Your mix is served!

[Reitzas]

How do you serve up your mix to a client?

 

Just a few thoughts;

Do you mix alone and ask them to come later or do you have them around all day giving you input from the get-go? Do you sit next to them the first time they hear it or do you leave the room? Do you wait until it's finished before playing it or do you say it's a work in progress? Do you play it loud, medium or soft? Do you use the big speakers or the nearfields? Do you make changes together or do you ask them to give you a list of things to change on your own?

 

Here's what I do in a perfect world;

I like to mix from about 11 or noon by myself until 7 or 8. I ask the ears to come at that time. Lights low, vibe high I set the nearfield speakers medium loud, tell them where the play button and volume knob is, suggest they listen a few times (because they will hear things they never heard before) and then I leave the room.

When I come back I can usually tell by the look on their faces whether or not it's gonna be a long night. I'd be lying if I said that I get home early all the time. Usually I'll do any big global changes on my own and then we sit together and dig into the finer tweaks.

If possible we each take CD's home and then reconvene in the a.m. and finish up the changes.

 

There's other ways I go through this process. I'll explain later, but for now I'm interested to hear how others go about their mix presentations.

 

Dave Reitzas

www.reitzas.com

[Alndln]

Originally posted by Reitzas:

I'm interested to hear how others go about their mix presentations.

Since I only mix my own stuff I can take my time.Of course I'll listen to it on a variety of other systems (with other people)but not right away but rather over the coarse of at least 2 weeks if not longer.It's amazing what I'm hearing by then that I didn't originally,but the key is time between listining.I usualy then go back and know exactly what to do.Then I "present it" to myself.

[Lee Knight]

Pretty much the way you decribed it Dave. I set the mood, show them the play button and the volume... and leave the room.

 

Then... it's a question of how far off from their vision I am as to how much more work is involved. Sometimes it's done. Sometimes...

[John Sayers]

I prefer to mix alone - I find that with today's unlimited number of tracks people OD on parts and stuff. I usually end up cutting half of it out so it's better to do it on your own and face the consequences later

 

cheers

john

[Dan South]

Dave,

 

Do you take any breaks between 11 and 8? Do you spend all of this time on one song or on several?

 

Thanks!

[dougsthang]

I have a question for you Dave. Do you always start from a fixed point? meaning you know that a mix will sound good from this starting point and then tweak from there or do you always build from the ground up? I guess I'm curious, do people hire you to get that David Reitzas sound or do they hire you get a mix they hear in there heads? I know you have your trusty rack or secret goodies but do you keep those pretty close to a fixed point with fine adjustments?

 

By the way, we're going to have a little get together "a welcome summer" gathering at the house. I'll let you and your wife know (kids welcome) Emily is going to be 4 next month and loves to play with the other kids.

[dougsthang]

Also after reading how a few of you do it I can only say thank god for flying faders. "I set the mix and leave the room" could that have been possible fifteen years ago? then it would have been "I ask the client to have a seat next to the bong and then hope the two assistant engineers pulled their correct moves during the mix."

[lrossmusic]

Question. I am not an engineer but I wonder what percentage of your clients prefer to be present throughout the entire mixing process? Personally, as an artist/producer, I can't imagine not being around for the mix.

[Philip OKeefe]

Great question Dave.

 

For me, it usually depends on the nature of the project. Normally I prefer to mix alone, at least initially. I'll ask the producer or artist(s) a few questions about sonic preferences and direction, and then ask for a while to work by myself and get the general mix happening. After that point, I bring them back in for any tweaks / changes they might want.

 

Some clients want to be present for the mix, and I'm generally okay with that, as long as they can allow me time to work on things uninterupted. If it's going to be a lot of chit chat and general noise coming from the back of the room, I'll ask that they retire to the lounge. I HATE a lot of extraneous noise when I'm trying to mix - which is one reason I prefer to mix alone.

 

If I'm producing, I almost always mix alone. I might bounce some stuff off of one or two band members or a friend / assistant engineer or whatever, but I tend to work alone and then play it for the artist when I'm pretty much "done".

 

When I DO play a mix (or a mix in progress) back for a client, I usually dim the lights a bit, set the ADAM's up for about a 90 dB SPL, show 'em the volume control and yes, I usually leave the room too. I also usually have a pad of paper and a pen handy for them in case they want to write down any comments or issues, and locator points / song positions.

 

What I try to avoid is mixing by committe, with the whole band, the producer and whomever else happens to be hanging around making comments. It's always a train wreck. Most band members can't detach themselves from the song, from their individual contributions and listen to the mix as a "whole", so you end up dealing with endless "fader warz". Not fun. And the mix always ends up lacking direction and focus and coherency.

