19 Mixing Tips I Wish I Knew 20 Years Ago
Summary
TLDRThis comprehensive video offers 19 invaluable mixing tips that every music producer should know. The presenter shares hard-earned insights gained over decades of experience, including listening to great mixes, understanding frequencies, using the mute button effectively, balancing levels and panning, and embracing subtractive EQ. Other key tips cover compression techniques, mixing buses first, getting the source tracks right, mixing quickly and often, working in context, saving vocals for last, bypassing plugins regularly, and seeking feedback. With a focus on practical advice and real-world examples, this video promises to be a game-changer for anyone looking to elevate their mixing skills.
Takeaways
- 😎 Listen to great reference mixes regularly to train your ears and identify issues in your own mixes.
- 🎚 Study and understand different frequency ranges to improve your mixing skills.
- 🔇 Use mute buttons to isolate and identify problem areas in your mix.
- 🐓 Pay attention to physical reactions like goosebumps, as they can indicate an emotional connection with the music.
- 🧱 Start with a static mix, focusing on levels and panning before applying plugins.
- ⚖️ Aim for balance in levels, stereo field, and frequency content.
- 🔊 Turn up your speakers instead of clipping the master bus when mixing.
- 🚫 Know when to leave things alone and not over-process tracks that sound fine.
- ➖ Use subtractive EQ (cuts) more than additive EQ (boosts) for a cleaner mix.
- �windchime EQ your reverbs and delays to avoid muddiness.
- 👍 Don't be afraid to use compression aggressively, but don't compress everything.
- 🚌 Mix the buses first, then refine individual tracks for a more efficient workflow.
- 🥚 Start with great recordings to ensure a great mix.
- ⏩ Mix quickly and often to gain more experience and improve faster.
- 🌎 Mix in context, avoiding excessive solo'd track listening.
- 📣 Save the vocal processing for the end after getting the instrumental mix right.
- 🔘 Bypass plugins frequently to evaluate if they are improving or degrading the mix.
- 👂 Get feedback from others to identify issues you may have become deaf to.
Q & A
What is the most crucial piece of advice given in the video?
-The most crucial advice given is to regularly listen to great-sounding mixes in your studio's mix position. This allows you to understand what a good mix sounds like and identify issues in your own mixes more easily.
Why is it important to study frequencies?
-Studying frequencies and being able to recognize them is crucial because it helps you understand the differences between various frequency ranges, which is essential for tasks like separating the kick drum and bass guitar or achieving a balanced mix.
How can the mute button help in identifying mixing problems?
-Using the mute button allows you to isolate specific elements and determine if they are the source of a particular issue. If muting a track resolves the problem, you've identified the culprit and can work on fixing it.
What does getting 'goosebumps' while mixing signify?
-Getting goosebumps while mixing signifies an emotional connection with the music, which is the ultimate goal. It means you've achieved something special and should be careful not to lose that feeling by over-mixing.
What is the 'static mix' technique, and why is it important?
-The 'static mix' technique involves getting the levels and panning right before applying any plugins. It's important because many mixing issues can be resolved by proper level and panning adjustments, without needing plugins.
How can aiming for balance improve your mixes?
-Aiming for balance in terms of levels, stereo field, and frequencies can greatly improve your mixes. A balanced mix sounds cohesive and avoids issues like imbalances or frequency build-ups.
Why is it recommended to turn up your speakers instead of turning up individual tracks?
-Turning up your speakers instead of individual tracks avoids clipping the master bus. It's a form of gain staging that allows you to hear the mix at a desirable volume without distortion.
Why is subtractive EQ preferred over additive EQ?
-Subtractive EQ (cutting frequencies) is preferred because it removes unwanted sounds from the mix, rather than adding more sound through boosts. It helps sculpt the mix and avoids building up too many frequencies.
Why is it important to EQ reverbs and delays?
-EQing reverbs and delays is important because they can add unwanted low-end rumble or muddiness to the mix. By filtering out unnecessary low frequencies, you can prevent these effects from causing issues.
