19 Mixing Tips I Wish I Knew 20 Years Ago

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#Mixing #HomeStudioCorner

[@marcotrosi]

Tip 1 - 0:40 - Listen to good mixes/music in your mixing position Tip 2 - 2:22 - Know your frequencies Tip 3 - 3:45 - Use the mute button to identify problems Tip 4 - 4:38 - Mind the goosebumps Tip 5 - 6:17 - Do a static mix Tip 6 - 7:57 - Aim for balance Tip 7 - 8:55 - Turn up your speakers Tip 8 - 10:08 - Know when to leave things alone Tip 9 - 10:45 - Use subtractive EQ Tip 10 - 11:37 - EQ your reverbs and delays Tip 11 - 12:40 - Don't be afraid to use compression Tip 12 - 13:12 - Don't compress everything Tip 13 - 13:33 - Mix the busses first Tip 14 - 14:55 - Get it right at the source Tip 15 - 15:25 - Mix fast and often Tip 16 - 16:18 - Mix in context Tip 17 - 17:55 - Save the vocal until the end Tip 18 - 18:33 - Bypass often Tip 19 - 19:18 - Get feedback from others I might wanna add Tip 20 which is bit of an extension to Tip 1 -> use a reference track to which you can compare your mix to.

[@kevinbrammage7951]

Thank you for doing this.

[@beachforestmountain4269]

Good job mate, thanks.

[@notsogood9449]

Thank You!!!!

[@michaelmay9059]

👏 thanks!

[@midi_verse]

so basically the same stuff everyone else has said for the past 20 years.. got it. thanks marco for your hard work. we need more people like you in this world to save the rest of us time. thank you for your service.

[@JeffreyDonovanOfficial]

If you made these tips into a poster I could hang directly in front of my mixing console, I would gladly buy one!!

[@RutgerSteenbergen]

I might make an infogrpahic in Canva 😁

[@judes_music]

Great idea!!

[@guthhalf5484]

Ummm do you not know how to use Word and a printer....

[@JeffreyDonovanOfficial]

um, yea. But I'm willing to help quality content by purchasing some merch when I think it's a good idea. Best of luck in life....

[@Hijazi-1info]

Shyt up

[@aderibigbejames5385]

Please, how do I study the frequencies?

[@slayabouts]

Tip 1 is what I do to start every session. I usually spend 15-30 min listening to some songs I think I want mine to sound like to get my ears accustomed to the balance. Whenever I take a break, I'll put music back on

[@gabrielpelayo7913]

EQing your reverb, even with just a highpass worked so well it messed me up 😂. You get so used to the mud and you do all this other stuff to compensate so then you do that and it makes all the stuff you did to compensate an issue. 😂

[@DeliriumXM]

The most underrated tip imo for producers who mix as well, STAY ORGANIZED, organize your samples, organize daw presets, organize your mixer, organize your playlist, hell even organize your plugin order. The amount of time saved from just sitting down for a few hours to organize your drives, folders and daw will quickly be worth it (if youve got a large multi tb library like me). Also, backup EVERYTHING. If your actually serious about music it cost like 200$ for a massive drive to backup your work and libraries so you wont be at square 1 in case of a failure or problem

[@theBassBurnout]

I'm sure you're not an FL user :]]]]

[@DeliriumXM]

@@theBassBurnout dude the funniest shit is i am. 😝 FL sucks by default. Ive spent 3 months away from making anything just to focus on learning how to fix and fixing my Organization. Via; compiling libraries, organizing the entire daw and setting up midi outs, my different optimal settings for each template (basic song vsts/recording)-> (layers / glitches + extra samples)-> (vocals) essentially every “song” will go through at least 2-3 templates / projects. If i wanna add more it may go up to 4-5 templates used /“projects” def more overcomplicated than necessary but goddamn it the workflow is nuts

[@DeliriumXM]

@@theBassBurnout but i also use studio one (for vocals, sometimes mixing ) (also use IK lursen mastering console for mastering from time to time. Kinda just like being able to use as many layers as possible, and ima be honest picking a daw was hard, but FL makes it really easy for large multi sampled projects because individual samples in channel rack dont need to be tied to mixer inserts. Patcher can bypass “single” instrument tracks altogether, so you just work with buses (all your single ins. processing is done in patcherized instance of source. + the free lifetime free updates. Also goodluck using fl well without 2 screens imo.. not gonna happen default scaling is cheeks and i gotta have the mixer up at all times for monitoring. Note; in my defense I also started on cubase, im just a massive fucking nerd 👍😁🙃. probably gonna pull the trigger on ableton in a while tho, i find more daws = better Also, As a live instrument player ( i play guitar and bass) fl sucks without effectively using the time markers for recording, daw is really capable, they just dont make it easy….

