I ve Got a Question for You

[jtransition]

1,Where do you (Or did you) learn about the art of production/ mixdown and who do you take advice from?
2,How long (average) do you take to mixdown a track?

Just curious
Jason

[dirtycash]

1,Where do you (Or did you) learn about the art of production/ mixdown and who do you take advice from?

Mostly self taught. Started using old analougue gear
808's, 606'sUse to record live to four track Tape and then 8track
Big beliver in getting the elements / levels right before applying any mastering, ie a live approach.
Switched to computers in late 90's..try try to keep it simple.
Get advice from forums like this, industry people
2,How long (average) do you take to mixdown a track?
Try keep a mix as tight as possible in production.
Spend a couple of hours on final mix down.

Just curious
Jason

[decklyn]

1,Where do you (Or did you) learn about the art of production/ mixdown and who do you take advice from?

Very much self taught. A key figure is my Engineer/Friend Robb Webster (Symbiant) who got me using Cubase, and who I discuss engineering issues with frequently. He went to school at the Toronto Film School for engineering. I've got alot of respect for him, and he's helped me alot. The real work is going to be in your individual space tho, no matter wether or not you're trained professionally. It's a life long process examining the trends in production. I'm no expert that is for sure.

2,How long (average) do you take to mixdown a track?

Lately I've been doing it as I go for the most part. I find I have better success. I occasionally A/B a bit along the way. But i've got monitors I can trust, and I find I'm usually not TOO off base... But of course, it's not mastered or anything so usually all forum dubs sound different than pressed tunes (well I can sure hear it on my monitors anyways - in my car things sound much different)

[daft cunt]

1 - I started messing up with my tracker & samples (only) years ago but began making music few months ago when I finally got myself a decent computer, reached the DSF and decided to learn about vsts/is and stuff.

2 - Usually I try to set things while creating. Then I go do sthg else, come back and realize the mixdown is weak so I try to fix it before I go on with producing.

How about you Jason & Dirtycash?

[nospin]

1,Where do you (Or did you) learn about the art of production/ mixdown and who do you take advice from?

i started messing with computers and music on my own back in highschool.. i took a few digital music courses during highschool, and after i graduated i attended school for audio engineering for 2 years... i stopped going to that school without finishing my degree though... other than that, books, magazines, forums, websites... i read all that i can

2,How long (average) do you take to mixdown a track?

i have more unfinished tracks on my computer than i know what to do with, and the ones i've finished arent mixed down very well at all so i dont know how to answer that

whats the correct answer??

[octave_noize]

I started learnin music production in school..not that i can say that i learnt much usful stuff there...but it got me started with cubasis (lol yes cubasis) and then Cubase. From there i just taught myself the rest really...from hours of fiddling around with different software etc..Now im at uni doing music tech, but it still isn't teaching me as much i learn in my own time and what i want to learn. as for advice, mates who produce and dont produce always give me feedback and comments and all the dubstep forumers and other forum headz.

Like someone else said, i have so many unfinished tracks...getting the track to the point where i mixdown doesn't happen that often..apart from the few tracks that i have finished..
whats your 'story' Jtransition?

[jtransition]

How about you Jason & Dirtycash?

It`s funny because i started transition originally to as a place to cut and somewhere to put my studio but over time my productions have had to be put on hold due to the amount of work involved in running this company.

whats the correct answer??

There is no correct answer i just asked the questions because after reading some of the posts here recently i was curious.
Great answers so far keep em coming

[victorxray]

1. I am self-taught ... when I were a young lad doing electrical engineering I did a bit of audio engineering from which I learnt the basics of microphones, mixers and how much a big old "W"-bin weighs when you got to lug it up three floors of venue staircase with no lift. From that point I progressed to PRO-24 on an Atari for my own music needs thence onto Cubase 1.0 on ATARI and later on Macs and PCs. Then I had the astounding good luck to be invited to a course at Film School where I learnt to use things like Neve consoles and Studer 24 tracks and work a few years location sound recording for TV.

2. I find this depends, I can sometimes arrange and mix a track in a single day. Other times, it takes me a three full days or so spread over a week. I do try to work as quick as possible nowadays ... I find I can over-work / over-mix / over-think a track to death if I agonise about it too much. So I just get in and get it done. I feel the important thing is to "get it right at the source" i.e. record the sound you need and not rely on so much post-processing.

