The Secret To Mixing Like The Pros (In Ableton)

Download the "FINISHING YOUR MIX" pdf: www.completeproducerpro.com/f...
Here's part of the course for free if you're interested: www.completeproducerpro.com/r...
Here's the finished song (congrats Casey!!):
open.spotify.com/track/7pzLQt...
In this video I break down my exact mixing process after 10 years of trying to perfect it. I hope you can glean some wisdom and apply some of my techniques to improve your mixes! Thanks so much for watching, I really appreciate you guys!
Cheers,
Ethan

[@dimsum4528]

you are one of the most insightful music producer youtubers, so good to see you post so appreciated

[@erikbosgra1775]

Great to see that its not simple to mix, but that we shouldn't think to difficult about it. Thanx for simplificating the proces so we can follow along 🔥🧡

[@CompleteProducer]

that's right! it just takes practice and you get better with every song you mix

[@laytonkelly1108]

Got my subscription! This is exactly what i needed to see right now, after struggling and getting stuck with what to do next i now have a checklist to follow and a much better understanding of the whole mixing process in general! Thankyou!

[@eliasportillo4523]

I’m so grateful for this video bro you have no idea how much this helped watching. Lately I’ve been discouraged and have wanted to give up but this is something that has really inspired me to not give up on the process

[@CompleteProducer]

love to hear that, keep it up!

[@Miss.ChiefStudios]

I often feel the same too. It is not easy is it. What kind of music do you make.

[@Miss.ChiefStudios]

I love the song you are working on. Your friend has a gorgeous voice and the instrumental is fire. You did an amazing job on the mix and master. I love it. Thank you so much for the tutorial. Really brilliant and helpful ❤🙏

[@alexandrosbitoulas]

Many thanks for this video! You are one of the best ones I’ve seen on the internet, very pleasant to watch, always to the point, relaxed and efficient. Appreciate your work, cheers, Alexandros 🙏👍👏

[@CompleteProducer]

thnak you!

[@wowflower]

this video feels like a big warm hug. thank u

[@precisionsoundworksstudio]

Pro Tools is my DAWr, but I still found this very useful and that part at the end about simply creating music and practicing was a great reminder. Good stuff. Thank you.

[@julesester2480]

the way you are explaining difficult things is just amazing!! I can't thank you enough for doing that! I did a college course on production and wasn't sure about some of mixing techniques even after. Your style of teaching is just so relaxing and clear! it's just ❤

[@TONELOWOFFICIAL]

The stick of butter vs mountain analogy for compression is the most simplest and easiest way to interpret how it works! My man! I'll be watching more!

[@shillongvibesstudio]

Thank you Ethan and thank for the pdf God bless you

[@user-Chikotillo]

Thank you brother, you’re doing a great job! This method of mixing is hands down - the best tutorial i ever found on internet in many years! God Bless 🤝👍 Merry Christmas and happy new year!

[@nami7810]

this is honestly one off the best mixing videos I have ever seen on youtube!

[@rhesuspositive4459]

Thanks for the vid Ethan. Brilliant message at the end too...

[@zacklovesdrums]

I wasn't able to use all of the plugins due to cost, but damn this video was spot on and super helpful. My first mix ever and it sounds waaaaaay more professional than I could imagine.

[@JulianAbreu]

Hey man, been following for a while, love your vids and ableton tuts...thanks for sharing !

[@Casey_Stumpo]

YAY!! I didn't realize you put this up already! thank you ethannnnn

[@sirwanmusic]

This is really easy and effective technique. Most KZbinrs make stuff way complicated like mix bus processes calshing frequency. Compression for glue and all of these stuff i know is good to get them right. But stilll I’ve noticed if we use less plugins sound become more natural and warmer.

[@At0m_444]

This man is going to help me go far 🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@warrenpeace5173]

Love it! I'll be trying this out ty!!

[@kimberleylooijen]

Thank you so much for this! I started producing my own music one month ago and your video has been the best one I watched so far.

[@CompleteProducer]

You're so welcome! Glad to hear it. Keep it up

[@devinkk]

This was still somewhat helpful and taught me good practices for organizing the tracks. Thank you!

[@Winkle89]

You are a fantastic teacher 🙏

[@dallasdominguez2224]

Excellent tutorial. Very step-by- step which I love

[@GeoffNelson]

This is fantastic in it's simplicity. Thanks

[@mehdisossey7913]

What I do like about Ethan Davis is the simplicity of work flow also the way how everything is organized , I really do like your videos keep doing more

[@CompleteProducer]

thank you!!

[@hussainshahabuddin1423]

Hey man, this video was really helpful for me! I've been navigating music for some time now, but I found some challenges in understanding the mixing process. I love the message to creatives at the end as well. Cheers!

[@danielson1111]

Man you’re god sent 🙏

[@MartinPNairn]

Its like if you are some king of production angel and you just uploaded a video of exactly what i wanted to watch, at the perfect time, and with that nice chill vibe you record with hahah amazing thanks

[@CompleteProducer]

hahahah

[@austinkramer]

thanks so much Ethan!

