Online mixing services are a very convenient and cost-effective way for artists and bands to get their music mixed or mastered to a professional standard but a major disadvantage of this type of service is having to work remotely and conducting most, if not all communication through email.
The language we use to describe sounds and music is very personal and open to interpretation which also adds to the problem.
One person’s warm is another person’s muffled.
Sara Carter runs an online mixing and mastering business Music Mix Pro UK and works with unsigned rock and indie bands from all over the world. In this article, Sara shares 5 tips to help you get the best feedback from your online clients.
So How Can We Tackle This Tricky Issue?
Well, one way would be to get on the phone or Skype and actually talk about the project but the trouble with this is it can take away the convenience aspect of an online service because we have to go backwards and forwards trying to arrange a mutually convenient time to speak to each other, very often across different time zones.
Even if this can be arranged with minimal fuss, you’ve still got to take time out of your schedule to actually have the conversation, which can go on longer than you’d anticipated, especially when dealing with clients whose first language isn’t your own.
Another way is to sign up to a paid revision tracking service like Bounce Boss, to help make the process more streamlined and efficient. But not everyone has the budget to commit to a subscription service like this, especially when just starting out or in the early stages of a business.
So, more often than not, email is the service we default to so it’s worth getting a system in place that will ensure you get quality revision notes that will keep both you and your client happy until the project is complete.
1. Create An Email Template With Step By Step Instructions
Use email templates or “canned responses” as they’re known in Gmail, to pre-prepare your first email to the client that will contain the download link to the mix or master file.
Prepare this once and you can re-use it for every client by just swapping out the download link to the one that’s relevant to your current project.
In it you can explain:
How you’d like the revisions laid out using time stamps; give an example
Why it’s best to listen on multiple devices and different volume levels
That they should nominate just one spokesperson for all communication to avoid confusion
That they should all listen and compare notes before the spokesperson submits the final complied revision notes for each revision round
If you don’t use Gmail you can use an app like Keyboard Maestro or Text Expander to trigger a block of text using a simple keystone combination. Failing that, use a free notes app and then us the copy and paste functions!
2. Ask For Audio Examples
Sometimes it’s easier to hear an example of a special effect than to have them describe it in words.
Suggest that they provide a time-stamped YouTube link to a commercial reference track that has the effect they’d like applying to their track.
3. Keeping Objectivity
As a project goes on, it’s pretty common to witness clients passing some decisions back to you because they’ve lost perspective.
The pre-cursor to this is when you’re aware that the revisions you’re being asked to do are contradicting ones you’ve done in previous rounds. That’s your red flag right there.
Suggest a pause in the proceedings. Take a few days or even a couple of weeks break to enable them to listen to other music and live with the mixes or masters to enable them to get a true indication of their feelings towards the song.
Yes, if you’re working to a deadline this isn’t always possible but even just a one day break can recalibrate the ears.
Remind them about the commercial references they gave you at the start of the project. Do they have your mixes in a playlist with some commercial tracks?
Listening to the original references is a great way to gain back some perspective.
4. Provide An Audio Glossary
For my clients, I’ve created a simple document with some common audio terms and sound descriptions as a prompt to help them find words for what they’re hearing, or not hearing.
This will mean that you are all “singing from the same hymn sheet” so to speak, and don’t have to try and decipher what they mean when they say they’d like something to sound more “glamorous”!? (true story…)
Ask them to be as specific as possible.
5. Thinking Outside The Box
We’re the ones who have the technical expertise to recognise what a 1dB gain change can potentially sound like in a mix or master.
The client might think they do but they probably don’t unless they’re trained in audio engineering or have years of experience mixing music and if that was the case, wouldn’t they be mixing the record themselves?
The point I’m trying to make is that, often, what the client is asking for isn’t actually what they want.
When they’re asking for the tambourine to be raised by 0.5dB in the choruses, what is it they are hoping to achieve? What is the mix missing at that point, is it really the tambourine or is there something else missing?
As you listen back, you might realise that the chorus actually falls a little flat and that your client has felt this and has surmised that the 0.5dB tambourine lift might help. In fact, you think that widening the guitars and lifting the drum room mics a little using automation might work better and give the client the excitement they were looking for.
On the other hand, a revision that looks like it’s not going to work on paper can sound amazing in the track. That’s happened to me on more than one occasion. Don’t knock it until you try it!
The most important thing is to keep listening. Just running through the revision list and checking things off feels productive and is ok but not to the point that the mix suffers.
Always keep listening and offering an alternative solution if a revision note just isn’t working for you.
I see my role as to serve the song and the songwriters intention, so if something feels wrong, I’ll try something else instead, even if the band didn’t ask for it and no-one’s ever complained, in fact, it shows that you actually care about their music.
Conclusion
Yes, there’s some work to be done to prepare some of these approaches ahead of time but the time it will save in the long run will make it all worth it.
Time is money and frustration loses clients (as well as their referrals) so anything you can do to make the process go quickly and smoothly will pay dividends in the end.
For clients, the revisions phase of an online service is probably the most frustrating so if you can make it as quick and painless as possible then not only will your clients think you’re amazing, they’ll tell their friends you are too!
More About Sara Carter
Sara Carter is a BBC trained, mixing and mastering engineer based in Basingstoke in the UK. She started recording and mixing music in the mid-’90s from a small home studio until eventually landing her dream job working from the BBC's Maida Vale Studios and Broadcasting House in London. She’s worked with a wide variety of recording artists and has been credited on records by Corrine Bailey Rae and KT Tunstall amongst others.
Sara decided to shake things up and left the BBC to explore a career in brewing, however, she’s since returned to mixing music with her online mixing and mastering business Music Mix Pro UK working with unsigned rock and indie bands from all over the world.