[@theBassBurnout]

@@DeliriumXM Yes, I've just checked your soundcloud and you got it. Choose one DAW and perfect in it to know your tool brother. You're a very creative person, and you just need to expand more on what you know. Keep up the creative game!!

[@DeliriumXM]

@@theBassBurnout ay preciate it bro. Yeah kinda just swapped to bitwig. This shit is GAS like its just so good… its not even a learning thing im 3 days in and this daw just works. None of the daws ive used up until now really made me feel comfortable… bitwig changed that overnight and also this comment thread kinda got me thinking about the daw limiting me all together (and my bias) so big thank you 🫡🤤🤷‍♂️ (the bitwig modulators. Scene view. Stability of the program and vsts. Reallyyy low cpu plugins. Its just all around amazing. 3 days in, and working on by far the most complicated track ive ever made and 0 crashes… 😀🥹 🤛 Im not kidding when i say this daw feels like a cheat code Edit: plus my vienna ensemble server will work now 😭

[@reginaldtechno]

One of the best mixing videos I've ever seen. *Applauds*

[@alikaandinc]

you're the best teacher ever

[@weselleymucik1702]

You're an excellent speaker, you don't make things complicated.

[@BeccaLozierTrumpet]

DUDE - I just recently started turning my speakers up and WOW. Night and day.

[@300Spartan03]

YESSSS about the buses, they make mixing so much easier and faster, if i can bus it, it's getting bussed lol

[@SandPineAudio]

The more I mix, the more I can tell that the "static mix trick" is everything. 😌Getting the more you can, just by balancing, ppanning and checking phase combinations on a great sounding multitrack is crucial to achieve the best mix at the end.

[@tumpperi3891]

It's kinda a mindfuck, since atleast I believed for a looong time that pros have some special plugin or expensive studio that suddenly makes everything sound awesome. These tips are easy to overlook, since they look so simple, but they are THE bread and butter I'd say.

[@PunkRockVibes]

Having a solid understanding on your frequencies is a big one. That’s what I’ve been focusing on a lot lately.

[@iamxenobyte]

Fun fact, the goosebumps section is actually talking about Frisson, which is a response that happens when one is extremely emotional to certain types of powerful stimuli, like music!

[@MusicMRpro]

All of these tips,it's kind build on good hardware gear like so good headphone

[@michaelgove9349]

As a composer who's more confident with my writing / arranging than with production, found this vid extremely useful. Great stuff. 👍

[@mikeriemersma716]

RE: Tip #1. SonarWorks was a REVELATION for me. My mixes sounded amazing in my room but had absolutely no low mids anywhere else. Now that I can actually hear the low mids in my room I can mix them appropriately.

[@Dwolfmusic]

True. at first i didn’t like the way it made my mixes sound when i put it on my masterbus cause it made it sound less exciting. But thats what my mix kinda lacked, excitement. Then one time i did a mix and forgot to turn off the plugin. My mix sounded more professional on all kinds of speakers and then i realized i had the plugin on during mixing. Now i never mix without it on.

[@jonnyidle]

I tried it for a while, found it cumbersome when exporting and also didn't like the way it made my high mids and highs sound brittle. I loved the sound of my speakers before and I found it sucked all the enjoyment out of listening to them. So I stopped using it and learned the speakers and room, and now I feel very confident when mixing on them, and love doing it.

[@DodgeDartSongs]

The most helpful mix vid I’ve seen, Joe. It confirms a few clues I arrived at on my own and wondered “do other mixers do it this way?” But also provided many ideas I’d not arrived at.

[@13adLucEnt]

I've been engineering for about 18 yrs now. I agree with all your tips & I too find myself doing all vocals last nowadays...great minds think alike, great vid you just got a new subscriber

[@djvictornova9188]

Joe Glider and Presonus Audio is a must subscribe in 2023.. Great Tips

[@mr.e8432]

Thanks, Joe. I'm kind of lucky with tip number 2. At 50 years old, I don't have to learn any frequencies above about 6k as my ears apparently don't really care about those.

[@_beefi6522]

Balancing prior to plugins was a huge deal for me. Also using the levels on the channel rack only and mixer levels if needed after plugins.

[@tm8473]

I use eq mainly for fixing overlapping problems on tracks that do not need eq by themselves. But i never calculated my typical cuts/boosts ratio!

[@OfficeofthePacific]

Great video, Joe! Another I might add... "Mixing in mono" is something I unfortunately never do, but I will try to start! Keep up the great work, Joe thank you for all you do for us.

