Turn Around Time for Mixes

[ChrisWParticipant]

Hi everyone,

I was curious what everyone's opinion is on turn around times for mixes. I'm recording a live concert soon for a friend and will probably be mixing it and was wondering what a standard amount of time is to have in a mix, or a set of mixes for an album.

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Chris

[Magnus EmilssonParticipant]

Hello Chris.

Not an easy question to give a straight forward answer to. When I get asked for a timetable/quote to do a mix I usually calculate it like this

Setup & initial edit time for each track, about 2 hr. (sorting, bussing, cutting away silence etc)
Basic mix about 3 hr (pan, level, compression, etc)
Automation 2-3 hr (also includes special FX, transition and small edits)
Final polish and client approval version render 0,5 hr (a bit of quick limiting to get it to appropriate levels)

Recalls & changes about 0,5 - 1,5hr per recall

I usually spread this out over 3 days with setup & edit done on all tracks the first evening, then basic mix the next day on one of the songs, automation & final polish the day after that. Then I await approval on the first mix before continuing with the other tracks and do recalls etc and get the first one done. My reason for spreading it out over 3 days is to keep my ears fresh. I might be working on other mixes or other things the rest of my available time.
If the tracks have the same instrumentation and basic setup you can save time on the first two steps on the next ones.

Hope this help.

/Magnus

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by Magnus Emilsson.

[Tony LoignonParticipant]

Hey Chris,

When I record artists, I usually have a very rough mix for them within an hour after the last take, just to make sure we can agree on the performance, whole of the song and the vibe.

Then, like Magnus, I like to have everything done within 3 days. That is assuming I have no other projects at that time.

Comments or questions?

Tony

[ChrisWParticipant]

Thanks for the great advice Magnus and Tony! Hearing everyone's process is helpful in figuring out my own process and what works best for me.

[Ben TyremanParticipant]

It usually takes me around 3 days as well, I spend the entire last day or most of it on automation moves with the faders.

regards,

Ben.

• This reply was modified 3 years ago by Ben Tyreman.

[Kenneth HughParticipant]

"Setup & initial edit time for each track, about 2 hr. (sorting, bussing, cutting away silence etc)
Basic mix about 3 hr (pan, level, compression, etc)
Automation 2-3 hr (also includes special FX, transition and small edits)
Final polish and client approval version render 0,5 hr (a bit of quick limiting to get it to appropriate levels)

Recalls & changes about 0,5 - 1,5hr per recall"

This is invaluable! Thank you

When you say 2hrs per track are you talking about per complete track or per stem?

How do price according to stems (is there a max number of stems before you starting increasing the price)?

• This reply was modified 2 years ago by Kenneth Hugh.
• This reply was modified 2 years ago by Kenneth Hugh.
• This reply was modified 2 years ago by Kenneth Hugh.

[Magnus EmilssonParticipant]

Sorry I meant 2 hours per song. In my experience the number of tracks actually has little influence on the time it takes to prep (for track counts within reason, < 150 tracks), because in most cases the track count goes up when it comes to things like strings and bg vocals. Which are usually quite easy to setup, lot of the same processing and editing on all of them.

/Magnus

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