just did a perfect mix in pt11

[mmk]

Pt11 makes mixing so much easier, and fun. Some songs are harder to mix than others.the easy ones take me about a week. A hard mix can take a long time up to a month maybe more sometimes. Thats when i hate mixing when i do a song like that. Until its over. Then im happy that its mixed. Mixing is very subjective. its very easy to go completley the wrong way thinking it sounds better, only to come back to the song realizing you ruined it. Especially when its all in the box


Appreciating pt 11 because the software works so well from start to finish! Feels great to do a "perfect mix" (first time i ever said that about a mix i did) with only a small amount of frustration. Its a great feeling and thats the reason i have been with pro tools since the start. In my opinion, bugs aside, pro tools is the best daw for recorded music. Some mixes / days r better than others but im lovin pro tools 11 right now. Btw the mixes im talkin about r my own songs, but also for clients, pt11 makes things much much faster when working. That offline bounce is key and the efficiency of the audio engine makes it fun to work with. Every day.

[Peter Duemmler]

Pardon, it takes you one week to just mix (everything recorded and edited before) an EASY song? 8 hours a day? What kind of songs are that?

Peter

[JCBigler]

I know what you mean.

It reminds me of this one project I had. A live recording of a symphony orchestra. I had like 43 input channels and the total playing time was about 100 minutes.

Originally, I was told I would have at least three weeks, and probably four weeks to edit, mix, and master the recording. Well, two days after the performance they called and said, "hey, you can get that done and delivered to the radio station by Friday, right?"

Uhh...yeah. Anyway, I spent about 25 hours over the next four days mixing that performance (I even had to call in sick to my regular job just to get an extra day), and sure enough got it done and delivered to the radio station by 5pm on Friday for their broadcast on the following Sunday afternoon.

I would have never been able to do that without Protools 11. Offline Bounce FTW!

[Drew Mazurek]

I've been doing this professionally for YEARS and I am still waiting to do a "perfect" mix.

[Barry Johns]

Originally Posted by Drew Mazurek

I've been doing this professionally for YEARS and I am still waiting to do a "perfect" mix.

Umhum!

[mmk]

Originally Posted by Peter Duemmler

Pardon, it takes you one week to just mix (everything recorded and edited before) an EASY song? 8 hours a day? What kind of songs are that?

Peter

my own style... a little bit of this... a little bit of that... maybe 15 tracks total would be easy... about 50 would be one of the larger mixes... anything over 50 would be out of my genre most likeley

Originally Posted by JCBigler

I know what you mean.

It reminds me of this one project I had. A live recording of a symphony orchestra. I had like 43 input channels and the total playing time was about 100 minutes.

Originally, I was told I would have at least three weeks, and probably four weeks to edit, mix, and master the recording. Well, two days after the performance they called and said, "hey, you can get that done and delivered to the radio station by Friday, right?"

Uhh...yeah. Anyway, I spent about 25 hours over the next four days mixing that performance (I even had to call in sick to my regular job just to get an extra day), and sure enough got it done and delivered to the radio station by 5pm on Friday for their broadcast on the following Sunday afternoon.

I would have never been able to do that without Protools 11. Offline Bounce FTW!

wow

Originally Posted by Drew Mazurek

I've been doing this professionally for YEARS and I am still waiting to do a "perfect" mix.

I feel this... let me explain

the first mix i ever felt i perfected (in 7 years of mixing), im listening to it right now, im sure there are flaws. but in my eyes its exactly how i pictured it should sound which is why I said "perfect" (actually better than expected sound quality wise). Great bass that doesn't get boomy when I walk around the room, and the melody and drums blend in the way I want with the vocal. Bass management is a big issue for me so when I get it just right it's a great feeling. Every time i use pro tools and make an improvement like this I get really happy. Sometimes I get happy enough to share my experiences. this was that time. Just like to show my appreciation for pro tools when I can. Thanks Avid

[sighermike]

Throw it up on Soundcloud and share it. I'd like to hear your mix.

[trakbytes]

Originally Posted by JCBigler

...It reminds me of this one project I had. A live recording of a symphony orchestra. I had like 43 input channels and the total playing time was about 100 minutes....

I used to record large orchestral and chorale pieces at a University level and have been on some large film scoring sessions. I never saw anyone use that many input channels for classical performances. After all, the performance is presented as a whole without the expectation of overdubbing individual parts, correct?

Not arguing with your approach as I know nothing about the performance, venue (live outdoors?) or production, but that seems like a lot of tracks to manage for an orchestral performance. I'm sure it was challenging! Hope the radio audience appreciated your effort.

[JCBigler]

Originally Posted by trakbytes

I used to record large orchestral and chorale pieces at a University level and have been on some large film scoring sessions. I never saw anyone use that many input channels for classical performances. After all, the performance is presented as a whole without the expectation of overdubbing individual parts, correct?

Not arguing with your approach as I know nothing about the performance, venue (live outdoors?) or production, but that seems like a lot of tracks to manage for an orchestral performance. I'm sure it was challenging! Hope the radio audience appreciated your effort.

So, this was atypical of the normal classical music performances that I do.

What this was, was a simulcast of a live symphony orchestra performance with an audience in our concert hall, to a remote location about half a mile away, at an outdoor amphitheater. We had a production truck from the local cable company, as well as a microwave transmitter set up on our loading dock, and a microwave receiver system set up at the remote location.

They sent live video of the performance (5 or 6 camera shots, I think) along with a stereo mix down that I did live and some audience mics to the remote location, where they displayed the video feed on a large screen to those at the remote location.

In order to have the best sounding mix for the live audience at the remote location; I miced the orchestra like I would for a pops show. And, since I had everything on the console, I threw it all into Nuendo Live via Dante Virtual Sound Card and then had to import everything into Protools in post (since Protools is lame and won't let you record more than 32 inputs at a time without HD hardware ). I should mention, that the live performance in our concert hall was not reinforced. All of the mics went to the broadcast/remote location and the recording. And then the recording was broadcast via local public radio a week or two later.

My normal symphony orchestra recording set up is 7 or 8 mics, depending on if they have a soloist or not. For Opera, I have used up to 25, depending on whether there is off stage chorus, or singing in the house etc...

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by Drew Mazurek

I've been doing this professionally for YEARS and I am still waiting to do a "perfect" mix.

Same here.

And to the OP: I can do an okay mix before you can brew coffee, compared to a week for a "perfect" mix that can be bettered...