I try to start the mix by blowing the biggest bongload I can possibly muster.
then another.
wait five/ten minutes.
then toss the faders up.
I try to keep this up every 45 to 75 minutes till the mix is done. :p
nothing is ritual except for maybe actions like the aforementioned. :eek:

See E-Cue...it's not only me!!!!! Ha ha ha ha ha
lol :D
My ritual is a clean work area...I cant get started unless my space is organized...call me anal retentive but it helps me get into the work mode!
Opus

I print the mix and then turn up the monitors and listen back while I walk around the building. I call this my "party test," How would it sound at a party, would it draw me in? Does it all make sense? Etc...

:cool:

I have so many. Just running out of the studio and giving no explanationand coming back 15 minutes later with a cup full of dunkin donuts coffee in the middle of the day is my personal favorite. This occurs cause I am usually so into the wmix around my "coffe time" that I just try to get in and out as quick as possible and I dont want anyone coming with me cause I wanna rest my ears. Taking a nap under the console for 15 minutes every time i mix is another. Having to explain to dumb band member X what the radio shack SPL meter is is also one.

man...growing up on the east coast I got so addicted to Dunkin Donuts....I miss that shit!!!

I sort the patch cables into groups of their various lengths. I hate to have to look for two same length cables while I am mixing.

Hmm...I start by switching off the cell phone and having a cup of blackberry tea or two while listening to a fave reference CD to get my vibe going. I also have a fetish for not sitting long in the chair; I spend much of my time mixing standing up (and getting down!)...yet another reason to avoid mixing with a mouse...really breaks my groove. Another habit of mine is cutting the monitoring volume at frequent intervals WAY down to almost imperceptible levels for a couple of minutes...which has the nice side effect of usually quieting the control room talkers. Of course, typical after-mix fetishes would belong on a different forum. :cool:

Jon

Ditto the tidy studio, rip out the patch bay, clean slate..

Rip the band out too, I kinda like to start alone..

Bus 1&2 = Kit
Bus 3&4 = Kat (compressed kit) KitKat! (= a UK candy bar - geddit?!)
Bus 5&5 = Guitar group

Perfect start time would be all alone, 3pm just after chinese food for lunch and an espresso. As the MSG and caffeine combine in my 42 year old brain, 'racheting up' my stress levels, I sit down and make a mental note to myself - I FUCKING HATE MIXING! - Then get down to it and kick some serious tone ass!

:)

I am really enjoying reading everybody's mix rituals. If I am within walking distance of the studio, I like to get up early have a good breakfast and walk to the studio. Similar to Julian, once at the studio, I like to pound my system with coffee and tear into things with great enthusiasm. I have to have everything perfectly aligned, including putting tone through all the outboard gear and setting for best S/N and even L/R returns at the console if stereo. On old consoles with no detent for the pan knob I've been known to use tone to find where the true center is on the pan pot. If it is the first day of mixing and the studio is unfamiliar or I haven't worked there in a while, I will spend quite a while playing stuff I know on the monitors. Sometimes this will cause me to put up blankets or other treatment in the control room, to tweak things more to my liking. At this point I will weed through any issues with the monitor system. You would be suprised how many super expensive-cover of Mix magazine studios I have worked in where I found little things like the sides of the poweramp on the monitors was not balanced, or one of the Genelecs(of whatever) sounded very different from the other. Or the 1/2" is not totally erasing. I like to try and catch little stuff like that before I get all up in it.

I like to start with food in my system and a fresh bottle of cold water or Arizona Green Tea under the console. Before I start mixing I'll yank the patchbay and set up my 2-mix compressor with tones and check to make sure both sides are balanced by using a 1khz tone. I set the compressor so that I get a 2dB gain boost when it's in line to make up for the inevitable reduction. I'll also put a strip of tape along the bottom of the console and I need two different colored Sharpies and a pencil with a pad next to me at all times. Removal by a client is punishable by 20 lashes with a wet noodle.

While mixing I try to move a foot or two back from the console and I'll also walk around the room to get a different perspective. One of these days I should install some speakers that are way off axis.

I do all the hard work at night. Then I wake up in the morning with fresh ears, drink two gallons of coffee, turn the mix way up and make sure it kicks ass.

Well, besides the "usual" technical necessities like setting up, changing volumes, walking around - the consistent "fetish" or habit that I have is that I need to listen to the mix when I return home from the studio. And even if it's like 4am and neighbours could get annoyed. I _have_ to listen to it...

Just my NZ$0.02 (=US$0.0083)

I like to start every session with "What are we eating today?" and "Could you get me the menu book, please?"

