Perfection in your mixes.

A good mix is a perfect mix

I’ve been working on a song for a while now, from producing and recording to ultimately mixing. It’s a great song that’s been really fun to work on by a dear friend of mine. But when you’re involved in a project for so long and listen to the same song over and over again, ultimately you need a break from it.

Fatigue and tiredness from mixing is not an unheard concept. The general rule when mixing is that you should never mix when your ears are tired, so if you’re been recording or have been listening to music the whole day your mixing session is not going to go the same way as if you had rested ears.

You also need to try to step away from the mix. Because when you’re so involved in a mix you get way too much into the details, hearing things most listeners will never hear.

Dwelling on the details and trying to perfect every single note is an exercise in futility.

“The problem with perfection is that it has no limits. Normally, once you think you have obtained perfection you realize how it could be better.”

So every once in a while, take a step back. Think to yourself:

“Can I hear the song as a song instead of a collection of frequencies and amplitudes?”

If you are just pushing faders up and down, tweaking eq to and from the original mix you are never actually going to be able to finish a mix. There comes a time when you should just say to yourself:

“Ok, this is done. It sounds consistent to what I want it to”

If you had an idea in your head before starting the mix and now it’s sounding like you want it to, no amount of nit-pick-tweaking is going to make it perfect in your ears anymore.

My teacher told us, a mix is never finished, it’s abandoned. And that’s exactly what you should do. If it sounds good enough to you and amazing to other listeners, it is done.

And that’s exactly what I did. I just left it as is. I could have tweaked those guitars for months but I thought to myself: “This song is exactly as I want it to be”

Because in the end, it’s all about the song.

Musicians in a live sound setting

For me, there are two types of musicians.

Those that are so full of themselves and think that whatever you’re trying to do is a horrible job. These artists contantly complain about every aspect of your job. It is impossible to cater to these artists because whatever you do, it’s not good enough.

And then there are the musicians that are so insecure that they won’t tell you if you’re doing what they want you to. If they are unhappy with the sound, they won’t tell you because it’s probably their ears, or their fault it sounds bad.

And every once in a while, you get the third kind.

The professional.

The professional knows what you are doing and knows what you should be doing. They have been to enough sound-checks that they are comfortable with asking for what they want without being assholes about it. They don’t let things slide because they’re afraid of asking questions about but they also don’t bitch and moan when something doesn’t work out.

But there is equal importance in being a sound-tech.

I don’t know how many small gigs I’ve been to that could have been much better if the engineer knew how to do his job properly. I’m not saying that you should have a degree in audio, but a little understanding always helps.

There is also a difference in having the title of a professional and acting professionally. Having an engineering degree or diploma of some sort takes hours and thousands of dollars/euros/pounds. But acting professionally is free.

So the next time you’re acting as a musician or working as a sound-tech in a concert venue, remember to act professionally. Mutual respect between musicians and engineers can do wonders for the vibe of the work setting and will deliver better results to the audience.