Why "Learn To Mix Like A Pro" Courses Are Snake Oil
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- Опубліковано 29 вер 2024
- In which I shamelessly grub for money and plug my new ear training series, which I will be uploading initially for my channel members. There's a membership "join" button somehwere near this text you're reading. Unless you're using an Apple device, in which case you'll need to use the browser app and "request desktop site" (Google don't want to give Apple their cut!)
Any tier of membership will do for now, as there's only an introduction video up so far. I might increase the tier level as the series becomes more complete. Note that the more signups I get, and the higher the tier level, the faster I'll be able to finish the series, so maybe you just want to sign up for that higher level straight away..? ;)
Channel Memberships:
/ @danworrall
Just Train Your Ears - Introduction (members only)
• Just Train Your Ears -...
As always if you'd prefer to just buy me a coffee you can do so here:
ko-fi.com/danw...
(Note, this is just a tip jar, this will not get you the ear training series! Click the membership "join" button instead.)
For those of you not finding the "join" button, you're likely on an iPhone or iPad right now. Solution 1: join using your computer instead of a mobile device. Solution 2: look for videos on how to enable the "join" button on an iPhone or iPad.
Other possible reason: you're in Russia. (me) lol
I'll wait until the course is complete and will buy with a one-time purchase with help of my Kazakh friends
Solution 2 is to go to UA-cam from a browser (Safari, Chrome, etc) instead of the app. Once on the channel page, there’s an option in the browser settings to “Request desktop site” from the settings menu. Whammy.
@@alexeytereshonok it's amazing how these sanctions punish you, the Russian citizen, supposedly for the actions of your government, while they simultaneously tell you that you have no influence on your government because it's 'authoritarian'. Whether that's true or not aside, by their own logic, they are punishing people who can do nothing about it. That's why this makes me mad. Fuck the SSanctions. Wish you the best.
I am in China (But using VPN) - on Macmini - Tried many ways but no 'join' button - so far. Will keep at it.
(tried firefox, chrome, safari, chrome incognito)
@@lunalangton5776 Well, to be honest I'm not mad, it's just a little inconvenient, I wouldn't call it "punishing", kind of a strong word... Piracy is very prominent over here (we have entire forums where moderators check for viruses, sort everything, update versions of pirated software etc., often times it even works faster & better than actual legit versions of software because of the removed anti-piracy code), so regular people don't feel the sanctions much. I, on the other hand, prefer to support plugin developers, so I buy licenses with help of my friends from Kazakhstan & crypto. However, it looks like the main purpose of sanctions (aimed at our government) also didn't work in a meaningful way, I have relatives in Ukraine (Ivano-Frankivsk) and a couple of friends in Kharkiv & Dnipro, so you would imagine how I feel about this whole thing & how I wish for it to end as soon as possible. But, oh well, no end in sight so far. I appreciate your words, thank you, but I don't feel the "punishing" aspect, and 99% of people here in Russia don't.
I always liked Mixerman's quote of "Mixing cannot be taught. It can only be learned."
Practice, practice, practice
@@EricJohnson-fh8zj yup
A.k.a. tacit knowledge
I prefer the quote of "Dunno, It just came naturally to me - I never really had to practice *shrug* " - I hope to find it is my quote in the future .
That doesn’t make sense. Teaching versus learning depends on what side of the conversation you’re on
I've watched 1000+ hours of every "mix like a pro" video, every "10 secrets the pros don't want you to know" video, every "10 essential plugins or your mix will be crap" video, and you know what? My mixes suck. My mom says they suck, that's how bad they are. Great video, Dan.
Your mom says it😂😂😂😂 I guess she'll be the first to pay for the course then
Moms are good for telling it like it is. A step in the right direction. A lot more people need to be told the truth.
Maybe your mom needs to work on her ears???
Watching 1000+ hours and never mixing your own songs is sad 😔
It took me 15 years to be happy with myself and my music... I started music when I was 15yo now I'm 33... Just about year ago I started to feel confident to post my music, offer my services to other and collaborate and assist other people.
