5 INCREDIBLE Mixing Tricks That PROS Use!

In this video, Austin goes over 5 mixing tips that can instantly add punch, depth, and excitement to your productions and mixing!
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DAW / Program I Use:
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Vocal Chain:
Mic - Lauten Audio LT-386 Eden
Preamp +Heritage EQ - Audio HA81A
Compressor - AudioScape 76D
I/O - RME UFX ii
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My Gear:
DAW: Cubase 12 Pro
Desk: AZ Studio Workstations
Main Microphone: Lauten Audio LT-386 Eden, Lewitt LCT1040
Voiceover Mic: Lauten LS-208
Monitors: Focal Shape 65s with Focal Sub6
Interface: RME UFX ii
Compressor: AudioScape 76D
MIDI Keyboard: M-Audio Code 61
Keyboards: Roland Juno DS88, Roland Juno 106, Arturia PolyBrute
Guitars: Fender American Professional Stratocaster, Gibson Les Paul Studio, Taylor 214 CE Plus
Preamps: Heritage Audio HA81A & Audient ASP800
Extra Microphones: Advanced Audio 251, Slate ML-1, Shure SM7B, JZ BH-1, JZ V67, Lauten Audio LA-320, Lauten Audio LA-220, Lauten Audio LA-120, AKG P170, Sterling ST59
Camera: Sony A7iv
Lens: Sony 24-70mm f2.4
Camera Lights: Aperture Amaran 100Xs
Timestamps:
Intro 0:00
Trick #1 1:22
Trick #2 5:11
Trick #3 9:00
Trick #4 13:16
Trick #5 16:30
Outro 21:02

[@hey_maurice]

1 - add presence / make room for vocal by using mid/side EQ on music bed 2 - use a saturation send for vocal 3 - automate stereo width of reverb in different song sections 4 - group all FX sends so you can process FX together 5 - use a clipper on drums SOLID tips Austin. Some of these I already do, but I LOVE tip 3. Def gonna add that to my repertoire.

[@RekusoXYZ]

Should #1 be used on guitars too? Or just FX/Keys

[@user-xx4sp4vp3x]

@@RekusoXYZ I'd probably apply it to like Rhythm Guitars, or Doubled Acoustics. Really it's a "use when appropriate" tip, it;s not specific to instrument.

[@AdamSliger]

my best mix tip is simply to not mix the song. can't make any mistakes if you don't do anything. but i will consider these

[@SeanofAllTrades]

Something I've done recently which has really upped my mix quality is putting the EQ before the reverb on the FX chain. Cutting all that stuff out of the verb AUX before it even hits the verb leads to a much cleaner reverb. Much better than EQing the reverb afterwards, imo because you're still getting messy harmonics in your mids.

[@simon_esse896]

Trick #1 is a beast --> group tracks to adjust with an eq that makes only a little bit Trick #3 also... --> grouped vocal fx tracks to edit with a stereo imager like S1 Imager Stereo from Waves for example Trick #4 --> Locut on grouped vocal with an eq and automation 👍

[@MakePopMusic]

All make such a difference in a mix!!

[@MusokeMSK]

Wow. Everytime i watch one of your videos i learn something new. I already knew trick 2 and 5. But never considered the other techniques. Will definitely try it out.

[@dereksimke9117]

Super helpful as usual! Thanks Austin!

[@adampeters9684]

These are all great techniques, the key is learning when to use them, and you do a great job of providing insight into your thought process. There are a lot of clickbaity mixing tip videos on YT that oversimplify things and preach certain techniques as gospel. I feel like you did a good job of articulating the approach and bonus points for discussing tips that illustrate the power of automating parameters other than fader volume. Seriously this vid is on par with Matthew Weiss’s channel and that’s a massive compliment 😊

[@teranceamalanathan4754]

Always learning some cool tips from you. thanks for these videos!

[@timmb7352]

blessing us up with this one man, trick 2 was a big savior.

[@otvali5168]

thank you its fire!

[@GeorgeAmodei21]

Always learning something from you! Thank you, George Amodei

[@mainsailsound983]

good stuff! you're a great producer and teacher

[@Chrisjenkinstvg]

I don't make pop music all the time, but when I do this is what I want it to sound like great job bro!

[@antoineschillemans]

Thanks Austin.....great tips again...greetz from Amsterdam

[@vipulvishwas4960]

Love ❤ those pro techniques😃🔥

[@piyushkhanna9554]

Thank you so much, Austin, though I felt this video was less informative, as these tricks I have seen you doing before. And many of them are tricks every production channel features. But I still love the effort made for this video and I realized how much I have grown with your channel! So thank you so much!

[@MakePopMusic]

We have hundreds of videos so things are bound to show up a couple times here. I wanted a concise video that highlights 5 mix techniques in one sitting.

[@piyushkhanna9554]

@@MakePopMusic thank you ✅✈️

[@nathalielow4504]

loves it

[@HumanBeingWithFeelings]

solid advice as usual!. I was wondering if there's any scenario where you use a clipper before a compressor instead of at the end of the chain? Cheers Austin!

[@vadimmartynyuk]

wow I actually use all 5 of these myself, just with different plugins. I’ll try it now with the plugins you used here in the video.

