How to Know When Your Mix Is Finished

[@zblip22]

There was a world class studio in my area that did the Police, Rush, The Cult etc... Word was that when mixing, the engineer would work no more then 20 minutes at a time... He would go out and chat with the front desk girls a couple of minutes and then go back to mixing. The reason? As you probably guessed, when you spend too much time mixing and being into it, you loose sense of what you are hearing because your ears adapt to what you hear and you loose neutrality. If you mix a short while and then stop, go out and refresh your brain and come back, you will hear RIGHT AWAY what is wrong in your mix sonically.. weird frequencies, overbearing clusters, harsh things.. they will jump at you.. You fix them and leave... Come back and fix some more.. much quicker than if you tweek up and down stuff in the heat of the moment and get ear fatigue and loose track

[@GiuseppeVigliotti]

Luc Prefontaine Long story short: if you have nice girls at studio front desk your mixes translate better!

[@reginaldworthington7558]

I was going to say, I’ve heard a lot of excuses to chat up the pretty gals at reception but this is a real good one, unfortunately Giuseppe beat me to it. Seriously though this is very important to step away. It’s the same for color grading. You have to give your eyes a rest frequently and when you come back to the screen and reevaluate, you often see things moving in the wrong direction you want to correct. Another example with a sense we don’t often use in sound mixes or imaging but illustrates the point quite well: our sense of smell. If you arrive at a farm and step out of the car, what’s the first thing that hits you? You smell something rather foul right? Cow dung is not the most pleasant thing to greet your nostrils. But after you’ve been at the farm for a couple of hours what happens? You no longer have the same reaction because your brain has calibrated to the new environment. The air smells exactly the same as when you arrived but if asked, you could swear it’s now fresh and clean. All of our senses work the same way so give them a bit of a break occasionally if you want to know how things really sound, look, smell ...

[@retsmej]

Maybe he was the producer and he only listens 20min at a time if the mix engineer did his corrections. For mix engineers maybe after 2-3hrs is breaktime.

[@xaviconde]

It's also psychologically important to distance yourself from the work you've been doing. The more you work on something, the less critical of it you become. I've produced some tracks at home, and I listen to them again after some time, then I realise there were things that I don't like now that I liked weeks ago, but I was too stubborn to admit that I was wrong.

[@GeoffBosco]

Guessing by your name it must be Le Studio? I'm only about five hours away, I'm gonna make a trip up there when they're done rebuilding.

[@RicCrouch]

Joe, just wanted to say how much I appreciate your clear, common sense approach to mixing. I’ve learned a lot. Thanks!

[@calumrife]

I'd have done more with my life by now if I had learned to follow these rules a long time ago. I've literally wasted entire months of my life just polishing turds and very little of my music has seen the light of day because I can't stop messing around. Excellent advice! Cheers

[@sj4267]

Not wasted, just learning man, strive for progress not perfection :)

[@jeremylarue4503]

I've been riding in the same boat as you my friend. Wish I'd seen this video years ago. I feel I write great music (for my taste) but have never been happy with my mixes. I always thought I had to use plug ins on everything, get each instrument sounding great by itself before moving on to the next. These 5 short videos are literally the best mixing lesson I've found.

[@nexusnostalgia]

Me too dude.its a work in progress though. Im just so freaking indecisive. Its a curse i swear. Lol

[@LaidbackSounds]

This dude has it all right and specially about the part when you almost there and still want to tweak , can last forever

[@djvoid1]

Great teacher, loads of content, all free. Love your work Joe 🤗

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Thanks so much

[@studiostudents22]

@@HomeStudioCorner Blown by your acoustic guitar mix EQ tutorial

[@sKarredtoon]

From the first to last step is exactly how I approach a mix but with frequent breaks in between so I always come in with fresh ears and perspective.

[@HomeStudioCorner]

YESSS...breaks are super helpful.

[@christiancanalita6487]

As a noob mixer, it's reaffirming to know I've been doing the last stages correctly. I typically like to do these last stages hours later or a day later......with fresh ears. Thank you Joe!