And I still feel 6 months after finishing the project... On random listening...
Some "mistakes/decisions" that could be better.
To be able to be trained by any this means provided by Dan is really like a gift for us, specially for the new audio engineers! 🌟
Wow, now I have my confirmation. I used to follow that eq advice and sweep and even followed proQ3 frequencies grabbing function. After couple songs, I quit because it just look stupid to do that. But I saw ppl teach that online, like Sage Audio (well, naming is my style). I feel bad not following their advice, but now you made me feel so released, Dan. Thank you!
oh my. thank you for the courses. I cannot pay for subscription for now but if you make your courses accessible with a one time fee. i will start saving up
I know the point is about listening before you EQ - but - I was always confused by the "boost and sweep" advice. I Can't remember where I got this alternative advice from now but it was to instead make a CUT and sweep that about. It can be a lot easier to work out what frequency band(s) are essential to the part's character in the context of the full mix, as it becomes noticeably obvious whenever they disappear -the part just drops off the radar. And when you sweep the cut across the clutter that doesn't need to be in there, the mix can sound more defined quite suddenly, almost surprisingly so sometimes. Perhaps I'm missing some obvious problem with this method but I find it quite useful.
When I teach people how to mix, I flat out explain that I will teach them what I know and hope they can fly off on their own. I stress the importance of training by working and studying as much as they can. I also practically require them to watch Dan videos.
I might sign up once there is more of them available. I like bingewatching
I love the way you used actual quotation marks to approximate finger air quotes.
Comic sans, to troll the font police with an eye for details.
First step for good mixing is getting good headphones . I see a lot of people buying cheap headphones that are unbalanced . If you try to mix with these you’ll more likely try to attenuate the unbalance of your headphones not the mix itself
I need to wait til the cub goes back to school, but I intend to join. A great teacher has an edge, for the impression made is deep enough to hold the knowledge and it becomes treasure. I still think you should do the book thing. Like an encyclopedia of frequencies kinda thing, not an A to B to C, but the spectrum of sound in numerical dictionary format.
**sigh** I guess I'll have to wait for the complete course since YT membership is not available in my country. Looking forward to it. As always, thank you for staying true to the mixcraft without "10 tIpS fOr GoInG zErO tO pRo" BS that's littering the platform.
Please forgive the nit-picking; I've noticed that your voice chain has a rather 'shushy' sound. A bit like when someone has just donned a brand new set of dentures. Over-softness on the crisp elements that give the voice presence. It might be worth doing an A/B with the raw voice recording and paying some attention to that area - I feel it's a bit over-dialled on the deessing or sommat. Anyway, whatever. Hope you feel better soon - really love your content .. not sure i'd make it through a paywall though.
The most frustrating part about knowing so many mixing tricks, many of them actually very useful, is that they would make me forget about the most important part:
get your levels right.
There's no cheats and tricks for it either. Just gotta listen.
The problem isn’t necessarily the boost, it’s that people dip too hard. You should close your eyes and pick the correct level for the frequency band using your ears. Sometimes you’ll surprise yourself.
Got it. Saturation tier, here we go.
100% - without a decent room you can’t really mix at all, at least the bottom end
ha ha ha. I have been using compressors badly for years but getting great sounds out of them. Dark Side of the Moon was made with a few hippies using some gear they had not been trained how to use but they had a vibe and they could get interesting sounds. They played instruments or drums and had some great guests on that album but the crazy sounds and fx they got out of the equipment they were experimenting with was awesome. At the end of the day Dark side of the Moon was pretty good and even if it had been mixed by Alan Partridge up a pear tree with bad compressor settings it would still have sounded like an interesting album. I thought Dark Side was actually mixed quite well but when you have such a great album with such great vibes, great guests and great translucent rainbow flavored nachos involved it becomes difficult to think. To go back to my original point, it becomes whatever you think about and just to clarify, all that you seek and all that you tweak will be your compressor sound of the week. Avoiding the attack and getting the perfect release, dialing in threshold to keep the transients at peace. The saturation that you have done and all the EQ that's to come and everything under the sun is in tune as your compressor knee is the shape of the outside of the moon. Great video btw
Yippeeeee the only channel I would pay money for
*"Buying a paint brush does not make you Picasso."* ( Hans von Wackerburg )
Most of those courses are just to advertise the instructors' mixing services
... or teaching service... those who cant do, teach
Thank you so much, I will become a member :)
I think the youtube idea is a great..
