Jaelights

Slooping dupes over here

Succinct transbien musician behind Lorelei and the Ghost.
Bring me your finest Yuris!





Music Links:
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@Jaelights
SoundCloud:
https://soundcloud.com/jaelights
BandCamp:
https://jaelights.bandcamp.com/



Writing:
https://www.wattpad.com/user/Jaelights



Business Email if you want music:
loreleiandtheghost@gmail.com



Profile Pic by @nomnomnami


tl;dr

I think it's really important that, at some point during the process, you render the track out, put it on your phone/ipad/laptop/anything but your workstation and walk faaaaaaaar away from your DAW and then....

Just listen to it with a notepad and write notes.

Okay, in more detail now

It's so easy, when we listen to our songs, to hear an issue and want to fix it immediately. Our fingers are basically on the knobs before our reactions, let alone our thoughts, have fully formed. I think this is actually desirable early in the mixing process because, well, a) we're usually mixing to aid with the composition process and we're just trying to make parts more audible plus b) most problems are really obvious at this point so why not, ya know?

But when you're done composing and you've made your first pass (or two) at a full mix...

  • Take a breather, let your ears rest, they need to reset so you can hear clearly again. Sleeping on it, if you can, is optimal.
  • Come back, bounce the song out into .wav/.mp3/.ogg, just make sure it's high quality.
  • Take the song faaaaaaaaar away from your music computer/station/area/thunder dome (or at least go in another room, it's what I personally do actually πŸ˜‚).
  • Take a notepad (or just something to take notes on).
  • Take good headphones with you for listening or put your track on some other balanced set of speakers.
  • Listen and take notes without the distraction of having knobs to twiddle. You'll be surprised how much you learn about your mix when you just listen and can't futz with the mix at the same time.
  • Oh, and make sure you write impressions of things you like as well as things you dislike. It's really easy to get lost in a mix and accidentally remix in a way that buries your favorite parts. If you have notes saying "I like the guitar at :53" you'll be less likely to accidentally bury it in later mixes. Remember, mixing is all about prioritizing what you want the listener to notice!

When you get back to your work station do you very best to only fix the problems you have in your notes. Also, along those lines, it's usually best to only make 4 or 5 notes on any given song. Then make those adjustments, bounce the song out and do the review process again. We don't always have the luxury of time for this, but small adjustments and review are the best practice.

Heh, this ended up being kind of a lose sketch of good advice rather than a structured lesson. But hopefully it's useful for some of you that are learning to mix atm.

Keep in mind, I'm no expert myself. But this process has made my mixes better even if they aren't exactly perfect πŸ˜‚


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