Mixing, when do say enough is enough??

  • Thread starter Thread starter Muzzaman
  • Start date Start date
Muzzaman

Muzzaman

New member
Still mixing away a 3 track EP 2 weeks on.

When do you settle for a mix?

I'm sure I have OCD, I keep returning to the mixes and trying to make then better I just can't give in and say 'that's as good as it's gonna get' what's wrong with me?? haha

Anyone else have this problem?

Muzza
 
Definately. I am under the assumption that this is because I am not confident in my skills/signalchain/monitors/roomacoustics. I assume that as I gain more experience, further develop my skill set, and become familiar and comfortable with my mixing environment, the urge to "endlessly tweak" will diminish....maybe I am just delusional.
 
It is possible for the latent OCD's to spin themselves in endless spirals seeking unattainable perfection in a mix. just as it is possible for, say, singers to do endless takes in search of the same. If you don't have an internal 'stop' button, get someone else to do it. Get someone else to listen, fix any problems (if any) they hear, then call it done.
 
Endlessly tweak, that's me too!!!! Ahhhhhhh It most probably is my lack of confidence in myself / equipment too man! :)

Muzza
 
gecko zzed said:
It is possible for the latent OCD's to spin themselves in endless spirals seeking unattainable perfection in a mix. just as it is possible for, say, singers to do endless takes in search of the same. If you don't have an internal 'stop' button, get someone else to do it. Get someone else to listen, fix any problems (if any) they hear, then call it done.
Click to expand...

That's a good idea, problem is finiding someone that your comfortable has the right ear for it!
 
gecko zzed said:
It is possible for the latent OCD's to spin themselves in endless spirals seeking unattainable perfection in a mix. just as it is possible for, say, singers to do endless takes in search of the same. If you don't have an internal 'stop' button, get someone else to do it. Get someone else to listen, fix any problems (if any) they hear, then call it done.
Click to expand...
this ^^^^^^^^^^^^ sooner or later you've got to say enough, otherwise you'll drive yourself nuts.
 
Don't worry, that's a common syndrome. You're not alone.

If you can't find someone to help you, try just either setting a time limit or a limit on the number of "test mixes" you will allow yourself to make. Make a game out of it: "How good of a mix can I make in three hours?"

As you get more experience and practice, you'll find a few things happening:

First, you come to have a better ear of just what *the tracks* in front of you are capable of, and that more often than not, what's causing your bouts of endless mixing probably isn't so much OCD (though it could be), or a lack of skills on your part (though it could be), but rather that you're simply trying to make the tracks do something thy don't want to do or sound like something they just can't sound like.

Second, you'll find that there's usually not much point in taking that much time on a mix, because one usually makes the best mixes - either by design or by chance - pretty early on and that one usually reaches a point of diminishing returns that makes further work too costly in time and effort for very small benefit.

Third, that it's far healthier to one's psyche, bottom line and skills development to just accept a mix for what it is and move on to the next mix, making improvements in the next process (hint: learning to get the tracking better) instead of trying to improve this one.
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
Don't worry, that's a common syndrome. You're not alone.

If you can't find someone to help you, try just either setting a time limit or a limit on the number of "test mixes" you will allow yourself to make. Make a game out of it: "How good of a mix can I make in three hours?"

As you get more experience and practice, you'll find a few things happening:

First, you come to have a better ear of just what *the tracks* in front of you are capable of, and that more often than not, what's causing your bouts of endless mixing probably isn't so much OCD (though it could be), or a lack of skills on your part (though it could be), but rather that you're simply trying to make the tracks do something thy don't want to do or sound like something they just can't sound like.

Second, you'll find that there's usually not much point in taking that much time on a mix, because one usually makes the best mixes - either by design or by chance - pretty early on and that one usually reaches a point of diminishing returns that makes further work too costly in time and effort for very small benefit.

Third, that it's far healthier to one's psyche, bottom line and skills development to just accept a mix for what it is and move on to the next mix, making improvements in the next process (hint: learning to get the tracking better) instead of trying to improve this one.
Click to expand...

That's some pretty damn good advice! Thanks for that Glen, makes perfect sense to me!

I think I need to set the time aside and not run over that period!

Thank you most helpful! :)

Muzza.
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
Don't worry, that's a common syndrome. You're not alone.

If you can't find someone to help you, try just either setting a time limit or a limit on the number of "test mixes" you will allow yourself to make. Make a game out of it: "How good of a mix can I make in three hours?"

As you get more experience and practice, you'll find a few things happening:

First, you come to have a better ear of just what *the tracks* in front of you are capable of, and that more often than not, what's causing your bouts of endless mixing probably isn't so much OCD (though it could be), or a lack of skills on your part (though it could be), but rather that you're simply trying to make the tracks do something thy don't want to do or sound like something they just can't sound like.

Second, you'll find that there's usually not much point in taking that much time on a mix, because one usually makes the best mixes - either by design or by chance - pretty early on and that one usually reaches a point of diminishing returns that makes further work too costly in time and effort for very small benefit.

Third, that it's far healthier to one's psyche, bottom line and skills development to just accept a mix for what it is and move on to the next mix, making improvements in the next process (hint: learning to get the tracking better) instead of trying to improve this one.
Click to expand...
also, I find it helps with those 'final tweaks' to set the thing down and don't listen to it at all for a couple of weeks.
That way you forget the little things that you obsessed over and come back to it with a fresh outlook.
 