Originally posted by Ang1970:
I like to start every session with "What are we eating today?" and "Could you get me the menu book, please?"

When the band arrives and asks if the mix is almost ready... I react:
"It's all pretty nice with the music and all that... But what about dinner?"

So kindof the same...

Originally posted by Opus2000:
See E-Cue...it's not only me!!!!! Ha ha ha ha ha
lol :D
My ritual is a clean work area...I cant get started unless my space is organized...call me anal retentive but it helps me get into the work mode!
Opus
Baw-hahahahaha. Someone beat you to it Opus...

I usually listen to the rough only once. Then I adjust the mood of the room: Fade the lights dimmer for ballads/brighter for up tempos, etc. I have a bunch of moody crap & take with me, everything from lava lamps to liquid gel projectors.
A lot of my clients are emotional (tense, end of project, whatever) so I try to turn the control room into a sanctuary. If the mix isn't fun, it doesn't sound as good.

"I like to start with food in my system and a fresh bottle of cold water or Arizona Green Tea under the console."

Hmmmm Interesting!

I have woken up under the console on many occaisions, but I usualy try to get out from under it FOR BREAKFAST!

:)

"I like to start with food in my system and a fresh bottle of cold water or Arizona Green Tea under the console."

I have woken up under the console on many occaisions, but I usualy try to get out from under it FOR BREAKFAST!

Ummm... It's more like the drink stays on the ground under the console. I sit in the chair and reach down for it. It stays on the ground in case of spillage. I don't like liquids in the console.

Originally posted by e-cue:

I usually listen to the rough only once. Then I adjust the mood of the room: Fade the lights dimmer for ballads/brighter for up tempos, etc. I have a bunch of moody crap & take with me, everything from lava lamps to liquid gel projectors.

I have Lava Lamps, candles and incense too. What's a liquid gel projector? Sounds interesting.

Originally posted by Jay Kahrs:

I have Lava Lamps, candles and incense too What's a liquid gel projector? Sounds interesting.

I stay away from incense so the smoke doesn't eff up gear over time (unless my clients insist on smoking blunts in the control room).
As far as the Liquid gel projectors that help me get mood (which I now call "The Opus Factor") see this link
http://www.coolstuffcheap.com/groovewheel.html
BTW, this is a great place to buy crap online. (and no, I do NOT work for them)

Originally posted by e-cue:

As far as the Liquid gel projectors that help me get mood (which I now call "The Opus Factor") see this link

I feel honored!!! Speaking of gel stuff like that..the live sound company where I was the bench tech had the original Joshua Light Show equipment...the fly color wheel..the large overhead projector and all..I even fixed the color wheel so we could have an ambient mood when we had a leak in our roof and had to fly a huge blue tarp to run the water away from our racks!! It was coool!!! lol
I have this cool lightening machine I turn on every once in awhile that gives a cool atmosphere to help with mixing and give me more of that "Opus Factor"!!!! Ha ha ha!
:D
Opus

I was avoiding this topic, but your new fearless leader (actually just one of them) has negotiated the moving of Mixfest for my Mix fetishes. Did you learn this kind of shit from me, or are you just a natural?

OK, first, I never mix with my shoes on.

Second, the vocal is always patched to the right of the break on the console. However, that's not so much of a fetish, but rather I'm right handed, and usually am sitting at the break. This makes it easier for vocal rides.

Third, I listen to how the next song comes up with the EQ's and inserts from the last song, no matter how radical. This is where I allow randomness to enter the mix, and I search for the random happy accident to occur. I can remember one of these very well. The song was to break down to a loop and a few instruments, and the loop happend to be panned hard right, and had a telephone EQ on it. I doubt I would have ever thought to actually do that, but as it turned out, it was perfect.

Fourth, Before I print a mix, I sit back off the console, or lay on a couch, but sit out of the stereo feild, with the lights extremely dim (although the lights are usually pretty dim once everything is patched in, and up on the board.)That might yeild the last couple of touches, and then I print.

Fifth, when I'm finished the mix, and as I'm printing alternate versions, I do the flashlight dance. If you want to know more than that, you're just going to have to pony up the money for me to do a mix.

Mixerman

Mixerman, sometimes you scare me. I do the exact same thing with leaving everything the same for the next mix to find random happy accidents. Has worked like a charm many times in the past. I once had it work so well, I hardly did anything different for the tune that came up and it was a treatment I doubt I would have gone for if not for the previous settings making just the right things weird.

Originally posted by McSnare:
Mixerman, sometimes you scare me. I do the exact same thing with leaving everything the same for the next mix to find random happy accidents. Has worked like a charm many times in the past. I once had it work so well, I hardly did anything different for the tune that came up and it was a treatment I doubt I would have gone for if not for the previous settings making just the right things weird.

