STOP WATCHING MIXING TUTORIALS

[@steini3834]

I love how I searched for "mixing tutorial" and this was the first video that KZbin showed me

[@actfxxl]

same

[@freezejr2000]

me too lol

[@mgmthegrand]

You're lucky to be seeing this now instead of four+ years later. Some solid advice here.

[@frankyouze3581]

@@mgmthegrand for sure

[@ddharris5168]

Facst

[@abcdefgHELP]

I’ve been making music for 3 years now as a “soundcloud” artist and this helped me so much already. I’ve been so reliant on the mixing part to the point where I would say “Listen to my mix”. You were right on point with all the mixing tutorials being put out, making me feel like if my music isn’t being mixed like this then it’s automatically trash. I feel so much more confident and even more excited about making music now after watching this!

[@beepst]

I feel you, but don’t blame yourself. I think we all looked for a mixing tutorial after having uploaded our first track and realized how shitty SoundCloud quality is. Nowadays I still do some minimum mixing before uploading to SoundCloud (mostly cutting high frequencies, putting a limiter and raise the gain), but I don’t think of it way too much, because I’m not even a pro at that.

[@WHITE_DRAGON.OFFICIAL]

Hey! I offer Quality Mixing and Mastering at Affordable prices, if you're interested, feel free to contact me!

[@AseIwara]

wow bro, i'm at this point you were. and i just searched on youtube; how to make your mix more authentic and his video was the first to pop up

[@daoturnmeup]

my girl broke up w my cause she doesn’t think my beats are good enough to make it as a producer , is she right ?

[@AraVids]

For those who need a summary to understand what he’s saying. He’s pretty much just saying he’s tired of people thinking mixing is what makes a great song when in fact it’s the whole process from lyrics to production to mixing to mastering and etc. he ain’t saying mixing isn’t important to learn but don’t think just cause your mix is good its gonna be a hit. The whole process of making a song a song and every factor that goes into making a song id all important and if anything more important than mixing so

[@MattMcConaha]

As an example, imagine a band playing a song live. The song was already written, they know how to play the song, they show up, get their effects ready, and then the sound guy sets the band's levels. The band will know and play the song and have little regard for the mix, that's the job for the guy at the venue. The mix will be a little different every time they play the song. The mix isn't part of the song, the mix is part of the recording/playback.

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

This is fantastic.

[@WHITE_DRAGON.OFFICIAL]

Hey! I offer Quality Mixing and Mastering at Affordable prices, if you're interested, feel free to contact me!

[@thedisbelieverdoom]

Oh really. Thats why people always say "the sound was shit since I heard only drums and vocs with no guitars and bass" after live shows. Seems You can't imasgine how bad may good songs sound live. Especially when we talk about heavy music not this country/synth stuff.

[@unnamed776-m9h]

@merluzo8269So what should they watch?

[@prod.alexmadeit]

I hate to break it to u this is very weak sauce beginner advice, there's a guy leaking audio school material the shits rare look up alexmadeit

[@TheRav3n]

I been producing off and on for 12 years. Along the way, you learn in doses. One of the things I’ve learned and experienced is that no matter how much you mix, if you have bad instruments, nothing will make it sound better. Mixing isn’t about doing an extensive amount of work for clarity

[@Cheffingquan]

Thank you for this I was started to overthink my process when really I think it’s the beats I use

[@WHITE_DRAGON.OFFICIAL]

Hey! I offer Quality Mixing and Mastering at Affordable prices, if you're interested, feel free to contact me!

[@cesartorres2495]

@@Cheffingquan No joke, I would download so many free drumkits off the internet. I would use so many effects to make them sound decent. Took me a while to realize that I’m better off paying for a good kit

[@dooshnukem32]

I mean, you can also get away with bad instruments if you're using them on purpose, but good stuff just.. sounds good sooner. I certainly agree, though, that your raw source material is more important than the polish. It took me years of learning all these different tricks and bells and whistles and, ultimately, obscure ways of complicating processes that should be straightforward, to realize that I don't need 90% of it 99% of the time. Now I just try to write songs I don't want to stop listening to, no matter what the mix sounds like. I still write crap songs sometimes, I just fix them or cut them way sooner now lol.

[@MixedBySpeakIn2TheMIC]

@longlostaudio honestly it's not even mastered, it's just limited to all hell. I believe the term mastered is getting watered down because people tend to think because it's loud it's mastered when in reality you wouldn't master an instrumental, record vocals to it, mix it all again and then master the whole song again.

