“Mixing is a performance. You sit down at the console. You’re alert, and you’re playing parts in the picture: You’re a robot, you’re a door, you’re a laser gun. And you get into it. You should be breathing hard and sweating when it’s over with.”
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[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Dallas Taylor, CAS and Alexander Pindarov, Designing Sound. Designing Sound said: Performance – http://t.co/HCx290z #sounddesign #quotes […]
Yes, but it’s a studio performance (think Glenn Gould), not a live one. You have the opportunity to go back and tweak, program the automation in multiple passes, even ‘mouse mix’ when a sequence is too tight for you to do with your fingers on a slider.
Live performances are great for music, theater, and even FOH mixing… because all the performers (including the mixer) feed off the audience’s energy, and off each other, and off the adrenaline of having just one chance to get everything right. Sitting at a console is essentially a solitary activity (well, maybe you’ve got a colleague on the other half of the console, and a director or sound supervisor over your shoulder), but you also have the opportunity to fine-tune and make it perfect.
And, unlike a live performance, you review it the next day and tweak as needed.
YMMV.