 

In perfect world though, it's either just me, or me and the producer or one member of the band, or if I'm producing, a good second with good ears that I trust... do the mix, play it back for the whole crew when I'm / we're done, and then make any slight changes they want and go home.

[Extreme Mixing]

Dave,

 

I have lost all control. No vibe monitor, no volume control. More and more, I find myself sending the mix out late at night over the internet, and then getting comments back in the morning via email or a phone call. I'm pretty comfortable with my room, but I have yet to take a mix to a client, play it in person on their system, and not hear things that I would handle differently, given their listening envoronment. So that part sucks. The plus side is that they get to hear the mix in a place where they are comfortable making decisions.

 

Several of my clients have the same Pro Tools system that I use. For them, I can send the session documet, so they can do a few tweaks on their own, and we can send it back and forth a few times. I have to keep track of the new audio files that I have made and make sure they have them, too--Kick/Snare helper, tuned vocals, additional loops. As long as we're working form the same audio files, it can be very fast. Most of these are guys I've worked with for a while and I know their skill level. We're usually working on more than one song at a time, so the tag team thing is pretty efficiant.

 

I really miss mixing in the room with the group. I like the instant feedback. I like playing to the crowd. You know right away whether they like your "backwards guitar leading into the breakdown" idea. Breakdown??? There's a breakdown now! Cool! That's what I'm talking about...

 

Steve

[Curve Dominant]

posted by Dave Reitzas:

How do you serve up your mix to a client?

Hey, Dave! Great to see you around.

 

I mix alone. So far my client base is still unsigned "below-the-radar" in nature, and don't make demands like "I have to be there when you mix."

 

I like to mix at night, until quite late, at low levels. The next morning (or afternoon) I'll listen to it a few times to see if I still like it, and crank it up loud at least once. Usually end up tweaking a few things.

 

When the mix is sounding "finished" to my ears, I invite them in, get them a drink, sit them in the hot seat, and let them hit the spacebar. I stay in the room with them because, frankly, I live in my studio and there's nowhere else to go! (LOL)

 

So far my success rate is pretty high. Rarely have I gotten sent completely back to the drawing board. More likely they hear little things they want adjusted, and we sit together in front of Pro Tools and I tweak until they're happy. Singer/songwriters tend to be visual, and like seeing the adjustments made on the computer monitor, especially in the edit window. One recent client noticed that late in the song, a backup vocal briefly went out of sync with the lead, and she got a kick out of seeing me zoom in on the waveform and move that one syllable into place.

 

Then I'll burn them a CD of the mix, and give them the option of living with it for awhile, just to make sure they're 100% happy. Kinda laid back, yeah, but hey this is Philly!

[Reitzas]

Originally posted by dougsthang':

I have a question for you Dave. Do you always start from a fixed point? meaning you know that a mix will sound good from this starting point and then tweak from there or do you always build from the ground up? I guess I'm curious, do people hire you to get that David Reitzas sound or do they hire you get a mix they hear in there heads? I know you have your trusty rack or secret goodies but do you keep those pretty close to a fixed point with fine adjustments?

Hi Doug,

I am always trying new ways of doing things although I do have a vast mind library of things that I know will work for a particular situation.

Each mix I do I like to start with a blank canvas. After a few initial listens of the raw tracks I start to get the final mix in my head and then I spend the bulk of the time trying to get there.

I often take breaks but continue to mix the song in my head while I'm away from the console. When I go back in the room I tackle the ideas I had until it's time for another ear break.

People hire me for both for my sound and because I'm very into helping other people get their sound. But mostly I think people like the way I respect the vocals.

I have a lot of gear and I'm always turning knobs to new places.

On the other hand, I've experimented before by deciding that I would do a mix by not changing any of the settings on the studio outboard gear from the previous session that was in before me. It actually works well if you get lucky to get in the studio after a great mixer (I do this for my stuff and wouldn't limit myself for a real client). Anyone's welcome to book the studio after one of my sessions and use the same technique.

Anyway, it would be great to see you.

Best,

Dave Reitzas

www.reitzas.com

[Reitzas]

Originally posted by Extreme Mixing:

 

.... I like the instant feedback. I like playing to the crowd. You know right away whether they like your "backwards guitar leading into the breakdown" idea. Breakdown??? There's a breakdown now! Cool! That's what I'm talking about...

 

Steve

That's what I call the "whoa" factor. The moment when they look at you and go "whoa, that was cool!"

 

Dave Reitzas

www.reitzas.com