It’s tough because the “sound in your head” is built from hundreds of small decisions you’ve internalized, while the engineer only gets whatever you manage to describe in a sentence or two. They’re not missing your vision on purpose, they’re just walking in blind.

A few things can help:

Bring reference tracks, but break them down. Instead of “I want it like this,” say, “I like the drum space in this one, the vocal tone in this one, and the low-end balance in this one.” It gives the engineer points to work from.

Describe feel and texture, not just genre terms. Engineers can actually work with phrases like “I want the vocals to feel up close and dry” or “I want the mix to feel wide and open.”

Share your rough mix, even if it’s messy. It helps them understand the direction you’ve been hearing while writing.

And honestly, the biggest thing is taste alignment. Two equally skilled engineers can deliver completely different mixes. When you find someone whose instincts match yours, everything becomes easier.

I wish you luck!

Do you create demos that show or lead in the direction you are looking for?

We g6ave the engineer a few of our older cd's and a few dvd's with live performances of the band. On the day of recording in the studio, we recorded 8 tracks, all originals, in one session, minus a short break for coffee and cigarettes. No mistakes made, all songs in one take, we rehearsed twice a week for a month. So much fun and good times playing together. The final result was beyond expectations.

Hard (home)work pays off!

So it pays to give the engineer samples of your music, well in advance. Be prepared, rehearsals, instruments. Be fit, sleep, no alcohol, no drugs. Enjoy, have fun!

Engineer does like last 5% of the track, and need to have first 95% done by composer, arranger, sound designer, musicians, producers, etc.. Do you have 95% done and struggle with last 5%?

You want a producer not an engineer. An engineer facilitates the technical needs. A producer facilitates the creative needs.

A producer should be familiar with the genre to an annoying degree. You want to play surf rock? A producer is gonna want you to track live , use vintage gear and particular reverbs that are signature to the surf rock sound. Or making a metal album the engineer is taking triggers of all the drums whether used or not they will be available for later cause the genre calls so heavily for processed drums. A good one will do pre-production with you. So before you're in a studio they will be at your show and band practice to study you to see how best to facilitate what you are after.

Cause that's not what engineers do. You are talking about songwriting/composing and/or producing.

You want a producer who is an Engineer! That will solve most of your issues

All your engineer does is bring out what you've put in, to the levels and "shape" you ask them to. If it's not there already, it can't be "more" or "less" there.

Sounds like you want a producer, not an engineer.

Also, reference tracks.

What kind of sound are you going for?

That last bit was really great advice !
I would say One of my best skills as an engineer is being able to deliver the sounds an artist. Is seeking Using only the vague descriptions or list of random words I’m given ….. a good example is someone wanted Their vocal to sound watery and I instantly went out turned on the b3 and ran their vocal thru. The spinning leslie speaker on slow. With a nice wide. Stereo mic set up. Came back in control room and brought up the faders of the Leslie behind the main vocal track and the artist. Was “ yeah just like that “ I have found artists who have learned the basics of recording and. Mixing enough to Understand the process. And more or less. Do it themselves have a tendency to want to backseat drive and question all my decisions ….which makes the process take a whole lot longer and be a lot less fun for everybody….. the best engineers are usually the ones who Made engineering the main passion and focus of their lives

Tracking engineer? Mix engineer? Mastering engineer?

Find small-ish albums you really like the sound of and hit up the mix engineer. That’s how I found my engineer and he’s been absolutely fantastic

Complete your tracks as you would like them completed. You be responsible for your sound. Take ownership and stop blaming engineers

Best advice is to Learn to Mix yourself and find a pro mastering engineer for your mixes

You don't need an engineer if it's a hobby, learn it yourself.

Compile some reference tracks, meaning recordings you love that have a general sound like what you want. Send them to a prospective engineer and ask if you can hear some of their previous work that sounds like this. It’ll let you know if you’re in the same aesthetic ballpark.

