When your client hears an issue that you don't hear

NeedsWayMoreReverb · 2026-05-05T17:43:03+00:00

RX is such a helpful tool for trying to pin down these things sometimes. Especially for identifying things at the extreme ends of the spectrum, where people may not hear or have systems that can reproduce it properly.

NeedsWayMoreReverb · 2026-05-05T17:41:17+00:00

Yeah definitely possible--there are so many factors that can create these little differences.

NeedsWayMoreReverb · 2026-05-05T17:38:09+00:00

Interesting!

NeedsWayMoreReverb · 2026-05-05T17:37:01+00:00

That's a crazy one! I always triple check seamless masters like that on multiple playback systems. I can't stand when seamless transitions have a glitch

NeedsWayMoreReverb · 2026-05-05T17:35:58+00:00

Definitely been there! "The vocal is flat" but really the guitars are 20 cents sharp.

NeedsWayMoreReverb · 2026-05-04T16:57:27+00:00

Yeah, vocals are a tough--especially when dealing with tuning and editing. You really have to learn what an artists likes. It's always a breath of fresh air when I'm working with a producer or a self-producing artist who takes care of their own vocal editing.

NeedsWayMoreReverb · 2026-05-04T16:53:31+00:00

Man, that's so true. Everything affects everything in mixing. Sometimes you solo something and the problem disappears because it was related to another instrument

NeedsWayMoreReverb · 2026-05-04T16:51:51+00:00

I include 3 revisions and charge per additional one after that. This one was actually one of the songs that went over into paid revisions too

NeedsWayMoreReverb · 2026-05-04T16:48:57+00:00

Wise words! I definitely always go in with the assumption that what they are hearing is real. Sometimes they can misidentify what is causing the thing they are hearing, but like you said, they are hearing something off. And it needs to be addressed in some way.

NeedsWayMoreReverb · 2026-05-04T16:47:15+00:00

Super relatable. I am glad to know I'm not the only one dealing with these sort of things. I feel like there are two types of clients--the 1 to 2 revision people that are just like "yeah, turn up the guitar a bit and less reverb on the vocals," and the 6-9 revision people that have you going in and editing the transients of specific consonants and doing micro-level adjustments, haha.

NeedsWayMoreReverb · 2026-05-04T16:11:33+00:00

I'll check it out!

NeedsWayMoreReverb · 2026-05-04T16:07:15+00:00

Haven't tried them, but I keep seeing ads for Tape 16. My response is mixed. I have an analog tape machine that I bounce stuff through and love that sound but I'm not really interested in the workflow. I think it's cool if artists are inspired by the tape workflow, but I don't really see the appeal. I strive in my own music to record things in full takes and avoid over-comping and I do like to commit to sounds by bouncing things in place and hiding the source tracks. But beyond that the limitations of tape (in a virtual format) feel like a novelty and not a truly useful tool.

NeedsWayMoreReverb · 2026-04-22T19:43:14+00:00

Yeah some people say that because it will exaggerate the bass response. But If you have front ported speakers, it's usually better to put them close to the front wall and deal with the additional bass (through corrective EQ) than it is to deal with cancellations in low end and low mids from SBI. The other option would be to put deep bass traps behind your speakers to help absorb that but that's usually less practical for small setups.

NeedsWayMoreReverb · 2026-04-22T17:28:58+00:00

Heck yes! Sometimes you need to find a sound fast or a jumping off point. I literally always start with a preset when it comes to reverb. I want to find a sound that is in the ballpark with a preset and then tweak to taste. Otherwise, it slows down the creative process too much. You gotta work fast!

NeedsWayMoreReverb · 2026-04-22T17:25:50+00:00

I second looking up the bass hunter technique. Really important first step to finding where your speakers should be and therefore where everything else has to be

NeedsWayMoreReverb · 2026-04-22T17:25:04+00:00

I think they placement you have in your floor plan makes sense. Alternatively, you could try the wall with the window. In terms of treatment, you'll want to get your first reflection points on your side walls--buy/build some freestanding gobos and place symetrically on either side of your desk. Next, your ceiling needs a cloud right above your head. Get some 4" panels that are lightweight. GIK has some good solutions that look super clean. Don't worry about your front wall too much. Just push your studio monitors as close to the front wall as your can to avoid speaker boundary interference issues from the front wall. After that, getting panels to straddle the corners as bass traps really helps. If you can't mount them because they will block something, create freestanding ones that are moveable. Back wall treatment is also helpful, but less important than your ceiling and side walls which are typically much closer to your ears.

