10 Mixing Tips No Producer Should Ignore

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MY GEAR:
DAW (Music making software): Logic Pro and Ableton Live
Studio monitors (speakers): Yamaha HS8's
Headphones: Audeze LCD X (open back)
Camera: Canon 80d
Computer: Mac Studio with M2 Ultra chip and 2 TB hardrive
Midi controller (keyboard): Komplete Kontrol 61
Interface: Scarlett Clarett 2 pre
Desk: a cheap one from ikea
Chair: also a cheap one from ikea
My favorite plugins that I use the most:
XFER Serum
Sylenth 1
Nexus 3
Kontakt
RC 20
Valhalla Shimmer
Valhalla Vintage Verb
Shaperbox 3
XFER OTT
Fab Filter Saturn 2
Fab Filter Pro C 2
Arturia Pigments
Baby Audio Comeback Kid
Output Thermal and Portal
LABS Soft Piano
Hardware that I use behind the scenes but not in videos:
Elektron Octatrack (my fav)
Elektron Digitakt
Korg Minilogue XD

[@TMG9836]

I love how Alex always swaps between different DAWs, it makes the videos accessible for everyone.

[@dzmo-official]

Nice observation!

[@jvaddison]

No Cubase, but hey, i'm not complaining.

[@onimisilovesonmusic4548]

Big producers work with different types of Daws.. switching from Daw to Daw sparks creativity

[@snowandcoal]

You can also create depth with eq. Boost around 900 or 3500hz to make sound closer and cut these and the highs to push sound back in the mix. Also you can create depth using compressor. Slow attack brings sound on front and fast attack pushes sound back.

[@DrMrtst]

Wait. Its the other way around, right? Slow attack makes a sound less harsh and therfore more in the back, while fast attacks sound way harder and in the front.

[@dylancairns8267]

A lot of people struggle with tonal balance (myself included), but one of the ways I combat this is by starting off by mixing the lows and then working my way up to the highs (while taking breaks). I've found that this leads to a better tonal balance overall in my workflow, but using a reference track could also easily be as effective because you're directly referencing the loudness of similar instruments in the context of a whole mix, plus you can visually analyse the tonal balance of your reference with an eq or spectrum analyzer and try to make them match.

[@MrShtrudL]

You're a legend, love your passion, thanks for the content!

[@ProdDanny03]

That advice on how to become a mixer is actually the most honest and valuable advice I've heard so far

[@susilkumar1025]

Platinum Tips...Clear, concise and logical. Thanks a million for that.

[@imjulesgabriel]

Always managing yo pick up new info from you! And Ive been doing this for a long time. Youre the most direct and competent mix/music content creator I know. Thanks you!

[@ranradd]

That was excellent Alex. Great range of suggestions totally not expecting.

[@nastika888]

glad see u active ♥ and thx for the tips as always !

[@timkimber1346]

Thanks Alex for sharing your wisdom. I love your style/approach and appreciate all your great tips!!!

[@Sonic7145]

Great tips! I especially like the one on mixing by instrument categories. Thank you!

[@crimson3510]

Really love your videos Alex! Great teachings as always!

[@djtomspolakens]

Deaum!! Your music and producing theory is sooooo goood! 🔥🔥 So easy to understand

[@Lance_G]

An excellent overview of the mixing process!

[@firex2858]

This is the only channel on KZbin that wait for videos every week . Thanks Alex

[@therealjeeves]

Awesome video my dude, helped me clean my mix up A LOT! Thank you!

[@grimfrog11]

the advice in the end about starting a mixing service is inVALUABLE, thank you for the tip -- amongst them all. Deep love, as im growing into all this.

[@Toonces74]

Very nice, I’m a busy mom just fitting this in where I can and it’s slow going so these quick videos are helpful!

[@GavBeats]

So educational, thanks for sharing!

[@austinscott576]

Thanks dude. This is everything I needed to hear. Such good info

[@Robert_11911]

Thanks for the Tips Alex. Great Tips IMO too.

[@renan_delon]

I'm from Brazil and I'm saving up to do your mentoring. I've been following your advices, Now I'm working part-time so I have more time to practice. I have no words to express my gratitude, cheers!

[@atlas94zip]

Yeah I’m thinking that he should mentor me too. So smart!!

[@leader6303]

bro thats good stuff :)

[@NooneyMusic84]

Great video Alex, some really great points, and really well explained. Keep up the great work. 👍

[@JeremiahHaydock]

Honestly this dude is my new go to for production tips. Great videos

[@michaelhayden2753]

This info changed my life as well. Thank you Alex.

