Are Mix Engineers Overrated? - RecordingRevolution.com

[@davidmaynor2855]

New series idea. "Mix My Mess". Get home recordings and have mix masters see what they can do with them.

[@MartinWolfinger]

Awesome idea!!👍😂😂

[@FirestormAudio]

David Maynor Or call it “Polish A Turd”

[@crimewavbeats5532]

Dope concept

[@Tryggvasson]

great idea! i was noting something similar in my comments.

[@pedroarechigamorfin1228]

This would be a hit series

[@Bazzguit]

I've definitely fall into worshiping a lot of mixing engineers; however, after checking courses like Mix With the Masters I was left confused because I wasn't able to either have a top-notch recording to start (as they have) nor a hundred-million mixing console. Given all these facts I realized the best way to actually improve my mixes and my craft with the gear I actually have was to seek mixing engineers who are used to work with less-than-ideal recording tracks and plugins in the digital realm. Matt Weiss from TheProAudioFiles is an excellent example for this, he mixes tracks for both well-known artists and also not-so-known artists, in each of his tutorials you can learn a lot about EQing and compressing to get the best out of those tracks. Tricks and tips that are totally applicable to any circumstances.

[@dsurkis]

A great mix is super easy to master. A great recording is super easy to mix. A great performance is super easy to record.

[@victorcadavid5761]

A great song is not always super easy to perform.

[@Jjf109nine]

Recording engineers are underrated. A good recording mixes itself almost naturally by itself.

[@crimewavbeats5532]

Facts

[@FizzENT]

Agreed !

[@TheCityIzLitty]

That part

[@Homestudiosimplifed]

More excellent content! Keep on inspiring us small channels brother!

[@AG_TheReal]

No I agree!!!! Mix Engineer to look up "Leslie Brathwaite" This is a great insight honestly...I usually mix my on music in my home studio, recently I sent over some vocals to a song I did to my mix engineer I worked with for a few years now and he mentioned "Your Vocals and Recording have elevated" that let me know right there...(True Story I screenshot the text) when Graham talks about can be simple and ultra quick FACTS! once you become a client to an engineer it's pretty almost much a template based (of course tweaking and turning knobs,effects etc...)because your sound won't change much unless you get into experimenting and may try a different direction within your music and sounds. Your fans and supporters want the music! Feed them! and stop sleeping on your music, PUT IT OUT!!

[@TheLastMoomin]

The best engineers are the ones that share ideas. Thanks boss.

[@brainiceland]

This is such a phenomenal reminder for all of us in audio!

[@monkeyxx]

thanks for this video. Some very welcome nuance to the points. You hear these points being bantered around incompletely, but they are fully developed in this video.

[@slickhbb1]

@recordingrevolution dude ur channel deserve it's name recording revolution

[@daynemin]

Yep love this. I took a step back a while ago, I asked myself the question why do some songs stay with you, really hit you. Its the rhythms, harmonies, progressions, lyrics, melodies, musicianship, solos, arrangements. If you start with a good song then the recording and mixing just adds to something already great. I spent some years off recording, relearning theory, getting back to my playing and it's made such a difference. Music comes more naturally to some but it is a long road of dedication to your art, you can't just turn knobs til it sounds right lol. Its great technology has allowed for so much access but the musical quality has dropped, a while ago you'd have to be dedicated enough to the music to then venture out and try record and produce. When people just recreate what's there it's not really art anymore, it's a craft. People arguing about amazing plugins and software and not realising we are in some kind of golden age of audio.

[@ThomasPenninger]

Definitely agree with you on this! Good video Graham!

[@simon_esse896]

You are right. Almost no one is talking about Arrangements, Ideas, Harmony, Chords and Kreativity for example.

[@DionIsaiah]

My man! You're so right...I'm not a mixer (artist/arranger/songwriter), but it's important to bring creativity in one's mixes. I believe there should be two mixers on a project. Someone who understand the technical side of mixing, but someone who understands the creative side of mixing as well.

[@germanm3507]

what good is recording without good composition

[@jamesnesser8993]

Agree 100%. As usual, you provide honest, logical, intelligent advice and cometary.

[@JohnJesus]

Andrew Scheps, for example, has a course on pureMix on mixing a reggae song by ziggy marley -- and it is the worse mix you will even find for the style... don't learn from Scheps if he is teaching reggae! lol

[@enigmazach]

He's overrated, period.

[@SkyeLabMusicGroup]

Style absolutely matters! Thanks for the tip! (though I love Schepps) For mixing reggae, listen to mix engineer Bonzai Jim Caruso! 3 Grammys I think, (Ziggy too) and counting!