[@ayoutubecommenter3031]

I'm SO GLAD I clicked on this video, I was skeptical as first, but omg THIS FINALLY WOKE ME UP, my terrible mistake is probably overestimating all the plugins I use, so I end up being dissapointed at the end, that "the song should already sound good even if unmixed" is definitely gonna be a game changer for me. You earned a sub man!

[@parisestrella]

I like what you talked about in this video! I learned 3 things. 1. It’s not about the mixing. 2. You’re not mad, you’re passionate. 3. Make GREAT music!!! Love that you’re passionate about what you’re talking about 💯

[@giftbygodclothingcollectio8461]

That’s crazy I needed to hear this. Wow. Mixing has been stressing especially when you have very little time to do so

[@gumbilicious1]

Spend more of your time making recordings, it'll most likely serve you better in the long run.

[@Arch-Peggio]

Felt

[@baassik8419]

Ditto...overthinking kills it everytime! (Breathing)

[@GIOBLANCO1]

yeh man, theres some minute details that i will drop on you that i learned from banging my head against the wall trying to find my sound. 1. dont pitch everything percussion-wise to the same note. the same way your melodies and chords have notes your percussions should have some too, kick should sit at root note, hi-hats, snare, open cymbals, and wood blocks/rim shots (i make hip hop so thats my essentials) should all be in the same scale. 2. never sit there trying to find the note by just slapping it to the note it theoretically should be in, beat packs tune stuff to sound good and sometimes theyre not in the right range off that C3 everything is based off of, its much better to find it by ear for two reasons. one, the not can be tuned differently, and two, those quick sounds have tiny harmonics and sound profiles within them, it could be perfect pitch in tune BUT still sound like doodoo sauce. 3. rules dont apply to music, just guidelines. for example, i used to make synths off of hi hats, everyone was telling me to use a synthesizer and be normal i said no and they ended up asking me for help with their tunes once i mastered the art of going against the grain lol i could look at the raw synth waves then the synth wave within the mix and tell them exactly what was what and why they were clashing lol it was pretty awesome watching them turn around open mouthed with shock, be me, its worth it. 4. understand the raw sound, then move on to learning how to manipulate it, then learn how to use the vst's and extra tools, its frustrating beating your head against a wall to learn the odds and ends of stuff, but you'll be more happy in the end knowing that if the shit hits the fan with your vst plug-ins you can still mix that song down for your buddies with the native DAW tools. 5. have fun man, even if a song sounds bad dont slam the table, giggle about it, understand why it sucks down to the sonics of it, pick it apart, and take the good from it, save it, and years later, when youre bored, youll go through those sounds and find one that was actually amazing but was in a bad song. use it, make a hit, have lunch with taylor swift. :)

[@WHITE_DRAGON.OFFICIAL]

Hey! I offer Quality Mixing and Mastering at Affordable prices, if you're interested, feel free to contact me!

[@tybond1172]

1. Great songwriting - melody - vocals -tunes -songwriting 2. Arranging / arrangement (vocals) - gang -reverse -arrangement build -single Triple vocals All the vocals and how 3. Edit -tracking live Last 4. Mixing (15% of the song) other 85 is hard inspiration and work!

[@lesete]

Any course for learning arrangements?

[@b00ts4ndc4ts]

The biggest lesson anyone can get is the circle of 5th, it's a great place to start. And you are right, melody and harmony will come and that's the important stuff.

[@solarenity]

cap shut up. if the mix is buns they're not gonna like it

[@haitibenefits4786]

It's not our fault, it's due to the fact that music has been institutionalized, we've always seen it through other people's lenses but not our own

[@AverageGabriel]

all of life feels like this

[@topdogg1231]

@@AverageGabriel I know I'm 9 months too late. But yeah I felt that

[@vascosanchez]

@@AverageGabriel damn

[@SuperG-bb8le]

man... yh

[@ipoint2mar59]

Damn just checked your songs and it sounds so refreshing. Whoever sees this comm help the brother out with some subscribes and likes.

[@parasiteunit]

Sanest and most honest video about making music I have seen for ages.... a serious mindset adjustment right here... 've had one other recently... Aim for better, always aim for better... HOWEVER!... never strive for perfection.... Perfection is an insane obsessive pinnacle to attempt to obtain. STAY AWAY from attempting perfection (it changes through time as your skills evolve anyway), all you're going to do is never be satisfied with anything you do - so you're never going to do anything....

[@shane030716]

Wow. For all this time, I’ve been starting at the end. Now I realized I’ve been “mixing” without even finishing the producing phase. Thanks for the video.