Immediately. Yes.
Where do I join I’ve looked all over?
Thanks
Thank you :)
Oh, I know the magic guitar frequency, it is, hang on a sec, there's a knock at the door, brb.
Ok, I will also pay for it. What do I need to do - I‘m not familiar with youtube memberships? Thanks
There should be a join button somewhere? If you still can't find it let me know if you're on desktop or mobile and I'll be more specific.
Google don't want to give Apple their cut! I gather you can use the browser app and request desktop site.
No join button on iphone - will try it on my mac. Thanks a lot
@@hinky7729 Google don't want to give Apple a cut. ua-cam.com/video/eA6k0dsbGMY/v-deo.htmlsi=8jgK60uJUfmgSYiD
If you set playback speed to 0.5, Dan sounds like the G-Man from Half-Life 2
will you be opening memberships for your channel?
Sounds fair.
Get well soon! The world needs your flavour of sanity badly.
Awesome.
How can I get a membership?
There should be a "join" button somewhere. If you're on an Apple device you'll have to use the browser app and request desktop site, cos Google doesn't want to give Apple their cut.
@@DanWorrall Thanks Dan, love your content. I’ve learned a lot 🙏🏾
"Like" is doing a lot of work here. My honda is "like" a ferrari in the sense that it is also a car, has four wheels and an engine.
So true oh faceless one. Sadly tho people seem to far prefer gibberish YooBoob 10 Tipz n Trix, the more harebrained the better, over real learning. Let alone pay someone who has proven skills with a real portfolio who will deliver outcomes far ahead of blind meddling based on random gibberish (and endless WAD Bootiqe Pluginz).
:-)
To get rid of bad frequencies in my mixes i do the best thing. I throw the entire project in the trash. Rinse and repeat.
There was a "Pro" tutorial that near broke me. I spent 6 weeks mixing it and the mixer kept going on and on about notching out "troublesome" frequencies from guitar cabs. He was notching out 6 or 7 frequencies at 0.5-3dB, plus LPF and HPF. All I could think of was "If they gave this to Andy Wallace or Ross Robinson, they'd have it mixed in a third of the time and it'd still sound awesome". Never again!
@@user-2Hteyasizyc I think his logic was way off IMO. He was constantly cutting 2.5K and 3.5K because they're "always" harsh. They are, but only if you narrow the Q and boost the hell out of them. Plus since our ears are particularly sensitive to 3.5K, it's always going to sound painful in isolation. I agree with you, although the multitracks were an "A-list" metal band IMO.
@@DrRinse It's possible he was hearing some bad resonances even without boosting them, some people are very sensitive to that stuff, and in that case i'd just use a Soothe 2 and make it react to 2k-5k range slightly. But, sometimes that can make the guitars too soft and polite for a metal genre, it's also could be nice to just boost some lows and airy highs instead so that they mask the 2-5k range slightly. I mean, if it's metal i don't mind some resonances.
Come out of the shadows Marvin.
Stop being a paranoid android
@awardwinningcritique6895 got it 🤘
It is said that Dan Worrells heart beat is actually a sine wave at 1000hz
It goes that high when you spell my name wrong...
@@DanWorrall😂😂😂😂
🔥 😂
🤣🤣🤣
Why does this make me think of old Top Gear's "Some say" intros of The Stig 🤣
This is the only chan I let the ads run 100%
Nice
What ads?
