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How Long To Mix A Song/Instrumental
- Thread starter AndreGood
- Start date
I'm new to mixing myself, but I would say that it takes as long as it needs to. Once you're sure it sounds the way you want it to, you're done. I never keep track of exactly how many hours I've logged working on a particular track, so I couldn't give you an exact number, but on the track I'm currently touching up the mix on (I'm learning a lot as I go along as well) I might have accumulated up to 20 hours on the mix alone.
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D-Funkdafied
Guest
I haven't mixed vocals so I am unsure on that but mixing an instrumental should take a decent amount of time.
In hours, it takes me about 4-6. But I usually mix it up in days, never try to finish a mix in one whole day!
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In hours, it takes me about 4-6. But I usually mix it up in days, never try to finish a mix in one whole day!
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crimsonhawk47
New member
I've only been mixing for a bit, but I've heard from a lot of people that you shouldn't take a lot of time on mixing. You sorta end up making changes that didn't have to be made in the first place, start second guessing yourself.
I like a good 2-4 hours.
And mix on speakers, not headphones.
I like a good 2-4 hours.
And mix on speakers, not headphones.
WeissSound
Engineer
An instrumental that's fairly loop based. 1 or 2 hours.
An instrumental that progressive or very complex... depends.
A full length song with vocals. 8 hours. Sometimes more. Occasionally less.
An instrumental that progressive or very complex... depends.
A full length song with vocals. 8 hours. Sometimes more. Occasionally less.
Kid Diamond
New member
No limit until the job is done.
But usually 4-14 hours, accumulated.
But usually 4-14 hours, accumulated.
chris carter
New member
If it's just an instrumental (assuming an urban type genre), maybe an hour and a half to two hours. But this is largely because if it's just an instrumental, the level of detail isn't as high as it would be for a normal record. Instrumentals are mixed because they need to be shopped to artists. Because there's no vocal and because it's not a finished record, there's a lot more leeway in terms of what you do with the mix. If it's an EDM instrumental, or jazz (or just a jazz soloist over an urban bed of music), or rock instrumental, etc., it's going to take longer.
For an actual song, assuming major label type quality (whatever that means LOL), it's a day to a day and a half usually (8 - 12 hours). It's a lot longer for a few reasons. First, you have the vocals. Second, when you add vocals, the music becomes a little more difficult because it's now interacting with something. Third, it's an actual record for salable release so the nit-pickiness on quality goes up quite a lot (even if it's not being released commercially, I still treat it that way). Fourth, you have to run numerous passes (main, instrumental, a cappella, tv track, and possibly a clean version, minimum) and that takes time.
For an actual song, assuming major label type quality (whatever that means LOL), it's a day to a day and a half usually (8 - 12 hours). It's a lot longer for a few reasons. First, you have the vocals. Second, when you add vocals, the music becomes a little more difficult because it's now interacting with something. Third, it's an actual record for salable release so the nit-pickiness on quality goes up quite a lot (even if it's not being released commercially, I still treat it that way). Fourth, you have to run numerous passes (main, instrumental, a cappella, tv track, and possibly a clean version, minimum) and that takes time.
R
Robby2382
Guest
It depends on each track but it shouldn't take more than a couple hours at the top and you should take some breaks in between. Mix the track down completely, then listen to it the next day with a fresh mind too. Then mix it down again a little bit if you feel some things could be fixed.