[@markshovel]

You are one of the most inspiring people I know on KZbin! Thanks Alex 🔥🔥

[@disneyresortsfan]

Excellent video with some very useful and definitely helpful tips👍

[@declanknapp6663]

Very nice video - so many vids out there that give very precise yet useless information. The key is practice and you’ve said that here whilst giving some very useful tips on how to execute ideas that will help. Great!!

[@user-nb6jn6ef5s]

thanks man it's really helping me

[@JE.DeLobo]

Amigo, this was the best information & delivery I've encountered in a years long search for the questions I've been wrestling w in all of my tunes. For real - a break through moment for me. Thank you! ..................... Even tho Im a little mad now as I realize there's a hundred old songs I NOW HAVE TO REVISIT. AGAIN....... to feel that sense of FINISHED I still haven't had. :)

[@freshkidonsaturn_official]

This helped a lot, thank you

[@michaellynch8709]

the conflicting information around high passing everything over 100hz except kick and bass is becoming the new blue or yellow dress. personally, i think its genre specific. ill mostly hi cut, but if the low end of the chords is making the track fuller for example, id rather notch accordingly.

[@Dottor_J]

Great video. Lots of nice well explained tips

[@abhinavrai9105]

My review for this video and what i learned from this - You really explained that mixing in mono tip (unlike others) and gave me an idea to gain stage my tracks inorder to have the best possible dynamics Secondly, that mix by instrument was super useful. I used mix by sections but now with new POV I'll do better i hope Thanks alex for this amazing video....we want more tips from you in future❤

[@oscarhatimbulash4207]

Great man... Helpful

[@SpacedOutDoonie]

Really good video. That reference plugin is dope af

[@emiliamazur777]

thank you, you're great!!

[@nedlucas7532]

great stuff bro thank you!

[@MrBrownAlliance]

always enjoy your content from the UK

[@TayWoode]

The advice about start mixing for free for experience is spot on. Too many amateurs don’t realise the competition, they aren’t the only one wants to mix and they get too impatient and greedy for money when the client can easily go to someone else

[@AFRoSHEENT3ARCMICHAEL69]

Wow. Probably the tips i needed to hear. Thanks.

[@alanrossze2873]

Thanks a lot💙💙

[@djerikfox]

..Alex you are amazing, the best simple tutorials so anyone can understand..RESPECT!!!!

[@epicbacongaming2k117]

You really are the GOAT KZbin producer. Dropping this concise knowledge for free.

[@danic.3760]

I already knew and use almost every tip, but mixing in dry mode with no reverbs or delays, wow, never heard or thought about that one, very nice video.

[@Antony-qq1ob3bz3g]

your an absolute unit ALex

[@7willymak]

This is probably the best "tips" video i have seen. Great stuff man. Really really useful advice and great explanations

[@7willymak]

Especially tip 9. It makes so much sense, but never thought of that

[@RelicLabzEntertainment]

Mental ques are what you want to trigger. Distance can be determined by many things, the main two things are it's frequency presence and its delay. If it's far away there's gonna be less high end in the sound, probably less low end depending on if it's miles away or not. To tell which side of your body its on or brains check which ear got the signal first, that tells us which direction something came from. So you'd just delay either the left or the right side. I would throw an eq on the side you delay and band pass the sound for a more realistic sound. Movie sound designers use these techniques all the time. Over ear headphones and speaker systems are good listening conditions to experience these effects

[@GgWifi-ot2sh]

My name is GG WIFI. i am a recording artist, Producer , coder/a.g.i developer , and Pro level mixing and mastering engineer . these are not really tips these are actually the rules of engagement... i do all of these things and it wasnt until i mastered all of these techniques that i became pro level. Mixing in mono is so important i dont even listen stereo until after i bounce out the mix most times . Now I personally mix in headphones i believe its the best way because it represents a closer form of what the end user will be hearing. when the mix is done i listen on studio monitors to touch up anything that i might have missed because headphones simply cant process the entire range of the audio spectrum like monitors can . But when i mix in headphones i do usually get to a mix that is most translatable on all audio sources . But this is the thing... you have to work to this point. You literally have to know what sound sounds like before you can mix entirely on headphones, and monitors are the best way to learn . It really does take YEARS of training to understand what things should sound like on different mediums. But once you do understand i believe headphones are the best way to go because your mixes will translate better on the first go round while using your studio monitors to clean up after the heavy lifting has been done. Now as far as headphones go. NO BLUETOOTH HEAD PHONES. they in no way shape or form reperesent the true signal of your mix because they literally cant... make sure they have a pretty flat response. Its okay if they sweeten up the lows and highs a little bit. You just have to know what that sounds like so you can mix accordingly. But headphones like Beats by dre . Are a Noooooo goooooo. Especially if you are just starting. Luxury Headphones like that are lying at every point in the spectrum . My go to mixing heqdphones are a 25$ pair of jvc's a cushion eared model. They are amazing they definitely sweeten up the high and low end a tad.... but they don't lie if your bass is out of control they will tell you... the other great thing Is the volume levels you get a solid powerful tone. But they don't pump to the high heavens so you can literally mix for HOURSSSS. without feeling any fatigue . Which monitors in my case at least always seem to do. It will show in your work immensely. Long mixing sessions where your judgements sounds just as good on the 6th song of the day jus as they did on the first... sometimes even better