[jamminb]

1,Where do you (Or did you) learn about the art of production/ mixdown and who do you take advice from?
2,How long (average) do you take to mixdown a track?

Just curious
Jason

I'm still learning and doubt I'll ever stop, the last five years I have been completing my music production degree, obviously alot of knowledge has been picked up from that however listening to other tunes, reading the net, feedback from mates and just experimenting has taught me a huge amount about production.

As far as mastering go's it usually takes me about 30- 60 minutes as all they usually need is a bit of low freq cut, some 12k Hz added and small amount of compression.

[forensix (mcr)]

1,Where do you (Or did you) learn about the art of production/ mixdown and who do you take advice from?
2,How long (average) do you take to mixdown a track?

Just curious
Jason

1. i am self taught, i have learnt little things from friends, stuff on the internet , and by reading books and by trying stuff out

2. i mix as i go so as long as the track takes i guess

[metalboxproducts]

Self tought. Methods included listening to records i liked and trying to replicate what i heard. This and the odd copy of SOS. LOL I started off with an Akia drum machine and learnt how to use that. This also tought me aboout bars and beats. When i started i didn't even know what a bar was and that you usually put a kick on the first beat. A fried who had quite a lot of musical training pointed me in the right direction. This is the only advice i've been given apart from reading stuff in mags as stated. After the drum machine i bought a Roland W30. It has a hardware seqencer in it as well as a sampler. with this i was able to build tracks but the still sounded shit. It did teach me about sequencing pretty well. This broke and i didn't have any thing to make music until i got a computer.

[b-lam]

1. self taught mostly. been playin and composin music since i was tiny so the music came easy. learnt most of what little i know on the technical side from scouring DOA for useful stuff.

2. mixdown usually takes about 3 hours intensive then a couple of hours over the next week to keep my ears fresh. I try to stay away from endless tweaking, if it doesnt sound right after a few hours then it usually means the arrangement isnt right.

[subframe]

1. another self-taught person here. I take advice from anyone. Technically speaking, not many people can offer useful advice, but in terms of what sounds good or how a tune feels, I'll listen to anyone who has something interesting to say about a tune.

2. I usually mix while writing. Since everything's in the machine/Logic, I can control it all as I go. I'll usually leave a tune for a while after I'm done writing it, though, then come back and tweak it before doing a final bounce and calling it done.

[jtransition]

As far as mastering go's it usually takes me about 30- 60 minutes as all they usually need is a bit of low freq cut, some 12k Hz added and small amount of compression.

JamminB
Are you confusing mixing with mastering?

[jamminb]

As far as mastering go's it usually takes me about 30- 60 minutes as all they usually need is a bit of low freq cut, some 12k Hz added and small amount of compression.

JamminB
Are you confusing mixing with mastering?

Yup, I most certainly am

Generally, I mix my tracks as I go along, so to me its just part of the production process.

[ruckus.dk]

1,Where do you (Or did you) learn about the art of production/ mixdown and who do you take advice from?

a few years back i saw reason....thought hey i can do that shit, then a pal taught me the basics, and i just played with reason solidly since...


2,How long (average) do you take to mixdown a track?
mixdowns usuall take somewhere between 1-3 hours depending on the size of the track ect ect, but never any longer really..

[el sudor]

mix takes place over three days, 2-3 hours on each day.

constantly learniing as everybody is i guess, mixdowns will change with musical styles and fashions in sound.

[jtransition]

Does anyone compare their unreleased tracks to released tracks?
I noticed someone in this forum uses a multiband comp on their mixes how common is that?
Thanks
Jason

[metalboxproducts]

Does anyone compare their unreleased tracks to released tracks?
I noticed someone in this forum uses a multiband comp on their mixes how common is that?
Thanks
Jason

When i mix down a track i comp it to something similar just to make sure it's sounding ok.

[misk]

im self-taught as well. aside from the odd audio class at uni, and a few books here and there, most of the knowledge i've gathered is from messing around with equipment.

as far as the mixdown process goes, i tend to mix as i go, which seems to be the case with a lot of people here as well. i cant get too far into the mix without everything sounding clean, and cohesive.

i do compare my stuff with released tracks quite a lot. the only negative side to doing this, i've found, is that i get really hard on myself when im comparing myself to others. (especially loefah, mala, skream, etc...)


trying to get an idea of how forum producers are making their stuff, so you can work with them accordingly when they want to get mastered/cut?