[@cantcomeupwithnamern]

Yeah refreshing your ears is a real thing

[@markrogers7304]

Noob here but ive always done just what he says. The coming back with fresh ears is a big rule i follow since im a guitar player and trying to get a tone after some time it all starts sounding same and when trying later it turns out to be crap...lol.

[@lordberly]

@@markrogers7304 I feel ya

[@coreybuystedt]

I love how your posting like everyday

[@HomeStudioCorner]

YEAH DUDE! 👍

[@st3v3584]

Well that was THE most difficult 3' 17'' of my life, listening to my track while trying NOT to touch anything. But seriously, I have just watched all five videos and I really do wish I had seen them years ago. It has made me realise why some projects get finished and others don't. Thank you so much for posting these videos. I will, in time, get used to sitting on my hands. Take care

[@jeremylarue4503]

This series is easily the best advice I've found on getting a good mix. It simplifies everything, and really helps with organizing your project. And not overusing plug-ins, which can eat up cpu power. Also, you've shown me the value of stock plug-ins. Which further eases your cpu's work load. Great advice. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience.

[@frankhowell8139]

Thanks Joe. I made a list last month on a song that I kept leaving unfinished. It worked very well. Great lesson for us all. It really works.

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Nice Frank!

[@JM-co6rf]

The Listen-and-Take-Notes is the best method of going from 90% to 100%.

[@staratmidnight7]

Y'know what's great about this advice? You can apply it to virtually any complex project in your life. The concept of "observe, plan, and fix systematically" is incredibly robust. Well done, Mr. Gilder. Well done.

[@Joeha133]

This video just popped up on auto play but you have no idea how bad I needed to hear this!! Ty!!

[@spammburgers78]

I learned to put my choruses on separate tracks than the verses and send them to subgroups :) Allows for better organization for me, different processing, etc. I can add my reminder notes right on the track in Cubase. I still use automation of course.

[@Robbay363]

I can vouch, dueling mixes is totally amazing. 100% worth the price of entry. Killer tracks, great tips, wonderful community, and lots of Joe Gilder's beautiful voice.

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Thanks Rob

[@trevorseemela4649]

Thank you Bro

[@youniquesound]

so right about the last 10% of the mix being the hardest part. thanks so much for this videos.

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Right?!

[@youniquesound]

Final decisions on the mix? Yeap! the most difficult. Following your to do list on a worship song I work on right now. Thanks.

[@jimfrancemusic4813]

Great info yet again. I tend to get stuck in the thought process that I did "A" to the last mix, so I repeat "A" again on my current mix without really listening and evaluating if it's needed. Similar to overusing a favorite guitar tone.

[@JStorm90TV]

This was the 1st video I saw in this series also the video that made me fall in love with his channel

[@em8969]

bless you brother

[@tltegoluv]

Another thing that helps me with my music production

[@mellowmel2012]

So practical! Thank you!

[@CarlosRamosX]

Pu the tools down, step back, listen, and take notes. So obvious, so not done often enough. Thanks, for helping me hit the reset button, Joe!

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Thanks Carlos. The obvious stuff is sometimes the hardest stuff to do!

[@lylewyant3356]

While not ready to record anything, my TAG (painting) was done over a weekend because I had a deadline and it is one of my favorites.

[@KzudemRiM]

I am gonna try this method.

[@chrisliva6841]

I love this, I've always been a "to-do" list fanatic and this fits perfectly with how I like to work.

[@nexusnostalgia]

Its so funny when ya do that lil twang thang for emphasis when explaining things. It does help.

[@user-ij5rs7xq5y]

I’ve already taken this approach form you thanks joe! Something Andrew scheps has said which I have also taken from is that pretend you’re writing the final email to your client with the song getting sent back, and if you say “hey! Your mix is sounding awesome BUT...” then you know it’s not finished

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Totally. I've sent a mix to a client too early, thinking I would make the other changes later....not a good move.

[@littlealex3719]

"Static Mix" is AWESOOOOOOOME men !!!! Thanks for the tips !!!!