[@tisbonus]

My Dude, Andy Wallace is my mentor, guru and Master jedi for mixing. Every mix I attempt has his benchmark in between my crosshairs. Well, without using any samples on the drums which isn't the only reason I fail to ever get there. Great subject and video!

[@RobinWeisgerber]

Hi Graham, every word you said is true. As a musician and engineer in one person, i experience really hard times because i have to switch in my mind between these both worlds every day ...and keep concentratet to the essential. Working on my instrument and refining perfomance, knowledge, technique, ear-building, composition etc (knowing this ist the core of everything)...and jumping to the engineers-side doing some mastering or mixing stuff and diving into technical details along to improve myself...this field of tension always leads me to a short moment, where i have to step back from my work, take a short break and ask myself: "now, what is realy important get to the core of creating music"...no t easy but part of my artist-life.

[@eman0828]

It's always good to have a mentor esp with a lot of industry experience. I happened to have an opportunity to work with a former major label Artist that's been in recording industry that was one of the background singers of a male R&B group that was discovered and put togther by singer *Gerald Levert.* The name of the group was called *Dark Blu* that was previously signed to *Capital Records* in the early 2000s. They have worked with many high profile Record Producer's in the studio such as *Sean Diddy Combs* and *Mario Winans.* The singer I have been working with all these years not only was he was my very first Artist I ever worked with but a mentor that taught me the ropes of Record Producing, Vocal Arrangement and recording That he learned working with the pros. He was like another *Teddy Reily* that trained me how to produce records from top to bottom like a real *Record Produer* opposed to just programming beats. I didn't know what it ment to be a Producer at the time nor knew much about recording as he introduced me to *Cakewalk Sonar* as my very first real DAW as I made that transision as Producer and an Engineer that gave me the foundation. I was able to train my ears over the years working closely different Artist's in the studio and gotten better at recording and mixing that I was able to develop my own sound.

[@passpace10]

Definitely NOT overrated but mixing has become more common to understand

[@MarnixMohrmannPiano]

Mixing is enhancing what is already there, mastering is enhancing a mix. I don't think any of these stages is better or more important. In my opinion it's a cooperation between all facets, none more important than the other. It might be that we overvalue our own phase of the record

[@goodboy65]

I heard that in the USA they say you can't polish a turd. I think in this case it can resume well the concept. It's like cooking, if you use low quality, bad taste ingredients it's hard to get a great dish. First of all for great dishes, great ingredients.

[@andrewstevenson3807]

Wise words as always G. I’d be happy if mixes arrived simply performed solidly and in time. The amount of work involved just to get many amateur projects ready for mixing is frightening.

[@WillMaskellTaylor]

You've hit the nail on the head with this one Graham

[@EYTPS]

Jacquire King still likes you after this, right? *Fingers crossed*

[@Tryggvasson]

he's gonna edit the video and mute some sound.

[@alexeysmirnovguitar]

Jacquire King is a great recording engineer. He would surely agree, having heard what Graham says here...

[@The-Jim-Miller-Project]

Mike Exeter is one awesome mix engineer. He’s out of the UK 🇬🇧. He’s recorded, mixed, mastered Black Sabbath, (13 album) , Heaven, and Hell (the devil you know album) with Ronnie James Dio, he’s also produced Iron Maiden’s most recent album, Judas Priest, and many others. He’s been a friend of mine for a while. Great dude. You might want to check out some of his work.

[@MikeLuke]

Thank you, I fully agree. Reason is that mixing can be done by literally everyone inside a bedroom without even knowing one other musician. And „Nevermind“ is a masterpiece in music history. A good mixing engineer like Andy Wallace understands how to bring out the best of that album. But it’s always, always, always the song itself.

[@SkyeLabMusicGroup]

Great points here! When you start with an awesome song, and great production and a fantastic performance, it's 10 times easier to get a great mix then starting with weak everything.

[@stephenallenmusic]

I agree I've been In fights and heated moments in the studio because I push the artist to perform better when recording. I always tell artists the mix won't save your song if it sounds like you are reading off of paper or slurring words ect..... In my opinion, the recording process is the most important part.

[@stufflikethis3055]

As someone who plays in an amateur band, I totally agree with you Graham. If I constantly hit the wrong notes on my Piano, guess what... the FoH guy can beat the crap out of his console and it will still sound bad. So crucial to me is, knowing how to perform better. If you can perform a song pretty good, go ahead and work on the arrangement, than practice again. I totally agree with you on the fact that, all Songs out on the Radio are well performed, arranged and recorded. If I can get myself to increase there, I'll have better results, leaving myself or the client and myself a lot happier, before we even started mixing. Thank you so much.