[@gumbilicious1]

It's amazing how much easier and simpler mixing is when your production gets better.

[@svenrawandreloaded]

Good, your sounds should be nice and clean before you start creating with them.

[@danmanv3]

Its crazy.... I literally had this epiphany naturally yesterday during a song writing session in my new studio.... Today it's being re-enforced by you. I love life

[@paytonrooster972]

this guys about music and not his image. Subscribed.

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

😎😎🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻 welcome to the Channel Fam!

[@abyss5387]

@Ten O of corse not

[@wavefenomena]

i'm halfway in and you are saying nothing

[@RaptureMusicOfficial]

Nathan, this is really the best mixing video on all of KZbin, Period! It's all about the music, the melodies, the chords, the songwriting, the arrangement... nobody (literally 99% of your audience) doesn't care, how your song is mixed, or mastered! I know that, because I compose and arrange music since early/mid 90s... and no one ever cares about the mastering, or the mixing... the audience cares about a good song! Pure and simple. All that mixing stuff distracts from the essence of doing great music. Mixing is a big waste of time, don't overdo it! Focus on what's really important! A great mix or master can't save a bad song ... great video! Keep up the good work!

[@Arch-Peggio]

I will stop today. This will be that last studio video I watch. I need to build my own confidence to learn as I go in composing my sounds. Thanks for this

[@dillonhach2827]

This might be 2 years old, but I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for this video. I’ve been struggling with finishing songs because of how discouraged I’ll get because it doesn’t sound how everything on the radio does, when I’m only just starting to record. I’ve always known that I was being stupid, but hearing this from someone else’s perspective is seriously groundbreaking mental wise. Thank you sm

[@Doppel5129]

I made this conclusion yesterday when i showed my dad a new track in his car and it was so clean and good sounding without even the slightest mixing done 🤜🏽🤛🏽

[@iimiinextmusic7819]

This is so good. So on point that I can’t even look in the mirror because I’m so ashamed that I wasted a lot of years and dozens of potentially good songs because I got stuck at the wrong end of the process 😔 best thing I ever did this year was join a song writing club that compelled me to write a completed song a week, recorded on a phone, warts and all and subject to peer review. Might be a good idea Nathan for us learning to produce?

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

Appreciate the honesty too and also that you See that is HUGE. You'll grow so much faster by knowing it!

[@littv1610]

Its not yo fault. You dont know what u dont know. I know at least you soaked up a lot of useful information in that time? if so now you can apply it so its not time wasted at all.

[@yisuschristo]

@@NathanJamesLarsen I was depressed for 2 weeks for not knowing how to mix. I wrote down everything you said and subscribed to me I hope to improve with your advice.

[@WHITE_DRAGON.OFFICIAL]

Hey! I offer Quality Mixing and Mastering at Affordable prices, if you're interested, feel free to contact me!

[@evaansounds]

Great video, needed to hear that now! Great reminder that music is first. 🙏🏻

[@rivervaughanmusicstuff]

I was looking for "music mixing for beginners" because I have the songs recorded with high quality performances and my band and I have our compositions at the point where we are happy with them. I just don't know where to start with the actual mixing process. Sadly, this wasn't the video I needed. With that said, everything stated in this video is completely true. You can't fix a bass line that's out of syncopation in the post production stages without it still sounding like crap. Thank you Nathan. Many musicians and producers need to hear this message. Just because this was full of things I already knew doesn't make it any less valuable. As a matter of fact, it reaffirms the importance of the basics. I really loved the analogy of building houses with this concept as well. Before you even dig the foundation, you need to know your landscape and get a blueprint ready for the foundation. After that is deciding the materials you're going to use, followed by the construction itself. After that, and only after that do we get into the exterior and interior design.

[@partycrasher9660]

On the same boat. This video is for the absolute novice

[@michaelmyers4943]

I was feeling so defeated because mixing has been a nightmare to learn even though my tracks already sounded okay with minimal EQ. Thought I was tripping, but thanks for this video man. It's helping SO MUCH even years later.

[@Art-mt6cq]

Soooooo true and imporant. Plz be a 'musician' before being a 'engineer'.

[@layschips3252]

honestly so glad i found this. ive been sp overwhelmed with all the things that would enchance a good song and trying to figure out effects and mixing and mastering that i havent even sat down and fully made a song. kinda mindblowing

[@Markrspooner]

I can honestly admiit when I was just getting into music I ended up watching nothing but mixing and mastering videos as KZbin kept recommending them. so one of the first things I end up buying is gulfoss and izotope ozone, neutron and nectar advanced. This is before I had got any virtual instruments, the reason is I didn't know where to start. So I am now studying music theory and own instruments, but I still have a ton of mixing plugins I will probably never use.

