Discuss here mixing and mastering

got it, thanks - the only other thing I knew was "that's what Rush fucked up on that album that people hated"

Haha, oh really?

https://gearspace.com/board/mastering-forum/736700-cant-stand-new-rush-album.html

Vapor Trails, I think

i've hired people for mastering before but never mixing. how does that work? you send them the basic stems? do you send any references, like your own mix attempts, to give an idea of what you're aiming for, or are you just trusting them to figure it out?

I think yes, that's exactly it? From what I've seen. I think it depends on the mixer but I think it's more than just levels and can get into pre-mastering kind of choices, EQing and dynamics at the track level, which obv can't be done in mastering?

I think the more information the better? Notes, references (other people's records for an aesthetic, your own mixes with what you did & didn't like?), yeah. If you've already done things that you're really happy with or that are integral to the sound, leave them on the stems rather than make them start from zero and recreate what you've done.

From what I've seen with friends, the trouble is only when the band and the mixer are going for different aesthetics and it's not communicated well. Also I guess revisions can be sticky, I would think that any mixer should be ok with one main revision pass and maybe some small adjustments after that, but I imagine most would charge more if it drags on and have some sort of agreement around that?