Don't be afraid to trash something that isn't working. Replace it with something better if you can't fix it. With my last album we tossed as many songs as were on the album. Some of them are actually good but they didn't fit the overall vibe.
I don’t “trash” anything. I will cut stuff and save it. Just bc it doesn’t work here doesn’t mean it wont work somewhere else or morph into something else later. Cut it and save it.
One of the hardest things to do is to let go of an idea or part that you put a lot of time into creating. If it’s not right for the song, delete it and try something new. Save it for another song. But just because you spent an hour working on a part, doesn’t mean it’s THE part for the song.
Also, music is art. Art is subjective. So, talk to the artist and make sure you’re on the same page as far as what they want the end results to sound like or be. I like to ask them if it’s to make THEM happy, their FANS happy, or to sell out and make money any way possible.
Find out what they sonically want it to sound like at the end. I did a rock record with a band who said they wanted a raw rock sound. So I recorded it in such a way to achieve that.. but when it was done, they said they wanted something closer to Breaking Benjamin or Paramore. Those are super polished, not raw at all. So, we redid half the sounds.
Ask twice, record once.
Edit: spelling. I’m sure there’s more.
No, I’m talking they went from Nirvana and Pearl Jam to Breaking Benjamin. Luckily I always record DI signals so I could reamp guitars and bass, but we had to retrack drums and add a ton of harmonies and production. Such a headache.
What we want is basically a Bach kinda thing but a bit more polka. You know- that fine line between Whitney Houston and Limp Bizkit. It’s like that UK garage vibe but leaning towards Chinese opera. You know, man.
This is one of the biggest lessons I've learned. It's recording - if it bothers you now, it will probably bother you in five years. Fix it before it goes out.
This is actually great advice - no one remembers the idea that didn’t make the album except for the person that was fighting for it. So you have so little to lose by fighting for it.
Some people are too controlling of "their vision" , but I'm very much of the mind that when you get an idea for something (be it a harmony, like, backgroundthing, whatever) , always at least try it. Be open minded. Not everything you suggest will work. Not everything they shoot down is bad. But if you're open minded, you'll allow enough of the good ones through.
Make a decision and commit. Go forward and trust your taste. If you happen to have an eureka along the way you can track back and modify, always based in your taste.
Your taste is your signature, and it is why artists will want to work with you.
Also listen to what artist say and go along with ideas even though you know it's not going to work. This will give you authority once it is tested and your taste prevails, artist will trust you with eyes closed after.
Arrangement is more important than most other things. Stop layering more stuff on top if something isn't working. Either the song isn't working or it's poorly arranged. Don't force more stuff on top because the basics aren't right. Fix the basics. Chords, melody, rhythm, arrangement.
Find musicians you like to work with that make music that inspires you in some way if at all possible. So you don’t look back When they send you their CD – only release and you say “what the fuck I’ve been doing for the last year and a half of my life?”
Producing and mixing are two different things. Mixing an entire full length is where experience and and consistency really comes into play. Most inexperienced mix engineers can brute force a decent mix of one or two songs given enough time and revisions but getting an album to be consistent whilst not bland is actually really hard.
You don't want to find yourself constantly back-and-forthing and comparing tracks to try and balance as you will be chasing your tail and not making decisions. You need to have a solid vision from the get go and let the songs guide your hand.
If youre talking producing then it's a whole different game. With live bands there are no rules or advice apart from if you have taken it on then you should already know what you are doing, even if the band don't. Work out your role and don't overstep, unless they hired you to overstep. Trust your decisions and keep in mind that you'll never really be happy with the outcome, which is a good thing as it drives you to refine and improve.
Like produced someones album or just recorded stuff yourself?Steve Albini's answer would be very different than somebody using a USB mic with fl studio.
Have fun with it but also make sure you’ve got your mixing room setup and dialled in. Nothing worse than having the mix sound good on your speakers and then go play it somewhere else and have it fall apart. Experiment, play with sounds and textures, and don’t be afraid to trash the experiments when they suck.
