What exactly does mixing and mastering include?

[freedom78]

I do realize who we're talking about here, but all your estimations are way too long. Mixing, even for professional albums is usually one month max: even on complex albums. Mastering is usually a very short process (usually a week): once again even on complex albums. 

A.K.A. Late April or Early May

I also want to add that there are reports of Andy Wallace doing mixes way before which leads me to believe that they are just mixing down Frank and Bumble's parts. Andy said that everyone was "delighted with the mixes" sometime last year. Think about it.

Admittedly, I know nothing about this stuff.  But IF the album was believed to be able to be finished by March 6th (when it was announced in December), then mixing can't be TOO long of a process.  With an eight week turnaround, Axl clearly thought the album could be mixed/mastered in about 6 weeks. 

By the way, for my mental timetable, is mixing/mastering done by the band and producers etc. that they work with, or is it done by the label's people, once all recordings are submitted?

[SterileEyes]

If they're truly just starting formal mixing right now, which I doubt, but if they are...'07 isn't happening.

I think thats pretty cynical to rule out 2007 already.

Well, I did say that I doubt that is the case.

As I said, they took nearly a year to mix Use Your Illusion, and yeah it was a double album, but recording took a year and mixing took almost a year. Recording CD took years and years and mixing will take...a while I'm assuming.

Which is why I optimistically guessed that the mixing has been going on for a while (which it obviously has since that Better leak sounds 90% final).

My actual realistic guess is that it will come out sometime between May and July, but if mixing doesn't go smoothly, it could still be a long way away.

I'm actually glad there's no release date anymore. I'm pretty sure hindsight being 20/20 Axl would have gone with the version of the open letter that didn't include the tentative date if he could do it over again.

[WARose]

I do realize who we're talking about here, but all your estimations are way too long. Mixing, even for professional albums is usually one month max: even on complex albums. Mastering is usually a very short process (usually a week): once again even on complex albums. 

A.K.A. Late April or Early May

I also want to add that there are reports of Andy Wallace doing mixes way before which leads me to believe that they are just mixing down Frank and Bumble's parts. Andy said that everyone was "delighted with the mixes" sometime last year. Think about it.

Admittedly, I know nothing about this stuff.  But IF the album was believed to be able to be finished by March 6th (when it was announced in December), then mixing can't be TOO long of a process.  With an eight week turnaround, Axl clearly thought the album could be mixed/mastered in about 6 weeks. 

By the way, for my mental timetable, is mixing/mastering done by the band and producers etc. that they work with, or is it done by the label's people, once all recordings are submitted?

del said the band is currently mixing the record.....     so it`s not the record company. in general, it`s never the record company, as the mixing plays a very important role in the final sound of the album.

[Wicked Demon]

mixing: Getting your voice to sound as badass on tape as you think it sounds in your head.

Well, it isn't ALWAYS that, but photographs and film need often need to be color corrected because the camera or the film isn't able to reproduce the actual color and light at the scene... though it still records adequate data.

Similarly, microphones, tape, and ADCs do not perfectly replicate the sound that one hears in the recording environment. So often, EQ, ADSR and compression are adjusted to make what ended up on the recording sound more like it did when it was performed live.

[acompleteunknown]

To give some persepective, Nine Inch Nails started mixing their new album in January, the album is due in April.  Linkin Park started mixing their new album in February and their album is due in May.  If GNR are mixing now...we should be looking at a May/June release.

[Lesty]

It's hard to tell how much mixing needs to be done.
Lots of the album could have been mixed already.
If they needed to add a new guitar solo or drum track in, that's not that big of a deal if everything else was already in place.

Can you imagine how many different takes and tracks they must have to choose from?

[jimb0]

If Axl is mixing alone, look for a 2010 Release. 

I bet it will be out sometime in the summer. 

[brock]

To give some persepective, Nine Inch Nails started mixing their new album in January, the album is due in April.? Linkin Park started mixing their new album in February and their album is due in May.? If GNR are mixing now...we should be looking at a May/June release.

this is great info, and i would tend to think their goal is to have EVERYTHING done before they hit the road again in April.  After that its probably just finding the best tuesday along the way to release it coupled with a single/Video ETC

[Montrealrocks]

I was listening to a DVD today.  They were saying that it took 6 months of mixing for the 2 Illusions cd.

So basically, it took 3 months to mix each.

I hope that it won't be that long for Chinese Democracy!

[estebanf]

Bumblefoot said this:

Usually after that, the process would follow with mastering the mixes, cd design, a lot of promotion and preparations for the release.  Hopefully all the business stuff won't take too long, and the album will be available...  (here comes the magic word......)   *SOON*   

[gnrbacik]

When Axl is ready, he'll be ready

[Scabbie]

I have a random question

Why do albums usually get mixed at more than one location? Surely it makes sense to mix songs together to get the right feel?

[mrgnrdvd]

another 5 years

[Ganja4Life]

it's funny..almost everyone here thinks that it's bullshit just cause of the past.What happened in the past happened in the past.It's done over,never gunna happen again.so Give them a chance before you go doubting it..bumblefoot says we're in the mixing stage,Del says we're in the mixin stage..so it probably is..have some patience and just wait.

  This is good news and every ones being so negative..it almost makes me sick

[bringbackadler]

Mixing & Mastering =  another 90 -120 days before the album's release.

 



/bringbackadler

[acompleteunknown]

I was listening to a DVD today.? They were saying that it took 6 months of mixing for the 2 Illusions cd.

So basically, it took 3 months to mix each.

I hope that it won't be that long for Chinese Democracy!

But this was also two albums worth of material to mix...that's the reason it took twice as long.  But recording for UYI took roughly 3 years...while CD took 10 years of recording.  So I guess anything is possible.

[Chief]

one other thing you have to think about, back then they didn't have as many fancy computers and what not, so it would have taken longer to mix.  now it is a lot easier...

at my friend's home studio, we were able to get pretty professional results in just a few days.

I was listening to a DVD today.  They were saying that it took 6 months of mixing for the 2 Illusions cd.

So basically, it took 3 months to mix each.

I hope that it won't be that long for Chinese Democracy!

But this was also two albums worth of material to mix...that's the reason it took twice as long.  But recording for UYI took roughly 3 years...while CD took 10 years of recording.  So I guess anything is possible.

[RageNirvanaNIN]

the mixing phase is as long as the recording phase ...

i hope it started a long time ago.

General rule of thumb is 1-2 hours for every minute of music. I'm sorry but when I hear Axl Rose and mixing , I just think of years and years. If he wanted the recording to be perfect , the mixing is like the perfection of perfection. Mastering is just getting the mix to the right level basically , Mixing is what takes the longest.

[misterID]

I was listening to a DVD today.? They were saying that it took 6 months of mixing for the 2 Illusions cd.

So basically, it took 3 months to mix each.

I hope that it won't be that long for Chinese Democracy!

Bill Price said it took so long because Slash and Axl were arguing over every single mix of every single song. If Axl liked it, Slash hated it, and vice versa. So most of that time was trying to appease both of them.

And as someone mentioned before, mixing does not take long.

[redx]

which band's album do you think will hit the shops first, Gn'Rs or VR's?

Both albums are at the mixers. VR's album has been mixed 12 times so far (rumour has it), so I guess they are almost done. How many mixes will Gn'Rs CD go through before it's in the can? 1 months, 2 months, or whole years worth. Is it possible that an album can go to the mixers without good results, thus the band has to do some re-recording?