From first idea to finished production - How long does it take you?

savageopera


How long is a piece of string?.............hmmmmmm.

For me, it was bad monitors that were not tuned...no sub, and relying way too much on headphones and my car to judge my mixes. I'd go out with a CD, pen and paper, listen to the tracks and write down all these things that were wrong. I'd come into my studio and drop the CD into the trash can on the way in (there goes another one in the circular file) and then listen to the mix while looking at my sheet of paper. What always happened was....I could never hear these changes I wrote down!! I wrote down "too much sub low bass" yet through my monitors and headphones, it sure didn't sound like that to me! I wrote down "not enough high end sparkle" yet everything sounded fine on these good old NS-10's that just about every studio in the world had.

Mod Bod

For me, it was bad monitors that were not tuned...no sub, and relying way too much on headphones and my car to judge my mixes. I'd go out with a CD, pen and paper, listen to the tracks and write down all these things that were wrong. I'd come into my studio and drop the CD into the trash can on the way in (there goes another one in the circular file) and then listen to the mix while looking at my sheet of paper. What always happened was....I could never hear these changes I wrote down!! I wrote down "too much sub low bass" yet through my monitors and headphones, it sure didn't sound like that to me! I wrote down "not enough high end sparkle" yet everything sounded fine on these good old NS-10's that just about every studio in the world had.

 
Just wondering what your speaker solution was - condensed version is ok.  I also have a set of NS-10s but I have the little companion sub under my desk to give me the warm and fuzzies (because I'm a bassist.)  I used to mix with a finger on the woofer because I learned what too much bass felt like.  LoL.  I also have a set of JBLs soffit mounted and a pair of Rat Shack speakers next the the NS-10s.  So I can flip around but I'd say that the NS-10s get the most use.

Danny Danzi

Mod Bod

For me, it was bad monitors that were not tuned...no sub, and relying way too much on headphones and my car to judge my mixes. I'd go out with a CD, pen and paper, listen to the tracks and write down all these things that were wrong. I'd come into my studio and drop the CD into the trash can on the way in (there goes another one in the circular file) and then listen to the mix while looking at my sheet of paper. What always happened was....I could never hear these changes I wrote down!! I wrote down "too much sub low bass" yet through my monitors and headphones, it sure didn't sound like that to me! I wrote down "not enough high end sparkle" yet everything sounded fine on these good old NS-10's that just about every studio in the world had.

 
Just wondering what your speaker solution was - condensed version is ok.  I also have a set of NS-10s but I have the little companion sub under my desk to give me the warm and fuzzies (because I'm a bassist.)  I used to mix with a finger on the woofer because I learned what too much bass felt like.  LoL.  I also have a set of JBLs soffit mounted and a pair of Rat Shack speakers next the the NS-10s.  So I can flip around but I'd say that the NS-10s get the most use.

I had a few friends tell me to stop using the NS-10's. So I bought Adam A 7's. They sounded good but I still wasn't totally happy with my mixes. I bough the Adam Sub 8. Made a huge difference...still not quite right. Got a Samson C-Control which allows you to run your sub into it, and any monitors you run into the C-Control use the sub. Made a huge difference on the NS-10's...still not totally sold. Read about ARC in a mag, bought it, it solved all my issues for good. NS-10's, Adam's, Radio Shack Optimus, Tannoy, Tascam...everything is perfect. What I mix in my room, I hear in my car as well as on other systems. So the real answer...ARC. There are at least 8-10 guys on this site now using ARC due to my recommendation....all of them have had the same positive results as me.
 
-Danny

Danny Danzi


Welcome home Rain! Glad you made it safely brother. :) Yeah, I agree with what you said there. I think all this stuff walks hand in hand. If we constantly second guess ourselves or have a false representation on what is coming back at us, it's nearly impossible to make the right calls....thus, your mix and your entire project can take a much longer time. I can't begin to tell people how happy I am to not have that challenge any longer. I mean, honest when I tell you...I'm nothing special with what I do over here in my opinion, but I maintain consistency and always seem to get positive responses from clients, friends, strangers etc...so to me, it's doing something at least "decently consistent". That's enough for me really. I don't need to set the world on fire or anything. As long as I get the sounds out of my head sounding right to disc and the end result is something I'm proud of that didn't take me as long as it used to years ago, I'm completely fine with that even if I'm the only one that likes what I've done. :)
 
But there are good challenges in the field that push us harder...and bad ones that can deter our progress. That whole not being able to hear the right stuff was a nightmare for me. I knew in my heart I was decent at this and had a good ear, but I just couldn't ever get it right in MY studio. Send me to a million dollar facility where they had all the right stuff, I could hear things and fix them in a snap. But at my place...always a struggle. I mean...of course you have to know what to listen for...so I can't give ARC all the credit really. When I was struggling like mad, I had quite a few people I looked up to teach me certain things that were priceless. But still, even when you know what to listen for...if what's coming out isn't right to begin with, everything is messed up anyway and there's no way you can really make the right decisions.
 
Before it used to be "oh boy, here we go again...I should probably just log this idea and be done with it...but I know me, I'll screw around with it for 3 weeks only to be let down and hating what I've done while beating up on myself for wasting time when I should have known better."
 
Now it's like..."oh boy, here we go again....I can't wait to get this tune done...I wonder if I can make it better than the last one?!" while feeling confident that I can at least top it if not blow it into the dust now....all because I can hear what I'm supposed to hear. :)
 
-Danny