The Mastering Engineer's Handbook 4th Edition

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You’ve got to know what the options are because when you go into the studio and start recording, even though you’re well rehearsed something might not work, so you’ve got to have a backup plan. Longer-term, track lagging indicators like team re-engagement and product success: are the teams or individuals you've worked with coming back; did your engagement result in positive launches and landings? In terms of starting a mix, I think the main thing, especially if it’s a song I haven’t recorded, is that I go through instrument by instrument to see how it sounds, but what I’m really doing is learning every single part so that I when I come to build my balance, I know where everything is going to be. That’s why it’s essential to use at least one dedicated talkback mic out in the studio with the players so you can always hear what’s happening on that side of the glass. Unlike a manager role, which leans on direct organizational and team impact against organization priorities, your success relies on successfully claiming shared credit across teams and initiatives.

It started as a summer job but then I took it into the school year at night because I really liked it. It’s more of once you have the console, as much of a drag as it is to document everything, it’s such a joy to mix on it. Here all of a sudden I would inherit somebody’s clients that had moved onto another studio just because he’d gone, so that’s how you ended up becoming an engineer.You listen on the big speakers, the NS10’s, out in the car, plus your own speakers, then you go home and listen again.

The theory behind it was that if you left one studio you’d carry the clientele over to another studio. rigs were running at 96k (there wasn’t enough tracks on just one) and one was used to mix back to at 44.You may only end up with a great drum track and a great bass track and maybe the guitars have to be replaced, which is not a problem, but I at least try to get as much of it on tape to preserve that feel. One of the things that engineers, producers and musicians all hate during a tracking date is when they find it difficult to communicate with one another. This allows mixes to be more intricate than ever, and take more time than ever as a result, but the pinpoint accuracy of every parameter movement during every millisecond of a mix is assured. I’ll think that I really didn’t do much of anything and then I’ll look at a mix and find that I’m using 50 things on it.