Though my sustaining business and focus is on mastering, I still do the occasional mix project, and still love it.
Of course they do require a completely different mindset, skillset and approach, but I think each serves as good mental exercise for the other. Mastering's critical-listening perspective and exposure to the work of many different mix engineers adds to my mental library of sounds and balances and fuels my understanding of the qualities of a good mix.
At the same time, I find the occasional mix project enriches my
mastering skill-set, and refreshes my perspective. At the very least, my experience with both has enhanced my ability to communicate well with mix engineers and has made for some great professional friendships.
Also, though in past occasions I've mastered my own mixes, I prefer not to, not because of any 'taboo', but .... well, I've had the good fortune to have a few of my mix projects mastered by the likes of Brad, Doug Sax, Ted Jensen and others. Those projects have added invaluable perspective to my approach in both disciplines.
SafeandSound wrote on Fri, 04 February 2011 16:42 |
And sometimes you realize having a room full of musicians who are excellent at their craft is 90pct of the job already done.
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Agreed completely.