June 3, 2017 editorial: comments

Musings about Mixing

One of the recent articles from Audiofanzine’s long-running series, “A Guide to Mixing Music,” is called “How to tell when a mix is done?” I’m referencing it here, because that’s a topic that I think about a lot — usually after I’ve been mixing for several hours. Nantho, the story’s author, makes some excellent points. None is more significant than, “I always take at least one day between the final mixing session and the validation.”

It’s quite amazing how much perspective you gain when giving your mix (or pretty much any creative project) a little space. When I come back the next day and listen, I’m almost sure to find a few aspects that are obviously out of whack, but which I didn’t notice at the end of a long session. 

I usually have a moment — relatively early in the mix process — where things are sounding quite good, but after which I start to veer off in a questionable direction. The problem is knowing when I've reached that crossroads. That's why I make a habit of saving incrementally. That way, I can revert back to an earlier version of the mix when I discover that for the last hour I’ve wandered off into the weeds (and I mean that metaphorically, not in the smoking sense).

Even when I’m satisfied that I’ve got the mix to a good point, there’s always the question of how it will translate to other systems. Thus, I begin the process of listening on systems outside of my studio, such as my car and my living room stereo. I find it ironic that we spend all this money on studio monitors and acoustic treatments — aimed at providing a flat frequency response — and then end up making our final judgments about our mixes on consumer systems like car stereos. 

I've interviewed a lot of mix engineers for Audiofanzine (you can find a lot of those interviews here), and I often will ask them “How do you know when you’re done?” They invariably say that they’re capable of discerning, with a pretty high level of certainty, when their mixes are finished. Naturally, these are accomplished mixers, with world-class skills and lots of experience, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Still, it’s impressive that they’re able to keep their perspective throughout the process, and know instinctively when they’ve gotten the mix to a finished state.

They also have the advantage of working with deadlines, which doesn’t allow them the luxury of endless recalls. I tend to do better in situations where I’m mixing someone else’s music and have a deadline, rather than when I’m working on my own music and can keep putting off the decision to call it, “done.” The total recall you get in a DAW is a wonderful thing in many ways, it makes it harder to complete a mix, and brings out the perfectionist in me.

Mixing is an broad subject, with many facets and many variables, and everyone seems to approach it a little differently. It’s endlessly challenging, but that’s what makes it so interesting. It's a subject that I never tire of, and I could go on and on about it, but, alas, I’ve come to the end of this month’s column. Back at you on July 1st.