Everyone has their own style of mixing. Some people prefer mono, some stereo. Some engineers like using either analog or digital, some like using both. And I’d like to present two mixing tips that I’ve recently found helpful. This post is not saying, “You have to mix this specific way!” I’m simply sharing a method...
You know that moment after you’ve spent hours mixing and it’s sounding great in the studio? Then you listen to it in your car, on your earbuds or on your Bluetooth speaker, and suddenly half of the mix is gone because there’s no bass? It’s a constant problem to get your mixes to translate to...
Hey there, Happy Sunday! Hope you’ve had a good weekend. I wanted to give you a quick reminder that my weekend flash-sale ends today, so if you’d like to get my Quick Mixing With Stock Plug-ins training for free, you have to grab it before the day is over. The three-part video series usually sells...
One little improvement at a time. That’s all you need to get better. Small incremental improvements over time will grow your potential like a snowball. It’s the beauty of having a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset. In Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D. shows us that the most important thing...
Chances are, you’ve either learned my entire mix process through Step By Step Mixing, or you’ve seen me write about it ad nauseam. That’s Latin for “I can’t believe he’s going to bring this $#!t up again.” Don’t worry, I won’t. You’ve already heard enough about it for now. However, just because I have a...
On the cruise around Cuba, my mother-in-law looks at me with a puzzled expression. “I’ve never seen anyone eat a kiwi like that,” she says. I scoop another spoonful of kiwi into my mouth and realize that this is the only way I eat a kiwi. You cut it in half and then eat it...
A common problem with a lot of DIY musician recordings is thinness. I’ve run into this with my own arrangements and mixes. You know, when a song just needs a little something, a little meat on its bones. That’s what we’ll talk about in this post — how to make your songs sound fuller. These...
We’re getting ready to pack up his studio to take down to the Bonnaroo music festival to record some bands again. We had some cool artists come through the Haybale Studio last years when we recorded 25 bands in four days, like Moon Taxi, Alt-J, Rayland Baxter, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Sheryl Crow. Here...
Among the many things that set modern, professional mixes apart from amateur ones is a wide stereo field. Stereo enhancement plugins can make vocals sound huge when the chorus hits, push synth pads to the edges of headphones, and add interest to rhythmic elements. But widening without intent can lead to a disorienting mix that’s...
I’m going to tell you a secret no one in the music business wants you to know. Learning how to properly use compression is hard. Everybody thinks they understand how to use a compressor way before they actually do. Sure, they know what all the knobs are for, but most of the time they’re either...