A big thing that some clients don't realize is you're not a magician. If you provide crap tracks... eg, out of tune guitars, drums tracks with no overhead mics (not kidding), sloppy timing, there's only so much I can do to make it presentable. Miracles rarely happen. Early in the process I'll bring these kinds of things up with the client and give them a chance to correct it. I do some mixing of outside projects, but mostly it's stuff I engineer myself from the beginning. Things generally work much better this way and I think unless you're competent with recording, it's 100% worth the extra money to record with an actual engineer in a decent space.
You are 100% right about clients not realizing so much of the mix quality hinges on the recording quality AND the song arrangement. The thing is, for a lot of (especially budding) musicians, it's hard for them to actually understand this. Even if you explain to them, and they think they understand, but once they are reviewing the mix you created for them, it all goes out of the window. For example, I've gotten guitar DIs recorded with old strings and half-dead battery in the pickups on a Focusrite Scarlett, and was asked by the client why the guitar tone isn't as good as [a high-budget metal record].
@@JamesZhan How do you navigate cases like your example? Super curious because managing expectations always seems to be the tricky part that gets overlooked when talking about service rendering businesses. Awesome video, loved seeing this kind of conversation!
@@HYZE0809 For that particular case I just re-recorded the guitars myself lol There would be no way to fix it. That was really early on in my career so I really wanted to get great mixes out there. Nowadays, I try to communicate this to the client in the early stages and it has worked well.
@@JamesZhan I could be wrong, I don’t mix for other people, but wouldn’t raising your prices also eliminate a lot of this annoying stuff? Or is them market so competitive that you‘d immediately not get any work anymore?
@@josuastangl7140 I've raised my rates multiple times over the course of my mixing career and, while yes, I got bands that can provide higher quality sources, there are other things that get in the way of achieving a good mix. For example, one of the most common ones among bands with higher budgets is that they tend to over-layer their music. Just too many layers with no regards to potential frequency clashing. I think a lot of musicians tend to believe that more element equals complexity or more "sophisticated" music, but that just ends up making the mix sound clustered. So, yes, having higher rates may weed out bands with sub-par sources, but it's not that simple.
After watching your ultimate m1/m2 Mac buying guide where you breakdown the performance vs efficiency cores, I will now take everything you say as fact.
Bro. Revisions making mixes worse is my #1 pet hate as a mix engineer. I'll be so proud of something, ready to put it to the top of my portfolio then they ask me to turn the vocal up 4db and add 10db of high end to the hi hats. It drives me crazy
@@camstanley Super relatable and super frustrating for sure! But this is why I made this video. I feel like a lot of people, once they discovered that they enjoy mixing, view mixing professionally as the end all be all goal, but never realizing that this profession is largely a client service job and it comes with a ton of non-audio tasks.
@@JamesZhan When a band or a guitarist or a singer gets like that, I say.... Ok, but I don't try to convince him of anything anymore because it doesn't lead to anything to convince an ego that thinks it knows everything better than you do. Other important points for me are, for example, the authority you radiate, the personality you display, the way you communicate with the musicians, the atmosphere in which you work, etc, etc....
Great stuff, man! Been doing mixing and mastering as a side gig with the intention to be able to go full time eventually and lately work has been increasing and might be my full time gig soon. Information like this is golden and I would love to see more of it
Hi James, I would to hear more about how you went from Amateur to professional and where you mostly source clients from. Also how you decide on pricing etc…Thanks
Great video, love this type of stuff. I've always wanted to be a mixing engineer since sound engineering school but never tried. This video makes me want to try this time aha Would love to see more videos like this!
Thank you for doing this. Although I don't myself want to mix for a living, it seems like a very decent (enjoyable) way to make a living, and consequently the question I and probably many others would be most interested in hearing an answer to is, how difficult was it for you to make this your professional occupation, how long did it take, and I'm sorry to be blunt but, does it pay a decent living?
Hello James I am a professional instrumentalist musician. I am a saxophonist. I'm starting with music production. Thank you very much for your videos, they are excellent. I have a question, how is ableton live working and what is the compatibility with plugins in 2024? For you, which version of iOS is the most stable and has fewer compatibility problems with the iOS version or with the plugins to work in music production? I have read many comments from people who complain about having a laptop with good processing power but with compatibility problems. I'm thinking about making the jump to a macbook pro but I'm worried about these kinds of things. Thank you so much. I regret my English. Greetings from Colombia !!!
Would be interesting to hear how to get started, even if part time for some extra income, as a mix/mastering engineer. Really enjoy doing so as a hobby, would like to supplement my income without losing my passion for audio. Any tips?
Client service is an inevitable, crucial component of doing mixing professionally. There's no way around it. As a start, you could try to do some mixing gigs for bands to see if this is something that damages your passion for audio!