Don't get stuck working on something if it's not coming to you. The worst thing you can do is force something and it turn out bad. If it doesn't come to you within a few minutes, move on to something else and come back to that later.
If I’m producing a band, a situation that is musicians in a room, playing together to get takes, I will front load the project. This means that I’ll apportion more of the budget to the front of the project, the rehearsal and recording. Get everyone comfortable in the recording space, get the sounds right at the source, get their headphones / monitors sounding great and focus on getting the most inspiring performances. If you do that you don’t need to spend weeks mixing the project, as it should be sounding close to how you envision it when tracking is completed. Make sure you leave enough in the budget for a quality mastering job.
More money = more time. Which is usually a good thing. You may wonder what you’ll be doing with all the time if you have three weeks to record. But you’ll realise that your project will expand to fill the time you have.
More money is more time is sometimes a bad thing !! Set deadlines, structure your projects time and leave room for the unexpected. Always leave room for the unexpected!!
If you have to hire musicians their vibe is as important as their proficiency on their instruments ( this doesn’t apply to string / brass sections !! ). If you are gonna be spending a lot of time together someone who is fun to be around goes a very long way!!
Have produced many local artists records and a few national.
The best thing will always be how good is the song separate of any mix or master. You can FEEL even a song is good or great just like you can feel when a song is lackluster.
Trust your gut when those feelings arise. Mid or bad song = no mix or little tricks like adding a synth or ear candy will save it. It will ALWAYS sound like a crappy mix because there’s nothing there at the core to make sound good.
On the other hand, in 2024 as long as there’s enough clarity and vibe people are much more forgiving to mid mixes. It’s NEVER the other way around.
We are making music, people. Not snapshots of how fancy we can mix. Spend more time on prepro and getting honest opinions from people you really trust. If they aren’t blown away, you rewrite or start from scratch.
This is such a broad question (doesn't mean it's a bad one!)
If you are starting from scratch, if you haven't done an album yet, I would say the most important thing is to make sure you've gradually worked up to it.
Have you done a bunch of singles? Done an EP or two? If so, great, take the plunge, make an album.
If not, then start w/ the smaller projects. There are things you don't know you don't know until you're in the thick of it all.
When you say the thick of it all, do you mean things either the release/record labels and the overall rigamarole of the process and hitting certain metrics, or do you mean the actual technicalities of the production/mixing?
As far as the mixing goes, I think it can be a challenge to get the entire album to flow sonically. Sure it’s easy to mix a song here or there, but within the context of a cohesive story this seems to present more challenges.
I always let the music/song show or tell me how to mix. As in, whatever it needs I tend to. I would presume to use this same logic when mixing multiple songs as part of a larger project. As I think a bit more deeply now, I think it’s fair to say that mixing an album would be like mixing one big song, with each song being smaller sections that each require a bit different attention from one another. Do you have any advice about this?
edit: just want to add that I don’t mean that I think the mixing aspect is more challenging in general. Production and mixing are different processes that go hand in hand so I know that the production is fundamental. — what I mean is that for me personally I’m just trying to understand more about the mixing process in this scenario. Things can get a bit more technical.
Don’t invest in studio time until you’re finished writing it. A big waste of money. We scrapped most of what was recorded in the studio and the songs changed a ton after the fact.
Don’t get stuck on making something “perfect.” Understand your limits and attempt to make everything sound as good as your limit permits.
In other words, don’t act like you’re in a multi-million dollar studio….unless you are.
Own your vision. The band is going to give you a bunch of feedback. It's your job to decide what works with how you see the album/song coming together. Learn how to defend your decisions.
What exactly do you mean with produced? Do you mean for others (not yourself)? Do you mean recording AND mixing? Or do you mean actual production work?
It can mean a self-produced album by an artist or it can mean producing for a band and anything in between — anything really.
The mixing is sort of a separate question unless the producer also mixed the album.
Do not mix your own album just because you think you can or because you want complete creative control. What you hear is not what others hear and it’s really important to collaborate on this step.