What is the recommended approach for mixing vocals?
-The recommended approach is to save the vocal for the end. First, focus on getting a great instrumental mix, then add the vocal on top and process it as needed. This helps prevent the vocal from influencing the overall mix decisions.
Outlines
🎧 The Importance of Listening to Great Mixes
This paragraph emphasizes the importance of regularly listening to great-sounding albums in the mixing position to develop a reference point for a well-balanced mix. It compares mixing without this practice to playing darts blindfolded, making it nearly impossible to identify and fix issues in one's own mixes. The key takeaway is that familiarizing oneself with high-quality mixes is crucial for spotting problems and achieving professional-level results.
🎚️ Understanding Audio Frequencies
The paragraph stresses the significance of having a comprehensive understanding of different audio frequencies (e.g., 50Hz, 100Hz, 250Hz, etc.). It likens mixing without frequency knowledge to trying to survive in a foreign country without knowing the language, emphasizing that one cannot thrive without mastering this essential aspect. Distinguishing frequencies like 50Hz and 100Hz is highlighted as a game-changer for mixing elements like kick drums and bass guitars.
🔇 Using the Mute Button to Identify Problems
This paragraph advocates for using the mute button as a diagnostic tool to pinpoint the exact source of issues in a mix. It suggests muting suspected problematic elements and observing whether the issue persists or disappears, effectively confirming or ruling out the culprit. This technique is presented as a time-saving method for accurately identifying and addressing real problems rather than wasting efforts on non-issues.
🐓 Embracing Emotional Responses (Goosebumps)
The paragraph encourages mixers to pay attention to physical and emotional responses, such as goosebumps, when listening to their mixes. These involuntary reactions indicate a strong emotional connection with the music, which is the ultimate goal. The author suggests acknowledging and preserving these moments by avoiding over-mixing, as they signify that something special has been achieved.
🔊 The Importance of a Static Mix
This paragraph emphasizes the significance of performing a static mix before applying any plugins. A static mix involves adjusting levels and panning to achieve the best possible sound without any processing. The author strongly recommends mastering this step, as it lays the foundation for a great mix, and failing to do so often leads to excessive reliance on plugins to solve problems that could have been addressed through proper level balancing and panning.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Mixing
💡Frequencies
💡Reference Mixes
💡Static Mix
💡Balance
💡Subtractive EQ
💡Compression
💡Bus Mixing
💡Context
💡Feedback
Highlights
Listen to great music in the mix position regularly to understand what a good mix sounds like and spot problems in your own mixes.
Study and understand different frequencies to mix effectively, as not knowing them is like trying to survive in a foreign country without knowing the language.
Use the mute button to identify and confirm the source of problems in your mix.
Pay attention to physical responses like goosebumps, as they indicate an emotional connection with the music, which is the goal.
Do a static mix first by adjusting levels and panning before using any plugins, as many problems can be solved this way.
Aim for balance in levels, stereo field, and frequencies when mixing.
Turn up your speakers instead of over-compressing to avoid clipping when the mix gets too loud.
Know when to leave things alone and not overprocess tracks that don't need any processing.
Use subtractive EQ by cutting frequencies instead of boosting to sculpt the sound.
EQ your reverbs and delays to avoid adding unwanted low-end rumble and muddiness.
Don't be afraid to use compression aggressively when it makes sense, but also don't compress everything.
Mix the buses first instead of individual tracks for efficiency and better results.
Record great tracks from the start, as you can't fully fix a bad recording in the mix.
Mix fast and often to gain experience and improve more quickly.
Mix in context instead of soloing tracks, as a track's sound in solo has little bearing on how it will sound in the mix.
Save the vocal for the end and mix the instrumental first, then add the vocal on top.
Bypass plugins often to ensure you're actually improving the sound and not making it worse.
Get feedback from others, as they can spot obvious problems you may have become deaf to while working in isolation.
