Mixing a great sounding track isn't just about playing with fader levels and plug-ins, it's so much involved. Top mixers know that the key to producing great sounding mixes is more about working with disciplined mindsets.
The quick tip articles below touch on many of these mixing mindset along with some useful pointers and workflows that will enable you to work smarter and more creatively the next time you approach a mix.
What are the most common pitfalls facing self producing artists? What can be done to avoid them? And if you are that mix engineer taking on a self produced project, what can you do when faced with some of these most common pitfalls?
Engineers are being bombarded with information along the lines of “STOP DOING THIS”… Whether you’re a new engineer or just fancy a fresh perspective, here we flip that to talk about some positive techniques to get the mix most of the way there.
in this article Dom Morley asks What are you using compression for? He hopes you’ll have a completely different approach to compression in about five minutes. Read on and we’ll see…
How effectively the DAW you choose to use handles common mixing tasks makes far more difference to the end product than the specifics of the processing provided by that software. Here are some tips on how Pro Tools can help you tackle common mix tasks.
Designing an ear-catching tone and recording a masterful performance with it are fundamental to getting a great guitar part in any track, but if you don’t make the right moves at the mixing stage, too, all that hard work will have been for nothing. Get those riffs and solos sounding their best with these tried and tested production techniques.
Want to make sure your next mix is the best it can be? Grammy-winning mixer Dom Morley shares some advice on how best to get prepared…
In this article Ufuk Onen shares 8 ways to address the common mix issue of sounds masking other sounds. There are lots of potential fixes. Here’s our breakdown of the problem and the solutions.
While traditional audio processing techniques like EQ and compression remain essential, there are less conventional methods that can be used to address issues or shortcomings in our productions. In this article, we'll explore three such techniques.
Following our list of five common mixing pitfalls last year, we extend the list with five more issues that every engineer and producer should be aware of and prepared to negotiate.
Achieving a balanced mix. It sounds simple but it can be frustratingly elusive, with mixes sometimes turning into the sonic equivalent of plate spinning. Here are 5 tips to help restore balance…
Tom Bullen shows how Import Session Data and Match Tracks, two Pro Tools features that you have to know about.
What happens to parameter automation when you Alt+drag a plug-in or a send to a different track? What about if you have Automation Follows Edit switched off while doing this?
A mix can quickly lead you down dark and frustrating rabbit holes that are difficult to come out of, however, we have some essential mixing tips that will hopefully help you to avoid getting suck when you mix your next song in Pro Tools. These tips will inspire you to develop some basic mixing disciplines and mindsets as mixing isn't just about moving faders and loading up plug-ins you know...
In this article, we share five mixing disciplines that many of us on The Production Expert Team abide by. We regard the following suggestions as essential mixing rules, many of which we follow ourselves to help us mix and deliver music we're proud of and, most importantly, our my clients are more than happy to pay for.
If you are new to editing audio in Pro Tools then I strongly recommend you learn the keyboard shortcuts in this article as these will speed up your workflow.
Incorporating keyboard shortcuts into your Pro Tools Mixer workflow will help you get your mixes done more efficiently. In this article, I list my essential Pro Tools Mixer Window keyboard shortcuts that help me manage large Pro Tools Sessions while also saving me several thousand clicks of the mouse as well.
I am a partially sighted Pro Tools user, being able to see small plug-in controls is an everyday challenge for me. I have personally never "mixed with my eyes" because my vision is so bad it's impossible, I have to rely on my ears.
"Overthinking a mix" - we've all caught ourselves doing this at some point. Overthinking a mix is usually the point where we start to overcomplicate the mix process, which in turn clouds our judgement making it difficult for us to finish a mix.
We have all heard the expression "a mix is never finished, it’s abandoned”. When does any recording artist know when to put their audio brush down and declare that their masterpiece is done?
Mixing is a, first and foremost, a creative process. People are generally more than happy to jump head first into a mix with little regard for the most basic stages of mix preparation. It's these types of individuals that ask me time and time again to explain why their mixes have a tendency to "come undone"
Learn Some Cool Mixing Techniques In Our Free 15 Minute Mix Challenge Videos
A great way to either learn new how to mix a song or improve your mixing skills is by watching someone else work an entire mix. Below are several videos showing you how to mix a song in a tight timeframe using a variety of popular mixing plug-in bundles.