@@braunhausmedia Yt ones
While courses can give one tips and techniques, a course cannot give the one thing that truly makes an excellent mixer, and that is taste. Taste is not really something that can be taught. Either one has it, or at least some sense of it that can be developed through practice, or they don't.
One of the best ear training tips I ever learned (in an ear training course) is that 1000 hz sounds like a crowd going “ahhh” (cheering). I almost always can get close to the frequency I’m looking for by making that sound with my mouth and then pitching it up/down by an octave accordingly. Makes finding the frequency I’m looking for a lot easier
Thanks Dan! This exact method you've identified as being bad advice has really been screwing up my mixes by removing all the character from my sounds, and I've really been struggling trying to apply this bad method successfully. It's great to hear this advice from someone like yourself
Hi Dan, been watching your stuff a while -- Glad to see you offering this course.
Sadly after years of abuse, my hearing now starts to roll off around the 10-11 kHz mark, so I was hoping for a half-price discount.
Our hearing is logarithmic. You've lost one octave out of ten, so I can only offer 10% discount.
@@DanWorrall Ha, precisely the response I expected. I'm in.
Here it is guys, my first and probably only channel I'm about to be a member of, and I'm more than happy to be on this particular one.
Same
Definetly worth it
Also very tempted to make this my first one right now
Same!
Let’s go!
You've just got yourself another channel member! This sounds like a fascinating aspect of music production to explore and develop skills in, also I really enjoy your style. Looking forward to seeing the course develop. Thanks Dan.
great to hear ur feeling a little better dan, thanks for your teachings dude
I hope your health improves!
"Pro" "Industry Standard" "Radio Ready" are all meaningless words. "Pro" just means getting paid to do it, "Industry Standard" is complete non existent, and "Radio Ready" just means a stereo 2-track. Thaz it.
You have these type of videos in any field. Learning tricks is important, but the only thing making you a pro is experience and putting in the work and hours. Doesn't make as good of a video title, though, unfortunately. And especially juniors (I'm a junior in my field) want to find the "get good quick" secret. However, it doesn't exist.
I know how pedantic you are on making the highest quality of audio learning and understanding.
So I will be joining your ear-training course because, if anything else you won't put it out unless its the best!
A+ Dan... A fucking Plus!!!!
I'm starting a "how to mix" course under the pseudonym Don Wirrall. Ez riches incoming.
DW just makes every single youtuber 'pro mixing right here' irrelevant. great work.
I was ready to subscribe to your OnlyFans for the ear training course.
😀
I strongly suggest to have a one time purhcase option in the future. That would good to have.
That is the plan.
Hello Dan! I'm a young mix engineer. I really wanna watch your educational videos!
I'm at Georgia at the moment and there is no opportunity to buy your subscriptions. Actually I don't know why it's so.
Maybe you could release it on Patreon or another platform?
Most of the people running the courses aren’t even pro’s themselves - in fact some of them are laughable and lead people down the wrong path for months until they finally realise what they were taught was wrong 😑
Thank god there’s Dan and maybe two others that actually are qualified and teach you with facts
hear hear. I had a very similar rant on my channel. 👏👏
those "Learn to Mix Like A Pro" Course are basically "Give me $50 and I'll tell you the sky is blue"
I studied Audio Engineering to degree level back in 2003. I never really utilised it fully and by 2006, it was way in the background whilst I did other things like working and studying a degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry. Around 2017, I started to look at what was current in the mixing world and was blown away by the advancements. I do subscribe to the “Mix like the Pros” series but like a lot of things, there’s the good and bad. I’ve learnt so much from CLA and his more fun brother TLA, mainly about keeping the number of tracks down to something you can manage.
Conversely, there have been tutorials that have been so caught up in the minutiae, they sucked all the fun out of mixing for me and I had to step back and reassess - does the end consumer care about all this tiny detail? Probably not. I think I have a balance now and I’m a fan of Dan Worrall for the same reasons I’m a fan of producers and mixers from my era; Garth Richardson, Butch Vig, CLA, TLA, Andy Wallace - they got good by doing LOTS of mixes / productions, not by sitting there spending 6 hours automating 1dB up and 1dB down on a vocal on a 150-track mix.
