Jay Rose Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 A few months ago, a client called up with a rush change. Could I tweak the music levels in a show of his, in a hurry, like as soon as I get a break in the film I'm mixing for someone else? And get him a file in less than an hour from now? On the bad side, this guy refuses to accept pickups even when I guarantee the levels will match... I have to send him the whole 20 minute act, just because of a fifteen-second change. On the good side, I use a DAW that renders complex mixes faster than real-time. Like an idiot, I told him I'd do it... but there wouldn't be time for me to QC the result: I'd mix, render while I gulped lunch, send it to another machine, and upload from there to his server while I went back to the project I was supposed to be on. Also like an idiot - this time my fault, since I was rushing - I didn't merge the new mix automation properly. So there was an audible jump in the music level, obviously a mistake. He complained, I explained how there was an automation glitch because I didn't have time to do it properly, and that night I fixed it. End of story? Hardly... Now, every time he changes his mind about anything, even after he sat in my studio and approved it, he says it's an automation glitch. (He actually calls it an "automatic glitch".) And he insists I remix at my cost, and send him a complete new act. My pointing out that the automation traces are clean and smooth, and in some cases that this 'faulty' sequence is exactly like the similar sequence we mixed on another show, and in every case that he approved the mix in my studio... doesn't matter to him. I don't want to make him sign an approval form each time he's here, or have to roll a recording of the entire room while he's mixing and approving. So I'm about ready to retire this client. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taylormadeaudio Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 Man, that's a tough position to be in. It shouldn't be taken lightly, but consider that losing old clients often makes way for gaining new clients... and it doesn't sound like you're sitting around waiting for the phone to ring. Lay it out on the table for him, let him pull the trigger. You'll either lose the (unwanted, it seems at this point) client, or you'll gain some respect and breathing room. ~tt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toy Robot Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 I feel for you Jay. I had a similar 'No Good Deed...' instance happen to me last week and I'm still too annoyed to vent about it. Certainly you've been in this business long enough to know exactly what to do here, but I'll state a simple point that helped me resolve my 'No Good Deed' instance: Sometimes clients wind up costing you money by wasting your time or being unprofessional in their dealings with you, and when that begins to happen it's time to let them go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azw Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 Not a recommendation, but..... I have nuked longtime clients when they get too difficult. It's rare, maybe twice, really, but it had to be done. They didn't pay well, anyway, so in the end it worked out better for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 I have a similar issue with a VERY long-time client, his "word" is "compression". In his usage it can take on all sorts of meanings, from "that character's voice seems louder than this other's" (ie the diff between an actor with perfect delivery and another who slurs words), "the music level is too low" (the composer worked exactly in the voice range of the actors), " I can't make out the content clearly" (the actors are overlapping each other, loudly) or, my personal fave: "the mix sounds different on all the 50 systems I've tried it on". Some how, after stupidly mentioning that I was doing some compression on the dialog so his projects would play well with laptop speakers etc, the problem with everything is now the "compression". I made version after version for him--I decided it was a test of some kind so I never bitched, and finally he exhausted himself and stopped asking for new mixes. But I did have thoughts of large-bore firearms at several points along the way. philp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Blankenship Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 Philip, I'm sure you were at least tempted to give him three identical mixes and label them "Full Compression," "Moderate Compression," and "No Compression" and see if he picked a favorite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 Philip, I'm sure you were at least tempted to give him three identical mixes and label them "Full Compression," "Moderate Compression," and "No Compression" and see if he picked a favorite. Nah--I don't do games like that anymore--people get really pissed if they find out. philp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Feeley Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 Jay, sorry to hear about that. Nigel feels your pain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toy Robot Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 ^ Hahaha, love this movie so much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPSharman Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 THAT'S what's wrong with the final mix on my show. Dobly!! Either that or it's the producer insisting they turn up all the dialog to 11 and all the effects down to 0. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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