Your Vision, My Vision, Our Vision
The mixing process could be approached in different ways, and a good place to start from is understanding the role of vision in this process. What is the sonic vision for a given production in terms of its mix? Is a creative dynamic mix still a mix or production?
This concept is very subjective since a mix is a marriage of technical and creative processes and decisions. This is why here at WPM we believe that there should be a clear understanding as to who will be participating in that vision before we start working on a project for a client.
Of course, the client’s vision will always be final, yet:
1) Sometimes a delegation of the vision happens, where the artist, band, producer or whoever is in charge of giving the green light, borrows the mixing engineer’s “ears” and taste, their fresh perspective of the material that is put forth for mixing.
Maybe the client already listened to the work the mixing engineer did with other artists and pretty much likes the style and trusts the hands and ears of the engineer.
2) Other times a collaboration happens where the client wants the engineer to do what they do best but also include specific creative processes in the mix.
3) Sometimes the artist or producer will have an absolutely clear vision of what they want, and can articulate it well technically, or in lay terms, by using reference material as examples from other productions or by means of their rough mixes.
Whatever the case may be, we welcome all of it and are flexible because the client’s vision is final.
What really makes the process flow better is to start with the clarity of where is this vision coming from:
Do you know exactly what you want in your mix?
Do you have clear ideas for a few aspects of your project that should be addressed in our mix?
Or…
Are you happy with providing your final production and going for the “do you thing” approach?
Any one of these three approaches is suitable, they’re all beneficial, we just need to be clear early on so as to arrive at that vision fast, because we can’t get anywhere without a vision right?
OUR APPROACH
The way we approach a mix is always the same:
What can we do to really bring the emotional context, impact and message of this song or piece of music into focus, into the mind and hearts of the listeners? How do we emphasize the key elements that make this song great?
Also, we might suggest a few things here and there if we think your material can benefit, but the final decision will always be yours
THIS HELPS
We welcome notes and reference material if you have a vision or requirement for what you need in your production.
The more specific and detailed the notes the better, including places in the timeline (e.g. “from 2:35 to 2:46, I’ll like the drums to be more aggressive”). This is sometimes better than saying “at the bridge”, or “right before the second chorus”.
WHEN YOU INQUIRE ABOUT MIXING SERVICES THE FOLLOWING WILL SPEED UP THE PROCESS
- Is your project independent or is this a signed artist/band with a label?
- What’s the deadline, when does this mix must be ready?
- Artist/Band/Project’s name
- Who are we communicating with? (Artist? Band member (s), label manager?, etc.)
- Include a Rough Mix (MP3 file is good enough)
And that is a wrap. Hopefully we are making any sense but if there’s anything we didn’t address feel free to send us an email to info@worldprojectsmedia.com