Who should do the fade ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter grimtraveller
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grimtraveller

grimtraveller

If only for a moment.....
I've read many a time that when mixing with the intention of handing the mix over to a mastering engineer, if a song has a fade out, the fades should be left to the mastering engineer to do.
If this is so, why is this ? What would be the problem of doing one's own fade ins and outs ? Does it make a difference ?
 
I wouldn't leave it to the ME...but I would make sure that the fade actually f-a-d-e-s to the end with a decent amount of silence left over.

The reason they sometimes suggest to let the ME do it is because once he adjusts things (EQ, maybe some comp, etc) the very fine tails of the the fades may "surface" more prominently, and the inexperienced mixer may have actually cut the tail off without realizing it.

Of course, if you let the ME do the fades, you need to be very specific on the length of the fades, which is why I would always prefer to do my own, as I know how I want a song to fade out...also weather it's a linear fade or a logarithmic fade, and also what type of logarithmic fade.
 
The problem with included fades is the end of the piece -- The compressors are still working - and then they're not - and then there's that space in between when they're not sure, so the volume goes jumping around for a few seconds, etc.

That said - It's not that big of an issue to deal with... Ideally? Sure - Let the ME do the fades after all the processing is done so you have a "pure" fade. Realistically? Just keep them a little on the long-ish side of what you're looking for so if he needs to chase it later, there's a little space for that. Headroom for fades, for lack of a better term.

THAT SAID -- It really isn't at all unusual for clients to include a set of "FADE" files (so I know exactly what they're looking for) along with their mixes. That's the perfect scenario there...
 
Fades are a matter of taste, I actually prefer the client to do it, if only for the fact that they should normally know they want it. Although I do ask them to consider the track that is incoming in context with the fade they create. I also suggest this is done with a 24 bit export in mind.
 
Massive Master said:
It's not that big of an issue to deal with... Ideally? Sure - Let the ME do the fades after all the processing is done so you have a "pure" fade. Realistically? Just keep them a little on the long-ish side of what you're looking for so if he needs to chase it later, there's a little space for that. Headroom for fades, for lack of a better term.
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+1 - I always go and touch up the head and tails on every song, so leaving a fade a hair long is a good idea as is leaving a half a second or so of lead in time before the song starts.

I prefer the client to do the fades if they are sure about it, but either way is fine... as long as the instructions are clear.
 
moresound said:
Let the musicians do it while tracking! Now that's talent.
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Ha - I do this live on one song... I've set up major looping happening in my RC50 and it's basically just repeating itself whilst I sing the chorus... and so I take the mic out of the stand, bend down and slooooowly fade out the volume with the RC50 vol knobbie whilst reducing the singing to a hush..

Learnt not to sling my guitar round the back while I was doing it when it fell off its strap... ouch...
 
Don't have that problem in my songs....I hate fade-outs and just don't use them!
 
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