[@hleet]

i like izotope plugin too. Ozone is a great program to master your music. Nectar is very cool for voice cleaning, it automatically guess which frequencies to cut in eqing. Neutron is fine but takes a hell lot of cpu, can't use it on every track, but you can still use the advanced neutron plugin invidiually. I Didn't tried gulfoss. For virtual instruments, native instrument package should be enough to start.

[@nicholasarnold5267]

Gulfoss is actually one of those “magical” plugins that makes any sound source sound relatively “better” it’s actually beast of a damn plugin WHEN used right :)

[@growingoaks]

KZbin recommends similar videos to your search and watch history. My Home page WAS 90% music 10% gaming stuff but now its 90% gaming and 10% music as i've shifted my search history and watch history around that lol

[@buddhabinaural]

But there are more options for quality free instruments than quality mixing effects. Melda do amazing free plugins for mixing but in comparison to what Vital is to free synths, it's not quite the same league. Melda is great, Vital is one of the best. In reality you don't have to buy anything at all.

[@cawmusic]

I really needed to hear this. my first few songs were just me messing around, not caring about mixing at all. Even though the quality is horrible, you could hear the cool ideas that I came up with. Nowadays, I focus on mixing to the point where I neglect some of the other (more important) aspects of making music. I should really get back in my old mindset

[@CarolineMakesMusic]

Wow I am called OUT... whooooo..... Goodness gracious this video is a trip! Thank you for this! For one struggling like me, it's actually very comforting that it really all boils down to those good base producing skills. It's so easy to think otherwise. It's so easy to try to fix everything in post when you know you should have just gotten better source. It's like a little devil on my shoulder telling me it'll be okay if I just push the buttons... and it's a LIE!!! The emotions I went through listening to you on your passion soap box... just... thank you.

[@marcolafoudre5567]

Really nice tutorial seriously, i’ve been looking for a tutorial about mixing and i found the best video about what i have to do. Thanks.

[@daniel-eason]

Wow... this is eye opening.. everything he’s saying in this video is true. When he said there’s not that much mixing involved he wasn’t kidding. I’ve made some songs that suck where I’d go over the top to mix and then made others that are amazing with very few arrangements.. it’s literally because my production was better on the good songs and others were bad. All the answers were right in my face but Nathan here just made it clear for me. 👏🏽 subbed.

[@ReveillaFilms]

thanks bro!

[@final_animal]

I guess -- it's kind of the same thing in my opinion. Sound selection, making sure frequencies don't clash, volumes, etc. That's production and/or mixing.

[@freemangumede]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOW! THIS IS SOOOOOO PROFOUND!!!! I am glad to have subscribed to this channel!

[@PeterSven10]

This actually makes tons of sense. Can’t fix a bad production with mixing, the production needs to sound great to start with. Like that analogy you said about the house. You gotta have a great foundation if you want a great house

[@DisturbedVette]

Photographers have this term called "getting it right in camera" (though many are firm believers of editing even when it comes to film). It's much the same in music and I really love that!

[@kjeksklaus7944]

this is the secret rule of creativity, spend the currency of creativity (time) on this secret. However I have ADHD so know that, but struggle with it

[@prodbyatma]

This reinforced my beliefs even more. Production is more of a feeling then a science. Glad I learned it earlier rather than later

[@Stephan5916]

@Prod Agreed. For me, great post.

[@sickfitz4256]

I searched up "How to mix music" and this was one of the first search results, thank you for making this video, it's helping me understand production more.

[@gadielfarrel4552]

Thank God you made this vid, I always get overwhelmed by mixing and mastering that I hardly focus on songwriting. Subbed.

[@The-Jim-Miller-Project]

Great vid! A great quality song, and recording mixes itself for the most part.

[@claudianreyn4529]

I've learned a lot of things and I've created music before learning mixing and mastering. The recording process and the instruments, the entire sound is much more important. The importance of the music production phases is this: 60% Recording 30% Mixing 10% mastering. You can't save a bad recording in the mixing phase and you can't save a bad mixing in the mastering phase. And most important of all is the music you create. You can't save a bad song with a good production.