[@momentunesound9600]

Well that is assuming you dont have seperate channels for hook and verses, but still your point is very valid since i do that my mixes feel way more rounded off , it took my insecurities aways

[@dannylharper6889]

Thank you Joe for all the great videos and advice!!!

[@dougwatt6303]

Great advice! Thanks!

[@alexmuli]

I do that even when arranging a song and since then songs come together much faster!Great tip!

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Interesting...so you're saying you do the checklist thing to figure out an arrangement? Love that. 👍

[@alexmuli]

Yeah...and i would mention stuff that i don't like...lyrics or the progression in the chorus..transitions..stuff like that...

[@gregtapevideo1464]

Dont leave!!😂 I have been using an older version of audacity. 2 years of recording and mixing one song. (Part time). The plug ins are faaaarrr from user friendly. This may help me finish. I just got studio one 5. I am looking forward to getting in to it! Thanks for enlightening us Joe!

[@lar57jsy]

Seems a solid path to solid product :-) Thanks! :-)

[@ringomaharaj1268]

Good stuff Joe 👌

[@davidjacobik5451]

You've got some really practical advice on mixing, I like it bro

[@real.demesure]

This is the cure for the biggest mixing problem , which is just learning that ability to focus on a global scale and zoom from time to time

[@PeteMartinMandolin]

Excellent!!!

[@redlettervagrant1159]

I know that my mixes have gotten 100x better in the past year, and I truly feel like (for doing everything in a super limited small home space) that my mixes and productions have become good enough to be released and compete with professional mixes (again lol, for being created in a super limited home space), I've fell into a habit of submitting my work to forums, and I always seem to get discouraging feedback that my mixes aren't good enough, but in my heart of hearts, IMHO, I believe they are good enough. Should I trust myself and go with my own judgement, or give others the say and trust that they know what they're talking about? This is the conundrum I have found myself in lately.

[@yawpaw9796]

Thanks joe! You are great :)

[@lOycab]

exactly resonating with this. glad to know I'm on the right track. thanks joe!

[@HomeStudioCorner]

👍

[@yawpaw9796]

Like steven tyler said to a joe: i love joes. Youre great!

[@nicerecord8291]

you good i do like your work thanks a lot

[@johnschmidli5342]

I'm so on board about this approach! Great stuff Joe

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Glad to hear it, John.

[@GriffinWelch]

I've been binging your vids, man! You're a great instructor, thanks for helping fill the many gaps in my knowledge! I just went ahead and subscribed :)

[@spammburgers78]

All with you on the rules, Joe! You gotta have a systematic formula. I know this comment is more about production and not mixing: my bass player wanted to keep playing tracks until they were perfect, even though I told him that he did fine on the last 2. I told him I'm not wasting anymore time. If it takes more than 5 or 6 takes, then you need to go back and practice. Then end result was a really great comped track. Also, I've ruined great mixes I've done because I thought they needed more work and ended up making it worse. Thankfully I always save my mixing sessions as new project versions.

[@danielbergius9487]

Said it before, but this is really good stuff Joe! Probably the best I've seen so far. Easy to follow and smart. Will try and implement all your wise words and develop an actual workflow. :) Thanks!

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Thanks Daniel

[@BertBoerma]

Thank you Joe for these tips!

[@TheOnlineBusker]

Nice video Joe, I'm off to watch the rest!

[@unanimousmusicgroup8632]

Man this is great advice! I truly appreciate this video! Love your youtube tutorials! Awesome!

[@feoil]

Excellent playlist! Cheers buddy

[@ToneSherpa]

This is 100% correct. I'll do stuff like: -Snare is too boomy -Vocals aren't loud enough -Bass isn't loud enough The tricky thing though is to not OVER correct, I find. For me, these final touches need to be small changes or else I'm not in the finalizing stage yet and I'm probably still in the active mixing phase.

[@ToneSherpa]

Another important thing is to take notes while listening on other systems. Car, tiny speakers at work.. I will keep these changes in mind when going back to the studio, and I usually take some broad general notes for those as well. But I try not to think too much about balancing the tracks in those cases. Since I'm basically adjusting them blind now that I'm home again, I have to take extra care not to over correct these as well and kind of start to think a bit more like a mastering engineer. If you're drastically changing things too much on your studio monitors to correct issues on other speakers, you have probably gone too far. Translating the mix to other speakers is most definitely the trickiest part of the job for me.

