How time takes to get a professional quality in mixing/mastering?

[VitorSandrini]

Hello guys, sorry if this is'nt the right place to make this question, but I started to produce since 1 year and i not get yet a professional quality. Is recommended I make a course of mixing and mastering? And how time takes to get?

Thanks in advance.

[thecontrolcentre]

Most skills take around 1000 hours to become proficient in ... mixing is no different.

[Tricky-Loops]

It takes decades, it's impossible to learn mixing and mastering within a year. It even took me some years to learn how to write a song (no, I didn't have Magix Music Maker )...

Most people who are good in mixing/mastering are that good because mixing/mastering was all they did/learned/improved over decades. If you have other hobbies than music, than it's difficult. For example, I concentrated on writing professionally for many years, so I didn't have enough time to concentrate on music in that time and I'm still not a great mixer and master now...

[tehlord]

Most people I know who I have spoken about this to seem to agree that 5 years is about the time it takes to start to get good.

That's assuming you practice a lot and have a decent monitoring setup.

[Tarekith]

Don't rush it, you have to enjoy the process and not just the results. I think 5-6 years is when a lot of people start getting comfortable with their own music skills, but I hear pretty amazing stuff even from people only doing it 2 years too.

It's like playing any musical instrument, you wouldn't expect to pick up a violin and be playing concert halls after one year. Being a producer means you're learning a lot more than just one instrument, so you can't force it. Take it one step at a time, break down the areas you know you need work on, and just tick them off a list.

[lfm]

Even long time professionals can spend months on a mix for single song. Max Martin mentioned doing so working for Britney Spears - it's not coming from up your sleeve even for these folks.

Learn the trade - get books on the subject help you get som structure into what you do, why, and when etc.

Mixing secrets for the small studio - Mike Senior
Mixing audio - Roey Izhaki
Producers Manual - Paul White
Mixing Engieneers Handbook - Bobby Owsinsky

Listen to interviews with famous mixers at pensadosplace.tv is yet a good source.

Spend lots of time learning your tools - the plugin effects and synths.

And create good reference material to listen to and calibrate your ears while working on your own stuff.

[Hermetech Mastering]

Around ten years full time I'd say. 90% of the best mixes I receive for mastering fulfil that criterion. In other words, hard work/persistence is all.

[Sluga]

I would say a decade, but half decade if you are really focused or have some good mentoring

[Chopper]

when i listen back stuff i was mixing when i had less than 10 years of pro experience (not experience, but experience in the industry, so longer than that...), i grind my teeth in shame....
learn music theory. it will help you.
really, it will.
even if you work everyday on it, you will probably never mix something that ''the industry'' will consider acceptable. i am talking about fellow mix/mastering engineers when i say ''the industry''... not your current famous dj or whatever.

is it worthy to carry on? of course, if it is your passion.if you don't have the patience and dedication necessary, then forget it. but if you really have it in you, then you will make it. it's a long journey. a rewarding long journey.

listen to as many type of music you can . analyse everything. learn the tricks. train you ears. most importantly, train your ears.

mix and record your friends and any bands you can come across. even, and especially, if they do a kind of music that is not your favourite. you will learn even more tricks that you will be able to use later on.

be subtle with your processing. more doesn't mean better.

even if you primarly produce and mix electronic stuff, record some acoustic instruments/vocals. you will understand a lot about frequencies and the physic of sound by doing that.

courses a a good idea, and any contact with real professionals even more.

don't give up and good luck!

[4damind]

This depends of the time you invest and how often you mix/master and so the time you have to train your ears. But we speak about some years.

I'm not sure if you really need a course because the informations are often freely available everywhere. IMO nobody really has a problem to understand how stuff must be done because it's no rocket science or black magic. The main problem is more often, that people having not enough tracks where they can test/learn. If you have only one track in a year, you will only very slowly improve your mixing/mastering skills.

[penguinfromdeep]

few months

[arseniy2]

Most people I know who I have spoken about this to seem to agree that 5 years is about the time it takes to start to get good.

That's assuming you practice a lot and have a decent monitoring setup.

Oh thanks, now I don't feel like a loser because I learning little by little for a year already and I can't feel my skill is grow enough.

And for the topic starter I say - the biggest problem that most of tutorials is a bunch of pile where you pick very little ammount of good info. Maybe it's better to read some book, I haven't. But I was lucky to stumble upon some really good tutorial course. It's in russian tho. If you are russian then check wikisound.org course, it's best, better than lot of stuff I watched in english(and any other russians of course). It made so much things clear.

[Robmobius]

There's not really a 'set time' per se, and it depends on the individual plus the quality of information they have access to.

One of my mates is a DnB producer, and after 2 years he was at a release standard, and was well able to charge people for mixing their tracks. Bearing in mind that he's unbelievably talented, and was hanging around a lot of different producers (most were pros). So he had access to great info. But he was in his studio night after night practicing.

For me, I'd say that it took me 5 long years to get the sounds that I was after (practicing at least 3 hours+ a day). I'm still learning and after each finished track I get a little better. I consider making music (and most artistic endeavors) an uphill battle. But you should be enjoying it at the same time too. Especially after seeing your progress form year to year. If it's your passion you can make it happen.

Practice and getting 'good' info is the key - And not quitting! (imo). Easier said then done of course.

Mastering is a different kettle of fish altogether. Most of the high end producers that I know of, will not master their own work. They would rather send it to someone, who's had many many years of mastering experience. And access to very high-end monitoring gear (we are talking in the thousands here).

Practice, passion and hard work will get you there.

[DJ Warmonger]

Well, if you are an engineer by profession and musican by addiction (like I am), it still takes years to get there. Of course you can get better by reading some good books with understanding and open mind. This is not teh skill you can learn just by playing knobs at random. You need to understand theory and reasoning behind them.

Other than that... I learned the very best tricks just by accident.

Also, to get anywhere with mixdown, get good sound output. I got first positive reponse from label just days after getting pro studio headphones. Before then it was like crawling blind and every track made by then now sounds pathetic.