A rough mix is purely for auditioning takes for review and deciding what material you are the most excited about.
So… Don’t waste too much of your time (and your engineer’s) pointing out things about sound quality or level adjustments and balance… those things will be addressed.
In the context of audio engineering, an early or preliminary version of a recording that the engineer has put together can help organize a session or determine useful and not useful product.
It typically includes all the recorded tracks and elements of a song or piece of audio, but is intended to be for reference and NOT fully polished or finalized.
When you receive a rough mix from an audio engineer, it's usually for review purposes. It gives you a chance to listen to the recording in its current state, especially if there are multiple tries or takes of the same piece. Then , you get to choose the material you are most excited about and eliminate the rest from the workpile.
Rough mixes can vary in quality and completeness depending on the stage of the recording process. They are usually untrimmed, unscrubbed and may include slating or other production details. They might include basic adjustments to levels, panning, and effects, but defintely have not yet had detailed editing or fine-tuning applied.
The sole purpose is to give you a sense of how the final product is shaping up and to guide further work towards achieving the desired product.
Things like EQ, balance, and other leveling and editing details will only show up in a “v1” or, “first draft version 1.”
Always great to hear your thoughts and ideas, but be kind and save your in-depth listening and critiquing for the v1.