[@captainconvulsion]

Also when it comes to how deep something sounds, volume can have a huge play in this too. Louder parts sound closer while quiter parts sound farther away.

[@zackdude4123]

I found this so incredibly useful and learned multiple things, but there was one thing I can’t really agree on. Some reverbs give tings like a reese bass a ton of body in the 150-450 hz range. That is by no means exact, but try it out sometime, I used to always cut at about 450 hz, but now it’s much more situational. Sometimes I even boost the reverb at around 500hz and cut at 200 hz so the fundamental sub as a well as another bass harmonic or two isn’t reverberated. Then that adds so much width and presence without the reverb stealing space in higher harmonics.

[@yassine.hammar1974]

Thank you so much sir

[@samson4272]

Excellent tips! I’d advise to be careful not to overdo the high pass EQ trick. It can suck the life from any melodic elements. ❤

[@smaccgang]

GREAT VIDEO VERY INFORMATIVE !

[@free_the_noise]

Nice!!! Great tips!

[@shirazselemane5637]

MY FAVOURITE GUY!!!!

[@gmcg6930]

This is awesome.. Thank you ❤

[@prodbydramatic]

Alex since day 1 you have been the same guy . I appreciate you for that more than anything thank you!

[@paradoxx618]

This video is incredibly helpful 👍🔥🔥

[@slunecnitecka]

thanks for the useful info

[@user-jm7ou9kk7n]

Might be one of the best videos on the entire web.

[@anaphylastiks]

Completely agree. Mix a song, play it in the car or at others places,on a stereo and your studio. Write down what needs to be fixed on all different reference points, and average them out.

[@PlattformRec]

Thanks for tip 8 : I never thought about it, game changing for me

[@PabloCubensis187]

Thanks! 🙏🙏

[@drunkensenseiii]

But no seriously, youre an amazing teacher. Ive learned so much from you already. Thanks so much👊👊

[@scottwood6631]

Great video. Many presets have reverbs added. I strip all these to avoid a mess

[@beats8498]

Can’t front. Good information. There’s a lot of cookie cutter advice floating around KZbin but this is some solid advice. Especially the mono mixing… I would suggest listening to your favorite music in mono on one monitor dead center pointed at your face. You can get a much clearer picture of the structure of a song and mix

[@atlas94zip]

Since I have started learning to mix and master. These videos are the sauce! I will do all the tips. 🎉. Every word sinks in so we’ll when he explains why the mix becomes unreadable. Thanks my guy.

[@jeremiahlyleseditor437]

Your are good. Great Information.

[@myfirstrodeo208]

😮I don't know how to mix at all but this video make me feel like i can.

[@fullspeedfly1370]

Fantastic video as always. What are those headphones you're using now?

[@shirazselemane5637]

The besttt

[@joeygproducedit7863]

Gems 💚‼️

[@bengineer_the]

Hiya Alex, to go along with tip.7 I have experienced that some of the readings shown at the lower end of many spectrum-analyser plugins can be either true-transient information (from the transients of higher elements) or complete "ghost bumps" caused by the analyser algorithm itself. So when you particularly mentioned that you may not even be able to hear the low end in tip.7, It reminded me that I have been told to concentrate with my ears & judge audiably, rather than purely visually - in these 'vague' cases. I guess, the advice was to 'not do things automatically, by rule' but rather, do so when the problem comes up.

[@_CRiT_hits_]

💯. A great example of this is putting a pure sine wave through a spectrum analyzer. It will show all sorts of harmonics that don't exist because by definition a pure sine wave has no harmonics! This might even tempt someone to low pass the sine wave if they're trying to get a "pure" Sub signal, which will only introduce more phase distortion

[@AFRoSHEENT3ARCMICHAEL69]

​@@_CRiT_hits_Weird I've never had that happen to me in logic pro before. If it's just a sine it's pure on the spectrum analyzer.

