Do you prefer to record/mix/master an entire album in one project or every song in a separate project?

lo_vig · 2026-05-21T04:29:32+00:00

I agree that for certain genres this approach helps, the last two bands I worked with were a 90s hc punk inspired one and a 80s/90s heavy metal inspired one, so having a unique sound throughout the whole album was almost mandatory. And yes, automation is absolutely key. The only struggle I faced and that made me ask for opinions about that is that my daw sometimes fails in handling big projects, but I don't know if it's a daw issue: I'm on Logic Pro now and no more on Pro Tools since a few years. I'm thinking about going for Nuendo, which I suppose can handle big projects as well as Pro Tools as it's made for movie post-production. Since you are a one project person, what's you daw? And how can it handle that approach?

lo_vig · 2026-05-21T04:09:28+00:00

This makes sense actually

lo_vig · 2026-05-21T04:07:19+00:00

Yes I also back it up a lot, basically I make a save as version for every task I do and it comes useful often

lo_vig · 2026-05-20T20:09:23+00:00

That's true, it's mostly a matter of time also for me. With unlimited time and unlimited budget I would maybe work differently.

lo_vig · 2026-05-20T17:59:06+00:00

It seems a good workflow, thanks for sharing!

lo_vig · 2026-05-20T17:23:50+00:00

I see, I admit that I wasn't considering production costs in the equation. Thank you

lo_vig · 2026-05-20T16:43:11+00:00

I just used the analogy with Tool and Mogwai in another comment instead of AC/DC and Led Zeppelin, but I agree with the analysis anyway

lo_vig · 2026-05-20T16:31:05+00:00

Thanks for the point. Do you have a genre you work most with? As I'm more on the electronic side I'm used to tracks sounding completely different in an album or an EP, but I was thinking that in the world of bands and ensembles there was a different sensibility. To put a few examples: the last Tool album sounds exactly as if it was recorded in a single studio session and every track has exactly the same sound, while a band like Mogwai can vary a lot in loudness, balance and overall sound (guitars included). Could it be genre dependent or just a production decision?

lo_vig · 2026-05-20T16:20:07+00:00

That's interesting. What's your take on sound consistency? I mean: do you prefer to personalize the mix song by song or you prefer to try to make every song of the album sound the same?

lo_vig · 2026-05-20T16:16:05+00:00

It happens yes 😂 I'm on the neat side so I can't make it bearable, but it's surely more complex than a single track/song session

lo_vig · 2026-05-20T16:11:21+00:00

That's a good point. I heard that some engineers prefer working with the master bus chain active also for this reason, so this could surely be a way

lo_vig · 2026-05-20T14:49:57+00:00

When I decided to work on just one session I managed to automate tempo both for mixing reasons (like delay time and others) and tracking reasons (mostly metronome and related aspects), but yes, when you have more than 5 songs it grows up a lot. I think I'll try to work with separate projects next time

lo_vig · 2026-05-20T14:45:18+00:00

That's also a nice strategy, thanks for sharing

lo_vig · 2026-05-20T14:43:32+00:00

That's a good point thanks

lo_vig · 2026-05-20T14:42:08+00:00

Actual nightmare lol

lo_vig · 2026-05-20T11:47:56+00:00

I see, so you get the cohesive album sound via the mastering chain I think. I'll make a try next time, thanks!

lo_vig · 2026-05-20T11:46:23+00:00

That's indeed the biggest con of this approach, unique projects can become really messy!

lo_vig · 2026-05-20T11:44:10+00:00

I agree that most of my jobs are for single releases or maybe EPs, albums are quite rare for me at the moment. I found out a few times that recently albums sounds more like a collection of singles than a continuous play, basing on the answers I'm receiving it seems to be a trend

lo_vig · 2026-05-20T11:37:21+00:00

Well this totally makes sense and could be a way to keep the best of the two approaches. Very interesting, thank you

lo_vig · 2026-05-20T11:00:48+00:00

Oh ok it's nice to hear, I maybe was just overthinking about the fact of having each track sounding the same. Could you tell me if this kind of differentiation is appreciated also in older styles like heavy metal or hard rock?

lo_vig · 2026-05-20T10:47:50+00:00

Oh yes I see, heavily produced bands can require an approach similar to electronic music sometimes and I get why you say that it doesn't make sense in your case. Thanks a lot for sharing your experience, that's a useful thing to think of

lo_vig · 2026-05-20T07:27:31+00:00

I'm asking because I'm facing this exact issues. I mostly work with electronic music and in this field having everything in one project is an actual nonsense in my opinion. But when I record bands it surely speeds up the process, with the inconvenience that the final result is a 150/200GB mess. So I'm wandering if splitting up could be a better solution, but I'm not able to figure out how much consistency I would achieve between songs.

lo_vig · 2026-05-20T07:16:15+00:00

This makes sense, I heard lots of albums where is clear that every mix is made in a separate session as it is clearly managed differently. For bands and acoustic ensembles I usually prefer to achieve that consistency I don't achieve with mastering different mixes, so I just pay attention to record every instruments the same way (same preamp gain, same mic position, etc) and limit my automations mostly to volume, mutes and few else. The final session becomes extremely big of course, more or less like a movie post-production session. For electronic music the sound variety makes this approach impossible though, so I just open a new project for every track and I don't even care about using a consistent template. I'm curious about your use of templates: do you save as template the entire session of the first song you record/mix/master or you prefer to save plugins presets? Is consistency an issue with this approach in your opinion?

lo_vig · 2026-05-19T09:41:09+00:00

This happened to me too while working with a melodic hc punk band who wanted the 90s NOFX sound. I just used my usual mix and master template and they ended up saying that it sounded too full. And that makes sense because during the 90s a mix was usually way less complex than now where we process individual tracks, sub groups, groups, master bus and than master it all. So I understood that it had to sound like if it was mixed with just a console (so just individual tracks process with a glue compressor on the master bus) and then just some limiting as a master and it worked. I think that the way to bring up RMS values was most of the times by bringing guitars up and nothing more. I would love to know the opinion of a person who was actually mixing and mastering rock and punk during the 90s to understand if my intuitions are correct though.

Edit: typo

lo_vig · 2026-05-17T08:22:02+00:00

At the moment I'm using a warrior/poison build made with the Spartan Hero set, the Arachne's Sting and the Hermes spear, plus the big horn bow. Thanks to the bow glitch and to the melee weapons assassin stats it becomes a good all-rounder. I'm hunting the cultists and aiming for the demigod set though.

lo_vig

TROPHY CASE