[@jordimoraguesmassanet1179]

Totally agree, but with the precision that there are in fact tons of information in KZbin about those other areas (songwriting, arrangement, performing, recording) available to learn from. I personally like Drumeo for percussion, Jeff Schneider and Music Matters for jazz and classical music theory and arrangement, Rick Beato for songwriting, Creative guitar studio for guitar playing, and I'm sure that there are many more. Granted, it is a huge time investment to follow so many areas, but sometimes we just need to get out of the limited mixing only community.

[@danijelnovak6432]

Totally agree.. Of course they're excellent, but plugin industry overrated them and they overrated plugin industry.

[@leedentonmusic]

Hey Graham, you should make a video in the future showing how to download ProTools first and good places to download free/cheap plugins. Thanks

[@Just-Michael]

This is absolutely true. When I got my hands on some professionally mixed songs, they sounded almost exactly like the record. Just some EQ and compression was enough to make them sound good. This isn't the direction I thought the video was going to go, I thought it was going to be more about whether or not what they're doing is actually any more complex than what bedroom mixers do. I suppose it is in a way, but I don't think they really do anything that we couldn't learn rather quickly. However, what I think makes a good mixing engineer is being able to turn out a good mix in any environment. Sit them down in a different room with different monitors and a different DAW and they'll figure it out. I can do pretty okay in my room with the DAW I was using but I switched DAW's recently and all of a sudden I had no idea what I was doing anymore. :P

[@timphukurmumma]

No amount of mixing skill or recording gear quality can salvage a song that sucks. Unfortunately, most of these famous mix engineers have to work with the majority of their clients who just have boring, cliche, and generally awfully written songs.

[@resington]

Mixing can mostly be boiled down with logic and parameters whilst performing is soooo fluid and almost impossible to pin down with those things.

[@Tryggvasson]

i've said the same thing.

[@hummarstraful]

CLA has professionally mixed over 22,000 songs. How can we not be in awe of that?

[@netanelshavin]

Where did you get that piece of info? Curious...

[@brin57]

I'd like to add a somewhat paradoxical note to the discussion. I suggest that it is not easier, but more difficult to learn to mix on immaculately recorded and produced tracks. Now before you go WHAT!!! What I mean is that you give a novice mixer a set of tracks of the highest level, they would generally not know where to start, as to their ears it sounds amazing as soon as the levels and pans are set. The more seasoned guys know through experience, how much more they can they can add to the final product. At our earlier stage we often can't even identify some of the issues that when addressed help elevate the mix even more. It is this vision they possess, based on experience, that allows them to take a great recording to another level. Something a novice hasn't yet learned. So in essence, I contend that it is easier, for a learner to gain the skills by mixing less than stellar tracks, as it is easier to envision and implement the steps to lift it to another level. In time, it is these lessons that allow you to take great recordings and take them to the best they can be.

[@coastalcruise1345]

A lot of it is because we love to hear them talk about the endless amount of gear and plug-ins.

[@LightShard]

I have a huge respect for every person involved in the process of making music. I'd say that we idolize anyone way too easily these days though, and sometimes it can cause people to lose motivation and quit doing what they love. It isn't the Artist, Mixing engineer, Mastering engineer, Heck it isn't even the studio janitors fault. It's 100% our own fault for putting people on pedestals all the time. I highly agree with every point you touched on in this video Graham.

[@jasonfella265]

I absolutely agree with you, and you made some excellent points that I hadn't even thought of. But here's a couple more that come to mind: the top mix engineers are also using the top hardware and software to get the sounds they want. If we had access to that stuff, we'd probably notice a definite improvement in our sound, too. And secondly, mix engineers get so nit-picky about the smallest, tiniest thing, that most people aren't going to even hear the result of that. The most specific compression move or EQ setting. I've heard the "before" and "after" examples on a lot of these, and many times the difference is negligible, if you can even hear it at all. And the argument can always be made that if you were using better speakers or headphones, you'd be able to hear the difference much more. But that's the point: 95% of people don't have those high quality speakers or headphones, so I feel like a lot of the micro-managing mix-engineers do is pointless, ultimately.

[@michaellarsen180]

Graham! I could never get angry with you, have followed you since the beginning. And I believe you are some extend right!