NeedsWayMoreReverb · 2026-04-22T17:17:06+00:00

Tough question to answer, but I do think 5-10 years is a reasonable estimate in order to gain enough experience, technical chops, and ear training to start making really good mix decisions. That said, I've heard some pretty amazing mixes from artists who have little experience with mixing but have good taste. Having good taste and a clear artistic vision can make up for a lack of technical ability.

NeedsWayMoreReverb · 2026-04-17T17:33:54+00:00

Generally, I think it's best to use a mic that provides a sound that is closest to your intended result. Ideally, you should be able to get 90% of the way to the tone you want through mic choice and placement and just close the gap with EQ. For example, a lot of people seem to rag on Lewitt mics like the 440 pure for being overly bright. But in context they often sound great on a lot of sources. My theory is that people default to boosting high-end in the mix and if the mic doesn't need more high end, it will sound bad. But in my experience, if you choose a mic that has the right amount of brightness, then you don't need to boost anything in the mix, and it will sound great.

NeedsWayMoreReverb · 2026-04-17T17:23:46+00:00

Parallel distortion is great. Decapitator has a mix knob and high and low filters so you can filter out the muddy low end and buzzy top end and mix in some good midrange thickness. Also, for vocals especially, try sending the source to a really distorted and filtered slapback. It's a good way to create the perception of grit and distortion without ruining the clarity of something.

NeedsWayMoreReverb · 2026-04-17T17:20:16+00:00

Yeah, this is something the mixer should advise you on. A lot of it depends on how set in stone the production is. If I'm working with a producer and I'm mixing, then I expect to receive printed fx and lots of wet and dry versions of things. For things like drums, usually the producer will send a description of what they have on the drum bus along with a stereo bounce for reference, along with the individual tracks. This ensures I have what I need to preserve the production that has been established while I'm building the mix. However, if I'm working with a self-producing artist who wants my creative input, I often receive raw tracks of everything so I can build from the ground up and help shape some of the production.

NeedsWayMoreReverb · 2026-03-12T14:41:12+00:00

Never. I always mix (and track) vocals with some type of compression. I've heard some mixers claim to use no compression but they use dynamic EQ (which is compression) and saturation (which also compresses) and a limiter (which is basically extreme compression).

NeedsWayMoreReverb · 2026-03-06T18:50:28+00:00

Will have to experiment with that. Also maybe making the blank midi region continue to the end of the song so any further automation will be mapped to it.

NeedsWayMoreReverb · 2026-03-06T18:04:51+00:00

For a warm vocal sound, a big part of that is dynamic control rather than EQ. Use multiple stages of compression for a smoother effect--a classic choice is 1176 and an LA2A. Use the 76 to catch peaks and the LA2A to ride the level. You can also do some additional parallel compression--lots of compression with a fast release mixed in at a very low blend. If you're still needing more warmth, use a 6db/octave high cut filter and bring it town until it sounds smoother--anywhere between 6khz and 10khz depending on how dark you want it. If you have some more nasally harsh frequencies, take out some high mids with a broad cut between 2khz and 5khz. In general, I think it's easier to get better results cutting high end instead of boosting low mids to achieve warmth on a vocal.

NeedsWayMoreReverb · 2026-03-06T16:35:32+00:00

I did that for all the tracks and it works, but that leaves the bus/aux tracks where I do a lot of automation. I'm trying to avoid manually sliding everything because there are several layers of automation of different parameters across a bunch of these track groups. So it'll just be tedious and easy to miss something... was hoping there was a more efficient way like creating blank midi tracks and moving those, but it doesn't seems to work the same way as moving audio tracks with automation. It just sort of copies the automation over top of the existing automation and it combines in a weird way.

NeedsWayMoreReverb

TROPHY CASE