[@missnightwhore]

thanks for these videos. love your channel, very inspirational for me

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Thanks!

[@ROB1BEATS]

It would be nice if you made a series of videos about stereo balancing!!!

[@SAZIZMUSIC]

You could be a great baritone singer you know ! 😊

[@LouisSerieusement]

I always tell my students : learn what's the point of each rules, but go against them if you have a good reason to do so ;

[@adhimedhavi4869]

I agree

[@EvanJRoberts]

Great video Joe, good points, well explained, very helpful. God bless

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Thanks Evan

[@SuperLevelone]

Loved this

[@thedrunkenfish5855]

One thing I find with not working with a physical mixer is it’s tempting to split you’re vocal track into a 100 tracks & automate every single one instead of just agreeing on one volume which turns a days work into a week(month) lol

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Hmm...never had that temptation. 😊

[@titi8137]

This guy is a prophet of mixing he’s talking to me hahahahaha thank you for the tips man I’m going to try this step by step

[@TaiwoBamisile]

mixing is fun, especially when you have creatively control on the end result plus pay!!!

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Absolutely

[@Slight_Return-TO24]

Great guidance. Little confused on iterating mixes by listening device. Do you create multiple parallel mixes by listening device? What becomes the final mix device?

[@angelojannotti7988]

Great advice! !

[@Nokrang_Lkr]

I have been getting a lot of big time lessons from you thankyou so much Joe and a request can you make a video on drum from begening and how you make them all in audio to balance and also I am noob at what is actually a buss and OH just so confusing I wish you will soon god bless ..

[@nikulas]

Thank you!

[@xaviconde]

To ensure vocals are properly heard, I create an "acoustic" mix by muting most tracks and leaving only two or three instruments and vocals. Everything else should be lower than the tracks of the acoustic version.

[@German_Gomez]

Thanks Joe for your wisdom and good work, your videos help me a lot to get the results I'm looking for. Greetings from a Spanish passionate about sound and music. Send a greeting to your Spanish followers in your next video !!! XD XOXO

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Thanks German!

[@Cartwah]

Brilliant

[@HomeStudioCorner]

You are

[@DeerCreekAudio]

When do we try all those free plug-ins, clogging up our computer?? :-D

[@HomeStudioCorner]

:)

[@jasonday8334]

Advice taken

[@ayesh67]

Joe hi, I suggest to focus on this stage and give us some common examples in problems faced with best solutions such as freq or vol problem and how we realize it to solve this problem

[@funnelbeaker9839]

"simple but not easy" :) right!

[@Neil-Aspinall]

Another big tip I find is, leave the song alone for 2 weeks and listen again, suddenly you will truly hear the problems.

[@780birds6]

nobody has 2 weeks tho

[@Neil-Aspinall]

@@780birds6 Ahh why, what are the NWO about to do that I don't know about?

[@elliottheal4776]

Holy shit I do this fuck yeah that’s awesome

[@Catdaddysound]

I find it helps to indeed make a list, but after you take a day or two off from it. The other thing that helps is to throw a limiter on a bus, mix it out and drive around with it on your awful car stereo. (Make sure to take notes...) Then play it on your computer and a boombox (while taking notes.) When you compare the notes from all four, you will have a recipe that works! As you do this over and over, you will start to mix to that standard-provided you are operating in a static environment with a well balanced room.

[@ayesh67]

Joe hi, I suggest to focus in this stage and give us some common examples in problems with best solutions such as freq or vol problem and how we know to solve this problem thanks Joe

[@Curtiss1965]

I usually bounce down the track and listen to it multiple times on another system. I find it beneficial to listen to it the next day, with "fresh" ears, pretending to listen to the track for the first time ever... That prevents me to "fix" problems without listening through the whole track... If you work too long at the time with your mix, usually too loud, your ears gets fatigued, and you wouldn't hear the issues you are facing. Keep the levels at a normal conversation level when mixing. Use a soundsource/speakers/headphones you are familiar with, so you know how professional tracks sounds. Compare the quality of your track to the professional mixed/mastered track you usually listen to. It's quite easy to pinpoint issues in your mix that way...

