April 1, 2015

EP 5 | Run Before You Walk (common mixing mistakes)

EP 5 | Run Before You Walk (common mixing mistakes)

The most common mixing mistakes up and comers make involve trying to run before they walk.

The most common mixing mistakes up and comers make involve trying to run before they walk.

In other words... they try to do the advanced stuff before they conquer the basics.

Focusing on the wrong things will keep you from achieving your mixing potential. For instance, you shouldn't even think about Mid Side EQ before you've mastered a simple 4 band. Don't mess with parallel compression when you don't even understand what attack and release do. Don't start mixing a song if the tracking still needs editing and tuning.

All great mixes are built on solid fundamentals like EQ, compression, gain staging, levels, and panning.

 “You don’t spend years on the mix, but you spent years learning how to mix” - Eyal Levi

You can avoid the most common mixing mistakes when you learn:

  • The biggest steps you can take towards great tone
  • What to focus on first
  • The importance of fundamentals
  • The most common causes of bad tone
  • Technical vs musical mixing
  • When to take risks and experiment
  • The pros and cons of new plugins

Links:

Presonus Faderport

Fabfilter Pro-q2

Drumforge

Nail The Mix

Unstoppable Recording Machine