Thoughts on the Mixing Process (Patreon)

Thoughts on the Mixing Process

As you all know, this Patreon is here for not only video content and preset/sample packs but also written form content as well. I have just spent the past week working solidly on a big mixing project so I thought I’d do a writeup on what I learned and what to look out for when it comes to mixing your own music. Admittedly, this is one area which I have struggled with over the years. Mixing can sometimes feel like a “dark art” by nature. It has written rules, but many of them don’t always feel applicable especially when it comes to your own music, not just some segmented band or group where the lines between elements are clearly defined. I made some good solid breakthroughs this week (more on that soon) so I thought I’d share them here to help encourage and inspire you.

As I stated above, mixing has never come easy. I’ve gone through many moments of self doubt that I could even be “good” at something like mixing when I clearly didn’t have any formal training in the area and was just “winging it” on my first couple records. Those albums came out really good…but that doesn’t mean that results like that come every time. In fact, it can be quite the opposite when you take into consideration that every project is different and your approach to how you deal with the problems that arise will always be changing. The important thing is to not “give up” on that process, even when it gets hard. There’s always a solution and someone more qualified than yourself could probably do what you’re trying to do in half the time, but with enough persistence, you’ll be able to get there too.

The first thing that I learned this week while mixing so much music is that less is more. It sounds so cliche when I type it out but it’s so true, especially from a fundamental perspective. I’ve often preached that more is more i.e. making more parts allows you to have more options, and this is true! But when it comes to mixing, especially electronic ambient music, less is actually more. Density is a real thing and too much of a good thing can quickly distract the ear and lead your mix into places that sound muddy and don’t have the clarity that you’re going for. If you have lots of parts that you’re trying to pull together, try starting with just a few elements and seeing how that feels. It’s okay to mute / completely delete parts that aren’t adding to your track. I’ve been guilty of putting too many elements in my own tracks, but with a genre filled with so much reverb and delay, sometimes 2 or 3 is all you need under the spotlight at any given time.

The second thing was that all I need are simple tools to get great results. I used three tools all week. A utility for adding gain when needed (Ableton Utility), an EQ for carving out frequencies and removing bass (Fabfilter Pro Q-3) and a compressor for evening out parts and containment (Fabfilter Pro C-2). These three tools are all I used all week long! I didn’t need any fancy limiters (besides my stock limiter), De-essers, exciters, or anything - I just used those three simple tools in harmony with my usual reverb and delay and that’s all I needed to bring some very complex tracks together and make some great mixes. All of these tracks were starting from absolute scratch - meaning no effects were applied, no leveling at all - they were just straight dry tracks and I mixed them from there. Take it from me, it doesn’t take much to pull things together.

Finally, the last thing I learned was that confidence is everything. If you feel unconfident that you can do something - that’s actually good! It means that there’s room for growth there and you have potential to improve at what you’re doing. I didn’t feel confident going into this process, and I still didn’t feel great about the first few that I tried, but over time something changed inside of me that made me feel like I GOT THIS. You have to develop a fearless mindset that allows you to not fear changes, especially when they are hard to make. You have nothing to lose by trying and if you’re persistent enough, you’ll eventually get the results that you want to achieve. Let nothing stop you and don’t give up because you may just feel like I did, however if you maintain your focus and don’t let a couple of bad mixes get you down, you’ll be well on your way to mixing the music that you’ve always dreamed of.

Cheers,

Chris | S1gns Of L1fe