[@mikebozik]

Great vid, I use a lot of those tips! 😊 Could you ask PreSonus to: 1) Put the input and output meters of the Pro EQ back beside each other, the way they used to be. 2) Fix the "auto make-up gain" function on Presonus eqs and compressors. Thanks.😊

[@rome8180]

I agree with your point about saving the vocal until last. Some people start with the vocal, and that's never made sense to me. The vocal will probably have the most processing of any of my tracks. I would rather have some context for the decisions I'm making rather than creating a vocal sound at random. There are too many possible paths. By contrast, it's much easier to EQ and compress a drum set in solo and lay the foundation for the rest of my mix that way. By the time I get to the vocal, my choices will have been narrowed by the context of the song, which makes settling on the right combination of effects easier.

[@sseltrek1a2b]

"static mix" is so important...it's akin to getting the house solidly built and then applying the aesthetics (paint, trim, finishes) to get it ready for sale...

[@earledaniels4539]

Tip #8 is probably the toughest, certainly for me anyway "Know when to leave it alone" . Also, regarding plugins on Busses, after my static mix, I setup my Mix Buss plugins first followed by my plugins on individual Busses.

[@MonsterLuv504]

Great stuff

[@widheishd6960]

man i love the analogies u apply

[@jamzdrumz141]

Hi, Overall, I think you did a great job putting this video together. Nice Work! The only issue I have is with Tip 10, significantly “High Pass” Filtering the low end of reverberation is poor advice. Reverberation is made up of predominantly low and low-mid frequency content. High frequencies tend to defuse and defract within different environments, and quickly lose energy. Low frequencies have larger waveforms, and as a result propagate more effectively within different environments. Therefore, it is mostly low and low-mid frequency content, which creates a sense of depth in the 3-D sound field. Just as upper mids push sounds forward, and raise them in the speakers. Low-mids drop sounds lower in the speakers and push sounds further back into the 3D-Sound-field. By filtering low frequency’s from you reverbs, you are collapsing the depth field of your mix. If a reverb is clouding the imaging of your mix, often the decay time is to long or the choice of space is incorrect for the instrument. Remember reverb is there to create the illusion of size, sometimes using larger spaces with short decay times is enough, to create the sense of space without clouding the mix. Low pass filtering is actually more common on reverb, as sometimes the high end flutter of spaces clouds the imaging of a sound. Although, you are correct in terms of delay. High and low pass filtering (bandpass filtering) is common to make the delays sound more distant. (by being less full frequency) Hope this helps, Jamie

[@The-Skyking]

I'm going to focus on mixing louder, that's an issue for me. I mix with my speakers pretty quiet. It's not a clipping thing, but just a loudness thing in my room. I need to mute things more often instead of chalking things up to a frequency build up instead of thinking it's a specific track. I do need to focus on compression more. Sometimes it's too much or too little. I do eq reverbs, often times rolling off bass and treble. I'll add treble for an effect if needed. I usually use the reverb's built in eq. Mixing the busses first is awesome. A thing I'd add if I had a list: Use a template. Make a template either based on music genre, artist, or however you like. Maybe just one master template like I do. Templates help me with consistency, mixing fast.

[@Hillywillbilly]

You might have the best analogies known to man

[@bobbyswamp]

Enormously helpful! Thank you, Joe!

[@juanfranbrotons854]

So helpful man

[@CoryKent1997]

One of my favorite videos you've releaserd, Joe. THANK YOU!

[@P.Casso_76]

love this guy

[@capitalghost]

Right on target bro. I appreciate the mindset and perspective shift you’ve helped me make in watching you all these years. This video is a great summary of that. Thank you!

[@kvicksand8270]

Thanks Joe!

[@petervad]

wonderful, thank you!

[@Kwastaken]

The metaphor for subtractive eq when you referenced the marble being chopped away versus the clay being added on was really helpful for me to get my mind around the idea. Well done sir

[@olofbenjaminsson9188]

Thank you for the tips!

[@georgedouthit5827]

Joe, thank you for your thoughtful and concise tutorials. I have always known that I need to get a system down and your tips are so well thought out and inspirational.

[@TONDJO-STATION]

C'est la bible du mec qui veut progresser...sans fioriture ! direct ! sans prendre de gant, les mains dans le cambouis tu as démonté le moteur de la galère. Il y en a déjà la moitié que je maitrise...et je vais m'occuper de l'autre moitié, avec détermination !! Merci !

[@us3r11]

Very well said. Thank you.