Transcripts
19 mixing tips I wish I knew 20 years
ago sadly there was no YouTube 20 years
ago so I had to learn all of these the
hard way you don't have to so these are
19 of my aha moments that I've had over
the last couple of Decades of mixing and
I've squished them down into one video
just for you do yourself a favor pick
one and go apply it any any one of these
will be a game changer for you in your
mixes so just sit back relax enjoy as we
go through these 19 mixing tips now
while I firmly believe that all 19 of
these will be game changers for you this
first one is kind of the game changer of
them all here's tip number one listen to
great music in the mix position
regularly so many people fall into this
trap they only listen to their mixes on
their mixing system can you see how
that's a trap if you don't regularly
listen to Great sounding albums sitting
in your studio in the mix position
between your speakers how can you ever
hope to get a great mix of your own
tracks it's like playing darts in the
dark blindfolded and you spin around
three times you have almost zero chance
of hitting the Target because you don't
know what you're listening for so you
might I hear this all the time Joe my
mixes sound great in my studio but they
don't sound great anywhere else they
don't sound as good as my favorite
albums on Spotify or apple music it's
because you don't know what your
favorite albums on Spotify or apple
music sound like sitting here in your
mix position you only know your music so
you have completely fooled yourself and
you have no tether back to reality make
it a priority to regularly sit and
listen and really absorb what a great
sounding mix sounds like and you'll be
able to spot the problems in your mixes
so much easier it's like Bankers they
know a $100 bill so well that if you
were to slide a counterfeit across their
desk they can immediately spot it they
don't spend spend all their time
studying the counterfeits they know the
real thing really well so that when a
fake thing comes across they can easily
point it out and fix the problem or get
rid of it as the case may be that's what
you need when it comes to mixing you
need to be able to sit and listen and
spot all the problems in your mixes so
you can fix them the only way to know if
they're problems is if you're intimately
familiar with what a good mix sounds
like sitting right here in your studio
tip number two study your frequencies
when I say things like 50 htz 100 HZ 250
500 1K 3K 5K 8K if I say those
frequencies do you immediately get a
sense of recognition in your brain can
you almost hear those different
frequencies if I mention them if so
great you're well on your way to Great
sounding mixes if not then that's a
place where you need to spend some time
trying to mix a song Without Really
knowing the frequencies is like trying
to survive in another country without
knowing the language you're just not
going to get very far you may stumble
your way into a meal or a restroom but
you're not going to thrive until you can
speak the language knowing the
difference between 50 and 100 htz for
example is will will be a GameChanger
for you when it comes to mixing things
like kick drum and bass guitar hint 50
to 100 and 100 to 200 that's a two
octave range there is a huge difference
between 50 and 100 and 200 think about
singing two octaves if I sing here and
then I have to sing here that's a big
difference that's two octaves just that
little quote little range on your EQ
makes all the difference if you confuse
50 with 100 you're going to have a hard
time getting your low end right in your
mixes tip number three use the mute
button to identify your problems mixing
for me is really all about identifying
problems and removing them if I remove
enough problems the mix is finished one
of the best ways to make sure you've
identified the problem is to make an
educated guess of hm I think this is the
problem and then to mute that thing to
see if the problem actually goes away if
you hear this muddy sound and you think
it's the guitar If you mute the guitar
and the muddy sound goes away you've now
confirmed where the source of the
problem is you can now go fix it but if
you mute the guitar and the muddiness is
still there then you know the guitar If
is not the problem or at least it isn't
the only part of the problem we got to
do some more digging this will save you
countless hours of fixing problems that
aren't really problems and will help you
identify the exact problem so you can
then go in and fix it tip number four
mind the Goosebumps if you've been on a
live stream with me you've seen this
ragged old sign pretty regularly this is
something I hold up when I'm doing like
a mixed critique live stream when I hear
something that gives me physical
Goosebumps instead of like pausing it
and turning on my microphone and saying
hey I just got goosebumps I'll hold this
up to let people know know hey that gave
me goosebumps why why would should you
care about something as silly as
Goosebumps or Goose pimples as some
