10 Questions to Ask Yourself When You’re Mixing
Although I’m not from the U.S. it’s been my home for the last 6 years.
I love it here. I’ve been able to enjoy some things that I never would’ve had back home in my native Iceland and for that I am grateful.
(Yeah yea…I hear you. There’s plenty of stuff the US government can do better and their political system is a sham but this isn’t a political blog so take a deep breath and let’s focus on the music mmmkay?)
But anyway, I wanted to tell you that I’m extremely thankful for you.
Yes. You, dear reader. If it weren’t for you we wouldn’t be here today.
I would be writing to nobody in particular and that makes me sad.
It’s emails like from Mathias Bantle that keep me going. Here’s what he had to say about my training:
“I am a musician but need to improve my mixing skills to create better sounding rough mixes and demo tracks. Having read Owsinski’s book, I liked your approach which is similar, i.e. giving specific examples and explaining useful techniques rather than just explaining theory. That is in my view the greatest challenge when it comes to mixing anyway. Every track and instrument is different, so it is very difficult to give advice which may apply to various circumstances. But I think you definitely achieved that!”
Inside Quick Mixing you’ll find a free bonus, my 110 Quick Mixing Checklist.
It’s a series of questions disguised as tips (to be honest they’re very poorly disguised. You’ll see the tip almost instantly! 🙂 but they help keep you on track while you’re mixing. Alternatively, you can use them as a reference when you get stuck or want to improve a specific part of your mix.
So because I’m thankful for all my readers, not only those that buy my products (although I do appreciate the help with the holiday groceries!) I wanted to give you 10 of the questions included in the 110 Quick Mixing Checklist.
The questions below are intended as part ideas for inspiration, part practical tips. You can use the questions as you mix to give you ideas to try on your music, or you can use it as a reference when you get stuck.
Also, because every multi-track is different not all of the questions and tips in this document will be applicable to every situation. It is up to you to try out and judge for yourself what works for you.
1. Have you used the 1 dB rule to get the most balanced level across the multi-tracks? Move each track up or down 1 dB. If the mix sounds better try another dB until it starts sounding worse. When you can’t move a track one dB up or down without making it worse you’re as close to the sweet spot as you can get with only levels.
14. Do you know each track intimately so that you can use automation to bring out every special event in each track later down the line?
28. Have you used parallel compression on the drums with a hard-hitting compressor that has a fast attack, slow release, high ratio and a LOT of gain reduction to add punch to your overall drum sound?
33. If you’re working with both DI and mic tracks, have you made sure both bass guitar tracks are in phase?
41. Have you used parallel distortion/saturation to add some subtle grit to your bass sound to make it cut through the mix?
46. Do your guitars sound small because you’re overdoing the compression?
51. Have you checked the phase/polarity relationship of all multi-miked guitar tracks?
53. Have you tried a short 100 ms stereo delay with one repeat to create space around your guitar solo?
66. Have you used EQ automation to make sure your piano sound is thick by itself but EQ’d around the other instruments and vocals when needed?
101. Is the vocal sound the coolest thing in your song that makes everything else more exciting because of it?
Grab the other 100 Quick Mixing Questions for free when you purchase Quick Mixing. The special introductory discount goes away on Monday so act now before you forget.
Music Mixing
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