[@bradw2k]

I think there is an ART to every stage and aspect of track production, from songwriting to mastering, and there are virtuosos deserving "worship" in each branch.

[@NacekO]

Agreed. The most important 3 things in audio engineering are the song, the song and the song (to quote a famous producer whos name I can't remember right now)

[@ronaldgriffin46]

Graham you're on fire I totally follow you on this. I tell folks that I can't do Quincy Jones, But I bet Quincy can't do me.. Great song on a guitar with one string can be awesome..That's my story & I'm sticking to it...lol

[@shawn-singh]

For the traditional guitars/voice/drums, I can totally agree that recording, performance, songwriting matter a lot more than mixing like you said - but I think it's not "hands down" more important always. Mixing as a skill can have huge importance in other places, which can literally save or destroy the production just as much as recording or performance can. For example, a lot of electronic and epic hybrid genres, mixing just the right delay/reverb sense of space, the right bass tightness, and creative mixing matters a lot. WIth two dozen mics in a symphonic recording, mixing can be just as important to bring out soloists when desired, matching spot mics to fit the sense of space from tree mics, etc. - just as important as the choices made for recording. Cheers!

[@gordontubbs]

Old school mix engineering is underrated if indeed you have a talent for that. I think the Grammy Awards finish the night with Record of the Year and surprise surprise the artist comes up on stage but also the producer(s) and engineer(s) - I think that says a lot. New school (in the box) mix engineering has demystified a lot of the methods and processes used by the old school guys.

[@SeanOBrien888]

I agree totally. I feel there's 1 more issue to add... they have the gear and resources that most of us do not. If all you have is a cheap laptop that keeps freezing, one cheap guitar, a cheap guitar amp and only use the built in mic on the laptop, you'll never sound as good as something that was recorded, mixed, produced and master in a million dollar studio. There needs to be more youtube videos on how to get it right at the source and how to do it on a small budget.

[@wapdap9079]

That might +-80% true yo cause from personal experiences, i can definitely agree that good raw material are a lot easier to mix. Plus producers probably apply apply their own rough mixing to the tracks beforehand.

[@cedricmathieu2957]

Goddamn i didn't think i would but i completly agree with you😳your totally right!🙆 and thankyou for the multi tracks, really helpful👍

[@DaMaestro]

I would have to agree this is "SPOT" on. Ive been telling other mix engineers this for years. A well tracked record done correctly shouldn't take anymore than 1-2 hours to dial everything in. Its when you have to re-edit, reduce noise, uncompress, remove breaths etc and your'e left with a less than desirable product.

[@nikaharmony7337]

❤ still learning how to mix!

[@HenryMittnacht]

WORD!!! SARP (Songwriting, Arrangement, Recording, performance) is like Joe Gilders GIRATS. But we´re still allowed to love these guys ;-). Oh, and you didn´t mention JJP!

[@Tryggvasson]