[@MakePopMusic]

So sick!!!

[@sebzeed]

Bro drop this song already! The harmonies gave me chills

[@MakePopMusic]

September 15th!

[@MIXWOODNPCBOY]

LOVE U VIDEO -FROM CN

[@briandonkers9832]

Are your fx outputs sending the the VOCAL FX Return or are they sends?

[@junovue]

Do you have saturation in your vocal main chain on top of parallel saturation?

[@MakePopMusic]

No. Maybe some harmonic content from my preamp and different compressors but no straight up saturation.

[@junovue]

oh okay I see. so the main vocal chain is really: subtractive eq, compression, additive eq giving us a good base. then other enhancements are all on parallels? i noticed that without your parallels your vocals are a bit quieter. is the goal of the main compression chain to just be stable and if it needs to be louder we handle it in parallels?@@MakePopMusic

[@JohnJeevasingham]

Great video! How are you soloing FX Channels without the dry track playing in Cubase?

[@MakePopMusic]

just the way I have my routing set. Since the FX channels all go to their own buss, I can solo them away from the dry vocals.

[@eerotaina6150]

If you’re using control room the “L” button will be activated and you can solo fx channels regardless of routing. Changed my life 😂✌🏼

[@JohnJeevasingham]

@@MakePopMusic Gotcha! Thanks, Austin!

[@JohnJeevasingham]

@@eerotaina6150 Gotta be careful with this method as the Listen function taps directly from the track, bypassing all group/master processing. :)

[@Jeffletsgo]

How do you record mix content like this? What program do you use?

[@MakePopMusic]

OBS! We have a video where I show how we make our tutorials!

[@bnjmnwst]

Great tips. I'll use them. Thank you. That said, it wouldn't have been difficult at all to do a radio edit version without the F word. Some would probably appreciate that.

[@MakePopMusic]

i'm not a fan of radio edits (especially when they aren't on the radio)

[@MakePopMusic]

also, wanna clarify to people who may read this, the comment refers to me saying fuck, not the legitimately offensive "f word". I would never say that one 😂

[@bnjmnwst]

@@MakePopMusic Is that you singing? Your song?

[@MakePopMusic]

Yeah

[@bnjmnwst]

@@MakePopMusic You have a nice voice & a great sound. Thanks for sharing it, & thanks for the tips. Good bless you.

[@Horus_X_]

any dj sabrina the teenage dj production tips lol?

[@haydenthehater2256]

Hey for one of the next “make a song like…” series could you do one for Kesha’s “animal” album and “cannibal” EP and her newest album “Gag Order” they both have very different and unique sound which I don’t believe you’ve covered one being more “party”and the other one being more “psychedelic” (I have failed in both😭) I’d appreciate it to see if you could help me and others out with it😃

[@AnnaAssareth]

ll these KZbinrs showing mixing tricks and techniques always show the same stuff over and over again, but ur different, love ut vids

[@Slipsch]

Is that the LS-208 clown nose?

[@brentsmith9411]

Wow, the PROS use these?? 😂

[@MakePopMusic]

Yeah. I use them every day 😏

[@brentsmith9411]

@@MakePopMusic I've appreciated your channel pretty much from the beginning, but surely you have some self awareness of how cringey this kind of clickbait language comes off. Not everything needs to be about "pro" sound and not every method needs to be labeled as a "trick." I get that you need to eat and maybe this clickbait stuff really does help you get more views. Just my opinion, but every yt channel would be stronger without this kind of silliness.

[@MakePopMusic]

literally cannot see how this could be considered "clickbait" I highlighted 5 techniques that are more advanced than typical stuff on YT, and these are used by pros (including myself and some of the biggest mixing engineers and producers in the world, who I personally know and have seen do these) I don't see how an attention grabbing title devalues the video at all. If you have a better title that can garner attention and get a clickthrough that you don't consider "clickbait", I'm down to hear your suggestions. @@brentsmith9411

[@brentsmith9411]

@@MakePopMusic "Five Techniques for Improving Your Mix." Boom. Doesn't need the buzzwords like "PROS" and "tricks." Simple as that. I do think these buzzwords devalue the quality of your suggestions, which are absolutely great suggestions, but that's just my opinion. I do appreciate how in other videos you've made a point to dispel some hard and fast "rules" that other folks like to push as though they're the only way to do things. I think this kind of language is similar though. It suggests, "this is what you need to do to become a real Industry Pro™. "Tricks" is similar. These aren't tricks, like easy life hacks to game the system or something. They're techniques. Nothing more and nothing less. Language matters, and I think we'd all be better off without this weird hyperbolic internet buzz language. There's my soapbox rant. Obviously you should stick to what works for you.

[@reyfortea6090]

At some point should we all just band together and stop making mixes mono compatible? It feels like the tail wagging the dog to keep making artistic/engineering decisions for an outdated technology.

[@MakePopMusic]

Oh I never go out of my way to check in mono. I've done hundreds of mixes and never had an issue or complaint about mono compatibility issues. If someone is listening on a mono device, it's gonna sound band passed, distant, and wonky no matter what so I'm not going to compromise on really amazing mix decisions that benefit a stereo mix, which is BY FAR the most common listening situation.