Same. Very scary. We should work together one of these days.

Mixerman

I like to bring my dog with me, when i can. This gets me out for a walk every couple of hours so I dont feel too burned out and puts me in a lighter mood. Although she has eaten tons of my stuff. It just makes me feel more at ease. I also make sure to play the last recording the band im working with did before me. Motivates me to make sure its way better.

The dog's also handy if your hearing's shot above 10k...

I mainly work in radio studios, but was interested in this. I too have a fetish for having patch cords the same length. I hate plugging a stereo pair with a 1 foot and a 3 foot! A producer I worked with had to reset all the tape machine counters to zero. I used to drive him nuts by spinning the A80 counter wheel when he wasn't looking. And somebody ALWAYS sets the reverb box controls to 12 o'clock. Since once of them is the wet/dry mix and we always use them on sends, this drives ME nuts!

And that's it from the wacky world of broadcasting. I think you mixing guys probably have a better time than us... :)

I hate other people's grease pencil/whatever marks - if I can't delegate I will even sit there and eliminate them myself if necessary. Otherwise MM's rituals sound uncannily familiar.

Apparently, as I am finding out recently, I put on my 'get the fuck away from me, I'm irritated' face when I start to mix.

Seldom am I actually irritated, but people keep commenting on it. I think I've cultivated it to keep the interruptions down to a minimum.

Of course, now that I've built a skate ramp behind the studio, I have found that some nice long grinds are just the ticket mid-mix, and that is fast becoming a pre-print ritual with the mix cranked, looping, and the door open.

I also have to wander around in the live room with the door open between, about 2/3 of the way through the mix, preferably reading something uninteresting.

Well, at my place, we like to start with the traditional Witch Doctor Jaguar Head Dance, and from there perhaps invoke a few of the deities and replicate a couple of the ancient Greek rites from the Eleusinian Mystery Initiations, not forgetting the LSD!

From there we'll often move on to a friendly group incantation or two from the Testimony of The Mad Arab and The Insane Jew Grimoire, and perhaps after a bit of tribal dancing and virginal sacrifices, we start with a write-in strip.

Oh! I almost forgot the Most Important Thing! We pray for Analog Sound!

Hey-alalalalalalalalalaah allalalalalalalalahey! Aaahhh ahhlalalalalalalalalala ahhhlalalalalalala la HEY!!

Sometimes we dance the Kozotzki... ;)

If i'm mixing in my room I like to hoover the studio before anything else.
And I have to be working within 5 min of being in the studio. Lights down and a candle or two. Then I listen to the track once and pick 3 or 4 tracks from my record collection that might help me in some way or just for the fun of it. I find it too easy to forget to listen to music when you're mixing or tracking everyday. And my golden rule: It's all about what you listen too but even more what you don't. My patience threshold with a lame CD is very low. I do 2 or 3 twenty minute music breaks a day and it's worth it. 40 fast pushups under the desk gets the andrenalin going in the morning. Also a few scales or a theme on a piano or rhodes go a long way in chilling out.

To Stephen Paul:

Virgin sacrifices? In LA? Come ON :D !

Hi Matthias Postel,

whats yr studio? I'm in Wellington.

I like to invite my Burmese cat to mix sessions. He used to be able to get into my large old sentry 3 monitors, The first time he emerged after discovering he could get in I nearly had a heart attack!
His new sleeping position, on top of a nice warm amp.

Gil

i have a cat who, in the usual feline manner, changes her haunts on a regular basis

one time, she nearly gave herself a heart-attack, when she decided to make a nest in the blankets inside the kick drum, and a particularly enthusiastic drummer decided to have a go at a bit of 4 on the floor rawk

Wow! Lucky she didn't become a Stray Cat!

useually what I do is with new bands that I have barely met, I have a little butterfly feeling right before they show up than give them the best honest greeting I can muster. Than I watch all the bands body language and how they react with each other. I think you can learn alot from this part for the end of the mix to understand the "quite one" in the band might come up with a good idea. Comunication is key for me. So anyway we bust balls to get everythinmg set up. I spend most of my time setting up than all of a sudden it is RIB STEAK TIME on the BBQ! We always keep all kinds of cold refreshments for the clients (me). The main rutual here beside a completly organized studio is BEER CRACKING TIME when the tracking day is done!
For mixing I like to keep the band in suspence and tell them to go home and I'll let them hear after I conjour up some magic. After a long day of mixing it's BEER CRACKING TIME again!

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