We always talk about producers, but did you know top mixing engineers charge $4,000-$5000+ per mix?

[Mac Casper]

I'm not going to pretend to know the difference between a mixed and unmixed song, can someone explain with audio examples?

You mean to ask about mastering

There's poorly mixed songs but no such thing as an umixed song

 

[DJDONTNOBODYPAYME]

I was gonna disagree but I understand why you say this.
You're right to some extent. The problem is sonically hip hop is moving in a direction that's lowering the quality of the music.
Most clients care more about a record "going hard in the whip", then being sonically correct and organic.
A lot of modern rap is mixed poorly due to artists and producers asking it to sound that way. Trust me i experience this on a daily basis.
Even with that said, There still are a lot of great dynamic hip hop mixes out there!

Let's agree to disagree. I just think that you don't have the feeling for it, respectfully

 

[CodeBlaMeVi]

I was gonna disagree but I understand why you say this.
You're right to some extent. The problem is sonically hip hop is moving in a direction that's lowering the quality of the music.
Most clients care more about a record "going hard in the whip", then being sonically correct and organic.
A lot of modern rap is mixed poorly due to artists and producers asking it to sound that way. Trust me i experience this on a daily basis.
Even with that said, There still are a lot of great dynamic hip hop mixes out there!

True. I mean from a client's perspective and not a mixing genius.

The work they want done isn't worth $5000.

Dr. Dre is the best hip-hop mixer to me. So much details from the panning to the effects.

 

[Mac Casper]

Honestly, mixing rap is not a challenge or worth spending $5000 for a song. Most of the sounds are digital and beat makers are better at mixing their sounds and effects. A good vocal recording is the true difference maker.

Mixing is about the bells and whistles.

This is layman's interpretation

 

[Mac Casper]

All I know is I have immense respect for engineers.
If you want your final product to sound great then you need a good engineer.

Also I think the little jabs at Hip Hop are lame, depending on the artist they're pursuing
great sound quality on top of well written songs. You can find people that want to skimp on quality
in just about any genre. I should post up some vids from one of my favorite youtube channels that
supports this.

my comments weren't meant to be an attack on rap . . it's much easier (and likely) that an up-in-coming rock band would have a poor mix because so much more studio time is required to track the band . . rushing is inevitable

 

[CodeBlaMeVi]

This is layman's interpretation

It is. No need to get too complex. EQ, different frequencies for different instruments. The panning, levels, reverb, delays (real-time or quantized), etc.

 

[Insensitive]

my comments weren't meant to be an attack on rap . . it's much easier (and likely) that an up-in-coming rock band would have a poor mix because so much more studio time is required to track the band . . rushing is inevitable

I'm not even talking about rushing I literally mean trying to stiff engineers and get
pristine quality for $25 or $100 a song.

I've seen this sort of mentality attributed JUST to Sound click rappers who buy
MP3/.Wav leases and won't put down the cash for the track outs + exclusive
but it seems a lot of musicians today don't understand the value of going to a real
studio and exactly WHY they're going to one.
That's why I made sure to say this isn't just a Hip Hop thing that's all.

 

[Mac Casper]

True. I mean from a client's perspective and not a mixing genius.

The work they want done isn't worth $5000.

Dr. Dre is the best hip-hop mixer to me. So much details from the panning to the effects.

basically every assistant engineer on staff at major studios claims to of worked with Dre

 

[Axum Ezana]

I was gonna disagree but I understand why you say this.
You're right to some extent. The problem is sonically hip hop is moving in a direction that's lowering the quality of the music.
Most clients care more about a record "going hard in the whip", then being sonically correct and organic.
A lot of modern rap is mixed poorly due to artists and producers asking it to sound that way. Trust me i experience this on a daily basis.
Even with that said, There still are a lot of great dynamic hip hop mixes out there!

explain ? do u mean that they want the clean style instead of the gritty stuff?

 

[DrunkerThanAMotherfucker]

explain ? do u mean that they want the clean style instead of the gritty stuff?

Think like lo-fi. It's an aesthetic pursuit, artists what their shyt to sound rough and gritty.

 

[CodeBlaMeVi]

basically every assistant engineer on staff at major studios claims to of worked with Dre

Example. To me Kanye's best sounding beat (not best beat composed) is Game's Dreams. Young Guru is alright but his mixes aren't as polished as Dre's. Dreams was a busy ass beat to sound so prestine and clear.

 

[Insensitive]

explain ? do u mean that they want the clean style instead of the gritty stuff?

I think what he means is that a lot of them are competing for loudness and the dynamics suffer
because of that.
If memory serves me correctly going for loudness can lead to distortion,muddiness, and just
general ugliness leading to bad mixes overall even though it "bangs".

 

[OC's finest]

I'm not going to pretend to know the difference between a mixed and unmixed song, can someone explain with audio examples?

This x100

Interesting thread

Out of curiosity, how would u knowledgeable bruhs rate the mixing on YGs album. When I listened to that, I remember thinking it just "sounded" good. Is that a result of the mixing or am I off ?

 

[Axum Ezana]

Specifically, he is who I had in mind when I posted this

He charges $4,000 - sometimes $2,000 for indie clients

These guys are said to do one mix a day . . but for business sake . . let's say they field a bunch of inquiries daily, what's to stop them from having some understudy "ghost-engineer" a mix and pull in some extra guap


Dave Pensado
Manny Marroquin (mixes most of Eminem's stuff)
Jaycen Joshua
Chris Lord-Alge

Then you got guys like Bruce Swedien who mixed a lot of Quincy Jones work, including Thriller

these guys got sponsors in the audio engineering world - http://www.waves.com/bundles/chris-lord-alge-signature-series

Kids be going to their seminars asking for pictures and autographs. You an audio engineer, you get a picture with one of these guys and you can all of the sudden act like you're an understudy of them




The most mythical status all-around mix God right now is Serban Ghenea . . dude works out of a private studio and barely has any interviews. He's mixed most of the biggest pop records. His rates about $5,000 a mix and he's said to mix all ITB ("in the box" aka on ProTools, /mixing console used)

jaycen joushua do alot of big rap singles .....i think hes great for bass. n of course young guru.

 

[Axum Ezana]

I think what he means is that a lot of them are competing for loudness and the dynamics suffer
because of that.
If memory serves me correctly going for loudness can lead to distortion,muddiness, and just
general ugliness leading to bad mixes overall even though it "bangs".

miami bass influence