The mixing and mastering of Linkin Park

Here's a little insight into the loudness war that LP has fallen victim to.
[video=youtube;3Gmex_4hreQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3Gmex_4hreQ[/video]
[video=youtube;-v6ML2DsBfA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v6ML2DsBfA[/video]

There's also a section of a great Cracked article that goes into this.
http://www.cracked.com/article_20256_5-things-record-labels-dont-want-you-to-know-they-do.html

 

Gotta love the irony of the Smells Like Teen Spirit video. The quieter version is really the louder one because of the dynamics between the loud and quiet.

 

Why doesn't the industry just go back to the "quieter" dynamic sound it had, and ask the consumers to buy amplifiers instead?

We don't seem to have a problem forking out for the latest games console or TV which raise the resolution of our graphics, why aren't companies taking advantage of this?

 

So I asked about this on the livestream summit chat.

"Mike, I'm an NZ fan but am completley unable to make it to the show. I am so glad that you guys are livestreaming the summit, I think that's an awesome idea. Question: Any progress in releasing the Instrumentals and Accapella's of the other albums? And, on the Living Things mix, do you feel that some of the songs got far too mangled in the process, or do you like the way they turned out?"


Mike's response; "I think I like how the songs ended up and I like what we are trying to do with some of them live. Awesome stuff!"

 

It's too late to get rid of Rick, Mike's already succumbed to his teachings!

 

I could give less fucks about the mixing. I have no problem with it so long as its something I enjoy listening too. Its not like my ears are bleeding and it all sounds the same to me.

 

Awesome! Thanks for asking him about it, I vaguely remember Mike being asked about the mixing for A Thousand Suns too at the London summit in 2010, a guy at the front left during the Q&A session asked about it.. but I can't quite remember what was said, if anyone knows then please post it up!

 

I wasn't there, but I do remember in a few LPTVs or maybe interviews, Mike had mentioned they were doing a "mixer shootout." Basically, let a bunch of people mix the record, then pick the best one with the ear test. Maybe he said something like that, but I'm definitely interested to hear what someone heard who was actually there.

 

Absolutely, but it's more of an invest that just gear. It truly is a career. With the onset of bedroom musicians everyone thinks that can just go around "mastering" their own stuff. My band recorded and album and believe me, the difference is astounding. We have a wonderful mastering engineer in Omaha.

I don't think them getting the gear is the issue, it's the investment in time and energy to learn how to do mastering right. That's why we have mastering engineers, people don't want to take that much time to learn that whole other side themselves. If it was easy, everyone not under contract would be mastering their own stuff.

And also: I am TIRED of fan blaming RICK RUBIN. Minutes to Midnight was not squashed to hell. It was quite the opposite in a mainstream rock world. These dudes are not effing perfect! There are six of them! We always scapegoat Rubin like he's the overload of Linkin Park and controls every decision. Any idea they go with is because THEY think it's a good idea. In the mainstream music world stuff like mixers choices and mastering engineers may be built into your contract.

I agree with whoever said Mike jamming in synth every which way is not always a good thing. Sometimes songs need some headroom. When you're trying to compress a song with something going on all the time in every dynamic range, that becomes very hard. They heard the mixes, they liked it. Stop blaming everyone else involved and maybe think "Linkin Park messed up this time!" Rant over

 

Mastering engineers were valuable because nobody knew what they fuck they were doing back in the day since you'd literally need to be in a studio to gain experience. Now there's kids that start learning really early simply on their computer. Even LPA's own Ben Moon is only like 15 and he mixes and masters incredibly well. Engineers will be a thing of the past in this next generation. Their knowledge and experience is readily available to anyone for a very cheap (or free) price.

 

You probably would have gotten a better response if you asked just one question instead of two and a bunch of unnecessary stuff. Mike's attention is rather divided in chats. You have to be very brief, to the point, and place the thank you after your content, so that he spends less time trying to understand what you are writing and more time answering your question.

 

I agree, but we're not quite there yet. I'm pretty adept but Doug Van Sloun here in Nebraska kicked my butt. Plus I still think the bedroom musicians like myself are dumbing down the process of mastering to "Yay Ableton! Compressor, limiter,etc done". There is dedicated mastering software and physical environment that to my ears made a difference. I used to be a "give me a pair of cans" guy but after seeing what our mastering engineer did to our (what we thought was amazing) "mix and master", yeah no comparison. Still a lot to learn but we're definitely getting there, as you mentioned, with guys like Ben, and big artists like Deadmau5.

(It comes to down to me turning from a DIY guy to kind of an elitist on that topic though, so I am super biased. The guy we have here... I've seen the best DIY bands only made better by him. He's truly great at what he does and has made me see the value of a good mastering engineer IF you're someone who does not have the time,software and properly set up space (outside of headphones) to do it yourself, which I tried and was totally uninterested in.)

And I think the main thing is when you're at the Linkin Park record contract stage in your band career, I can only assume things like that are built into the contract. The label would step in like "What mastering your own stuff? No." lol Hence why a lot of musicians don't own their "masters". I think they have the ability to between Mike and Brad. I just think it's A) They don't really care, sometimes they want to be done and hand it off to people they view as professionals in the field or B) They are prevented from doing the true mixing and mastering by contract.

My point is, don't blame Rick Rubin. If the guys can't tell a crap mix or are too scared to admit it, they definitely shouldn't be mastering their own stuff. The same guy mixed M2M and A Thousand Suns and those are great. Both had different mastering engineers.

 

Funny thing is, Reanimation isn't as loud as the other albums.

Probably because it was mixed by Mike.

 

You might want to check the liner notes on that... And it was mastered by the guy who did Meteora and Living Things. Despite what we hear in chats and LPTVs, they do end up sending their "mixes" to a dedicated mix engineer. Most people mix to a certain degree as they record, with their engineer.

Edit: And it was mixed in 5.1 surround, don't forget that.

 

Just wondering..do you listen to music on a potato?

[video=youtube;3Ku_AsGTFkU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ku_AsGTFkU[/video] [video=youtube;9Dq9q6afIP8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Dq9q6afIP8[/video]

 

Thanks for clarifying. Feel like an idiot.

 

No. I know my comment might seem foreign to some of you, but I believe its called enjoying your music without complaints.

 

Yeah, to me I didn't notice anything particularly wrong with the mastering of LT until people on this thread began dissecting it. and I have pretty good Headphones!
My only complaint is that it needs more Bass. but I always say that with alot of bands/albums