Seeking mix engineer (especially someone who is a fan of Terry Date's work)

[davenpri]

Hey there, I've been writing and recording with a buddy of mine for the past few years. We've worked with a handful of pretty awesome mix engineers, but want to continue to explore options. I'd say we tend to gravitate toward the sound of 90s alternative - huge fan of a lot of the stuff Terry Date has produced. Stuff from Deftones, LB, Helmet, Incubus, etc. Just wanted to see if there's anyone out there with similar interests/influences, or if anyone has any recommendations for who we could reach out to. Here are a couple of tracks we've had mixed and released to give you a sense of our style:





We have 5 other tracks in the pipeline. The hope is that once we find the right engineer, we'll work on knocking out an EP. Looking forward to hearing from some folks!

 

[crushingpetal]

Start with your budget. $100 a song vs. $1000 a song gives you very different options.

 

[davenpri]

Start with your budget. $100 a song vs. $1000 a song gives you very different options.

For sure, I think we'd hope to keep it around $1k USD per song or less if we can, but overall pretty flexible. We'd be willing to spend more if we find the right engineer.

 

[JoeyJoJoJrShabadoo]

Shit, man. I'd love to give it a go for you. If you wanna do it on a budget and you're not in a mad rush, I'm just starting to take on paid mixing/mastering work in my off time from work. Maybe I do a track for free to start, see what you think, and we can come to a deal?

Let me know your thoughts.

 

[crushingpetal]

That's a really good budget for an EP (you'll probably get some strong offers), so maybe the next thing to do is look at linear notes of recent releases you like. My guess is focus on releases on more indie/underground labels.

I've dug the last two Quicksand releases, and that's in the general style you mention. Those were done by Will Yip.

Another tip is that sometimes a "major" mix engineer has an assistant (you can sometimes find this on linear notes or from their studio page), and the assistant is way cheaper.

I was scrolling through URM's podcast list, and you can possibly find someone interesting this way too: https://www.urmpodcast.com/episodes/

 

[kamello]

George Lever IMO has a nice approach to that sound, and definitely cheaper than Terry Date

still, sent a PM with a few samples of my work

 

[crushingpetal]

George Lever IMO has a nice approach to that sound, and definitely cheaper than Terry Date

still, sent a PM with a few samples of my work

I was going to suggest Lever too.

 

[davenpri]

Shit, man. I'd love to give it a go for you. If you wanna do it on a budget and you're not in a mad rush, I'm just starting to take on paid mixing/mastering work in my off time from work. Maybe I do a track for free to start, see what you think, and we can come to a deal?

Let me know your thoughts.

Thanks for the offer! I'd be curious to hear some samples of previous work if you have any. Feel free to message me.

That's a really good budget for an EP (you'll probably get some strong offers), so maybe the next thing to do is look at linear notes of recent releases you like. My guess is focus on releases on more indie/underground labels.

I've dug the last two Quicksand releases, and that's in the general style you mention. Those were done by Will Yip.

Another tip is that sometimes a "major" mix engineer has an assistant (you can sometimes find this on linear notes or from their studio page), and the assistant is way cheaper.

I was scrolling through URM's podcast list, and you can possibly find someone interesting this way too: https://www.urmpodcast.com/episodes/

Great ideas. Those songs I included were done by engineers we found on liner notes from some of our favorite modern albums. So far, our favorite engineer to have worked with was Ken Andrews of Failure, but he's currently unavailable and honestly pretty expensive. He did the track "Stung". Quicksand is very much up our alley too - digging into Will Yip's work now, sounding pretty well along the lines of what we're looking for and recognize some of the albums he has listed under his prior work. Also, great call on the URM podcast. I'll definitely be digging through that today.

George Lever's stuff sounds pretty decent too - maybe has a bit too much of that "modern" sound for what we're looking for. I guess it's more a problem of just modern music production standards in general, but it seems like anything I listen to that was produced in recent years has no depth to it - I go back and listen to Around the Fur by Deftones, for example, and it just sounds so clean and like the music is in the room with me. It breathes so well, but still hits so hard. Everything these days seems to just sound squished.

 

[crushingpetal]

Another question: what is your goal for the EP? Court a label? Build an audience? Just make some bad ass music?
I only ask because an answer might also push you in one direction or another.*

but it seems like anything I listen to that was produced in recent years has no depth to it - I go back and listen to Around the Fur by Deftones, for example, and it just sounds so clean and like the music is in the room with me. It breathes so well, but still hits so hard. Everything these days seems to just sound squished.

Totally get this. Communicate this upfront with your mixer and they'll likely comply. Just because a mixer usually gives a mix the "modern polish" doesn't mean that's their only trick.

*Frankly, those singles you posted sound great. Adding 5k to your budget might get you a 5% "better" mix, and then you'll have to ask whether it is worth it and for what end.

 

[Crungy]

@davenpri I haven't had a chance to listen yet but absolutely will, especially if you worked with Ken! What a dream!

 

[davenpri]

Another question: what is your goal for the EP? Court a label? Build an audience? Just make some bad ass music?
I only ask because an answer might also push you in one direction or another.*

Totally get this. Communicate this upfront with your mixer and they'll likely comply. Just because a mixer usually gives a mix the "modern polish" doesn't mean that's their only trick.

*Frankly, those singles you posted sound great. Adding 5k to your budget might get you a 5% "better" mix, and then you'll have to ask whether it is worth it and for what end.

I guess our main goal is to just make something that we love. We try to just write what we want to hear, so having it mixed so that we enjoy listening back to it is what we're mainly after. Thanks for the feedback btw, those are great points. I will say I have tried to communicate that with a couple of engineers in the past but it still didn't quite pan out. Part of that could be that I just need to get better at conveying my thoughts/opinions. Also, thanks for the compliment. I am overall pretty happy with those mixes. I guess they're still not quite capturing the music in the way we're hearing it in our heads. I'm sure it'll never quite be 100% there unless maybe I learn to mix on my own, but we're always trying to get closer.

@davenpri I haven't had a chance to listen yet but absolutely will, especially if you worked with Ken! What a dream!

Ken was awesome to work with! He nailed the mix in 2 revisions and was just all around a cool dude.

 

[davenpri]

I should also definitely give credit to Mike Watts, who mixed System 1. We're big fans of Glassjaw's Material Control album, which Mike worked on. I don't think I've met someone more passionate about their work and making their clients happy.

 

[crushingpetal]

I guess our main goal is to just make something that we love. We try to just write what we want to hear, so having it mixed so that we enjoy listening back to it is what we're mainly after.

That's probably the best answer! Keep us updated as you go through this journey.

 

[davenpri]

That's probably the best answer! Keep us updated as you go through this journey.

Will do! Thanks again for all of the feedback and suggestions. I very much appreciate it.