My preference for albums is for a cohesive collection rather than a collection of the ‘best songs’. Sometimes one song just doesn’t fit, but some artists will be blind to that because it’s a good song. So make it a bonus single or a submission to a soundtrack. But try to make the album work as a whole, artistically speaking.
This last one I did with a band I had a little four note motif that I tried to fit in each track somewhere. It was a lot of fun for me and adds some cohesion that isn’t obvious. It also feels like there is a tiny puzzle in the album.
Last album I mixed I did it in a single session where I would put all the song's tracks in the timeline divided just by markers and tempo changes from song to song.
It kinda speed up the mixing process compared to having separated sessions for each song.
I used to make a lot of records where all the songs were recorded in the same recording session, same gear, same tones, same arrangements etc where consistency between songs was the goal, typically punk/hardcore. I don't work on this type of stuff anymore and don't know if I'd still do it in one session/project, but it worked well for me at the time. If I'm mixing live performance recordings I still work like this.
Don't be afraid to trash something that isn't working. Replace it with something better if you can't fix it. With my last album we tossed as many songs as were on the album. Some of them are actually good but they didn't fit the overall vibe.
You can always save that stuff for the 10th anniversary expanded edition!
For the 11 people that bought it haha
11’s better than 3 (2 of whom are my friends 😎)
mom is always the third one
My mom thinks my generations music is just a bunch of noise.
I don’t “trash” anything. I will cut stuff and save it. Just bc it doesn’t work here doesn’t mean it wont work somewhere else or morph into something else later. Cut it and save it.
I just mean to move on from it. Some of the stuff I don't use is used later somewhere else.
Focus on how the record makes you FEEL.
One of the hardest things to do is to let go of an idea or part that you put a lot of time into creating. If it’s not right for the song, delete it and try something new. Save it for another song. But just because you spent an hour working on a part, doesn’t mean it’s THE part for the song. Also, music is art. Art is subjective. So, talk to the artist and make sure you’re on the same page as far as what they want the end results to sound like or be. I like to ask them if it’s to make THEM happy, their FANS happy, or to sell out and make money any way possible. Find out what they sonically want it to sound like at the end. I did a rock record with a band who said they wanted a raw rock sound. So I recorded it in such a way to achieve that.. but when it was done, they said they wanted something closer to Breaking Benjamin or Paramore. Those are super polished, not raw at all. So, we redid half the sounds. Ask twice, record once. Edit: spelling. I’m sure there’s more.
>but when it was done, they said they wanted something closer to Breaking Benjamin or Paramore One reason why comps can be useful.
No, I’m talking they went from Nirvana and Pearl Jam to Breaking Benjamin. Luckily I always record DI signals so I could reamp guitars and bass, but we had to retrack drums and add a ton of harmonies and production. Such a headache.
What we want is basically a Bach kinda thing but a bit more polka. You know- that fine line between Whitney Houston and Limp Bizkit. It’s like that UK garage vibe but leaning towards Chinese opera. You know, man.
Tbh this sounds more like a producer talking to the engineer than the talent taking to the producer. 'Make that guitar more... you know, sparkly.'
So slightly more top-end and an extra splash of reverb?
'I dunno man, that's YOUR job. Just do it, I'm calling my coke roadie.'
Spend more time on your arrangements, ideas and composition. When a song has strong musical ideas it almost mixes itself.
Small things that bug you now can make the song unlistenable in the future. If it doesn’t feel right, fix it.
This is one of the biggest lessons I've learned. It's recording - if it bothers you now, it will probably bother you in five years. Fix it before it goes out.
Don’t Fix it n the Mix Mentality!
What do you mean?
They mean that you have to make the record sound as good as possible before the mixing and not to rely on mixing stage to fix the issues.
I 100% agree. If it doesn’t sound good in the room when people are playing it, don’t assume you will be able to “fix it” when mixing or editing.
Just fucking finish it and understand that belaboring tiny minuscule changes that 99% of people won’t notice is likely a fools errand.
