that took a week. there are just simply different ways to put things together, and sometimes things happen quickly and sometimes they take forever. But then again, I make a point to NEVER use a commercial studio for mixdown. Doesn't seem nessecary or to have much of a point these days. What gear you don't have in a daw you can rent for cheaper than a good studio would cost in the long run, as long as you know what gear you're gonna use in the mix beforehand.

 

[andyhix]

Back to my other post, I guess I missed the boat on what you were doing. I thought you were simply mixing tracks at home that someone was providing to you. But it sounds like you are coordinating everything, including a 3rd party mix engineer. So, in a producer role, you are setting up a budget for the whole project. Got it. Anyway, it sounds like those who are more in tune with these things have given you some good advice. Best of luck to you.

 

[Mindset]

not a newbie viewpoint at all. Some albums take a long time, some don't It all depends on the record. There are some revered albums that took years to do, and some that took a week. there are just simply different ways to put things together, and sometimes things happen quickly and sometimes they take forever. But then again, I make a point to NEVER use a commercial studio for mixdown. Doesn't seem nessecary or to have much of a point these days. What gear you don't have in a daw you can rent for cheaper than a good studio would cost in the long run, as long as you know what gear you're gonna use in the mix beforehand.

For you to rent the equipment out from another source, it still would cost like 1000000x more than it would for you to go rent any good studio, with vast quantities of tools to your disposal, where the weakest link in the audio chain would be the performance.

 

[SonicAlbert]

8 days of 8 hour mixes is very generous for 14 songs on a budget, if you don't finish within that time frame you or your engineer will be doing something wrong. Some guys work fast and well, some guys work slow and well, some fast and bad, and some work slow and bad. Make sure your engineer and the studio are up to the task, those are definitely the most important elements.

I personally think that if you have a sharp engineer and the gear in the studio is working properly it's going to take you less than 8 days.

In my experience the first song will take the longest, as that is everyone involved learning the material and how to work it. After that, things will usually tend to fall into a pattern more or less. So you might take a full day on the first song, and then do 2-3 a day after that. That's the schedule I'd shoot for anyway.

Also, based on your comments about union musicians that you will be tracking also? If so, that adds a *lot* of time, and really can't be counted toward mixing time.

 

[DavidK]

Also, based on your comments about union musicians that you will be tracking also? If so, that adds a *lot* of time, and really can't be counted toward mixing time.

No tracking is counted as mixing time, it wont even be at the same studio. As I said, I work with these people every day, we have made 4 CDs in the past month for a classical thing and we all play in the Opera or Symphony. That part is the easiest, I just put down charts and press record. We just did Salome (R. Strauss) and tonite is Don Quixote (also Strauss), reading down Xmas charts will be like playing Twinkle.

I personally think that if you have a sharp engineer and the gear in the studio is working properly it's going to take you less than 8 days.

I agree. I want the extra time if I change anything, etc. They will have synths so I might change patches if they have better samples etc.

For you to rent the equipment out from another source, it still would cost like 1000000x more than it would for you to go rent any good studio, with vast quantities of tools to your disposal, where the weakest link in the audio chain would be the performance.

I dont want to rent anything, I want the engineer and his ears more than the toys. My ego is in check on this one , I dont want to do it alone and welcome any help. I also dont want to lug stuff around.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

It will be a VERY unusual album Hopefully there will be a few things never tried before. Its a genre-morpher, almost genre-less. Its been a good learning experience, as I dive into the commercial world, I cant help but put a lot of my stamp on it, even if I try not to. There is some weirdness. Oh yeah, its a Christmas album Mozart meets Mannheim Steamroller meets Pink Floyd meets DavidK.

As long as you're into the genre-bending (one of my favorite types of bending, next to what Bubbles LaRue used to do...), you might want to check out a DVD by the name of "Gershwin Nights". Seijii Ozawa conducting the Berlin Philharmonic doing wonders to Gershwin, but with a twist; he also has the Marcus Robinson Trio sitting in front of the orchestra and tapping the jazz side of Gershwin at the same time.

G.

 

[mshilarious]

Hey David, you have GOT to cut all of Carnaval des Animaux. Aquarium was totally the top track of your CD! C'mon, the world needs a fiddle & synth version of Cygnus!!!!

 

[DavidK]

Hey David, you have GOT to cut all of Carnaval des Animaux. Aquarium was totally the top track of your CD! C'mon, the world needs a fiddle & synth version of Cygnus!!!!

Thanks I cant record it for five years, its in my contract. You are correct, there is a lot of material in the whole suite that would work with the combinations of synths and real, I think Wendy Carlos might have done one at one point.

Seijii Ozawa conducting the Berlin Philharmonic doing wonders to Gershwin, but with a twist; he also has the Marcus Robinson Trio sitting in front of the orchestra and tapping the jazz side of Gershwin at the same time.

I remember seeing it, I think it was on Bravo.