{"id":179,"date":"2014-10-07T17:04:19","date_gmt":"2014-10-07T15:04:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedbymarcmozart.com\/?p=179"},"modified":"2014-11-22T22:38:41","modified_gmt":"2014-11-22T21:38:41","slug":"magic-1st-listen-part-1-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedbymarcmozart.com\/fr\/2014\/10\/07\/magic-1st-listen-part-1-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The magic of the 1st listen – Part 1 and 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

The greatest gift for anybody involved in music production is the first-listen experience. When you are listening to a song for the first time, it is the only time you are hearing it like the consumer out there, the person who we want to win over with our final product.
\nBut what happens when you\u2019ve already worked on a production for a bunch of days, and maybe you are even a co-writer on the song and played\/programmed most of the parts?<\/p>\n

You know where I\u2019m going with this one, right?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

By the time your roughmix is done, you\u2019re married to the song. In the worst way. The song keeps spinning in your sleep and you could not be further away from hearing your production with a fresh ear.
\nAt this point you do not hear it like a record-label A&R, a radio programmer, and certainly not like a consumer.
\nYou are emotionally connected to your work. You might be in love with it, proud of your drum-sound, the amount of bass in the mix or some of the production tricks you\u2019ve used, or even worse, the opposite, you could be totally frustrated and tired of the damn thing!<\/p>\n

Solutions?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

A. Mixing for somebody else
\n<\/strong><\/span>When you mix a song for somebody else, you are indeed having the great advantage of the \u00ab\u00a0first-listen experience\u00a0\u00bb.
\nA great mix engineer, within seconds of his first listen, will understand where the producer wants the mix to go, spots problem areas of the mix, and as part of his craft has the skill and the tools to translate his impressions quickly into a mix with improved audio quality.<\/p>\n

Add to that other advantages a paid mix engineer has that help him to get the job done.<\/p>\n

– An environment specifically created for the task of mixing<\/strong>
\n– He is mixing records to a high standard EVERY DAY.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What else helps the mix engineers\u00a0judgement?<\/strong><\/em>
\n– He gets paid!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wow, who would have thought that!
\n\u201eWhy should that make the outcome of his work any different?\u201c you might ask.<\/p>\n

Well, this one is easy. Let\u2019s look at exactly what a mix engineer gets paid to do… (just some examples of what clients request)<\/p>\n

\"notes4mixengineer\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The mix engineer gets paid to improve the audio quality<\/strong><\/i> while respecting the integrity and intention of the production<\/strong><\/em>.
\nHis job is NOT<\/strong> to judge or criticise the quality of the song, production or instrumentation. Somebody who spends money on a mix engineer usually BELIEVES<\/strong> in what they deliver, while they are realistic enough to know that there is room for improvement<\/p>\n

I’m sure you can see\u00a0why a paid mixer whose only job is mixing a song for somebody else, is in a much better position to do a quality job compared to someone\u00a0doing the mix as a task\u00a0within a bigger project.<\/p>\n

To\u00a0summarise,\u00a0before you start to do any work on the mix, ask the producer to provide you with a rough mix<\/strong><\/span> of the song, the one the client\u00a0likes best so far, the one that represents where the producer wants to go with it.<\/p>\n

Your first listen is for emotional input from the rough mix.<\/strong>
\nSecond listen is analytical.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"first_listen\"1st listen – emotional<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Have a listen to the roughmix through the speakers you are most familiar with – this could be your portable stereo in the kitchen as well as your car stereo or your main studio speakers. Try not to listen with an analytical or technical ear, don’t focus on anything specific, just relax while you’re listening, and await your natural emotional response.<\/p>\n

Now go and do something else. Have a coffee, eat, do your tax return. Something fun. Let the first impression settle.<\/p>\n

2nd listen – analytical<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

If the rough mix made you enthusiastic and singing\u00a0along, dancing or playing air-guitar, there is not much to worry about for now.<\/p>\n

For the second listen, switch back and forth between different speakers – more about that in a future post.
\nThe mix might\u00a0not work\u00a0on all systems, which can be a hint for areas of improvement. Find out why it works so well, and be careful – going forward – not to fix things that are not broken<\/em><\/strong>. Anyway, it will be fun to explore the multitracks, and you won\u2019t have to re-invent the wheel on this mix.<\/p>\n

Rough mix sucks?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the more common scenario, the 1st listen left you with mixed emotions. Maybe not exactly giving you a headache, but close to that: a feeling that something is not quite working in this rough mix.<\/p>\n

On the 2nd listen, focus on why it\u2019s not quite working.<\/strong> You might not get to the bottom of the problem immediately. But further observations will get you closer. Make notes<\/strong> as you\u2019re listening. Switch between different speakers.<\/p>\n

Here are some observations that I would typically come up with during the 2nd listen.<\/strong>
\n(these notes are taken straight from projects I worked on in the last few months)<\/em><\/p>\n

– No lift when chorus hits. Impact drops actually. First vocal note in chorus out of tune and too late.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

– Vocaltiming doesn\u2019t sit tight on the beat. Esses conflicting with HiHat and throwing the groove off.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

– Several Kicks and Bass Synth fighting for the low end.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

– Bass Notes vary in loudness.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

– Drums and vocals sounding one-dimensional and squashed.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

– Instrumental hook too far in the back. Doesn\u2019t shine.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

In Part 3<\/a>, I\u2019ll address work arounds and solutions for when you are mixing your own song or production<\/a>.
\n(sorry, I know… promised to cover that\u00a0in Part 2)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The greatest gift for anybody involved in music production is the first-listen experience. When you are listening to a song for the first time, it is the only time you are hearing it like the consumer out there, the person who we want to win over with our final product. But what happens when you\u2019ve…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":65,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mixing-advice","category-4","description-off"],"yoast_head":"\nThe magic of the 1st listen - Part 1 and 2 - Mixed by Marc Mozart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When you are listening to a song for the first time, it is the only time you are hearing it like the consumer out there.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mixedbymarcmozart.com\/2014\/10\/07\/magic-1st-listen-part-1-2\/\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mixedbymarcmozart.com\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/07\\\/magic-1st-listen-part-1-2\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mixedbymarcmozart.com\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/07\\\/magic-1st-listen-part-1-2\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"marcmozart\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mixedbymarcmozart.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3da9b6253db05a5664aeee78478e6343\"},\"headline\":\"The magic of the 1st listen – Part 1 and 2\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-07T15:04:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-11-22T21:38:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mixedbymarcmozart.com\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/07\\\/magic-1st-listen-part-1-2\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":952,\"commentCount\":1,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mixedbymarcmozart.com\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/07\\\/magic-1st-listen-part-1-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mixedbymarcmozart.cdnport.com\\\/2022\\\/04\\\/first_listen.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Mixing Advice\"],\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mixedbymarcmozart.com\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/07\\\/magic-1st-listen-part-1-2\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mixedbymarcmozart.com\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/07\\\/magic-1st-listen-part-1-2\\\/\",\"name\":\"The magic of the 1st listen - 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