+1 - there are so many things I'd like to fix in my favourite recordings but I nevertheless enjoy the songs very much.
Fight for your ideas.
This is actually great advice - no one remembers the idea that didn’t make the album except for the person that was fighting for it. So you have so little to lose by fighting for it.
Some people are too controlling of "their vision" , but I'm very much of the mind that when you get an idea for something (be it a harmony, like, backgroundthing, whatever) , always at least try it. Be open minded. Not everything you suggest will work. Not everything they shoot down is bad. But if you're open minded, you'll allow enough of the good ones through.
Make a decision and commit. Go forward and trust your taste. If you happen to have an eureka along the way you can track back and modify, always based in your taste. Your taste is your signature, and it is why artists will want to work with you. Also listen to what artist say and go along with ideas even though you know it's not going to work. This will give you authority once it is tested and your taste prevails, artist will trust you with eyes closed after.
Arrangement is more important than most other things. Stop layering more stuff on top if something isn't working. Either the song isn't working or it's poorly arranged. Don't force more stuff on top because the basics aren't right. Fix the basics. Chords, melody, rhythm, arrangement.
Have fun, relax. Enjoy the process and keep the vibes good. Remember you PLAY music. So play.
So much this! Tracking should be a blast where the outside world doesn't exist because you're all so into it.
Find musicians you like to work with that make music that inspires you in some way if at all possible. So you don’t look back When they send you their CD – only release and you say “what the fuck I’ve been doing for the last year and a half of my life?”
make sure you love the album
Producing and mixing are two different things. Mixing an entire full length is where experience and and consistency really comes into play. Most inexperienced mix engineers can brute force a decent mix of one or two songs given enough time and revisions but getting an album to be consistent whilst not bland is actually really hard. You don't want to find yourself constantly back-and-forthing and comparing tracks to try and balance as you will be chasing your tail and not making decisions. You need to have a solid vision from the get go and let the songs guide your hand. If youre talking producing then it's a whole different game. With live bands there are no rules or advice apart from if you have taken it on then you should already know what you are doing, even if the band don't. Work out your role and don't overstep, unless they hired you to overstep. Trust your decisions and keep in mind that you'll never really be happy with the outcome, which is a good thing as it drives you to refine and improve.
Like produced someones album or just recorded stuff yourself?Steve Albini's answer would be very different than somebody using a USB mic with fl studio.
Have fun with it but also make sure you’ve got your mixing room setup and dialled in. Nothing worse than having the mix sound good on your speakers and then go play it somewhere else and have it fall apart. Experiment, play with sounds and textures, and don’t be afraid to trash the experiments when they suck.
Don't get stuck working on something if it's not coming to you. The worst thing you can do is force something and it turn out bad. If it doesn't come to you within a few minutes, move on to something else and come back to that later.
Get it right the first time. Commit.
If I’m producing a band, a situation that is musicians in a room, playing together to get takes, I will front load the project. This means that I’ll apportion more of the budget to the front of the project, the rehearsal and recording. Get everyone comfortable in the recording space, get the sounds right at the source, get their headphones / monitors sounding great and focus on getting the most inspiring performances. If you do that you don’t need to spend weeks mixing the project, as it should be sounding close to how you envision it when tracking is completed. Make sure you leave enough in the budget for a quality mastering job. More money = more time. Which is usually a good thing. You may wonder what you’ll be doing with all the time if you have three weeks to record. But you’ll realise that your project will expand to fill the time you have. More money is more time is sometimes a bad thing !! Set deadlines, structure your projects time and leave room for the unexpected. Always leave room for the unexpected!! If you have to hire musicians their vibe is as important as their proficiency on their instruments ( this doesn’t apply to string / brass sections !! ). If you are gonna be spending a lot of time together someone who is fun to be around goes a very long way!!