[@hleet]

Thank you for sharing your workflow ! Love it

[@t-boy8734]

Bro really big thanks for your vids! I started to lern how to make music and it feels so good making progess cause i learn that stuff from you

[@maturewithjesika]

Thank you for the video and the pdf check list!!

[@dsands15]

really appreciate your analogy at the end! super important

[@CompleteProducer]

(:

[@9wallajus2]

Had me interested from the start and hooked me right in when you said "Splice the new version is whack". I was legit laughing so hard cause it's so true and a few number of people understand the struggle! Amazing video. Very knowledgeable and helpful. Thanks!

[@Slimcado]

You successfully made mixing, which I find to be the most boring part of the entire process, to be very approachable, easy to understand and replicate. It seems like a lot of people who teach mixing just want to talk about plug-ins and talk about mixing in a abstract sort of way that it’s hard to even follow and sort of feels like they are gatekeeping so thank you for not being that way.

[@everhuerta12]

You have taught me sooooo much! Thank you!

[@thealterrmusic]

Thanks ethan really loved this one 💙

[@dailymusic549]

Thank you Ethan

[@carsonrodriguez8019]

This was so productive thank you so much

[@ElectroHouseProducer]

Oh my God ANOTHER ONE🔥

[@vsp237]

That was great. Thank you so much!

[@trickylights4380]

Bro you are a legend

[@nicholasvetri4261]

Such a good helpful video. Thanks man.

[@EdsMusic]

Mixing tips are always good

[@grizzlythief]

at 12:00, you can eq the hats out by finding their frequency and either pulling down with EQ or by using the frequency option on the compressor or using multiband at the hat freq.

[@mihu.96]

I was wondering why he didn't just EQ the hats. Obviously he's a pro mixer so there's got to be a reason for that but I can't quite figure it out.

[@rk9radio]

You could do that (and I have plenty of times bc I mix like an animal) but you’d lose some of the character of the other elements like the kick. Then again compressing also changes those elements. Maybe a matter of taste or how the specific track reacts that guides whether that makes sense or not.

[@ARTTRAVELS-MUSICTRAVELS-4LIFE]

Highly Appreciate This ✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽🔈🔉🔊🔥🔥🔥

[@GalaxiaDeFavio]

Love It!

[@enroc2620]

Amazing video Thank you!

[@jayrecords9353]

1 min into the video and this guy dropping gems shortcuts 5stars

[@JRod0409]

This guy is the real deal

[@avivlevymusic]

Thank you man

[@badvibe442]

Love from India ❤❤❤

[@ShizzLas]

great video, thx!

[@GordonBBB123]

Thanks for another helpful video :)

[@danleonard3110]

Great video thank you

[@andrewg5639]

I've been dragging in stems 1by1 for way too long - I didn't even know that was a thing 😂 Thanks Ethan!

[@bboymac84]

😂😂😂

[@Pepem.94]

Jeez these vocals are niiiiiice

[@TheMim1000]

Thank you bro! 🤟🤟🤟

[@Burd805]

Joe's Cafe Santa Barbara, I have had many a good nights there! Dope tutorials brotha, very insightful.

[@LOLCoolJ]

Some very good advice here. In my opinion, reference tracks should be used from the very beginning of the mixing process.

[@BRINK_Music]

Without doubt.

[@seazons_official]

Every damn time ❤

[@Schallkoma_Rockenberg]

super cool video. helps a lot. thx :)

[@BardouWolfVideoEditor]

Ethan! Today I made my first song that sounds great almost instantly and I for sure want to thank you for your insight! I haven't even watched this video yet, just want you to know how much your guidance and the clarity of it helps! Thank you!

[@CompleteProducer]

i love to hear that!

[@BardouWolfVideoEditor]

@@CompleteProducer Thank you so much ('://Do you have a format where your viewers share music, they've made with you using your shared knowledge?

[@jonatankilrud2303]

Great video! Damn that edit at 1:20 was dope also

[@CompleteProducer]

thanks! that was courtesy of my editor, i told him i loved it! haha

[@Joelfrancis]

No way he knew the exact BPM 😂

[@TKAM88]

He used the track ruler, but yes, he was in the ballpark.

[@minecraftlover6971]

It’s honestly not too hard when the drums aren’t very humanized. With no groove or purposeful human error, it’s quite easy to line the drums up with the beat lines

[@gurusince89]

awesome

[@bboyjenson2615]

These are some truly helpful tips, Thank you. You also put lots of efforts in video editing🔥. Do you prefer put effects on a group over on a bus channel? or are they the same?

[@sleeptownProductions]

Hey Ethan! If you click "Collect All and Save" right away, it creates a new folder, adds all the correct folders inside the project, and you don't need to save as anymore 😎

[@pogskey]

hello, does anyone know why there is no "Master" in the output type of the midi track? There was two option whenever I click it "CONFIGURE and NO OUTPUT"

[@user-bi1dp4km2o]

Super video! Thank you so much... may I ask why you don't use any saturation except for the CLA 2A build in saturation?

[@CompleteProducer]

usually for saturation i assume if the artist wanted something to sound saturated they would saturate in the production phase!