[@RTsTracks]

Finally a man talking sense ! KZbin can be a mine field of bad information from people who do not really know what they are talking about. THIS GUY KNOWS SO LISTEN TO HIS ADVICE !!!!!! much love

[@PeteS_1994]

Recently I have gotten back into playing music on my DAW. I notice when I just focus on how the music sounds and not too much technicalities like mixing or rules I have been told, it's much more fun and I create stuff I like. I still need to learn to mix but I guess that's a different process to sound selection and composition. I find nice composition where the sounds don't clash or overlap sounds amazing.

[@taskmaster6129]

There’s nothing wrong with watching mixing tutorials so that you can see different techniques that you can try for yourself later on. Just don’t watch 1 tutorial and think you totally got it now. Keep pushing keep learning keep grinding keep practicing and take advantage of every resource that you can

[@hvh_music]

Word!

[@tay6900]

I don’t think that’s the point of the video

[@4tef]

No you should barely watch any tutorials let alone consuming as much as possible, that shits gonna slow you down even more. Ever heard of infobesity?

[@erlouwer]

the video literally said that what you just said is not what you should do. I am not even going to explain why, just watch the 12 minute video doing exactly that. tldr: You can have as many resources you want, but if you are shit at making music thats not gonna do anything. You have to learn how to produce and arrange first, the essence of making music.

[@final_animal]

No, the point of the video is that you should buy this guy's course lol@@tay6900

[@MrSharkFIN]

This is the first "mixing tutorial" that I've ran into. Perfect.

[@1koir]

I've been producing for three years and this is something I never thought I needed to hear but I'm glad I did. God even when I look back at my older beats, the whole structure was 10x better than my recent beats lol

[@habajaba9603]

So true. I'm new to the game. And I noticed that no matter how good of a sound engineer you are, source is key. Choosing the correct instruments, sounds, recording techniques, etc.

[@stintza]

At 1:02 you should’ve inserted the scene from Good Will Hunting where Robin Williams is telling Matt Damon it’s not his fault and he starts to cry 😂

[@VictorWilsson]

The sounds you choose to work with and how you set the volumes make up 80% of the quality of your mix. Mixing/mastering is ~20% and is only there to polish what should already sound good to begin with. I met a dude who works as a professional producer and i asked him for advice, and the first thing he said was to "choose sounds carefully". It was a good advice.

[@Pyropenguin10]

Thank you for this! I started getting on a roll with my music during 2021/2022 but dug myself into a hole worrying about my mix. It made me totally overthink how I approached my music, worrying about the part that I didn't give a crap about in the first place, I forgot why I loved making it to begin with. The fun has always been from making weird noises work together that suits you. If someone is soooooo worried about your mix, let them deal with it. If it works for you and others dig it, don't overcomplicate things by "needing to do more". Your music will naturally progress in the way that suits you the more you work at it! Seeing the forest through the trees, as it were!

[@stevebryce6071]

‘You can’t polish a turd’ - no, but you can roll it in glitter! 😊😊

[@craigpaulson3503]

That's interesting. You mentioned a turd wrapped in glitter and my first thought was Justin Beiber. I wonder why that is.

[@yaboiavery5986]

@@craigpaulson3503 it's 2021.

[@ren9756]

@@yaboiavery5986 fr.

[@nelios700]

I almost forgot that this was the way i started, "with passion and wanting people to feel something" glad i got a wake up call. Thank You..

[@RAAZR-]

8:14 - 8:45 the most important thing I've heard 3 weeks in to my music making endeavour

[@HomeStudioBasics]

In all seriousness, this video is spot on. It takes time to develop your own unique sound and really, it's a lifelong process. This is why I firmly believe that some things in life should stay as passions or hobbies. A lot of people get into music because they want to make money, but that's the wrong way to go about it in my opinion. Why? Well because oftentimes those things you really love just end up being a job that feels like work if it's making you significant income (or even if it's not). The artist Caribou once said, "Don't forget you're making music first and foremost because you enjoy it... and don't stop!" The problem is that as you pointed out, people tend to put the horse before the cart so to speak. So much time should be invested in making the song sound good. Having it make sense musically, making it flow, developing your sampling technique, arranging patterns that form a puzzle that makes sense, really thinking about how it plays and fine-tuning that process until you've made something you're happy with. This is why for me, beatmaking can be exhausting to the point where I HATE it because I'm so invested in making it the best it can possibly be. Listening to it over and over until I want to pop. And Rodney Mullen said that in anything you love deeply, there's always a bit of hate involved. I guess that's the curse. The rest is just icing on the cake. Mixing is super important in that it polishes what's already there, but if what's there isn't fully fleshed out, then the end product suffers dramatically.