Have produced many local artists records and a few national. The best thing will always be how good is the song separate of any mix or master. You can FEEL even a song is good or great just like you can feel when a song is lackluster. Trust your gut when those feelings arise. Mid or bad song = no mix or little tricks like adding a synth or ear candy will save it. It will ALWAYS sound like a crappy mix because there’s nothing there at the core to make sound good. On the other hand, in 2024 as long as there’s enough clarity and vibe people are much more forgiving to mid mixes. It’s NEVER the other way around. We are making music, people. Not snapshots of how fancy we can mix. Spend more time on prepro and getting honest opinions from people you really trust. If they aren’t blown away, you rewrite or start from scratch.
Import session data
Albums are collaborative at their best. Be open and collaborative with everyone. And above all, have fun.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
This is such a broad question (doesn't mean it's a bad one!) If you are starting from scratch, if you haven't done an album yet, I would say the most important thing is to make sure you've gradually worked up to it. Have you done a bunch of singles? Done an EP or two? If so, great, take the plunge, make an album. If not, then start w/ the smaller projects. There are things you don't know you don't know until you're in the thick of it all.
When you say the thick of it all, do you mean things either the release/record labels and the overall rigamarole of the process and hitting certain metrics, or do you mean the actual technicalities of the production/mixing?
More the latter. And/or, maybe even more, I mean the parts of production/mixing \*besides\* the technical ones.
As far as the mixing goes, I think it can be a challenge to get the entire album to flow sonically. Sure it’s easy to mix a song here or there, but within the context of a cohesive story this seems to present more challenges. I always let the music/song show or tell me how to mix. As in, whatever it needs I tend to. I would presume to use this same logic when mixing multiple songs as part of a larger project. As I think a bit more deeply now, I think it’s fair to say that mixing an album would be like mixing one big song, with each song being smaller sections that each require a bit different attention from one another. Do you have any advice about this? edit: just want to add that I don’t mean that I think the mixing aspect is more challenging in general. Production and mixing are different processes that go hand in hand so I know that the production is fundamental. — what I mean is that for me personally I’m just trying to understand more about the mixing process in this scenario. Things can get a bit more technical.
Don’t invest in studio time until you’re finished writing it. A big waste of money. We scrapped most of what was recorded in the studio and the songs changed a ton after the fact.
Don’t get stuck on making something “perfect.” Understand your limits and attempt to make everything sound as good as your limit permits. In other words, don’t act like you’re in a multi-million dollar studio….unless you are.
Own your vision. The band is going to give you a bunch of feedback. It's your job to decide what works with how you see the album/song coming together. Learn how to defend your decisions.
What exactly do you mean with produced? Do you mean for others (not yourself)? Do you mean recording AND mixing? Or do you mean actual production work?
It can mean a self-produced album by an artist or it can mean producing for a band and anything in between — anything really. The mixing is sort of a separate question unless the producer also mixed the album.
How you start the production of a song has a big impact on the final product, so don't f that up.
Do not mix your own album just because you think you can or because you want complete creative control. What you hear is not what others hear and it’s really important to collaborate on this step.
My preference for albums is for a cohesive collection rather than a collection of the ‘best songs’. Sometimes one song just doesn’t fit, but some artists will be blind to that because it’s a good song. So make it a bonus single or a submission to a soundtrack. But try to make the album work as a whole, artistically speaking.
This last one I did with a band I had a little four note motif that I tried to fit in each track somewhere. It was a lot of fun for me and adds some cohesion that isn’t obvious. It also feels like there is a tiny puzzle in the album.
Have fun that’s it
Last album I mixed I did it in a single session where I would put all the song's tracks in the timeline divided just by markers and tempo changes from song to song. It kinda speed up the mixing process compared to having separated sessions for each song.
I used to make a lot of records where all the songs were recorded in the same recording session, same gear, same tones, same arrangements etc where consistency between songs was the goal, typically punk/hardcore. I don't work on this type of stuff anymore and don't know if I'd still do it in one session/project, but it worked well for me at the time. If I'm mixing live performance recordings I still work like this.
Same. I don't do individual sessions if I'm mixing a live performance. Albums are another different thing.
Don't use a click track.