Sometimes you just have to ask yourself if you are actually tweaking toward improvement or just difference...?

If you really CAN improve things noticably...take a month if you need it, but if you're just trying out new ideas, at that point you might want to stop and consider what you were after in the first place, aim for it, and be done with it.

It's like the artists that come out with fifteen "alternate mixes" to a given song...god I hate that shit, especially after I've gotten use to a certain mix.
It's like what they now do with some movies...until finally you get the "director's cut".

I mean, what WAS the real vision/plan if you are going to churn out fifteen mixes?
It seems that's more about lack of vision/plan...but yeah, I know it also sells having alternate mixes one after another since some fans just gotta have 'em all! :D
 
The car stereo...if it works there its the final stop for me


Until I buy a new plug in...then its "I must put this on all previous tracks" :D


actually none of my mixes are finished lol





:)
 
Last edited:
^^Exactly what he said^^ Strange that we "finalize" our mixes by the car stereo....although I hae determined the car stereo sucks, I still know how sucky it's supposed to sound.....
 
Yeah...but a "car stereo" in a pickup truck doesn't sound the same as in a small 2-door coupe or in a large 4-door sedan or in a SUV...
...not to mention, the quality of the stereo is often proportional to the quality of the vehicle.

So is that really where you want to finalize you mixing decisions...?

I'm not against taking a listen out in the car...but if you're mixing by the car stereo, what's the point of the studio room and your monitors? :D
 
I find the fresh air invigorating. I can then smoke as I mix, watch the neighbors shovel their sidewalds/driveway, and generally watch out for ninjas that may be trying a sneak attack.....


Not mixing to the car stereo.....thats the last place I listen to the mix before(temporarily, see above OCD-laced posts) calling it good. I have spent hundreds of hours listening to my favorite music in the car....Like I said, the car stereo is doesn't sound fantastic, but I am familiar with how my favorite music sounds there, therefor, if it sounds good(insert, doesn't suck too bad) in the car, then it's done.

Like I said before, I am not completely comfortable with my mixing environment, for one thing, I am still saving for my DIY superchunk/703 treatment project. My monitors(old MKII's) crapped out on me,(just one) while I was do GZ's mixing contest. Just bought some Warfdale 8.1's from Zel in the Free ads thread, they are coming soon. Now, I have to use those speakers enough to start to feel comfortable enough to trust them......and the tweaking continues.
 
I read a line once, I can't remember who said it so I apologize if I'm plagarizing somebody here without giving them credit:

"there's no such thing as a finished mix. just one you're not working on any more"

As has already been said once you know what the actual tracks are capable of and what your various tools can do for you, you can get to the point at which you are tweaking for tweaking sake and just making things different not better fairly fast.

I usually try and do all my tracking then leave the song alone for a couple of weeks, come back to it somewhat fresh to mix and try and do the mix in a day MAXIMUM! leave it alone for a few days and listen again make notes about what I think I need to tweak and tweak accordingly

Occasionally I'll post in the MP3 clinic and see what others think is lacking and if I agree do the tweaks or if not call it done and go on to the next thing.

Of course it could be said that I am a rank amateur so take all of this with a pinch of salt

YMMV

watch out for ninjas that may be trying a sneak attack.....
Click to expand...
Sneak attacks are what I generally do in between tracking and mixing. I've almost finished tracking a whole bunch of new material, so look out..........
 
I do like to "check" in the car (who doesn't)...but honestly, AFA listening to ANY music in the car, I always found that experience rather underwhelming...but hey, like everyone, I've spent a lot of time riding around and just listening to music in the car...burning some doobies.... :cool:

I find that in the car...it's never about the quality sound of the music...rather it's just a cool vibe...riding and blasting some tunes! :D
Besides the EQ...the whole L/R and F/B balance was/is always a major PITA for me...especially if you had you buddies in the car with you, 'cuz you couldn't balance it just for yourself on the driver's side...but even alone, when you balanced it for yourself on the driver's side, it was never quite the same as sitting centered in-between a pair of speakers. Plus...some car stereos screw with whole mix by how they set their crossovers for the door speakers, dashboard speakers and rear speakers...and sometimes you get this weird phasing on some things.

But I totally get where you are coming from. :drunk:
Car stereos just never struck me as great listening experience. When I wanted that...it was always in front of my Hi-Fi setup at home, though now it's really in my studio if I want to listening to the quality of a mix.
 
There's nothing wrong with double-checking a mix to make sure there's nothing blatantly wrong with a mix's translation to a crap environment, but it's a lousy place to check a mix to see if the mix is actually intrinsically good, especially if one doesn't have the trustworthy CR setup to begin with.

I know one guy who is intrinsically a rather good producer and arranger. But while his CR monitoring situation is serviceable for tracking and rough mixing, but really doesn't have the detail to provide positive assurance in the finer mixing and mastering detail. So he goes out to his pickup as the litmus test for his mixes.

The results are not awful, but they have regular weaknesses to them also; because of the smiley-face-style response of his pickup, when he mixes to make things sound good in there he like clockworks winds up with mixes that are too midrangey and slightly bass deficient.

There are other production descisions he typically makes that put that extra midrange in there to begin with, and the poor resolution of his CR monitors don't help any either, but by depending upon his pickup truck to tell him whether it's all OK or not, he's compounding the problem.

G.
 
my cars stereo's actually is actually better quality than any other music listening device i have, I really need to ship the rest of my gear across from the UK someday...maybe once Palins president :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top