Amen, brother! I think that's because more people have access to (and need for) music/sound processing at home, and maybe they perceive that's their bottle neck - with the help of all the hype of the magic of what mixing does to sound - so they don't focus on what that sound is, to begin with - mixing becomes their main focus - which, I agree, from a musician's standpoint, seems skewed, to say the least. You can botch record a great song, and it will still be a good song, and rouse emotions. On the other hand, you can have the most polished turd in the world, and it won't do anything for anybody - even if you make a loop punchy, and make you move for a few minutes, it will still be forgotten the moment it stops, and be replaceable by any other punchy loop out there. Another element, I think, is mixing gives the impression of improvement by replicate-able formulas and procedures, whereas taking responsibility for creating sound, recording and performing generate vagueness and insecurity. Mixing seems more about formulas, gear, clear procedures, etc. - so something definite, formulaic and/or spending related, so palpable, definite, clearly directed, and accessible - moreover, with that fullproof image - whereas the responsibility of personal preferences and choices may seem chaotic, confusing, and taunting. There's also, thirdly, the factor of many people using loops and pre-written phrases, these days, with an already set sound, so there's no much sound creation needed or available for them. The only participation they may have, sound wise, is in mixing. So, that's why I think mixing becomes this huge, larger than life discipline, more important than writing and performing, which is just as distorted as many other things in our day and age. I was a huge U2 fan, and, once I got more into mixing - namely more information, knowledge, and capacity to understand/read/analyze a mix - I've realized their albums, mix wise, are all far from irreproachable. So is pretty much every album I've heard, with maybe a handful of exceptions. And I'm talking about legendary albums, of huge artists, with established professionals, etc. They do the trick, however, and the songs/sounds are amazing - and that's what it comes down to - not getting in the way of that, and of the sound - hugely important. When you destroy the sound, overpolish it, and take the life out of it, for 'clarity', 'modernism', or other labels or technical considerations, you miss the point entirely. To conclude, and connecting to what you were saying, I've noticed, myself, on the occasion of mix contests or just free stems provided, for fan mixing practice, by big artists, that it was always immensely easier to get a good mix, and the final result I was always more proud of, than with what I can get out of sounds recorded and conceived exclusively in the box, with amp simulators, tape simulators, plugins and so on. With those stems, you pretty much put them together, take out a bit of mud or some rings, here an there, give them a little punch, and you're pretty much done. This way - and that's a huge point - you get to focus on what you want, creatively - how you see the track, the space, the panning, the atmosphere, the movement - instead of doing damage control, which is what I feel I mostly do with in the box recordings. These are the limitations and shortcomings of working exclusively in the box, that the guys in the true analog, great gear/great engineers world rarely encounter. But I've changed, and tremendously improved, my plugin choice, and workflow (exclusively preferring IRs, for instance) and it does make a world of difference. I've recently changed DAW, too, and the improvement is uncanny, so I feel I am getting very close to that. I still need to learn the use of reverbs, to get that big, 'real life', 'real recording' sound, and I believe I'm there. I'll look into the pots of my guitars - I've recently learned about that, too - which is something established recording engineers know the way they know their home address - and see if I can remove additional harshness from my guitars that way, too. But I feel good about the general direction. And I'm looking forward to getting back to a place of joy and lightheartedness, in mixing, and creative focus - of something just sounding good and getting you excited - instead of dread, and a feeling of incapacity or impossibility, and a need to conjure everything up, on blind faith, that I've had for so long that I've almost forgotten how exciting and easy it was it was to just work with good sound - which, for professional guys I imagine is more the norm than the contrary. So, yeah, try to have good songs (even though those are as good as they're gonna be, try to make yourself proud of them, not just slam something together, thinking "it will sound good in the mix - it won't). Then good performances. And - that's the plague for me, in the box - good sounds, as much as you can (even though I was a huge believer that knowledge can get the job done with any plug-in, I've found the hard way, that there's a minimum standard plugin required for that, and there's only so much pull you can get out of a dead horse - particularly in sound generating or shaping plugins - amps, tapes, the likes. So plugin choice is also important. It becomes unimportant only after that standard is met, which is not always the case). A beautiful sound will help pull great performances out of you. It will get you in the zone, and flowing with ideas, themes, parts, etc. That's immensely important. And make yourself happy when you open every project, without having touched a single knob. It makes for a lot easier work, and an a lot happier you, when you do. Take care, God bless, and good work!

[@TitiJackys]

Thank you for this point of vue. So much inspiring and motivating.

[@ausiamm]

Nice advice Sir Graham😃🥇

[@Worgram]

Hey Graham, I have a short question regarding preparing stems for mixing. What if I have a specific type of reverb with automation etc. going on? Would you need the plugin and automation to mix? because if you change the vocal sound for example, the rendered Reverb wouldn´t sound any different. How do Mixers deal with this kind of Issue?

[@plazarallies5826]

I agree with the importance of songwriting, arranging, recording and performing. I think the issue here is of Graham being more involved on the mixing community side. That's why you might be seeing more of the fanboy type comments about particular mixing engineers. I tend to watch guitar and keyboard performance and song analysis videos on KZbin. I never hear any of those people talk about mixing engineers at all. It just doesn't come up in large segments of the KZbin music world.

[@victor2510]

Plaza Rallies it would be great if your share those channels focusing on performance

[@plazarallies5826]

Instrumental performance and learning guitar songs. Marty Music, Andrew Wasson, JustinGuitar, Scott's Bass Lessons are some people that I've found helpful. I studied classical piano for years, and formally self taught myself guitar. Then I took a long break. I use KZbin for pointers on getting my technique back and also to learn a lot of new songs.

[@plazarallies5826]

I added a new paragraph to my post

[@plazarallies5826]

If you're a beginner, it's probably better to have a more organized approach to learning guitar, keyboard, etc.

[@NuffCeD410]

The reason why mix engineers are worshiped is because nowadays it’s more easy to create a hit song based on popularity and social media without real talent. Engineering is something that takes real skill to learn and master regardless of popularity.

[@demodeiowa]

if it's that easy to make a hit song why isn't everyone in here winning on the billboards charts?

