Music Forums

Hey, Tony. Good post, and good point!

I would generally agree, there are a lot of projects I see with some far fetched requests for every instrument under the sun. Seems to me like those projects will not likely get finished if they are serious. But more likely, I think they are just asking for anyone who wants to, to join in.

But more to your point, I would also say that those are not finished projects. In that case, you are too early if you are looking to do the mix. I would assume they are not asking the mix engineer to do the project for them, more likely they want a mix engineer to participate, just at a later stage when the project is finished and ready for mixing. 

Personally, I think it is much more useful to add and remove talents wanted as the project progresses. First make the request for the writing team; once there is a song, then make the requests for the instruments and vocals; and once the production is done, make the request for the mixing, etc. In this way, the project can hopefully avoid bugging people that come to the project with the expectation that they can participate only to find that the project is not at the right stage.

On the other hand, a lot of mix engineers are also musicians. So could be that there is plenty to do and they want to jump in anyway. In that case, if you feel like there is a lot of work in the project, simply agree a higher percentage of ownership in the master. 

I probably don't agree so much on your point about people asking for help to finish their projects. That is kinda the point as a collaboration site. Some people just write songs, and for those people, there is a whole community of people here that will want to take advantage of that by producing the song, whether as a work for hire gig, or as a joint owner in the copyright. Everyone's a winner.

The trick, I think, is to make sure that you feel you will get the reward you want out of the project before you get involved. That could be cash to perform or mix, or it could be (more common around here) a share in copyrights, which then leaves you (and your collaborators) with endless possibilities to go sell or license the song and make some real money. So if you don't see value in getting involved, then just don't. 

I think this is a great question and hope to hear others views on this. Thanks for posting!

Lee

Hey Tony, yes it is a really good question and good point.

I agree with Lee in that a lot of times people are just looking for someone to jump on board with their idea - for me that's a bit like when your band gets together and someone says "who's got something" and you work on a riff, bass line, idea and take it forward, it's just now in a digital space. That is ultimately the idea of a "collaboration" site vs a strictly "for hire" site,  where you would pay for the service: vocal, bass, mixing etc. There's just a very wide spectrum of what we all thing collaboration actually is but that's another topic altogether :-)

I also think it makes more sense to just list the "immediate" talent you are looking for, not just a long list of everything. So if you don't have any lyrics and you want them, maybe make that the first step, but that's just a personal view. Others will put it all up and see who jumps on board.

I guess the simple way around it is to seek out the projects you like the sound of and that have all of the individual parts ready and loaded as Seps and are ready to go to the mixing stage.

Steve

I'd like to know the answer to that one as well - often I go through and automate all the tracks on my projects and, like you Vic, there are usually quite a few, then when I load the Seps I return everything to zero.

I've often thought it would be better to leave the automation on but interested to know what our mix and engineering community think :-)

Yes, I think you're right it does feel like part of the mixing process. I like the idea of wet tracks for guidance of your ideas/thoughts and dry tracks for the mix ;-)

I agree with Aleksi here. Very well described. It would also be good to have a reference track of a production, of an artist, where you want to sound roughly and this should be from the same genre. But I also agree with tony.

The most important thing is good source material. The right microphone for the right situation, good rooms. Top preamps and you should know how to use these devices.

Maybe a bit off topic:

Some people on Procollabs have too high expectations.
For example, you get a vocal recording, recorded with a cheap dynamic microphone somewhere in the living room.
As a result it is expected to sound like a recording with a Brauner in a high end studio.

Then there are projects where you have spent hours working on something, uploading this idea but never hearing anything again.

However, I also know members who cannot get along with Procollabs. Too complicated for some. Perhaps the concept should be maybe revised here and there.  That's why it happens that the project is looking for everything possible, with something completely different expected and I agree with Lee here