[@blamemonkey2]

Great message, and something I need to tell myself over and over, even though the joy I get is when you find that phrase for the strings that accompanies the piano perfectly (according to me), the happy accidents of misplaced notes or unconventional chords. The main secret for me was just making stuff I enjoy and like, not trying to recreate or hit some zeitgeist.

[@surfzion]

So freaking True, I needed to hear this, I've been spending so much more time in mixing (or trying to) than the actual recording and the result is more often than not... Frustration. Thank you.

[@FraserJCovers1975]

This guy is a LEGEND, Amazing personality and speaks the truth!

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

😎😎🙏🙏

[@jonan-pineda]

Hey man, this is so helpful! You saved me from wasting time on chasing mixing tutorials when I really need to focus on producing songs first.

[@rosendoviegas7784]

I feel ur speech saved me a dozen of time to focus on actual music and now the value I or importance I think I had for mixing has totally changed thank you soooo much for saving me ps: I'm still an armature producer and started a month ago

[@LYDDYLmusic]

Me: *subscribes* One second later: “and that’s why you should subscribe”

[@evanloken19]

What I learned from this video was that the definition of music mixing is different than what I thought it was. To me it included the production, but this helped clarify. Great video. Subbed.

[@sonpmusic7317]

This is me at the moment. Thank you for that eye opener..

[@voicedbilabialtrill2514]

omg thank you!! it's like you just took a huge burden off my shoulders. I'm somewhat of an 'intermediate beginner' and got into music production solely because of my love of songwriting. Trying to learn mixing on youtube was honestly sucking that joy out of me.

[@KingNiallGT]

I actually searched for dubstep drop tutorials and this was what popped up lmaooo. It does shed a new light for me as a beginner producer. It's funny because alot of "mixing tutorials" i watched all use very expensive plugins and i usually click off of them.

[@lucytaylor8010]

I am arriving at mixing tutorials after years of going through songwriting, chord progression, music theory, song structure, and song production study. I’m here to figure out why my drums don’t quite pop enough.

[@khyativaati]

increase the mid to make your snare pop and sidechain your bass for the kick...basically make sure that each instrument stands at a different place in the eq

[@LordComradeAnarchoCapitalus]

SOUNDS LIKE YOU'VE BEEN WATCHING MIXING TUTORIALS!

[@khyativaati]

@@LordComradeAnarchoCapitalus oh god ive engaged in a heinous activity forgive meee SOUNDS LIKE YOU'VE BEEN

[@daniel_007]

Finally I heard someone saying that, confirming that mixing isn't exactly what most of producers think about! Just subscribed!

[@thecraiginator]

I appreciate your honesty and candor. Although I am new to both production and mixing, worked in the music business for years in stage management and have experienced so many that are lazy on their production and expect somebody else to be able to clean up the mess that they made. As you so well stated, a good quality song produced properly, would require a minimum amount of mixing in post-production. Spend the time and diligence on the integrity of your work and you will be rewarded. A polished turd is still a POS. 👍🏻👍🏻

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

100%! Thanks a lot! And yes - LOTS of lazy producers for sure!

[@70nikroxx]

clap clap clap!!!! lol. this video was done 3 yrs ago.....still no one is listening , except me :) this video will be the first video I show anyone who want to get in to recording, THANKS for this video.

[@uraniumjones5902]

Tip: When you absolutely love how your song sounds but wonder why it sucks when compared to the song you played on either side of it, maybe that's when you should start thinking about the mix. And yeah, I know this is over a year after this video came out, but that's how I think about it.

[@wizlounge]

thats me but is it worth learning how to mix or should i pay someone?

[@dooshnukem32]

@@wizlounge Both. Even if you never become proficient at mixing yourself, you'll still have a better grasp of what you're handing to a mixing engineer and meeting them at their minimum standards will be much easier. Everything you do to make the whole process smoother leads to better results faster and more consistently.

[@MarkJosephGuitar]

Good video. I always viewed it as ‘roughing out the edges’ of what should be a solid product already. Tone down the outlier highs and lows, space out the tracks, I do agree it shouldn’t take long. I spend a lot of time while I am recording to make sure all sounds good. Spot on mate! 👌

[@felixmarques]

The main reason I'm looking into mixing is that I'm confused as to what effects I can do in production phase. It's confusing to produce a track without understanding whether it will work later in mixing. Arranging, panning, effects… it's all interdependent, resourcing in more electronic genres.

