Got a question from Peter regarding my ultimate guide to starting your mix that’s adapted from my Step By Step Mixing book. “You start your mixing in mono and go stereo on step 8. In step 3 you do levels and panning. Do you change from mono to stereo so early in the mix? Or...
When you’re mixing, it’s not uncommon to treat all your tracks individually, following classic procedures of first mixing the kick and bass by themselves and then the snare and then the individual vocal tracks and then the individual instrument tracks, and so on. Starting out, that’s the most logical thing to do. In order to...
Ever feel bored with your mixing approach? Is your mixing process so rigid and structured that it robs the process of its creativity? Sometimes when we’ve been mixing for a while… we can get stuck in our ways. So here are 5 super fun creative mixing tips! 1) Automate your automation Automate the send amount...
Mixing and mastering have a lot of technical and theoretical aspects, and it’s not uncommon to get caught up in doing everything correctly and by the book. While knowing the rules and norms are very important in order to achieve your desired result, they are not always the answer. Music is a very complex concept,...
Recording drums in a studio for the first time can be a daunting task, whether it’s in a professional studio or a home setup. Preparing for the session can make all the difference when it comes to the final outcome. Here are some essential tips for getting the best out of your recording session as...
Have you ever mixed a song and whatever you did, you weren’t happy with the drums? Not just slightly unhappy… There was something wrong that you couldn’t sort out with EQ and compression. Maybe the kick drum didn’t cut it. Or the snare was just not heavy enough. Instead of tweaking the mix for hours...
There’s a cool thing you should do called a Success Calendar. It’s where you put all of your accomplishments and things that you are proud of. That way, whenever you’re having a bad day, you can check your Success Calendar to remember all the awesome things you’ve accomplished to make you feel better. And wouldn’t...
I get it, what on earth does breast milk have to do with getting better drum mixes?!? Here’s the story: My wife and I are slowly adjusting to the new normal as parents but it doesn’t come without its hiccups… No, I don’t mean the constant hiccups from our daughter, but rather the fact that…we...
Today we’re on part two of our mastering session and the final part in our free 10-part step-by-step mixing hip hop series. I’m stretching the definition of “mastering” pretty thin here because I’m honestly just finalizing the mix on the master bus with master bus processing, and fixing any mix issues as I’m mastering. This...
We’re onto mastering in our step by step mixing hip hop tutorial, and this week we’ll be adding our mastering chain to make things loud, punchy and powerful. We’ll be using: Linear phase EQ in mid/side mode to tighten up the low end Multi-band compression to squeeze the dynamics and glue the mix together Mid/Side...