Some of my favorite mixers have very little technical understanding. They intuitively know the balance that makes a feel, and can’t be bothered to care why. Primarily, I’m talking about musicians. I’ve learned a lot by spending some quiet time with them. A very famous salsa performer showed me how to find the volume of the cowbell, and I’m being serious. It changed my ability to mix salsa forever. It is the most important instrument in the band and finding its volume unlocks the secret of salsa’s amazing polyrhythmic and harmonic fundamentals. It took all of 60 seconds. My mind was blown and I owe him forever. EQ? Panning? Effects? Pfft! Surely you jest.
I’m always here for Daddy Dan 🎉
al schmitt called from the grave about needing EQ, and he said your wrong lol... love your videos, im just being funny
Dan, have you seen the ZL Equalizer plugin? Seems to be really feature-packed for a free Pro-Q alternative, but it almost seems to good to be true. Could you perhaps make an analysis like the one you made with TDR Nova?
1:30 yeah, like 5 years ago, when I finally really committed to diving into music production, I followed that advice. It very quickly became clear that it just is a receipt for a wonky mess that's totally fucked phase-wise. Always the only right choice is to delete it and start over. And preferably fix shit in the stem, sound design/recording/composition stage, than the mix, if need be. I guess that is one of the perks of stubbornly doing it all yourself.
Tbf, all stages of music production are interesting to me, and all have their impact, and influence what choices you should make in other stages. And it becomes this whole ping pong thing. Sound design, mix, composition, mix again, sound design again, back to mix, etc etc etc. It all very dynamic. And I like variety. Both in my work, but also, clearly, in my hobby.
It's amazing how little people talk about the importance of ear training for ANY musical activity.
Any study of music should begin with ear training, because it is almost pointless to study music theory (harmony, counterpoint) without corresponding harmonic sequences (and to lesser extent intervals) internalized by then. You will understand the letters, but you will not understand the whole text.
I was surprised (not really) to learn that this is also important for mixing!👍
Soo many people forgot before they mix, there are good musicians who can record properly, and music arranger that creates amazing music arrangement, most engineer will say “a good arrangement will mix itself” .. that’s why I never trust any mixing course especially those who only do small things when they mix. In DW we trust!
monetization scheme 👍
Thanks for soliciting our input. I'm looking forward to this. Is our first assignment to correctly identify the fundamental frequency of that Fab Filter guy's voice? 🙂
I don't do the peak sweep thing very often, however it is useful as long as you've become able to recognize whether it's revealing something that should be notched out or whether you're just hearing the filter itself. Which is most of this after you've learned the basic technical tools...what does "right" sound like?
And sorry, I don't think "learning the role of each frequency to a sound" or "learning to identify clashing frequencies" is going to help people with that. That's like learning music theory before learning composition...a wonderful approach for teachers to completely block up their students to the point the student will need years of additionally confusing instruction. Rather I think referencing material people pay good money to hear and trying to match it is a vastly more fruitful approach...and also free. There are of course lots of tricks to mixing music...and I change the ones I use nearly entirely at least once a year for the last 40.
There ARE really good mixing tips online but you have to have a decent amount of understanding to filter out the crap (95+% of it). Most good stuff I’ve seen is free, so theres a tip right there
Of course trained ears are always critical, but that shouldn’t be mingled with techniques
Paid for "mix like a pro" as a beginner in music production, stopped using it after 6 months... mostly because it was everything everywhere and not from a-z for a beginner like myself. Started listening to my recordings and teaching by myself from "books, manuals etc..." and by listening a lot of others music during this period and trying to identify basic stuff... im far from expert but now i understand a lot of underlynig things and understand how things are working and can make better decisions when producing, recording, mixing...
