I think Mixing/Mastering is NOT for me...

[Lygiro JT]

I wanted to share this personal experience that's been messing me up lately. So, I've been learning how to mix and master music. I've been putting in a lot of time and effort with a private teacher to get good at it. But here's the thing: I've realized that it's just not my thing, and it's been bringing me down and it makes me feel kind of depressed.

Let me start by saying that I freaking love music. It has always been an integral part of my life, and I love the ability to express myself through producing my own beats, composing music, and working on my own creative projects. It's a source of joy, fulfillment, and personal connection to the world.

But the more I got into mixing and mastering, the more disconnected I felt from the music I was working on. I found out that I couldn't really get into the groove because I didn't have any personal connection to the songs I was working on. It was frustrating to listen to music that didn't speak to me or make me feel anything in general.

Moreover, having to accommodate client requests and listen to their feedback on my work started to drain my enthusiasm. While I understand the importance of meeting the needs and expectations of others, it became increasingly challenging to find the motivation and inspiration to work on music that I felt no personal attachment to. It feels like my passion for music is slowly fading away and now I feel like a failure.

And the saddest thing is that my teacher says I'm pretty talented and I've gotten some good feedback on my mixes but I'm just too bored doing this. Has anyone else been in a similar situation?

[? ? ?]

Mixing should be about giving a song CHARACTER. Sure levels are important but i find old demos from the 80s more powerful than overly produced and polished mixes of today because the former has character.
If you're mixing and mastering just to sound even on levels and make it loud to match other records than yea, its boring work.
Listen to a Ramones record from 78,79. Listen to a mutt lang produced album ala AC DC for those about to rock, listen to Madoona's debut....all differently mixed to give songs CHARACTER. You may find this perspective makes mixing a bit more fun. Mastering is just whatever. Its there to wax the mix.

[i need Help]

I wanted to share this personal experience that's been messing me up lately. So, I've been learning how to mix and master music.

“Mix and master” isn’t one thing. You can do one without the other, just keep that in mind as it’s kind of a lost point now days since everyone wears multiple hats.

I decided decades ago I’m not going to try and become a mastering engineer along with being a producer and mixer. This has let me focus on producing the best songs I can, and getting the best mix I possibly can.

I've been putting in a lot of time and effort with a private teacher to get good at it.

To a certain degree, you’re a paycheck to whoever is teaching you. Just keep that in mind and, idk, take what they say with a grain of salt if they’re keeping you coming back but you’re not even enjoying the time together anymore.

But here's the thing: I've realized that it's just not my thing, and it's been bringing me down and it makes me feel kind of depressed.

Soooo… don’t do it? You’re conflating like 3 separate jobs into one monolith.

Producing ≠ Mixing ≠ Mastering.

Related, but not the same. If you don’t like mixing, don’t do it. Don’t like mastering? Don’t do it and just focus on producing and/or mixing.

Let me start by saying that I freaking love music. It has always been an integral part of my life, and I love the ability to express myself through producing my own beats, composing music, and working on my own creative projects. It's a source of joy, fulfillment, and personal connection to the world.

Again, if you just like production, just do production. Production is my favorite aspect of it all as well. Mixing kind of naturally came out of my production workflow since I “mix as I go”. I’m sure some purists would scoff at this but who cares. You do you.

But the more I got into mixing and mastering, the more disconnected I felt from the music I was working on. I found out that I couldn't really get into the groove because I didn't have any personal connection to the songs I was working on. It was frustrating to listen to music that didn't speak to me or make me feel anything in general.

Moreover, having to accommodate client requests and listen to their feedback on my work started to drain my enthusiasm. While I understand the importance of meeting the needs and expectations of others, it became increasingly challenging to find the motivation and inspiration to work on music that I felt no personal attachment to. It feels like my passion for music is slowly fading away and now I feel like a failure.

I hate trying to do audio work for others too. So you know what I do? I don’t do it lol. Just work on your own stuff. If the issue is mixing and/or mastering other peoples music, then just mix and/or master your own music.

And the saddest thing is that my teacher says I'm pretty talented and I've gotten some good feedback on my mixes but I'm just too bored doing this. Has anyone else been in a similar situation?

You can be good at something you don’t like doing. Do you think everyone absolutely loves doing whatever their job is that pays their bills?

And again, I get great feedback on my music as well but the second someone tries to pay me to make something for them, just like you said, the air gets sucked out of my sails. I’ve finally learned to just say no, because the handful of times I’ve tried to do audio work-for-hire it’s been a disaster.