[@static-san]

Right now, I think mixing in Mono is probably the tip I hadn't thought to try before. I do EQ out the bass from nearly everything, and I often disable the reverb in instrument plugins for a different one, either in a group or a return track. I also have multiple speakers for mixing - as well as the monitors, I have a good home stereo across the room I can turn on, two different sets of headphones, and a small Bluetooth speaker paired to the PC. This latter one has sometimes shown me some big mixing errors!

[@leader6303]

also glad to know i do most things on this video properly with eq n stuff, im a super ammature but i do take this stuff seriously

[@isaacfrimpong2335]

Thanks so much sir. Great info from you. Will really love to join the class. Also, i mostly use my laptop to mix. Which headfones would you recommend for me? Which pair were you using also? Am sure i will love to have one. Thanks again

[@GTORT]

As a professional metal mixer, Alex you are the truth my man

[@apatsa_basiteni]

I always make sure to miss words of wisdom from one of the greatest and most ancient music gurus on KZbin.

[@djmaskibo]

legend

[@9liveroses384]

Compression also pushes things back in the mix volume is what controls depth. Reverb and delays are for space

[@drunkensenseiii]

9:30 dude ive been using it forever, but youre the first one ive ever heard to also use the magic high piss filter. It saves so much time when you dont have to stop mixing just to go to the bathroom

[@Emily_M81]

This is an excellent way of explaining these concepts imo. People should watch this video, then watch it again. And watch it again. I think mixing environment is where a lot of people drop the ball. Boring, etc. Well, people, let me tell you, I went from a treated room to an untreated room with wood floors, cabinets, and it's awful by comparison lol. A in all octaves RESONATES, among other problems like echo/reverb, etc. You don't know what you don't know. DIY treatment is inexpensive and a lot of big box hardware stores will even cut the material for you. Anyway, thanks for sharing!

[@erilshackle]

hel help helpfull!!!

[@Dystxnn]

I'm a complete noob and have been practicing for about a year now. I think I've gotten better than how I ised to be but I learned a lot from you. I mix rock music that I played myself and try on different kinds of speakers. Toughest to break through for me so far was phone speakers

[@SJOERDDEM]

One thing i always do in fl is turn the standard fruity limiter off. Leave 3-5db of room in my mix so in the end of the song i have more room for certain sounds I want to stand be louder or exaggerated. I think one of the biggest mistake new people make is make everything to loud.

[@anaphylastiks]

Also reverb artifacts below 500hz are very useful in certain situations.

[@leader6303]

bro wtf 2 days ago :0 gunna binge ur videos when I need breaks and can youtube, im struggling finding a good fx and ordering things, i can write harmonies and leads and drum midis n stuff and mix slightly but ordering and prioritisinf my chains has been a struggle, so i hope i can learn about fx chain priorities through your channel

[@rectones128]

I love the last tip, one of the reasons I wanted to learn music production is because I've heard songs with such loud snares that it would hurt my ears... but friends would act like it was okay. I had to prove that a good crisp snare and a shitty snare are very different sounds

[@meze-music3347]

Can you make a video on how to create effecs presets for melody instruments?

[@SibaNL]

It's best to match the loudness first before using a reference track

[@musicandlaughter_]

Subbed. Great video brother. That mixing freelance idea has my attention. Is that feasible only using FL?

[@AlexRome]

Yup. Fl studio is a great mixing daw.

[@SNKSAR]

Do more Bro

[@thrownstair]

Dip your drum bus EQ at 100Hz-ish and roll off the really highs to make it instantly lo-fi-er. I don't know why but I like how it sounds.

[@philipalondres]

new subscriber here

[@davidgray4995]

If you’re using a higher quality IR based reverb, you’ll get better/more realistic results only sending the desired frequencies to that verb (preferably on its own bus). If you start EQ’ing IR reverbs to death, they’ll sound sterile and you risk phase/aliasing issues. Cheers!

[@scottbaron]

Tip 5- Another thing to consider with mixing on headphones is that they're not true stereo. For example, when mixing on monitors, you hear the left channel with both your left and right ears (and vice versa), but with headphones you hear the channels separately in each ear.

[@scarfo441]

Can you do a video on how a good sounding mixes and bad sounding mixes..I mean actually play them out so that we can hear what a bad mix sounds like

[@poohchasm]

I've never taken so many screenshots from a video! #thxabunch

[@nightlifebartenders]

Killer.