[@NuffCeD410]

Demode This was answered in the video. In 2019 a “hit” doesn’t always mean quality, just mean it was reached more with popularity.

[@demodeiowa]

@@NuffCeD410 that doesn't necessarily mean that a hit is easy to create.

[@NuffCeD410]

Demode There is a fine difference between making a good song and making a hit song in 2019. There are plenty of people who made good records, but It never turned into a hit because it lacked popularity. Now a days a song can get popularized just from social media even if the song isn’t that great. Which in turn causes a song to go up the charts from clicks and streams. When billboard decided to change how music listen is ultimately counted it truly changed what defines a “hit” in 2019.

[@Snipersounds]

Excellent points as usual!!

[@Tryggvasson]

By the way, I completely dislike Andrew Scheps' work, for instance. I don't like the overall sound, and I've also seen a few tutorials of his, and pretty much every move made me wonder "why is he destroying the sound?" Always grainy, always raspy, flat, with a hollow feel, and a lack of mid vibrancy - which he purposely takes out. Other than the mud - which I didn't even feel he removed effectively, anyway - I found the raw recordings sounded better than the finished mix. Just a matter of personal taste, for sure.

[@shadowself8901]

Agreed. Scheps' work is shit, in my opinion. I have no clue how he's made a name for himself.

[@Vocali]

Every word bro, every word.

[@joeschmoe6802]

Just mix the best with what equipment and talent that you have. Don't obsess over getting the perfect mix. Listen to your mix through a variety of speakers (boom box, iPhone, car stereo) and find a common demoninator that you can live with. Compare your mix with a commercial recording that you like, for a referrence point. Don't get too concerned over getting the perfect mix. After all we are in the age where recorded music doesn't sell that well. And, if you're using your recordings to promote audience attendance, those recordings don't need to be perfect anyway. Another thing: do you want your recordings to sound just like everybody else's recordings? If not, don't be afraid to be a little different in your sound. Remember, that the more experience that you have with mixing your own recordings, the better you'll get at mixing. Just make it good enough, and put it out there. Relatively few people will notice the little things that you obsess over in your mixing. And, the business won't pay for recordings anyway.

[@jullifus]

Fantastic video, as always.. but because i'm a noob in this.. well ish.. mixing and recording has never really been my thing.. i'm wondering... What exactly did, for an example.. Andy Wallace do on Nevermind and what did Butch Vig do.. Because i thought Butch Vig was doing more of mixing than apparently he did.. I'm not exactly sure who does what. Again, thanks.

[@endmoore]

This makes so much sense

[@r-key1656]

Where you've been all this time?! Totally agree with you.

[@dafingaz]

Great video!

[@woodzzy1]

I agree with you and I'll point it out why...song writing is based on talent and education, cannot be marketed so good and it takes time, recording take time and education and people overlook this because everyone thinks it can be fixed at the mixing stage and again it cannot be marketed very good, arranging take talent and education, years of practice, performance takes time, education, practice and again is hard to be marketed. And we get at the last thing....mixing...so well marketed...buy this plugin and your recordings will sound like this, or like that, buy this analog gear because I don't know whom uses it and it creates the perception that if you get the same gear you will sound the same. I'll give you this example....I can give anyone in the world an Formula F1 car, put him on the track....will he beat a time lap of a professional racer???? No....he will kill himself. If he practices for months, years....can he achieve that. Probably yes. The fact that someone has a Ferrari on his drive way doesn't make him a professional racer, it doesn't entitle him as a racer, practice and knowledge does. The fact that someone has an SSL console on his studio, or a Dangerous Music compressor, or an Elysia Alpha compressor, or whatever else piece of hardware or software doesn't make him a very good mixing or mastering engineer, practice and knowledge does. A piece of gear or software doesn't give you status, or a certain class of clientele, time, practice achievements in time, experience....only these will earn you whatever what marketing and a distorted perception seems to fool a lot of people. Doesn't matter if you have the money to buy a F1 Ferrari car, you will never get on the track with all the big racers, doesn't matter if you have the money to buy all the gear in the world, that won't make you a great mixing engineer. Exercising, learning, practicing are the things that will bring you up there. Not the big name engineers are overrated....the marketing that is attached to products they use or endorse is overrated and it creates very, very distorted perceptions into people's minds. Lots of people are very good at mixing and they don't know it because they always chasing illusions.

[@MellowXBrew]

This is gonna taste salty to some people but you’ve been saying what I’ve been thinking lately

[@atcordice]

You are on point bro. Great video

[@pettinhouse]

No, they spent all their life in front of speakers, mixers etc. They have lots of experience and we should respect them!