[@jonbirmingham6005]

Static mix! Thanks!

[@surreal8zero475]

I stumbled across your videos a couple of months ago, and WOW!! Absolute game changer for me, you are a fantastic teacher 🤙

[@madsenamplification]

Great tips Joe!

[@musicman3000]

This was great!

[@awokethelion316]

This is really helpful and much appreciated

[@melodyman9162]

Great stuff bro ! Thank you!

[@Forevercamk]

I slapped my head on the first tip he said 😂

[@deerorigues89]

Studiorack helped me out alot

[@BorealBlue]

Joe, your help is awesome. Thank you. I refer to your suggestions often.

[@Sarsour_]

Awesome!

[@MikeFromDownUnder]

Love this! ❤️ Thanks for sharing! 👍

[@mostafaben]

mix in the context 👍👍👍 tnx joe.

[@jaredstubbings]

Awesome thanks 👌

[@eaglepass5170]

Excellent!!! 👍

[@joshuadelaughter7968]

Awesome.

[@audiodude]

Very well done sure you nailed it! These are the absolutes to getting your mixes where you need to be. Thank you for making one of the best videos on YT for getting it right the first time!

[@nick68music]

Priceless tips, thank Joe! Great video.

[@kevinlentz7604]

Great advice Joe ❤

[@cook-music]

First tip had me hooked. So true

[@chadgrieser8021]

I have been following your channel and done your courses for about 2-3 years and I have heard you mention all of these tips somewhere in your courses and other videos. This was a great video to put all of these tips in one place. I have written them all down to keep as a cheat sheet for myself for when i get stuck (which can be often). Thank you for this!

[@jeffreymiller4049]

Super useful tips. Great advice as always!

[@OfficialStevenCravis]

I’ve seen many great videos with excellent mixing tips, but this is one of the most inspiring and helpful!

[@ShawnGrove]

thank you man... very motivational stuff

[@Ultraponchox]

Thank you so much for thiss, you are a god

[@tunafishboi4236]

Thx man!

[@Lost1nTranslation]

Super useful!

[@el_ambient_dude7424]

Thanks for the video! Learned a lot!

[@AirArtStudiosOfficial]

The best advice I’m learning myself after thirty years of frustration

[@mdue72]

Great video, thx Joe 👍

[@MattRodTV]

this was soooo simple and informative. thank you!

[@AlexBtvmusic]

Nice one! I’m glad to see that I have already implemented most of your tips. 🙌🏻 Keep up the good work.

[@razorvibes1]

Thank You.

[@em8969]

Thank you so much you legend, from London!

[@glovebunniesvideos4278]

Great video, thanks so much!

[@devingarza7573]

That anology you made with the bank teller and the prioritizing listening to great music in your mix position, really helped me to understand it so much better thank you so much 😂

[@nickparas7170]

Fantastic video. Thank you.

[@nfneido5616]

This was one of the VERY BEST video's on mixing tips I have ever seen !!! Great job DUDE !!!!!

[@mickpowell8391]

Excellent video Joe. So many great tips and right on the money! Thanks

[@kaarenpro]

Literally the best mixing tutorial I've ever seen on this platform Way to go buddy

[@tigerpdj]

your sharig info is way too great! thanks for the info :)

[@christofferaikin7381]

Great tips, thank you!

[@dougharrell9013]

Excellent information. I've been listening to you for a while and it has definitely helped me in my home studio. That for making all the aspects of recording easier to understand.

[@mattkimbro9674]

Thanks for the info.

[@personalwatching9312]

Oke of my favorite channels on youtube. Thanks Joe!

[@iambigfou]

Thanks❤

[@ayonchakladercovers9132]

Loved your video.

[@monkberriedelight3225]

Thanks Joe. I was apprehensive about clicking on another ‘things I wish I knew’ video. Now I’m a subscriber

[@papageorgio]

thanks a lot my guy much appreciated! have a great time!

[@itssorogue]

Well... I'm trying them all 🎶 Thank you, Joe!

[@AlanStewartMusic]

Excellent practical ideas, thank you!

[@haroldLvaught]

thank you

[@Metalsynth]

Excellent 👌

[@ukaszkaliszek5436]

Very useful. Thanks for tips!😊

[@jeremythomas2865]

The goosebumps thing for me is important. I tell vocalists I’m looking for about 3 “wow” moments in a song, or if it’s an instrumental/jazz thing, 3 rhythm or solo “wow” moments. Or a combination.

[@gossipboynyc9625-VN]

Key in movies too, not just music or songs

[@miketang7533]

Great and honest mixing recommendation. 👍🎶🙏