I’m Björgvin Benediktsson. I’m the author of the #1 Amazon best-seller, Step By Step Mixing: How to Create Great Mixes Using Only 5 Plug-ins, the creator of the Audio Issues EQ plug-in, and the founder of Audio Issues. I’m also a venture advisor for the McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship at the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona.
I’m an audio engineer turned writer, and I’m on a mission to help musicians overcome their imposter syndrome, create great-sounding music, and release their work.
I’ve worked as a live sound engineer, a broadcast recording engineer, a professional touring musician, a freelance mixing and mastering engineer, and an audio educator in both Iceland and the United States.
Since 2009, I’ve been helping people like you turn your rough recordings into finished records you can be proud to release. If you want to create radio-ready and release-worthy music that jumps from the speakers, you’re in the right place. My dream is for you to email me out of the blue one day and tell me you won an award for your music because I helped you make it sound successful.
Thousands of home studio producers like yourself have learned from my training, and my work has been featured in publications such as MusicTech magazine, Audiotuts+, The Pro Audio Files, and Recording Revolution, to name a few.
This past week we’ve been talking about the importance of getting great recordings if you want to get great mixes that you’re proud to release. The fact is, the entire mixing process hinges on the quality of the recordings. If they aren’t good, mixing just becomes a giant hassle. I’ve been mixing a lot of...
Now, there is some special kind of wizardry these days when it comes to the power of plug-ins when you’re mixing. But unfortunately, there are no fancy mixing tricks that can save a poorly performed recording. What you record in the room has to have heart and soul. There is no plug-in for a powerful...
A professional studio is a wonderful place, don’t get me wrong. I’ve been to some really nice studios and they’re all awesome places filled with creative vibes. There’s always a little part of me that would love to own a huge commercial facility with a giant live room, isolation booths for amps and a separate...
How much money do you really need for great recordings? If you’re a snobby purist that likes to troll on people on Gearslutz, you think that you need the most expensive microphones and pre-amps. And I would chuckle, virtually pat you on the head and go mind my own business because I don’t negotiate with...
If you’re just joining us, we’re celebrating the grand opening of the new Audio Issues Insiders community, where you learn the skills to make radio-ready mixes and the encouraging support to proudly release them. Here’s what Nic Hamilton, an Insider had to say about his early experience yesterday: “Greatly enjoying discussing mixing et all with...
If you’re wondering what you’ll learn from the mix walkthroughs inside Audio Issues Insiders, here’s a sneak peek: Currently, we have three different genres available, with new multi-tracks, mix walkthroughs and masterclasses added every month. Here’s what I cover in the three mix walkthrough videos: Alt Rock – The Primary – 100 Miles an Hour...
Today is a great day, even though it’s Monday. Why? Because I’m opening the doors to my brand new community, Audio Issues Insiders. Audio Issues Insiders is an online community and ever-growing library of mixing masterclasses and online resources to help you create professional mixes you can be proud to release into the world. Here’s...
The traditional way of using reference tracks to improve your mixes has been to import high-quality WAVs into your DAW. I would rip them from CDs using iTunes and then simply move them into a channel at the end of my session. However, like the rest of humanity, I don’t buy CDs anymore. Instead, I...
I sometimes use the word “hacks” when describing the EQ cheatsheet I give away to my email subscribers. If you need a refresher you can download it here. To me, “hacks” is a synonym for the word “tip.” Yet, people LOVE to freak out, feel insulted and call me out for it. How dare I! It’s...
One of the final steps of getting mixes to translate to other speaker systems is the finalization process when you’re mastering. You can take pretty broad strokes while you’re mixing and make some drastic mix moves to make your mix explode from your studio speakers. But, getting those crazy mix moves to translate may mean...