[@AllanGildea]

You're a treasure, Graham. Wise words. Thanks!

[@brandnewhorizon11]

Very good video, Graham. Thank you. The quality starts at the very beginning! (Unfortunately, it looks like the link to mixingchecklist.com is broken :(

[@moano3271]

100%! This is kinda the new version of the good old "this song will sound great once (insert famous mastering engineer name here) have mastered my song!" ideology thatś been around for a long time. They do incredible work, but it has got to come from a great source to begin with.

[@HenkJanDrums]

I really do see the importance of mixing but ..it is only a part of a big chain of activities for a musician. You need: 1. a good song: title, lyrics, melody, harmony, rhytm 2. good musicians 3. good & well tuned instruments 5. a good bandleader 6. a good producer 7. a good studio room 8. good recording positions 7 . good recording equipement 8. good mixing equipment: hardware, software, outboard gear, monitors, mixing room acoustics. 9 a good mixer 10 a good master 11 good contacts / channels to get the song to the listener 12. get your money: marketing, finance, laywers, copyrights, publicity ,radio/tv/magazines/papers, 13. concerts, booking agents, touring agents, live sound personel , etc. etc. The overall result is a good as the weakest part or as strong as the strongest parts or a sum of all parts. Quality people/networks/organisations and a big budget can influence the complete chain and result. In every part of life: many people are doing it ; only few are (considered as being) the best. As a peron/musician/engineer it is your talent/beauty/technical&rational abilities,/ knowledge/ experience/ personality/ health/energy/drive/motivation/ communication skills/ presentation/network/ influencing capabilities/etc. And of course the market and external situation do significantly influence the overall result. My way: had succes with you tube studio recordings . Have many amateur concerts , jam sessions and repetitions in many groups. I study mixing etc. (You Tube, clinics, Recordeo recording drums, etc.) and actively improve my drumming by lifetime education. Gather as much experience as i can in as much different genres and settings. How to be better than Superior Drummer, BFD3, etc. as used in many collaborations being an amateur drummer in a bed room studio? www.secretsofsongwriting.com/songwriterschecklist.pdf Steve Rennie music and business kzbin.info Bree Noble: make money from music kzbin.info/door/_aSazCrGSruSEInYS-zdqQ Drumeo: better drumming kzbin.info/door/BiJBaDaM3K6vPVggLhTyWA www.drumeo.com/ Music collaboration for active amateurs www.kompoz.com/music/

[@keiljazz]

"Can't we have something better than a turd?" Well said, sir. Can't we, indeed.....

[@robertnatiello3814]

Things change - These are the go to engineers for major labels and production companies. There are many mix engineers out there with great ears and talent that work for much less - look around you can either go with a networked engineer or take a chance and work with someone new. In any case you need to know what you should expect for your money to have a mutually agreeable exchange in business.

[@alexeysmirnovguitar]

I don't think that great mixing engineers are overrated. Mixing is really important to make music sound great. But I do think RECORDING Craft is UNDERRATED.

[@ronaldgriffin46]

All of those things that you've mentioned I've thought for 50 years...lol

[@fm694]

I polished many turds back in sound school!! Good times!

[@iThinkiCanSing]

Can you help me with my access to the Beat Academy? I e-mailed to you about the problem. I bought the Breakthrough Vocals course by ill Factor after receiving your email. But after I paid for the course and access it 2 or 3 times, now I could not access it anymore.

[@AudioReplica2023]

I say, Yes they are...at some degree. See...this is the reality of a lot of them. They are not a "one guy" does it all. They have a team of ppl helping with a lot of things. Tony Maserati himself has talked about "my team and me" referring to other ppl doing some kind of preparation before he gets to hear the mix. That includes editing, organization , some type of processing ...BUT yes I understand theres ppl before him producing as well. But definitely they do some processing before it gets to his hands. They do his job easier than it supposed to be. CLA . Another great mixer who uses his assistant to do some preps before even listening the rough mix. You can even see on his videos how his assistant even do things that clearly he cant ping point on the spot. If he cant point to whatever he wants on the spot thats basically cuz he is not clear where "that " thing is. (talking about set up and preps). Andy Wallace. YES he is a master of the mix ...he is a phenomenal engineer . But the mix that everybody points out and know him is Nirvana Nevermind. But he didnt engineered that record...That was Butch Vig. Yes , the underrated mastermind behind the sound of that album. See the thing here is ...we praise them by ignorance. How? well , they have a luxury that most of us dont have and thats a great recording engineer behind every track they get to mix. A lot of us try to mix mediocre recordings expecting to sound like them and when we cant make it ...some of us blame the gear ...or ourselves for not having full knowledge of what we doing...or some guys blame the musicians. Thats why a lot ppl see their videos and just by hearing the raw tracks they go to comment section complaining ; ah...but those drum tracks sounds very pro already .....thats cheating. lol . Sounds stupid but ive seen those comments a lot. And thats how we get to praise this famous mixers engineers ...again...by ignorance. You get really nice recorded tracks ...your mixing gets easy and sounds great. thats it. Thats why they sound great....because the source is already awesome. Have you heard them saying ; "heres no magic trick...." Well , now you understand why. SIDE NOTE; I made this comment without actually finishing watching the video and you are really talking about the same points I gave here. LOL