[@ferdbirb]

i need to have "you cannot polish a turd" framed and hung on my wall thank you for this

[@jj081500]

Amazing content! Thank you. This really made me think about how much I've wasted my time... over 4 years of doing everything wrong. I get stuck in the mixing process every single time I start writing a song. That's so stupid now that I think about it. I think this is exactly what I'm STILL struggling with. You're a great guy!

[@pradablunts]

brroo u js explained my own situation lol, ill be recording and then i start mixing and doing ad lib tracks before im even done with the chorus

[@christianadrian28]

Damn I needed to hear this I there’s times where I’ll be like “I wanna make a beat rn but I have to watch a video about mixing” no I fucking don’t. I should Just make a damn beat

[@riderout007]

You just saved me from a dark place man. Those nights where you think your producing and then it ends up being 3 hours later and your trying to eq some kick that is a garbage sample to begin with. This was very important information to hear!

[@Dominik-K]

Thanks a lot and I totally agree! A good arrangement, sounds and all of that are far more important. The Big Picture is important. Creativity, song-writing, skill! Mixing is just a tiny bit of a whole that is important

[@Steelpoly3dJ316]

I clicked on this thinking that "mixing" was just a general term for making music. . . So, I guess I'm in the right place.

[@ennuiii]

I think learning an instrument is a great foundation for learning to actually make music. Piano would probably be best, but I tried my hand at producing before and after learning guitar and it was like night and day. I went from stumbling around in the dark randomly clicking notes to building out solid melodies and harmonies off of presets only needing Google to learn how to replicate specific sounds I've made and integrated into guitar solos myself. (One day I'll have money for a decent mic)

[@sharifeady6834]

How did you learn guitar?

[@ennuiii]

@@sharifeady6834 practice. Can't stress it enough, I googled chords and scales and ran from there. Personally, if your goal is to make music on your own, I would recommend not trying to learn other people's songs unless that's the only way it can catch your interest. Learn how to build your own rhythms and melodies on your own and you will be rewardedthe more you practice with it.

[@sharifeady6834]

@@ennuiii did you watch video or you had a teacher

[@ennuiii]

@@sharifeady6834 I just watched a music theory series on guitar by hunter macdermut, and went off on my own from there.

[@mrartdrawerman5712]

I expected to watch this video and get annoyed at it by the provocative title. But, I found it really useful! 90% of all the videos I watch are about the mix, and the focus of all the uploads by the reputable production channels is always the mix - which indicates the mindset that all amateur producers have about their music. My take-home from this is to redistribute that focus into every other aspect of the recording process. Big thanks man :)

[@Ricard_pereira_music]

Great advice man. I’ve just discovered your channel a few days ago, and some things just became making sense to me. You’re doing a great job. Keep it up. Complements from Portugal 👍🏻

[@yvngfelly]

Watching this video gives me hella confidence in my music. The way u talkin makes it sound like I been doin music the right way. I just started looking up tutorials on mixing bc Ik effects can add lil pop to ur songs n what not.

[@dwaaaiii8757]

Mixing can make 20-25% difference, mastering about 10%

[@-kProdigy]

You taught me alot thanks

[@reformation6651]

Thanks Nathan! I am new to production although I have been a songwriter for many years. So I was like, okay how do I mix this and why? Because it’s sounding really great. Come to find out I was just doing what seemed to be logical approach. Making sure it sounded good as I was laying down the tracks. I really appreciate your content. Blessings

[@tredfxman]

The most sensible tutorial on "mixing" iv ever heard! 👍

[@l.a.french3063]

Mixing IS a big thing. It's much more important than mastering. Other than the song and performance, it's the most important aspect. I agree that the entire process should not be rushed, and writing, pre-pro, arranging etc., is very important. But mixing a song can bring huge improvements to almost any song.

[@AutPen38]

Mixing can't improve the song. It can improve the mix... which helps listeners to get more enjoyment from the song.

[@l.a.french3063]

@@AutPen38 Of course, mixing improves the mix. That's obvious. It doesn't change the lyrics or melody (the song), but as I stated, it's the most important part of post recording. It can make an average song great or terrible.

[@matthewarendse1913]

My mans be speaking factss. Coming from an audio student, the best thing you can do at home is make sure you understand the pre production process like signal flow, general music theory, the frequency spectrum and more.

