How many people mix/master their own music?

[hummingbird]

Hi everyone,

I'm a new member and I've been doing some new instrumental cues for Taxi listings. I was attempting to do my own mixing on these cues after researching a lot on YouTube and other sites. After some time, I got so frustrated with my lack of knowledge that I went onto Fiverr and found some people who could mix/master my track for very cheap, in 1-2 days. Problem is, I don't want to have to do this every time I create a song.

I'm wondering how many Taxi members mix/master their own songs versus hiring it out?

I'm also wondering if I continue trying to mix/master my own songs, will this hurt me because the songs could be rejected for poor mixing quality? How high is the bar for Taxi's screeners for mixing quality?

Thanks.

First, I see no one has mentioned this, but make sure you have work-for-hires for any tracks mastered by others. Do not submit anything to libraries or TAXI that you don't have paperwork for and own free and clear.

I write both songs and instrumentals but I tend to only submit instrumentals as I have learned how to mix them effectively. You really don't need a 'mastered' track, you just need a good clean mix, and I leaned how to do that right here on this forum, and through the screening process. When I started to get things returned for reasons other than production, I graduated lol.

Start by listening in peer and peer & reading the comments of others on production values and see if you can hear what they are saying.
Then post one of your mixes and ask for feedback. Remix, try again.

Your sound set-up is important to the mixing process.

In mixing you have width, height, depth. If you scroll through this page you get an overview of the things you need to think about - https://www.landr.com/how-to-mix

There are plenty of youtube videos on mixing too, starting with these
https://www.youtube.com/c/TaxiIndepende ... ery=mixing

HTH

[eeoo]

It's also worth noting that if you are doing production music you will likely be responsible for providing any combination of alt mixes, stems and cutdowns (not to mention a publisher asking you to tweak your main mix) and you have no way of knowing in advance which of these you'll need to provide. Another reason doing your own mixing/mastering is pretty much essential if you're looking to get into the world of synch.

[hummingbird]

It's also worth noting that if you are doing production music you will likely be responsible for providing any combination of alt mixes, stems and cutdowns (not to mention a publisher asking you to tweak your main mix) and you have no way of knowing in advance which of these you'll need to provide. Another reason doing your own mixing/mastering is pretty much essential if you're looking to get into the world of synch.

+1

[AudiniAudio]

Rick,

for a live set do you think in terms of two fast and one slow, three fast and one slow or something else?

[RPaul]

for a live set do you think in terms of two fast and one slow, three fast and one slow or something else?

It totally depends what songs I am wanting to do any given time. It's not only about pacing of songs but themes, which ones I consider "the hits" (i.e. ones that either consistently get crowd response or I think are likely to if they're new). I tend to have a lot more ballads than up-tempo songs, and, being a keyboard player, often doing solo piano/vocal, it can be harder to pull off up-tempo songs since you don't have drums or rhythm guitars keeping the beat. (Though I do my best keeping rhythms up on the piano, and doing keyboard bass, there are still songs that are much harder to pull off on piano -- e.g. I have one "ukulele song" that really takes advantage of strumming rhythms, but that is really hard to do on the piano on the rhythmic front, though I have done it live.) Of course, that limitation doesn't come into play when sequencing an album (since I can do whatever sorts of virtual bands I want for any given song on my recordings).

On the (relatively rare) occasions when I making a set list for a band, I will typically do a higher balance of up-tempo and mid-tempo songs. Also, if it is a dancing environment, as opposed to a listening environment, the balance will shift even more into the faster material.

It's easier to give an example off one of my albums from the last two years, though. I'll pick my 2019 album ("The Road That I Must Take" - http://smarturl.it/TheRoadThatIMustTake) instead of the 2020 one ("Moments of Insanity" - http://smarturl.it/MomentsOfInsanity) because the latter was kind of a special case due to having a bunch of styles, which had me making 4 mini-sets instead of longer sequences (6-song "sides" in the former case).

I start out with two up-tempo songs before getting to a power ballad. That first up-tempo one was what I used as my highlight cut on the album (e.g. for pitching for Spotify editorial playlists), and is actually the one of my songs that has the most streams at the moment (due solely to Pandora play as it doesn't get all that much on other services). The second one was one I wrote specifically for the album, after I had the theme in mind, so the first two songs are a really strong introduction to the theme of the album, which is about twisty-turny roads through life, crossroads in life, and purpose. The ballad (i.e. track #3) is one I felt really strongly would keep people listening, and it basically treats hindsight and communications in relationships. Song #4 could possibly be called mid-tempo or another power ballad, but is one of the most memorable songs hook-wise (e.g. the first time I every played it live, the audience was singing along in the chorus). It also happens to be the song that gives the album its title (from a line in the song, not the song's title) and talks to purpose. #5 is more or less mid-tempo, and is one of the songs I was less confident in for holding an audience, but I was hoping the first four songs, between the up-tempo start and 3 of the 4 being ones I was pretty confident would keep people listening, felt like I could afford one I was less sure about at this point. Then I finished the first side with another power ballad that is quite on-topic with the album's overall theme. I felt it was a good "finale" song for that first side.

The second side goes more in a romantic relationships direction than the first side did. It starts up-tempo again, but with a blindsided jilting song. The second track on that "side" (track #8 overall) goes very dark, and it is in a style unlike anything I'd ever done before, but it is keeping the "story" of that second side flowing. That's followed up by an up-tempo song that is kind of "safe", and also kind of humorous, though not overtly song (it's basically like a 12-step meeting on love). The next one (#10) gets kind of steamy and starts the recovery from the jilting. I guess it could be called mid-tempo -- it's kind of bluesy. The second to last song is pure up-tempo, and kind of pop-rock. Then the final song is ends on a bittersweet note, and I think is pretty solidly in ballad territory.

The second "side" is more sequenced by story flow, where the first "side" is more sequenced to try to keep people listening once they get started. Of course, in the streaming world, that probably doesn't matter much. (I actually wrote a "story behind the album" blog -- http://rickpaulmusic.com/story-behind-t ... must-take/ -- when I put the album out that goes more into detail of how the tracks fit the concept, or at least how I rationalized it in addition to giving more on the history of how the album emerged.)

Rick

[AudiniAudio]

Yes, it does depend on the kind of music you're doing and if you're mostly a soloist.

[Laynalae]

Hi, currently I’m attempting but I’m not the greatest. I’ve been looking for an engineer in the DMV area, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[RickElliott]

I do.
It took over ten years for me to get it close to being right. I think even Eddy Kramer said, "After 30 years, you'll just be getting it". Maybe an exaggeration, be after 30 years, you'll see what he's talking about if you can still hear.
After all this time for me, here's two important things I've learned:

1. Don't NOT reference like songs & preferably in the same key as the song you're working on.
2. If you can't afford great acoustic treatment for your room, get something like Sonarworks for better sound representation.

This is assuming you've educated yourself in how to mix and master.

The best education is doing it a lot.

[jdstamper]

I do my own mixing and mastering. But it took a long time to learn. I think what takes time is to develop your ears to be able to hear what's wrong (10,000 hours?). Early on, some of my mixes were good enough to get deals, but many were not. It also took me longer, and more iterations before I would get it right.

Now I can do it faster and more consistently. But it's still a constant learning process, we're always trying to get better. Also, I think if you take a long break from recording, it takes time to get your ears back in shape again.

Jim