I took your advice about monetising my audio skills…. And now I can’t afford your training…. Thanks Dan! 🤨😅
What I don’t get is that this chap appears to really know his way around engineering and yet, when I listened to his music, I was completely underwhelmed. It’s obviously subjective, but I wasn’t impressed with the production-side either.
Do you do classes of how to mix and master, like a masterclass or 1on1
Hello dan ! Can you make a video about fields and binaural ? Explain why Class-A sounds infront of the speakers and tube sounds behind of them . Thanks
The method you mentioned is really annoying and i think on the rare occasions it works, it's probably you messed up big time.
In my opinion, the better mixes can be achieved by finishing more tracks. It’s also very genre specific.
So true. Sweep & cut = crap. Until you do it with predetermined purpose. I can’t think of anyone more qualified to make a course. Eminently qualified.
Beautiful. I am even more “seasoned “ than you, and we both know that there is absolutely no substitute for experience. I am happy to see that you are doing the ear training stuff, and it’s about time that you charged a nominal fee for your expertise. Btw, I am praying for you and your health issues. I noticed a hoarseness in your voice in this video that I hadn’t heard. Again, I respect you and I am praying for you.
Hey dan. I have been watching your videos and now I am starting to make my own music as a hobby. but. I mix in my earbud and currently not having plan to change it and I know my earbud's high end sounds "tiring" (at least according to the reviewer who use measurement thing to test it) My question is with this amount of high end that my earbuds have does it mean that when i am mix on it i should "tolerate" the high end unless if think that's the issue (example; i will think there's a problem when it's become unfathomably tiring). I am a complete beginner and would love to hear your opinion on this
I never got the "ringing out" sweep frequencies thing. Just seemed idiotic to me. It's helpful when you know what youre looking for, but otherwise its a snipe hunt.
I'm not a huge fan of subscriptions, but I'd gladly pay an upfront fee for a package of these videos (probably somewhere between the yearly accrued amounts of the saturation and compressor tiers)
I'm calling it-- the magic guitar frequency is 6khz (well, for hi-gain guitars at least)
Another video where a guy who is quite bad at mixing (listen to his actual mixes online) writes a click bait heading telling people not to watch videos by other people who are actually quite good at it because it won't magically make you a pro. Sigh.
Once you start releasing full one-time purchase courses, I will be there willing to pay. Especially courses about utilizing specific plug-ins
Any YT vid containing the words ‘like a pro’ are given a wide berth by me. Apart from this one obviously…
Awghh after ending my membership of 1-2 years!! Time to jump back on
A humble tithe maketh a disciple of the church of sound, today I join the congregation of Worrall
I wish there was a way to just...buy the videos outright. But I hear you on having short patience for the "business" side of things. Maybe I'll wait until at least a bigger set of them is available.
There is no good course exept try and error for 20 years.
You can help me with bits how you gained some objective, hence for me whom understands what you mean this is aha moment.
To everyone else it would be just note without any weight.
I can teach you to learn that watching "mix like a pro" videos consumes time you could be spending learning how to listen...
Cautious is the most reasonable kind of optimism.
Thank you! I think this is going to be very helpful course, I really like how you explain things.
Thank you for not planning on keeping the course behind a subscription plan. For that reason alone, I'll join now to support the creation of this course.
Just became a member, looking forward to learning.
1:23 I've done this approach too long.
It's like spending ages to "clean up a sound" to then have it sound better when bypassing it because the only thing you've done is kill all the character.
Tutors at the popular vocational music school I went to actually taught that boost and sweep thing - yeah. Most of their mixes were bad, too.
It's also very possible that some people just aren't as good at some things as others.... And never will be! Some people just get it, and not only do they get it, they have got it!
I'm a counselor for Soothe2 abusers. Once I convince them there was no problem to begin with the healing can begin.
My advice, if you hear there’s an annoying frequency and you can’t pinpoint it, first thing to do….take a brake and put the kettle on.
this happened to me. i used this technique on a track that had a really prominent resonant sounding snare. after reducing an unpleasant frequency, it sounded much worse. really convinced to stop doing that