I have a heap of my musical stuff that I’m wanting to re-mix… some major changes, some minor adjustments. Trouble is, when I open up the old projects, I sort of flump into a ‘o no, not that again…’ mindset. I really need to sort myself out a step-by-step process to go through, an objective thing rather than a ‘like that - don’t like that’ opinion blah…
I wondered how others work through this?
What would your sequence of checks and fixes look like??
I’ll remix your old work. I’ve never heard it before.
Listen to it and pretend you’ve never heard it before. Instead of listening to the song listen for the bits that stand out that need altering, listen for problems, listen to individual instruments and how they sit in the mix. Pretend your judging someone elses music.
Step out of your comfort zone and pretend its not even your music.
Make notes and then base your remix on those notes. If you get it into your head that you’ve not written this song and totally forget how you made it and take an objective critical stance it works.
Its surprising how often we listen to our own music without really listening?
We tend to hear what we think we should hear or what we think we have recorded.
Put on an act, pretend its your first listen
It works. Trust me.
Good luck. Headphones one, close your eyes and listen . Then Take notes
Pretend you’re reviewing someone elses material and you’re a record producer.
You’ll be surprised .
Good luck.
Let me know how it went.
I don’t. It’s a thankless task.
If you 1) open your session and Save As a different session name or variation of that one (so you know it’s a revision), then 2) make some changes that sound better to you, 3) bounce/render multiple tracks at one time as “Stems”, and then 4) do Stem Mixing (perhaps in a separate mix session), it will force you to make decisions and move forward and not have to look at all the old tracks. Stem Mixing can make things less complicated and more manageable (not necessarily easier, just streamlined).
For example, you might have a Piano/Keyboard stem (all keyboard tracks), Vocal stem, Drum stem, Bass stem, Sound Effects stem, Track Effects stem (reverb, delay), etc. Obviously, you should probably export them as stereo tracks for your panning etc. It’s a similar idea to an Instrument Buss, but you’re printing the tracks to a file.
I’ve never really done a remix of my own stuff… I’m with @AJ113 on that count!
However, I often mix in stages, giving myself a fair break before doing the final flourish. The approach described by @LazyE is what I try to take when at this stage.
Particularly important is the note taking, while consciously keeping my hands off my computer and not making any changes until I have a comprehensive list of changes down… Then I just work through the changes one at a time, disciplining myself not to get sidetracked by any incidental thing I hear. If I hear something during this process that needs attention, it goes to the bottom of my list.
I would suggest you talk to @ptalbot (if you haven’t already) about this, as he’s been going through this process for the last few months, remixing most of his catalogue for release - Patrick is sure to have some great recommendations.
Thanks guys…
yeah I’d rather not do it to be honest!.. But I’m wanting to have ‘better’ versions so that I can faux master them and bung them onto the stream-machines and I’ve learned new tricks over the years so thought I’d give it a shot. @ColdRoomStudio yep, I chat to Patrick and he’s very helpful but also full-on busy these days.
Will attempt some self-discipline and see how I go.
@LazyE thanks E… some sensible processes there and double yep @Stan_Halen - i never seem to end up bouncing stuff so I guess I’ll pretend I’m rich and am preparing to send the tracks off for mastering and then… hehe… try doing it meself.
I like that thought of a ‘final flourish’ Andrew… think I’ll focus on that one… ta. Hope you are having a grand holiday and the weather is better than our squally spring over the ditch!
Thanks - “winter” is definitely over! 29 degrees Celsius today!
-snort - we have 12 degrees and sharp winds…
and I live in the ‘winterless north’…
It’s not an option to master the current versions?
Quite possibly, for some. I guess I need to approach this differently. It’s a great help for me just chatting it through like this. My internal struggles between artist/engineer - going to try a more logical approach for a change! Thanks.
Ha it was 24 celcius here. I’d kill for 12 Celsius in the winter. It’s frequently -5 here in the winter with a standard deviation of about 12. It is usually -27 at least once in the winter, and 43 once in the summer. In the spring it can be 12 in the morning and 35 by afternoon. I hate to say it, because the metric system is so much better in so many ways, but Fahrenheit is much better for weather because it’s more spread out. 24 celcius is roughly 75 fahrenheit, while 30 goes over to 86 on Fahrenheit. Freezing point at 32 degrees does not make sense though. What we really need is to do all temperature in Kelvin. In which case it was 297.594 degrees today. But I really will remix your stuff @Emma. Sorry I’m such a rambler.
It’s kind of you to offer the remix but I’m not wanting someone else to mix them up ta… It’s never worked for me which is why I’ve made myself learn this audio stuff - I have my own peculiar ideas of how I want things to sound. Plus I work in a state of splendid chaos… well, that is my first step, untangling my mess. Maybe I’ll get myself a geeky engineer’s hat and wear that when I’m trying to be focused and sensible?
This thread has been super helpful in getting me to realise the steps I do need to take. Plus I’ve realised how much my wonderfully bad self-talk sabotages my processes… [snorts at self]…
So is Kelvin in North Dakota?? So you never get to see the ocean? That’s a strange concept for me, living on a wee island where there is usually a beach within easy driving.
Kelvin is used in chemistry because it’s the only true measure of temperature. 0 degrees Kelvin is a state of matter so cold that there is no thermal motion. To convert Celsius to Kelvin, just add 273.15. So freezing point in Celsius is 0, and in Kelvin it is 273.15. It as an absolute thermometric scale. Pretty awesome? I’m in MO, which is the middle of the country. I’m pretty much as far away from the ocean as you can get, and couldn’t be happier about it.
oh ahhhh duh… me dumb…
And as for MO… um… where on earth?
I just went through this a little prior to the power going out here. I started screwing around with a song that is from 7 years ago. Over that period of time, I’ve learned quite a lot here, but the major things for me were general eq fixes, such as removing mud and boxiness, adding air to vocals, where to high pass, low pass, etc. One quick pass through and I was able to improve what I had pretty dramatically, since my tendencies stood out to me now compared to then. You might want to check all that first, because it might inspire you to make other improvements when you’ve corrected the framework. In my case, the performances were good, but the eq was masking the performance, and I knew how to fix it easily.
Thanks Styles,
Yeah, good points ta! And yeah, my ears just pick stuff up now that I’d never noticed before. Plus I’ve learned a lot more about tricks to hide stuff. Just need to set aside some time and dive in…