Hi i needa choose M2 or M3, only reason to buy M3 ($100 more) would be cause i need to keep my mac for years to come (and M3 manages energy well?) Does it make sense? idk help
Yeah the things you mention apply to any type of self employed jop. I'm doing it for almost 25 years. And all these addons are a serious part of your weekly hours. On the other hand doing some stuff you don't like so much make you even like the good ones more 😊
what I hate most, and the reason I only mix for people I know well now, is when they want 3 reviews only to fucking tell me to go back to v1 I can’t stand that
I use JBL LSR 308 mkII myself, but the speakers does not speak the truth. they tell you what you need to know in their own language. A great speaker is the one you understand the best, and produce the best work on. There is no spoon. @@MasterofPlay7
Some mixers don't even take critique good.. I remember saying once that the revision sounds too compressed and the mixer was like "are you kidding where did you listen to the mix"
To be fair, it is a valid question for the mix engineer to ask. I have seen cases where the answers to "where did you listen to the mix" were "on my phone speaker" and "in my car," both of which are arguably terrible systems to properly judge a mix. Now, this is where effective communication plays a huge role for the mix engineer. Saying "are you kidding where did you listen to the mix" is absolutely the wrong way to go about it. It sounds condescending as hell. When this happens to me, I would simply ask what playback device was used, and then follow up with what issues they are hearing. That's usually enough information for me to find a solution. There's no need to ridicule the client.
@@JamesZhan definitely, I do music for 15 years and i was in a professional band and had the opportunity and luck to work with world class producers and engineers and the communication and work with them was top notch and very professional, that was not something someone in that level said , I had this kind of responses from guys on fivver who said they do it professionally for 20 years but the revision they send sound like a demo, I have experience and I mix myself so i kinda know how and where to check a mix , and because I worked with top engineers I know that when someone responds this way they are not who they claim to be
I've been doing post production audio professionally for 20 years and these are all 100% correct.
A big thing that some clients don't realize is you're not a magician. If you provide crap tracks... eg, out of tune guitars, drums tracks with no overhead mics (not kidding), sloppy timing, there's only so much I can do to make it presentable. Miracles rarely happen. Early in the process I'll bring these kinds of things up with the client and give them a chance to correct it. I do some mixing of outside projects, but mostly it's stuff I engineer myself from the beginning. Things generally work much better this way and I think unless you're competent with recording, it's 100% worth the extra money to record with an actual engineer in a decent space.
You are 100% right about clients not realizing so much of the mix quality hinges on the recording quality AND the song arrangement.
The thing is, for a lot of (especially budding) musicians, it's hard for them to actually understand this. Even if you explain to them, and they think they understand, but once they are reviewing the mix you created for them, it all goes out of the window.
For example, I've gotten guitar DIs recorded with old strings and half-dead battery in the pickups on a Focusrite Scarlett, and was asked by the client why the guitar tone isn't as good as [a high-budget metal record].
@@JamesZhan How do you navigate cases like your example? Super curious because managing expectations always seems to be the tricky part that gets overlooked when talking about service rendering businesses. Awesome video, loved seeing this kind of conversation!
@@HYZE0809 For that particular case I just re-recorded the guitars myself lol There would be no way to fix it. That was really early on in my career so I really wanted to get great mixes out there. Nowadays, I try to communicate this to the client in the early stages and it has worked well.
@@JamesZhan I could be wrong, I don’t mix for other people, but wouldn’t raising your prices also eliminate a lot of this annoying stuff?
Or is them market so competitive that you‘d immediately not get any work anymore?
@@josuastangl7140 I've raised my rates multiple times over the course of my mixing career and, while yes, I got bands that can provide higher quality sources, there are other things that get in the way of achieving a good mix.
For example, one of the most common ones among bands with higher budgets is that they tend to over-layer their music. Just too many layers with no regards to potential frequency clashing. I think a lot of musicians tend to believe that more element equals complexity or more "sophisticated" music, but that just ends up making the mix sound clustered.
So, yes, having higher rates may weed out bands with sub-par sources, but it's not that simple.
After watching your ultimate m1/m2 Mac buying guide where you breakdown the performance vs efficiency cores, I will now take everything you say as fact.
Bro. Revisions making mixes worse is my #1 pet hate as a mix engineer. I'll be so proud of something, ready to put it to the top of my portfolio then they ask me to turn the vocal up 4db and add 10db of high end to the hi hats. It drives me crazy
Along with "Actually, I prefer the 1st version" after hours spent tweaking trying to please them😭
@@camstanley Super relatable and super frustrating for sure! But this is why I made this video. I feel like a lot of people, once they discovered that they enjoy mixing, view mixing professionally as the end all be all goal, but never realizing that this profession is largely a client service job and it comes with a ton of non-audio tasks.
Totally agree. I've had to go through that trauma myself. Ha!
@@JamesZhan When a band or a guitarist or a singer gets like that, I say.... Ok, but I don't try to convince him of anything anymore because it doesn't lead to anything to convince an ego that thinks it knows everything better than you do. Other important points for me are, for example, the authority you radiate, the personality you display, the way you communicate with the musicians, the atmosphere in which you work, etc, etc....
Great stuff, man! Been doing mixing and mastering as a side gig with the intention to be able to go full time eventually and lately work has been increasing and might be my full time gig soon. Information like this is golden and I would love to see more of it
Hi James, I would to hear more about how you went from Amateur to professional and where you mostly source clients from. Also how you decide on pricing etc…Thanks
👀
This was a really useful video! Thanks so much for posting this :) I would love a part 2
happy to hear that you found it helpful!