[@peterk3556]

Yeah stop watching mixing tutorials just buy the drip plugin and put it on the master 2 clicks and it's perfect when your tired just use the drip plugin it is magical 😂 I hope people understand it's a joke from me 😅

[@jimmyjohnson7324]

You’re soooooooo right. I showed my song to 10 different people and they are saying it’s just absolutely amazing. I found a person on Facebook charging $100 for mix master and what he gave back to me was garbage. So I said no I am gonna go on KZbin and find a way to fix this or do this myself. Thanks for this video. You are the man

[@Emil_m]

Creating a sound is part of production yes, but the things you learn from mixing help you shape sounds in many interesting ways. And this in turn, gives inspiration for creating more content. There’s no way learning about mixing could impact the producers in anything but positive ways. I’m not a pro mix engineer, but as I was learning to create music, I really had no clue how to use several instruments at the same time. I mean sure, there are some instruments that just simply go well together: base guitar, electric guitar, drums and voice for example. You record this combo properly and that’s it, you’re done. Send it to any (skilled) engineer and they’ll mix/master it perfectly. But… my instruments are mostly synths, they don’t have clearly separated frequencies, and lots of times they overlap. Before I learned about mixing, this wasn’t clear to me. The concepts of frequencies overlapping etc. Now I make arrangement decisions based on this, or use eq/compression/fx to make them play well together. It helped with questions like, which instruments should I use? So this knowledge helps shape my inspiration, like, what would go well with that particular sound etc. Actually Mixing, as in final mix, that I may agree with you, may take more time, $$ and dedication to do properly. It’s good to spend some time learning mixing, but it’s also important to keep a good focus/perspective on the goals.

[@frankie-xv3wo]

It’s true. There’s so much 80’s music that I love that hurts my ears because it’s so tinny but the song and arrangement and energy is so good it doesn’t matter.

[@cuulcars]

Overall a good video and an excellent point to be made. However, I feel its worth stating that the reason people focus on mixing is because it's where they can make the most improvement. Most people have already plateaued on their instrumental / vocal / performance skills and so the period of rapid progress is over and improvement becomes a slow and steady slog into infinity. With mixing though, they are still in that period of rapid improvement by learning just a little bit and so things get better quickly and one might feel a bigger sense of accomplishment. I wouldn't say starting with learning mixing is inherently wrong if that's what someone is interested in, it should just be an informed decision. Be cognizant that learning how to mix is only a small piece and will ultimately not improve things that much. But if you are aware and still want to start with mixing because its the most fun to you, don't let some dude on youtube stop you lol

[@MegalocefaloBill]

I was just going to start watching mixing tutorials again and you saved my day. 🙏🏽

[@SV-ny8pj]

u mean mastering

[@derekholland3328]

great advice!..so many "bad tracks" with so much focus on mixing...mixing is a completely seperate process.

[@NonnyStrikes]

Thank god I was musically involved prior to learning the ddj800. The dj my boss had, quit the day he started. I told my boss I would do it. I had knowledge of the system, what went where, how it was projected. I figured out on the fly how to search and upload from "tidal" which is what they were using to stream music. I'm not in my 3rd month. I've started making my own samples at home with cakewalk, mixes, cues to those mixes... it's a lot of fun! So much I need to learn, but it really isn't that complicated, just a lot to take in. Really similar to learning anything. Guitar, cooking, it just takes steps and patience... you nail it perfectly.

[@237jprminstrels]

i think this is the best video ive watched in 2023. Thank u. Ill focus on making great music

[@Larryriley3]

Definitely needed to hear this. I always find myself obessesing over the mix rather then actually writing the song.

[@kensantos6932]

as a mixing engineer AND artist, this is very spot on. audio engineering is a gruelling, technical process that not a lot of musicians may enjoy or appreciate. there's definitely something you can unlock learning audio, but it goes back to what you were saying: it starts with a great song.

[@kensmechanicalaffair]

The best practices are really a game changer, everything besides that are really just a box of tricks and techniques. Like parallel processing for example.

[@ianstrasse]

Thanks man i needed to hear this, i was feeling very stuck watching tutorials worrying on how to polish what i didn't even finished. I think that trying to be independent and the difficulty to pay for mix/mastering leave you in this spiral

[@nickd.9882]

Your passion is most refreshing and welcomed. Also, your train of thought aligns with my own, however you're a rare breed in actually telling it as it is when it comes to needing a proper foundation before mixing. GREAT vid!

[@ikirusha]

He's absolutely right. I started producing 3 years ago. I've been watching nothing but how to mix, how to produce, how to gain stage, what is linear phasing and how to use it, etc. I didn't know where to begin. I've been confused about producing for so long now, because my mixes dont always come out the same or clean. I struggle with mixing low end, and making all instrument volumes properly leveled and pushed around the mix. Now i'm on the hunt for the proper way to produce. I am however looking to learn it all because I'm tryna become self made