[@keenaniwinski6549]

pep talk at the end got me lowkey

[@ondadevapor]

OMG. This channel is what i need. Insta sub

[@djjaye]

great video some things i didn't know so thanks for that. i cant see the 3 steps to finish for spotify video you said about can you link it?

[@TheMim1000]

Same

[@snakejazz]

Awesome video. Shouts to Dave Pensado too 💪🏼💪🏼 I watched so many of his videos back like a decade and a half ago

[@CompleteProducer]

Same!! I once went to his studio when he was working on a mix for a friend of mine. I literally found a Grammy under the couch in his mixing room haha

[@snakejazz]

@@CompleteProducer what a cool moment, absolutely jealous you got to hang in that legend's studio

[@djellisdee]

Hi Ethan, I notice you are using the Audeze LCD-XC headphones, would you recommend those 100% for producing & mixing EDM tracks in Ableton? Thanks!

[@scottsetzke7967]

Buy monitors with a flat signal. Monitors will always be better than headphones.

[@schqrr]

2:55 was looking for how to do that

[@heeradzahedi1443]

Subscribe to this guy man almost on 100K, we want more of these so support!

[@ignite2069]

Do you have a course strictly on mixing in Ableton for those who produce outside the computer but track their audio into Ableton?

[@Razorider1]

great video. Big question though should all the levels be at zero when starting mixing? Whats the foundation starting level?

[@TheMim1000]

Great video!!! Can't find "3 steps to actually finish the song" can you link it, please?

[@CompleteProducer]

it's now called "What Pro Producers Do That You Don't"!

[@JerryCrow]

Great info alltogether! great tips on the workflow. But umm; that isn't a rimshot that's crosstick. A rimshot is when one plays the snare "normally" but has the stick also hit the rim giving a "ping" with the snarehit.

[@bobo.256]

how long on average does it take you to master a song ?

[@evaanjoshi292]

hey ethan how to where do i find samplers?

[@joshcas3591]

Those tracks dropping in with the audio on my speakers scared the shit out me lmao

[@schqrr]

1:44 genius

[@EllaFrella]

Sorry what button to you need to ensure that the different tracks dont collide with each other in terms of sound. So that the best matches?

[@haunted1994]

Would me grate if you could mix a Bass House song, thanks for nice content

[@BigQui]

Should I use stems instead of midi tracks when mixing my own songs?

[@aiRxShop]

Holding Alt+Left Mouse Click a track arrow will minimize every track in Ableton including the Groups.

[@norhermusic]

Can we use a multiband compressor to get down the hit hats gain instead of adding more layers?

[@CompleteProducer]

yeah absolutely! anything that works!

[@nybe]

where ya been!?

[@marcosmendosaonyoutube]

My issue is with knowing what “sounds good” or not. Any tips on what I should be listening for?

[@TKAM88]

Thanks for the tips. I’d say my only criticism is that PRO L-2 is cpu heavy.

[@CompleteProducer]

oh i didnt realize that. i only have one instance of it on the master. i also have a pretty good amount of ram on the M1 and haven't had any issues with it so far, but i realize not everyone has a powerful machine. refer to my latest video on making a remix for an alternative to pro L2 with Ableton stock plugins!

[@TKAM88]

@@CompleteProducer you’re fine, dude. One instance won’t do that.

[@joeyp1028]

Yo Ethan! Do you worry about how much headroom they send the song in with? What do you recommend?

[@scottsetzke7967]

Pre mix should be around -12 post mix pre master should be around -6 post master should b around -3/-1.5 for dynamics. But it depends on the genre

[@Bradenpaul]

hahah your the man what a great video

[@lmfisher100]

Great🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤

[@robin_miller_music]

I know you're going super-quick, but in the 'Balancing' section you don't talk about automation, to change levels within the sections of the song?

[@bboymac84]

Fadr can separate your drum stems now!! 💪🏽😁

[@nadmanganiankutasu]

there’s no point in using a preset on rvox, since it has basically no settings. there’s no attack and release to tweak, the only thing that the preset sets is the amount of compression, which is dependent on the source, so you should adjust it based on the source volume and how many db of compression you want. a vocal that’s peaking at 0 is gonna be compressed completely differently than a vocal that peaks maybe at -6 db, using the same preset. it’s the same situation with a vocal that’s been compressed while tracking, the compressor will react differently to it.

[@CompleteProducer]

sounds like you should probably start a youtube channel!

[@federico7367]

what makes you decide to use either the ableton compressor, the CLA2A, the renaissance, or the fabfilther one? I mean theyre all compressors dont they all do the same, couldn't you use one for all?

[@CompleteProducer]

that's a great questions. I think I use a drag and drop style of working with plugins a lot of the time, so I think I've put them all in a mental category for different needs. I use the CLA 2a to bring stuff up and make it more present, i use the Pro C2 to squash stuff and make the volume more normalized, and I use the Ableton compressor to side chain. In theory they could all get pretty close to doing the same thing, but if I have to pick one general compressor, the CLA 2a is my fav!