people call them because the whole point
of music is to connect with someone on
an emotional level to move them in some
way and a lot of times that movement for
me at least means I get goosebumps when
I hear something really amazing I get
goosebumps now for some people maybe
that's instead of goose Goosebumps it
makes you tear up or it makes you move
your body and dance along to the music
when you have a physical response to a
piece of art that's noteworthy to the
point where I acknowledge it my holding
up a dumb sign to remind myself and
those who are watching that if we've
gotten to a point in this song where it
is giving me some sort of a an emotional
response that I can't control then we're
getting close so don't go mix and mess
it up and get to the point where it no
longer does this we've done something
special let's not mess it up by over
mixing so when you feel an emotional
connection with what you're mixing
whether it's it makes you want to dance
makes you want to cry makes you have
Goosebumps or any other thing that you
can't really control make note of that
and don't lose that as you continue to
finish up the mix up next do a static
mix before everything else people get
plug-in crazy they want to go and use
their plugins but you don't need plugins
until you've done the static mix meaning
until you've gotten the levels and the
panning figured out so many people try
to solve a level problem with a EQ or a
compressor when the actual solution was
to just get the levels right if you can
Embrace this of all the tips I've given
you in this video so far and of all the
ones I'm about to give you if you do
this one I promise you your mixes will
be night and day different the problem
is people say okay yeah sure I agree
with you and then they go start a mix
and when they hear the first whiff of a
problem they go grab their favorite
plugins and start trying to solve things
just have some restraint and see how
good you can make this song Sound with
zero plugins by just adjusting the
levels and the panning and you can do
this motion if it makes you feel better
how great can you make it sound I've had
mixes where I forget that I'm doing the
static mix and I get so immersed in the
song by just massaging those levels and
panning to where I feel like this song
Moves me and I haven't even reached for
a plug-in imagine starting your plug-in
selection from that standpoint versus W
this is a hot mess I better start
throwing some plugins on here to make it
sound better doesn't work as well by the
way the static mix is so important it's
step two of my five-step mixing process
I dedicate an entire step to just the
static mix if you want to learn my
entire mixing process I've got a free
guide that you can have my gift to you
just go to fstep mix.com in your email
and I will send it to you right away tip
number six aim for balance if you want
to simplify mixing down to a single word
that word is balance I want the levels
balanced like I just mentioned I want
things balanced left to right if
everything's in the middle it feels kind
of boring if there's a bunch of stuff on
the left and not the right it feels
lopsided I want the left to right stereo
field pretty balanced but I also want
the frequencies balanced I don't want
there to be a whole crapload of low mids
and then nothing up here in the high
mids and vice versa I want to have a
proper amount of each of these
ingredients not necessarily the same but
I want everything to be balanced so when
you're thinking about your mix if you're
stuck as to what to do next listen to
the three types of balance and see if
anything is out of balance are there
levels that are out of balance is there
a stereo imbalance that you can go in
and fix or are there frequency
imbalances that's where you're going to
spend a lot of your time that you can go
in and fix tip number seven turn up your
speakers when you first get started with
mixing you quick quickly learn that as
you start moving all the faders around
that Master bus on the far right hand
side starts to clip so what do you do
well you turn down all your tracks and
then it stops clipping and that's great
but then it's like well it's not as loud
and doesn't sound as fun as before so
you slowly start turning them all back
up and what happens it Clips again this
can be a maddening cycle but there's
such an easy fix yes you need to turn
the tracks down so that your mix bus
doesn't clip but if doing so everything
feels a little quiet you've got the
simplest solution ever just use these
fingers and turn that volume knob up to
get your speakers up loud enough this is
another form of gain staging you're
saying things are too quiet if I turn
them up in the mix it starts to clip but
I'd like to turn them up so I can hear
them well use the volume knob now I'm
not saying go crazy loud so you hurt
your ears I'm just saying to avoid
clipping instead of trying to play the
game of how can I use compression and
limiting to solve this clipping problem
it's much easier just turn things down
and then turn up your speakers easy