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Great stuff

[@timmytim9054]

9:22 lol this is so true

[@PattheBassist]

When the client runs out of money >:)

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Haha

[@PattheBassist]

Joe Gilder Music it’s the funny answer, and ultimately, the most accurate.

[@MrArtist1971]

Well . . .

[@FREISTUDIOS]

LOL

[@ChPonsard]

Damned truth bombs, forcing me to see my half-assing behaviour. Thanks :)

[@wayaksoundproductions2259]

awesome thanks lml

[@boraanso]

Nice content!

[@haukenebel]

True words!!

[@HomeStudioCorner]

😊

[@peterwagner3398]

Do you have a video that explains busses? Why and how to use them?

[@danielb.9483]

Great tutorial for my mixes. On another note. What size monitor screen is best for visual? On a tight budget I must add. Thanks.

[@steverosbotham6403]

In a previous video you were talking about balance. Yet you seem to lose yours at the end of each video... great little series!

[@HomeStudioCorner]

😂😂😂

[@sarabmusicmaker4615]

great man

[@TheTom5150]

This is interesting, I also make a “final checklist” (if you will), however I’m usually writing mine up as I’m sitting in my truck listening to the exported mix. I spend lots and LOTS of time running down to the studio then back out to the truck, back and forth, back and forth....I’m still searching for that elusive piece of gear that will eliminate this process LOL

[@thedrunkenfish5855]

Toms guitar and parodies channel my life ! & assuming there isn’t !!!!!! It might be worth the investment to just turn a van into a studio lol

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Truck listening is LEGIT

[@davejohnsonmusic]

In regards to potential volume differences on track, i.e. vocals, having separate tracks for verse, chorus, etc makes that less of a problem in the latter stages of the mix. Regardless of volume being an issue, I have to do this anyway to have different FX on the vox for the various sections of the song. I'm not going to write automation for fx sends because I have the lead vocals all on one track throughout the song. Kind of a "no shit" comment, but it will give you one less problem to deal with

[@MysticFogGarden]

You speak about lesson 3, no plug ins....well...back in the analog 80s, the studios called in trackin...Dry EQ. That was it.....the tape then was turned over to the producer...they took it to a master engineer to finish it...add effects.... Now, most studios can do a song in a day ...finished, if that....but then took months... Dry EQ was the studio engineers task.... thats it.... it was still alot of work.

[@DatAnydeks]

IMHO ... Joe makes complete sense here. For me, final issues are ... does it sound good? And ... how does the music make me feel? Was the original intent of the songwriter ‘captured’? I know ‘feelings’ is a subject often not discussed because it’s subjective ... but I think it’s worth serious consideration. Another way of saying it is ... pretend you’re the artist.

[@random24tarot22]

Don't gimme rules mennnnn, I like you free😂😂

[@JM-co6rf]

Starts at 4:30

[@danrourke]

Thanks to you, I’ve made the switch, goodbye Pro Tools

[@beachforestmountain4269]

Hi Joe, do you use reference tracks (songs produced by top engineers) to compare your mixes, or is that done strictly at the mastering section of the production process?

[@MusicMakingEnglishMan]

In one of his previous videos he talks about getting familiar with the professional mixes you are trying to recreate within your own work. You should listen on a variety of sources, like studio monitors, car speakers, cheap speakers, ear buds, headphone etc, as it gives you a spectrum of different perspectives.

[@beachforestmountain4269]

Cheers @@MusicMakingEnglishMan

[@raularaujostrw]

Great great advice! But the song at the end is so loud... I like hearing the voice very loud and clear on tutorial videos. Anyways, thanks.

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Sorry!

[@Robert-Dubwise-Browne]

Hey Joe thanks for the cool vids. Question: when is presonus coming out with DAW control for the console you have? I want to get one this year but need that update because I use logic and protools, not studio one

[@HomeStudioCorner]

It's out in a public Beta right now.