Sound Engineer / Mix Master Needed for Launching Album

maljumelez

New member
Hi,

We are launching our band album end of this year (Entirely self funded) and we're looking for a sound engineer / mix specialist to be involved in the production. May I be upfront in that there is no money involved (ie you will not be paid) but if you're interested to join in the fun of producing and use this as your showcase / portfolio we're more than happy to have you join us.

So far we have a web production crew and photographer (all friends) besides the band members. We have 6 English songs and 4 Mandarin songs (all originals) we're hoping to launch by end of the year.

It would be even better if you're a musician yourself as we still need a bassist and / or keyboardist. If not it's fine.

Regarding recording setup here's the details. It's a simple home studio setup.

1. MacBook Pro OSX with Garage Band and / or Abletone Live. If you prefer using other software like ProTools we're good but we do not provide the software.
2. Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 audio interface
3. BeyerDynamic Opus 39 mic
4. Casio Celviano AP220 Digital Piano. Not alot of fancy sounds but can do the basic piano stuff.
5. Other instruments (ie semi-acoustic, electric & bass) self equipped by band members.

Do reply me if you're interested in joining this project.

Thanks!!
 
Given that there is no money involved, any engineer that is good at mixing or mastering will be unlikely to help you out. You may be better off mixing it on your own and then paying a good engineer to master it for you. The mastering engineer will tell you the flaws of your mix and will guide you on correcting them.
 
actually what happens is it'll be easier/faster to get the mastering engineer to mix for you than to guide you step by step on how you should sound bla bla. defeats the purpose.been there.

I'd like to suggest a better shot :

1) record yourselves DIY. Bounce the track 0:00:00 evenly 16bit 44.1khz or 320kbps mp3 , zip it up also. cos file upload limits.
2) upload individual tracks to box.com / mediafire.com / dropbox.com
3) post the links here.
4) you get multiple audio engineers / students / new portfolio hunters who have the free time to help you out. something like the "Mix This!" I did a couple of years back -

http://soft.com.sg/forum/showthread...-Audio-Technica-AT2020-Layer-Recording-and-Pr
http://soft.com.sg/forum/showthread.php/194687-Mix-This-Zoom-R16-Wharfedale-KMD-7-Live-Recording
http://www.soft.com.sg/forum/showthread.php/194684-Mix-This-Zoom-H2-(Layer-Recording)

free. effective.
 
Regarding blueprint's suggestion, you should never convert to mp3 unless you like how mp3 distortion sounds.

And, like I said, if you want quality, pay someone at least a token sum for the work he's doing. Pass the money around. The music industry needs more of it.
 
if TS can find a filehost that can contain those individual tracks by all means upload the wav.

if not, convert to 320kbps first, KEEP the wav, get the engineer to mix/master the 320kbps mp3 while you find another alternative to pass the big tracks to him, and all he needs to do is replace the .mp3 with .wav and there'll be no excuse but to sound better.

I do this all the time with my clients because it buys time for everyone while we're all at it. (maybe the band has vocals left to go but can start work on the instruments)
 
I understand that philosophy of getting work done, Blueprint but I think mixing with a distorted track in the first place would not allow you to properly hear how much more distortion you will need to add to make stuff sound better. It will also cause you to look for EQ when you don't need it. MP3s (even 320 kbps) are notorious for blurring transients and having less high frequency information.

And when you go and substitute your original wav in, it may not sound so full (due to lack of multi-tracked mp3 distortion) or the frequency balance may be off (due to compensating for mp3 rolloff or artifacts) and you would have to rework all your distortion, eq, effects etc.

Side note, you may also find that you prefer mp3 distortion (as most do these days).

Anyway, simple solution is. Meet your engineer. Buy him a coffee and pass him a hard disk.
 
and so we'll just follow up work with a confirmed fresh pair of ears the next day/few days after the .wav is delivered ready for a 2nd round of confirmed touch up mix ? as even if with a full .wav set files you would need to rework if the mixing is done wrong anyway. the 1st mix usually sets on a good 60-70% idea of the final sound's direction regardless of frequencies as I never mentioned anything about purely working with 320kbps mp3s. as I mentioned earlier "cos of file upload limits."

I've confirmed done this countless times and confirmed even if it's so much of transients and clarity loss (and I don't want to open a can of 44.1khz 16bit vs 24/88.2khz and above worms) , on a reality check scale I can confirm that coming from TS's gear setup it won't be that much of a whole difference. It's not just "getting work done" but increasing the chances of audio engineers "previewing" the mp3 tracks quickly and easier before deciding whether to commit or to waste time doing a 0 $ pay job.

to each his own methods ,I don't think, I don't procrastinate on "may"s, I just listen and feel what's right and do it (and it works for me so far). If TS wants to be picky with audio theories/stuff etc and is unable to put his money where his mouth is, take it to the school and gd luck with the production. We all have better things to do here for sure.
 
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Hi,

I am a pianist and audio engineer from Vienna, Austria. I work with Pro Tools and have also a few Microphones.
I am interested in your project. You still need someone?
 
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