EDIT:
If you look into your computer screen and say the name “Bones” 3 times, you will summon from the depths a legendary KVR member that makes you go “GRRRRR!”, but I think he might actually have some good insight here.

I recall reading a post from him once that he doesn’t particularly care for the whole production process, and his main passion is having songs to play on stage. Kinda in the same vein of “I don’t like doing this but I like doing that”. Might be able to help you process things you like vs things you don’t.

(Plz don’t grind me to dust if I misquoted you, Mr. Bones, sir. I meant well lol)

[BONES]

A PM helps to summon me, too. And yes, this is a topic I feel I have a pretty good perspective on, given that I realised decades ago that doing music for a living would be soul-destroying. As a graphic artist, I never get too attached to anything I work on. I discovered early on that you can't be precious about any of it, or it will suck the life right out of you. You have to keep reminding yourself that it's not yours, it is for a client so it needs to be what they want. But music is far too important to me to treat like that so I decided long ago that I was not going to try and pursue any kind of career in music, beyond making my own.

As Rob said, I like having songs to perform on stage, everything else is a chore that I just have to get through so we can play live. Here, I have to keep reminding myself that a new album is a great tool for raising our profile and getting us bigger and better gigs, so the end result will justify the time and effort. And it's not like I feel that I am compromising anything by working hard to make the songs as good as they can be, so there is no soul-destroying element to it. That said, we ruled a line under our latest album a couple of weeks ago and I can't believe how liberating that was. I hadn't realised just how big a burden I had been carrying around, trying to get it done. I've still got to master it but that's not a lot of work, I can do the whole album in an afternoon.

So my advice is to find some other line of work that you don't hate and use that to finance your life and music as a hobby. When I got out of the Army in 1987, I had vague notions of being able to make a living from performing but I quickly realised that those days were gone and it wasn't going to be viable. So I got a job delivering pizzas and ended up managing a Pizza Hut for 8 or 9 years. I didn't hate that job and, because I was the one doing the rosters, it gave me the freedom to spend more time doing my own music, so it worked out really well. I also found that a job like that helped to concentrate my creativity, so that when I was doing music, I always had plenty of ideas to work with.

OTOH, when I switched careers to graphic design, I found that to be a good creative outlet for me, too, which definitely had a bad effect on my musical creativity for many years, until I got bored with doing any graphics outside of work. So I can definitely see how doing production work for others would really sap your creativity when it comes to your own music.

[jamcat]

I've still got to master it but that's not a lot of work, I can do the whole album in an afternoon.

BONES, do you master in the Studio One Project page?

(I suspect you’re one of the few people around here who actually knows what mastering actually is, since you’ve actually recorded ALBUMS for DISTRIBUTION.)

[BONES]

I mastered our last two EPs there but I haven't had a chance to use it on an album. Given that I am now working in S1 Artist, I won't be using it to master the new album, either. It wasn't such a brilliant experience that I'd be bothered to switch my license over to Pro, which I still have. I don't mind mastering in the standalone Ozone app. I just apply FireCobra and STA Enhancer to the mix before I render it. So mastering becomes purely technical, making sure everything is right for manufacture/distribution.

[cron]

It feels like my passion for music is slowly fading away and now I feel like a failure.

And the saddest thing is that my teacher says I'm pretty talented and I've gotten some good feedback on my mixes but I'm just too bored doing this. Has anyone else been in a similar situation?

I'd suggest taking up another creative hobby on the side. I started doing 3D art having never touched it at the back end of 2019, and it really helped me understand my relationship with creativity and the blocks that come with it. Feeling that rush of completely free creativity again, where you aren't necessarily thinking about things like 'good taste' or worrying that things aren't good enough - it felt absolutely amazing and I couldn't get enough of it. I was banging out a completed piece I was proud of every day instead of making half a track I hated once a year. I genuinely felt like the 13 year old kid who spent every waking hour making tunes in FastTracker 2 again. Pretty soon I was making short video loops that needed a soundtrack, and I was sort of able to 'bottle' the attitude I had toward my visual stuff and bring it into the audio realm.

The other thing is that work for other people isn't really YOUR work. It's the 9 to 5, and if there's any word that doesn't describe the typical 9 to 5 it's "inspiring." You may not always be feeling it, but you're learning/practicing skills that will make YOUR creative endeavours - the stuff you WANT to make - better.