Take a step or two steps back.  Go back to your home recording and arranging.  Even if its rough.  Havr the idea compketely dialed as far as composure.  Then show the roughs to the producers/engineers and find one that matches the style with capability 

As an engineer myself, I always strive to remove my personal taste from the equation and just get in the mindset of the artist, so I can help them get to what they envision. I think the key is communication, before embarking on a working relationship with an engineer, have a conversation, show them the material, and specifically lay out your expectation. Tell them you're interested in keeping the same vibe and tell them what you would like them to do

This is mostly a personal opinion and doesn't apply to all engineers, but I think a lot of it comes down to small artists paying an engineer to do a job, when most times that engineer probably hasn't shown an interest in or listened to said artists' work enough to "get" the sound. Ultimately it's an artistic job, which means it's subjective, and too many people treat it as objective. Even the "best" engineer could completely erase the artistic vision of the artist if they don't personally like it. But because you're paying them, it's capitalism baby, a jobs a job, and many engineers will work on it anyway when they probably wouldn't if money was taken out of the equation.

So my best advice would be to find an engineer who really fucks with what you're making. It'd be best if the engineer comes to you saying they want to work on your project (out of genuine interest), but since that's not very likely if you're not bigger or have some sort of reputation at least locally, then I would either

• pitch your music to an engineer and get as much detail as possible into how you'd like it to sound. the more you know about the process of mixing & mastering, the better you'll be able to communicate with the engineer on this level

• learn to mix it yourself and then send it to a mastering engineer. this is what I did with my band's EP, and knowing how things were mixed also helps a lot with communication between you and the mastering engineer

• have a friend or someone you respect on a personal level, preferably a person who is supportive of your music and enjoys it, do the mixing & mastering

another option that is good for gauging interest from an engineer is to play gigs, and eventually you'll likely run into another artist who either knows someone (ideally someone who was there to see you play and thought to themselves "wow they're good I'd like to mix for them" or who is an engineer themselves). Try to avoid shopping for an engineer unless their past work is pretty close to what you want already.

it's sort of like a tattoo artist. You can go in and tell them what you want, but the less specific your vision, and the less ability you have to communicate what you want in a way they understand, the more they will be forced to rely on their own artistic vision instead of yours and take liberties (for better or worse)

Because you're lacking ways to describe it in a way that's understandable.
Best engineers are musicians themselves and can have a conversation like musicians can. If you're a musician, you can describe it in musical terms and be understood. Heck, you can even play it out and they'll get it.

Examples of well known artists, examples from existing songs etc. You'll have ways to do it.

Reason I learned theory originally was to be able to communicate with other musicians and I became somewhat decent Technician. And it's a god send.

(I refuse to use the word "engineer" about myself unless I've aquired a PHD level higher education in sound technology, and neither should anyone else use that word lightly)

That’s why u should focus on being a great singer n musician. If that’s what u wanna do. Finding the tech people who get you takes time as a human u should always be refining ur communication skills. Keep trying u will find ur people.
And not everyone has the ability to listen And recognize What needs to be done. To weave a bunch of sounds into a an audio image that allows all of what’s best about each instrument to be heard and how to create the right kind of sonic impact where and when it helps a piece of music the best. Mixing is an art and most those who master it have focused on it at the exclusion of other things . How many how many people do u know can listen to the same verse of a song for several hours focusing on all the sonic relationships of every sound in a stereo field ?

Finding the right engineer is like finding a band member. Check through all their work, any bands/projects theyve been in, ask yourself if they align with the sounds your going for/enjoy. Looking through their previous work should usually be enough to tell what kind of sound they enjoy working with and try to strive for

It’s because they don’t really care.

You need a producer not an engineer 

Because between you and the engineer must be a producer. That person can potentially be you, the engineer or another person. Traditionally, the Producer held the purse strings and arranged finances. Now, they're more like a movie director. Today, producers are really the 'invisible members' of a production. I continue to be fascinated by this process.

As with everything in life, in order for others to understand you, YOU need to learn the words to put to the ideas you want to communicate.