peasy tip number eight know when to
leave things alone there's something in
human nature that says man I got to put
a plugin on every track probably three
to four plugins on every you don't need
to put three to four plugins on every
track there are plenty of tracks in the
session that sound fine and then you go
and mess them up because you feel this
need to do something what will make you
a great mix engineer is knowing when to
do something when to solve problems that
are actual problems but also when to
leave it the heck alone here's another
way of putting it if the thing you're
looking at is not causing any sort of
problem that you can identify it's
probably fine leave it alone number nine
use subtractive EQ here is an EQ from
one of my mixes this is a very typical
EQ curve for me it has one two three
four cuts and one boost that 4:1 ratio
of cuts to boost is really typical for
me why because this is kind of My
Philosophy towards mixing I already have
a lot of sound I don't want to do a
bunch of EQ boosts to add more sound
into the equation I would rather take
some of the sounds that I don't like and
take them away using subtractive EQ
using EQ Cuts rather than using EQ
boosts it's a mindset thing I'd much
rather sculpt from a big hunk of marble
and take things away
then start with a blob of clay and keep
adding more Clay on this works better
for me and it helps me mix really
quickly which I love tip number 10 EQ
your reverbs and delays even if let's
say your electric guitar is eqed and
sounds just right in the mix and then
you choose to send it off to some sort
of a Reverb or a delay that Reverb or
delay could create low-end Rumble and
muddiness that will plague your mixes
for example here is an EQ or an uneq
Reverb from one of my
[Music]
mixes all of that low end there sounds
cool by itself but remember this is just
the Reverb all that low end is already
in the mix I don't need my Reverb coming
in adding more low end I can tell you so
many times people are fighting muddiness
in their mixes and it's because the
reverbs and the delays over there on the
side are causing it so what do I do on
my Reverb And Delay sends I do something
like this I have just a big honk in
highpass filter rolling off everything
below 200 HZ and it gets rid of the
problem tip number 11 don't be afraid to
use compression compression is a
wonderful tool of course you can overdo
it but a lot of people tend to underdo
it they're afraid of overc compressing
that they leave it too subtle if you
ever see those tutorial videos where
they say you hear that compression you
almost can't even hear that it's there
if so then why do it to begin with as
you can see in this mix I've got
compression going on on several tracks
you can see the gain reduction happening
I like compression I like to use it
aggressively when it makes sense don't
be afraid to do the same tip number 12
don't compress everything so yes use
compression but no don't put a
compressor on every channel you can look
over this mix and you will not see
compressors everywhere I have
compressors in a few specific places
that Mak sense but I'm not putting an EQ
in APR ressor on every single channel in
the mix it doesn't make sense more on
that later tip number 13 mix the buses
first so kind of a preamble to that
everything I do in mixing uses buses I
think buses are the most amazing tool in
Your Arsenal or at least one of them so
every mix that I do all the tracks run
through one of these buses drums bass
electrics Acoustics Keys vocals or
background vocals and I may have a
separate one depending on the song but
those are typical of a standard mix for
me that means whether the song has 20
tracks or 200 tracks I'm only thinking
in terms really of these seven or eight
buses the drums are one sound one
component of my mix and the cool thing
is buses allow you to be way more
efficient which means you can mix a lot
faster and it'll sound better if I need
to EQ my drum kit a cut at 400 HZ for
example that's a standard move I could
do either put an EQ on every drum track
with that 400 HZ cut or I could put one
EQ on my drum bus and affect the whole
thing it gets even more fun when it
comes to compression because compression
on a drum bus sounds way cooler than
compression on individual drum tracks
this is how I'm able to mix songs in as
little as 30 minutes because I'm working
primarily from the buses not the whole
bunch of individual Tracks number 14 get
it right at the source if you want a
great mix you got to start with great
tracks if your tracks sound like hot
garbage your mix is going to sound like
slightly polished hot garbage it's
always better to go back and record good
tracks you can't do it perfectly it's
like a perfect standard that we never
achieve but if you focus on making the
raw track sound as good as possible your
mixes will improve tenfold over just
letting anything go in the recording
session and choosing to fix it later in
the mix number 15 mix fast and often if
you were to give me the choice between
someone who has mixed one song and they
