Would you consider yourself a beginner, intermediate, or advanced mixer? What’s your favorite way to learn? Also don’t forget to grab your free planner PDFs: makethatlouder.com/planner
Great suggestions. I found the Bobby O Mixing Engineer's Handbook super helpful as well. What I do now to improve is find stems with an end-to-end tutorial from someone I trust. Mix the stems BEFORE watching the tutorial. Then watch the tutorial and note what choices that mixer made that seem better or worth trying out (versus ones that are more aesthetic preferences). Your familiarity with the tracks from mixing them lets you better understand the choices being made. Finally apply the noted changes to your mix and compare to the tutorial mix and your original mix.
Very nice video _ useful , as usual ! One big mistake that mentors at the you tube make, is that they make you think that " you just need 8-10 hours to learn your DAW", or "4 hours to make a song", or " 3 hours to mix". They always forget that in order to reach that level, you need many hundreds or better thousands of hours. But they keep saying that to begginers. This is misleading. The truth is that you need much more than 1000 hours to start feeling comfortable with your tools, composition, arrangement, sound selection, mixing, etc.
Raw tracks. The standard of the writing, arrangement, performance and actual recording are A MILLION TIMES more important than anything any of us will ever do whilst mixing. If these four criteria are all excellent, you can knock out a quality mix in a few hours. If these four things are sub par (which they regularly are) you’ll be pissing into the wind till the cows come home. Great vid though mate. New sub.
The reason I resort to the 'car test' is for the low end; I can't hear it properly on my monitors or headphones. The best thing I ever did was connect my laptop audio to the bluetooth for mixing the low end right there in the car. Saved so much time.
@@HonanTheLibrarian put an eq on your monitoring output with a low cut at 150/200hz so you can work on how the first or second harmonics and the attack sounds of your kick and bass translates. => it allows to mix what carries the bass in the mids to ensure intelligibility on speakers that lack low end
I remember when I read The Mix Engineers Handbook years ago. I found it too advanced/complicated. But, now I'll probably understand/enjoy it more. I'll give it a try. Thanks for the video!
@@JaduPar same here. I recently picked it up again now that I’m farther along (3 years into mixing); in addition to new knowledge and fresh perspectives, it’s helping me appreciate how far I’ve come in that time of understanding the craft. All the best in your journey 🙏🏽
@@fivebyfivesound Good to hear! I just feel I need to get a solid base. Watching a trillion different youtube tutorials(pulling me in different directions) and advanced methods left me a bit confused. I'm pretty sure reading a coherent book by a master ties some loose ends and paints a more complete picture. Good luck to you in your endeavours as well!
Right on bro!!! Right on the money!!!! Great information! Mix fast, but with caution to the extent of listen for every sound all the time, keep checking whenever making the adjustments…..if you’re tweaking the snare ask yourself or even look down the track line and ask yourself, can I still hear the arpeggiator? Is it better, worse or the same? Piano? How’s the kick? Hi hat? But keep moving….if you can’t hear your dynamics enough, time for a drum bus, if you can….leave it for now….keep moving.
Great video! I took a similar approach for about two months in my first year of mixing. Two things that worked well for me: 1) Relevant active listening in proportion with learning about the craft: I learned that if I alternated learning a technique or concept with listening to music to try to hear what that meant sonically, then I could more easily apply what I learned. 2) Taking notes: Similarly, I learned the hard way that if I didn’t take voice or written notes, a lot of the info I was taking in wouldn’t stick, because I was still building a mental context for all the new info. Now, two years later, I still refer back to some of those notes from time to time!
One thing I would like to add that I got from my experience with making music is the importance of the steps in music creation. I was struggling a lot with mixing at the beginning and I realized it was because my production and sound design skills were lacking, I was trying to shape my sounds in the mixing stage while I should have addressed those in the production stage before, at the sound selection, the source of the synth patch etc. So I would suggest, before even delving into mixing someone should first work on their music theory, arrangement, sound design, production skills, as many of music producers say "shit in -> shit out" xD. Also great video!
