Clashing instruments is a common problem in your mixes. I have the same problem all the time. Lately, I’ve been solving it with this simple EQ trick. I use an analyzer to tell me where the instruments clash. Here’s what you do: Start Strong When you’re EQ’ing a couple of instruments that you know will clash...
I hate producing myself. Absolutely loathe it. I admire guys like Graham over at The Recording Revolution who self-produce, record, mix and master their own music. I mean, I could. It’s just that I have this mental road block when it comes to my own music. When you self-produce you need to wear all the...
Let me confess something to you. I have a really big problem with subtractive EQ’ing. Why? Because every time I ONLY cut, I always feel like the source sounds weaker. I know I can just increase the volume to compensate for the reduction in gain. The only problem is that it’s hard to A/B test....
Here’s a simple trick for a cool solo sound I came across the other day. I was working with a brass solo but I’m thinking it would work real well on anything, especially a kick-ass guitar solo. Here’s what you do: 1. Stereo Start by sending your solo to an aux bus where you insert...
Chris Lord-Alge, if you haven’t heard of him, is one bad-ass mixing engineer. He has over 750 credits to his name. He’s mixed artists as diverse as Bruce Springsteen, Deftones and Avril Lavigne. He’s generally known for his hard-hitting and loud mixes. They’re punchy and compressed but still clean and pristine. But his secret isn’t...
I’m a big fan of wrist watches. I own a few and I wear each one depending on what clothes I’m wearing. I can’t wear a brown watch if my outfit is mostly black, and I can’t wear a black watch with all my light colors. I guess I probably put too much thought into...
EQ’ing is hard! And you engineers get real worried sometimes about how many plug-ins you’re “supposed” to use on on a track. Or how much cutting or boosting you’re “allowed” to do. It’s all a bit funny to me because it just doesn’t matter. You can do whatever you want if the end result sounds...
Let me tell you another “Oh god…here he goes again…” Hang on, it’ll be funny. So the reason I went down there is because my friend Idar owns a studio and wanted me to record him and his band. Don’t Wear Multiple Hats He didn’t want to play multiple roles. He absolutely could’ve done it...
One of my favorite books on mixing is The Art of Mixing. It’s all very visual and it shows you how different styles are mixed with the use of a three-dimensional room diagram. All the instruments in the mix are then represented in this room as circles of varying sizes to show their importance and...
If you’re anything like me you’re probably always looking for the next quick trick to make your mixes sound better. I’ve been in those shoes for the last week. I wanted to try out a new approach to my mixes just to spice things up. I wanted some new tips and tricks to try out...