took an entire year to do it versus
someone who has mixed 12 Songs in a
one-year period I'm going with the
second one every time why because they
have 12 times the experience of the
first one mixing is about solving
problems if it takes you 12 months to
solve the problem that doesn't make you
any better at solving those problems and
at identifying the new problems that
come up with every mix every mix has its
own set of challenges you've got to get
in the experience of learning learning
how to identify those problems and
challenges and then fixing them and
every mix is different airgo I said airG
go you need to put in the Reps you need
a lot of practice in making all of those
mixing decisions that means you need to
mix quickly and Mix A Lot why quickly
because your 12th mix will be way better
than your first so you might as well get
there faster number 16 mix in context my
very first mix went something like this
I sat down and I remember I soloed the
kick drum and then I spent probably 20
minutes with EQ and compression and
whatever else making it sound as good as
possible then I went to the next track
which was a snare drum and I just soloed
the snare and did the same thing then I
went to the next one one of the toms
then I did it with the other Tom then I
did it with the overheads and I did that
went that same process through every
track in the session listening to it in
Solo making it sound amazing and then
moving on to the next one because I
erroneously thought that if I make each
one sound good by itself it'll all sound
good together I was very sad when I find
finally UNS soloed the last track and
listened and nothing sounded good it
just sounded different than the original
raw tracks but certainly not any better
what a track sounds like by itself has
almost zero bearing on what it sounds
like in the mix there are a lot of
factors that play more than we can go to
in this video but just know the less you
spend the less time you spend in Solo
the better your mixes will be so for
example if I'm working on a kick drum
rather than just soloing the kick and
list listening to it exclusively I will
try to listen to the kick in context of
the entire drum kit so using my drum bus
I might listen to the entire drum bus
and then make adjustments to the kick
drum EQ and compressor itself doesn't
mean you can't use solo but every time I
press Solo in a mix it's like there's a
little timer on my shoulder that says
get out of solo get out of solo get out
of solo because if I spend too much time
there I realize I've lost all context
and I'm kind of fighting myself at that
point number 17 save the vocal until the
end this is this is a bit of a recent
development for me but I realized I just
don't like the sound of a raw vocal no
matter how well it's been recorded I
typically just mute it and focus on
getting the instrumental sounding great
get a great mix of that then I drop the
vocal on top it just seems to work
better because I end up eqing the vocal
quite a bit compressing the vocal quite
a bit um so while I'm working on things
like my static mix and getting my
balances right I know the vocal is going
to go right in the middle so I'll just
save that for later and I can just focus
on the instrumental now and then add the
vocal later that seems to work out well
for me number 18 bypass often so every
plug-in will have some sort of way to
bypass itself so I can hear the track
with and without this EQ for example I
do this regularly so I can hear am I
actually making it better or am I making
it worse the only way to make this work
is if the before and after have roughly
similar volumes if you turn the plug-in
on and it's adding a bunch of volume
your ear is going to think that that
sounds better so what you want to do is
typically use a makeup gain of some sort
to match the before and after volume so
that when you bypass it you can really
get a good comparison of if you're
helping or hurting this will keep you
from going down these long 20 30 minute
rabbit Trails of doing a bunch of stuff
with plugins only to realize that you've
only made things worse and number 19 get
feedback from others of all 19 tips in
this video this one might be the
scariest especially if you work in
isolation you've been working on this
music your heart is in it and you've
grown deaf to maybe some obvious
problems in the music the only real
solution is to invite someone else to
listen to it and give you feedback while
that can seem scary it can be insanely
helpful I can tell you from experience
when I involve other people in my
creative work whether it's music or
anything else that I do creatively it's
always better so step out of your
comfort zone put yourself out there and
be open to feedback it'll make your
music better all right we made made it
to the Finish Line those are 19 of my
favorite mixing tips which one are you
going to try tonight leave a comment
below and let the rest of us know thanks
for watching be sure to subscribe and
I'll see you in the next one
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