Oh for sure!! I def stress this but also, lots of folks aren’t mixing their own productions. Sometimes you get garbage in because someone else made it 😂
@@michaelj.anderson1116 making sure that instrument play at a different octave . Example bassline is a very low octave, for other instruments you should not make them play near the baseline’s octave
The problem is that these 10 Tipz n Trix Tutz focus on technicalities (often made up) and it is easy to get dragged into that mindset as it seems safer than working from the real mindset of making something that matters i.e. Art. Yes "that last 10%" is most likely a result of lack of broader base understanding so people leap to Pro Trix (again mostly made up) rather than getting strong basics which is where the real issues probably are eg unmixable vox b'cause they are over-MeloTuned. I agree that one-source learning makes more sense as the Master should be organizing that material. I think that reading will not likely work out as well for many people compared to working regular one-on-one sessions with that Master. Sadly people don't want to do the basics and will only watch quick garbage rather than support quality material (which takes time). Agreed, made far worse by Algos which punish the quality in favor of garbage. :-)
Most mixes usually don't sound good because the song, arrangement, or raw tracks aren't good enough to begin with. A great song and performance with questionable mix will still sound better than a crap song with pro level mix.
Would you consider yourself a beginner, intermediate, or advanced mixer? What’s your favorite way to learn?
Also don’t forget to grab your free planner PDFs: makethatlouder.com/planner
Great suggestions. I found the Bobby O Mixing Engineer's Handbook super helpful as well. What I do now to improve is find stems with an end-to-end tutorial from someone I trust. Mix the stems BEFORE watching the tutorial. Then watch the tutorial and note what choices that mixer made that seem better or worth trying out (versus ones that are more aesthetic preferences). Your familiarity with the tracks from mixing them lets you better understand the choices being made. Finally apply the noted changes to your mix and compare to the tutorial mix and your original mix.
That’s a great shout
you caught me bc this is literally the video I'm watching while I'm trying to mix
Very nice video _ useful , as usual ! One big mistake that mentors at the you tube make, is that they make you think that " you just need 8-10 hours to learn your DAW", or "4 hours to make a song", or " 3 hours to mix". They always forget that in order to reach that level, you need many hundreds or better thousands of hours. But they keep saying that to begginers. This is misleading. The truth is that you need much more than 1000 hours to start feeling comfortable with your tools, composition, arrangement, sound selection, mixing, etc.
i agree but i also think if you focus on really learning the right stuff you can get to intermediate much faster
Raw tracks. The standard of the writing, arrangement, performance and actual recording are A MILLION TIMES more important than anything any of us will ever do whilst mixing. If these four criteria are all excellent, you can knock out a quality mix in a few hours. If these four things are sub par (which they regularly are) you’ll be pissing into the wind till the cows come home.
Great vid though mate. New sub.
oh yeah agreed all around haha appreciate ya
The reason I resort to the 'car test' is for the low end; I can't hear it properly on my monitors or headphones. The best thing I ever did was connect my laptop audio to the bluetooth for mixing the low end right there in the car. Saved so much time.
@@HonanTheLibrarian put an eq on your monitoring output with a low cut at 150/200hz so you can work on how the first or second harmonics and the attack sounds of your kick and bass translates. => it allows to mix what carries the bass in the mids to ensure intelligibility on speakers that lack low end
I remember when I read The Mix Engineers Handbook years ago. I found it too advanced/complicated. But, now I'll probably understand/enjoy it more. I'll give it a try. Thanks for the video!
I bet you will!! 🤘🤘
@@JaduPar same here. I recently picked it up again now that I’m farther along (3 years into mixing); in addition to new knowledge and fresh perspectives, it’s helping me appreciate how far I’ve come in that time of understanding the craft. All the best in your journey 🙏🏽
@@fivebyfivesound Good to hear!