Yes! Go over your bookkeeping process.
Another great video! I've recently realised I really wouldn't like to do music as a job! I love it because it's such a stress reliever for me.
Great content💯
Great video, love this type of stuff. I've always wanted to be a mixing engineer since sound engineering school but never tried. This video makes me want to try this time aha Would love to see more videos like this!
you should go for it!
Yeah, make more vids on this topic!
Really enjoyed this one, thanks for doing it!
glad you enjoyed it!
come on man, you know which video we are waiting for..... some with air and 3 in the name... (just because you are the master to cover it) 😂
man this topic is so important, thanks for sharing and I would vote for a part 2, thanks a lot
Giving a like to the comment after 5 month is OG! haha
thanks you james! much needed video!
We would really appreciate if you did a in depth version on how to make it a consistent and comfortable living overall
I like these kind of videos. For me most if not all of the fun is in the ideas and producing side of things
Great video James, please make more based on your experiences.
Glad you like it! I might do a part 2 in the future as there is a ton more that I learned :)
Great stuff. More please!
Great 👍 video. I’ve subscribed.
Share more please!!!
I agree with everything you said I some experience recording and mixing for local artist in the pass this was 100% accurate
One thing I’m wondering though is if you are planning on testing the M3 MacBook Air and a M3 MacBook Pro for daw performance.
Thank you for doing this. Although I don't myself want to mix for a living, it seems like a very decent (enjoyable) way to make a living, and consequently the question I and probably many others would be most interested in hearing an answer to is, how difficult was it for you to make this your professional occupation, how long did it take, and I'm sorry to be blunt but, does it pay a decent living?
Hello James
I am a professional instrumentalist musician. I am a saxophonist. I'm starting with music production. Thank you very much for your videos, they are excellent. I have a question, how is ableton live working and what is the compatibility with plugins in 2024?
For you, which version of iOS is the most stable and has fewer compatibility problems with the iOS version or with the plugins to work in music production? I have read many comments from people who complain about having a laptop with good processing power but with compatibility problems. I'm thinking about making the jump to a macbook pro but I'm worried about these kinds of things.
Thank you so much. I regret my English. Greetings from Colombia !!!
Would be interesting to hear how to get started, even if part time for some extra income, as a mix/mastering engineer. Really enjoy doing so as a hobby, would like to supplement my income without losing my passion for audio. Any tips?
Client service is an inevitable, crucial component of doing mixing professionally. There's no way around it. As a start, you could try to do some mixing gigs for bands to see if this is something that damages your passion for audio!
Great video, thank you
Very helpful, thank you
Good stuff, thank you!
Hi i needa choose M2 or M3, only reason to buy M3 ($100 more) would be cause i need to keep my mac for years to come (and M3 manages energy well?) Does it make sense? idk help
Yeah the things you mention apply to any type of self employed jop. I'm doing it for almost 25 years. And all these addons are a serious part of your weekly hours. On the other hand doing some stuff you don't like so much make you even like the good ones more 😊
what I hate most, and the reason I only mix for people I know well now, is when they want 3 reviews only to fucking tell me to go back to v1 I can’t stand that
SUBSCRIBED, GREAT VIDEO
Please make video on kontakt test on macbook m1 m2 and m3 laptos please
Do you have any tips on how to find clients when you're starting out?
+1
3:46 lower overheads as much as possible, got it.
are those emotiva speakers at the background?
Nope, they are Adams!
@@JamesZhan i assumed they are not audiophile speakers and for work purpose in general?
@@MasterofPlay7 they are studio monitors :)
@@JamesZhan why not choose other brands like JBL?
I use JBL LSR 308 mkII myself, but the speakers does not speak the truth. they tell you what you need to know in their own language. A great speaker is the one you understand the best, and produce the best work on. There is no spoon. @@MasterofPlay7
Some mixers don't even take critique good.. I remember saying once that the revision sounds too compressed and the mixer was like "are you kidding where did you listen to the mix"
To be fair, it is a valid question for the mix engineer to ask. I have seen cases where the answers to "where did you listen to the mix" were "on my phone speaker" and "in my car," both of which are arguably terrible systems to properly judge a mix.
Now, this is where effective communication plays a huge role for the mix engineer. Saying "are you kidding where did you listen to the mix" is absolutely the wrong way to go about it. It sounds condescending as hell.
When this happens to me, I would simply ask what playback device was used, and then follow up with what issues they are hearing. That's usually enough information for me to find a solution. There's no need to ridicule the client.
@@JamesZhan definitely, I do music for 15 years and i was in a professional band and had the opportunity and luck to work with world class producers and engineers and the communication and work with them was top notch and very professional, that was not something someone in that level said , I had this kind of responses from guys on fivver who said they do it professionally for 20 years but the revision they send sound like a demo, I have experience and I mix myself so i kinda know how and where to check a mix , and because I worked with top engineers I know that when someone responds this way they are not who they claim to be
lol, most of the time what the artist wants makes the mix worse.