Question about sending a record to a mixing engineer

Hi there

I'm a 19 year old producer and I'm currently working on a track that I would like to send to a mixing engineer

I've read that when preparing the track to send, I should render down each individual track within the project and send that together with a reference track

My question is I read that I should remove all effects when sending
I don't understand how this works because the track would not sound the same without say delay,reverb,eq etc

Can someone with a mixing engineer knowledge give me some clarity on this topic?

Thanks
Jagger
 
You mean you a composer right? In this case, you can always talk to the engineer about what kind of sound you want to achieve in this particular track. You have to remove the effects so the engineer can work precisely in each one of the tracks.
 
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Hi there

I'm a 19 year old producer and I'm currently working on a track that I would like to send to a mixing engineer

I've read that when preparing the track to send, I should render down each individual track within the project and send that together with a reference track

My question is I read that I should remove all effects when sending
I don't understand how this works because the track would not sound the same without say delay,reverb,eq etc

Can someone with a mixing engineer knowledge give me some clarity on this topic?

Thanks
Jagger



Hey Jagger,

This response may be a little late, but yes, you should remove ANY effects on the individual tracks before you send them to the engineer. Now that's IF it's not an integral part of the sound design of that particular instruments.

For instance, remove the reverb and delay from things like snares, vocals, pianos, etc. Compression and eq's on percussion sounds can be left on there, if it's integral to getting the sound that you want on that particular instrument.

Bounce everything to mono, unless you have a truly stereo sound (like some poly synths are truly stereo), then bounce that in stereo. All vocals should be bounced in mono.


And yes, send the reference track, so the engineer can hear what your vision was for the track.

Hope this helps.
 
Exactly what guys are saying. I might also add that what I like to do (some engineers are different) is send them the reference track which is the typical mp3 or wav file, send the dry stems (no effects or panning), and send the wet files (with effects and panning). That way if it's an instrument he/she can't hear in the entire mix they can solo it and get an idea of what you're aiming for. Communication is key! But yea as far as dry files/stems make sure to take off reverb, delay, compression, eq, panning (meaning if you put your snare or hats to the left or right) make sure to put it all to the center. The only effects I would leave on is the ones the actually makes the sound that the engineer can't remake. Like if you had a tremolo effect on a synth I would leave it on for both dry and wet, because that's an effect that made that particular sound that nobody else can reproduce. Hope that helped a lil.
 
Hi there

I'm a 19 year old producer and I'm currently working on a track that I would like to send to a mixing engineer

I've read that when preparing the track to send, I should render down each individual track within the project and send that together with a reference track

My question is I read that I should remove all effects when sending
I don't understand how this works because the track would not sound the same without say delay,reverb,eq etc

Can someone with a mixing engineer knowledge give me some clarity on this topic?

Thanks
Jagger

If the only effects that you leave are the compressor, EQ, and noise gate.. then you don't neccessarily have to remove them when sending them to a mixing engineer. Although.. again, we are talking about working with a professional. And a professional mixing engineer's first concern would be the quality of the sound. If you are using effects to compensate for poor recording quality, noise, etc. then these effects will have to be removed and the mixing engineer may let you know of that.

Regarding the Reverb and Delay, they definitely have to be removed, and there's a good reason for it: they overload the mix with feedbacks that may override multiple frequencies and affect the ability to create a clean mix where all the instruments fit together. It may sound great to you in your house using a home monitor or speakers, but an overload of frequencies in the mix is realy bad for mixing, and later when the mix will transfer into mastering those problems will become even worse.

So.. I guess I'll join the rest of the folks above me and agree with their insight - I think its best to just talk to the mixing engineer and let him know what effects you put and where, send him a reference track, and let him do the work for you. He knows what he's doing.
 
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