I just feel I need to get a solid base. Watching a trillion different youtube tutorials(pulling me in different directions) and advanced methods left me a bit confused.
I'm pretty sure reading a coherent book by a master ties some loose ends and paints a more complete picture.
Good luck to you in your endeavours as well!
Right on bro!!! Right on the money!!!! Great information! Mix fast, but with caution to the extent of listen for every sound all the time, keep checking whenever making the adjustments…..if you’re tweaking the snare ask yourself or even look down the track line and ask yourself, can I still hear the arpeggiator? Is it better, worse or the same? Piano? How’s the kick? Hi hat? But keep moving….if you can’t hear your dynamics enough, time for a drum bus, if you can….leave it for now….keep moving.
Appreciate ya
Great video! I took a similar approach for about two months in my first year of mixing. Two things that worked well for me:
1) Relevant active listening in proportion with learning about the craft: I learned that if I alternated learning a technique or concept with listening to music to try to hear what that meant sonically, then I could more easily apply what I learned.
2) Taking notes: Similarly, I learned the hard way that if I didn’t take voice or written notes, a lot of the info I was taking in wouldn’t stick, because I was still building a mental context for all the new info. Now, two years later, I still refer back to some of those notes from time to time!
Heck yeah
Great videos man!
I’m glad you’re enjoying them! Thanks!
This is exactly what i needed to hear, thanks!
One thing I would like to add that I got from my experience with making music is the importance of the steps in music creation. I was struggling a lot with mixing at the beginning and I realized it was because my production and sound design skills were lacking, I was trying to shape my sounds in the mixing stage while I should have addressed those in the production stage before, at the sound selection, the source of the synth patch etc. So I would suggest, before even delving into mixing someone should first work on their music theory, arrangement, sound design, production skills, as many of music producers say "shit in -> shit out" xD. Also great video!
Oh for sure!! I def stress this but also, lots of folks aren’t mixing their own productions. Sometimes you get garbage in because someone else made it 😂
Yoo Nice!! I’ll look at this when it comes out, thx man! Your videos are great
Thank you 🤘🤘
Heck yeah!!!
Lfg
it took me 8 years to realize that i have bad sound selection, no octave contrast, and horrible sound design
What does that mean?
Octave contrast?
@@michaelj.anderson1116 making sure that instrument play at a different octave . Example bassline is a very low octave, for other instruments you should not make them play near the baseline’s octave
Those took me some years as well
@@Agent56000 this is so many people's biggest problem and will make their songs sound amateur
What a coincidence. That's why I'm watching this video!
Man, thats exactly what I was waiting for a long time!! You're the best tutorial guy the internet and a guy with ADHD need!!
Thank you!!! Hope you enjoyed
The problem is that these 10 Tipz n Trix Tutz focus on technicalities (often made up) and it is easy to get dragged into that mindset as it seems safer than working from the real mindset of making something that matters i.e. Art.
Yes "that last 10%" is most likely a result of lack of broader base understanding so people leap to Pro Trix (again mostly made up) rather than getting strong basics which is where the real issues probably are eg unmixable vox b'cause they are over-MeloTuned.
I agree that one-source learning makes more sense as the Master should be organizing that material. I think that reading will not likely work out as well for many people compared to working regular one-on-one sessions with that Master. Sadly people don't want to do the basics and will only watch quick garbage rather than support quality material (which takes time). Agreed, made far worse by Algos which punish the quality in favor of garbage.
:-)
Most mixes usually don't sound good because the song, arrangement, or raw tracks aren't good enough to begin with. A great song and performance with questionable mix will still sound better than a crap song with pro level mix.
you can def do a good job of mixing a bad song. might not make the song good lol but yeah it all works together to create a great release
@@AdamSliger And one can also do a poor mix of a mediocre song, just to cover all the possible outcomes, lol.
@@breakburrito been there done that lmao
Stop watching and start mixing. Remember, you don't need the latest and greatest plugin