[@mortheres]

Stav is my favourite mix engineer. I love his mindset !

[@guitar.knackshack2210]

I have a Question: you mention the performance and tracking stage being the most important part of making a good recording, "RECORDING" to mix. Why is your content 90% mixing when you call your brand the RECORDING Revolution? Just saying, maybe you should change it to Mixing Revolution :-)

[@recordingrevolution]

Fair enough :-)

[@marvin1574]

Awesome point of view..

[@jasonwilson9176]

If you look back for enough in time ....there was albums that were recorded straight to two track ....band preformed and engineer mixed it live straight to tape ....talk about get it right at the source situation

[@crazycuts6891]

There's a plethora of information on producing, recording, mixing, mastering etc. But unfortunately, in the midst of all this information, very little, if any of it actually can be applied to music producing. So the best thing to do is, learning by doing. Unless there's actual step by step walk through tutorials, from beginning to end. This is just my opinion but, even though there are countless of great producers, producing in general is a bit overrated, unless otherwise proven.

[@copewitdamzkpro4671]

I agree 100% bro

[@jlx_music4365]

Great video! Now we know that we have 17 top-ranked mixing engineers who disliked this video! Haha!

[@seanliddy6067]

Great important video

[@ManishMoktan]

Your the best always get to learn something from you.. ☺ ☺

[@Drfresh1402]

This is encouraging.

[@kerryturner46]

I love it when I have the privilege to record a guitarist who knows how to get great tone either from their gear or from whatever gear they play through. (It's not in the pedals, it's in the fingers!) Its hard to mess that up. They've done the hard part. And if they have great pedals know how to work, they can make the engineer look like a genius. What did I do except to not screw up the mic position and find the right level?

[@the_electronicTech]

Maybe overrated but at least the spot light is put on the behind the scenes. I get so tired of mixing songs that actually get somewhere and I would walk to the shops and hear it blasting out the car. I would be like "Yeah I recorded that at my studio" and they would confused coz they dont follow the behind the scenes guys

[@f.o.erecordsmalawi253]

I think alotta credit needs to go to smaller scale engineers who are able to take home recordings and make them sound as good as radio tracks. Simply cause that's when you are really challenged to be creative and fix problems in a mix.

[@takaliuang]

101% 👍

[@bakedcreations8985]

A good engineer can make a shitty song sound acceptable and a good song marvellous. But a good composer with a good song is hard to come by, in other words, chicken and the egg question has an answer in this case and it is the composer/performer, s/he comes first. A good music trough shitty sound still a good song. A shitty song with skillfull mix is still a shitty song.

[@devindodson9656]

Hey Graham, Devin Dodson from Las Vegas . I was trying to use the stems in Audition on my pc. What is the best way to get the stems into a session in Adobe Audition. They are just waves files so I can open them up on my pc right?.....Can I load as a session or do I have to do one stem at a time? I have some mixing experience from school on Pro tools but I use Audition now for voice-over. Thanks for all your help, you rock!!. Any Voice-over tips? Thanks for your time!

[@micooms]

Writing, arranging and performing are arts, recording and mixing are (mostly) learnable skills, so that’s a different rating. But being the best at what you do (they also had to mix crappy recordings to start) isn’t overrated, is it?

[@floydadams1119]

Graham....YOU ARE SPOT ON, BRA'!!!👍🏽

[@brandonjordan8945]

CRAP IN = CRAP OUT!!! now this is where i think mixing engineers are underrated. if and only if an artist gives me the go ahead to re-create their track and make my own master piece out of what they gave me then i think we could build an even better master piece together. I always tell artists if i engineer your track that i do not want to mix it just for that one exact reason.