Can you mix on headphones? The honest answer is yes — with important limitations. Here’s what headphones are good for in mixing and where you need speakers.
Before you render your final mix file, there’s a five-step check that catches most of the common problems that make mastering harder. Here’s exactly what to do.
After hearing thousands of mixes, mastering engineers have a clear picture of what makes a mix easy or hard to master. Here’s the honest list.
Mix bus processing is one of the most powerful — and most dangerous — stages of mixing. Here’s what to do on the mix bus, what to avoid, and the one rule that protects mastering.
Plugin count is not a quality indicator. In fact, overloading a session with plugins is one of the most common ways producers make their mixes worse. Here’s the honest answer.
Unprocessed reverb returns are one of the biggest causes of muddy, indistinct mixes. Here’s how to EQ reverb correctly and what to listen for.
Every professional mix engineer uses extensive automation. Most home producers barely touch it. Here’s what automation does that no plugin can replicate.
Starting to mix before your session is fully edited is one of the most common workflow mistakes. Here’s why it costs you time and makes your mix worse.
Reference tracks are the most powerful mixing tool most producers underuse. Here’s how to use them correctly — and the one mistake that makes them counterproductive.
Mixing your own music is harder than mixing someone else’s. Here’s the psychological trap that gets every producer — and what to do about it.
Mixing loud feels good. It sounds better. It’s also making your mixes worse. Here’s the science behind mixing at low volume and why it improves every decision you make.
Gain staging is the most fundamental — and most overlooked — aspect of professional mixing. Get it wrong and every plugin in your session works against you.
Before the final bounce, run through this checklist. These are the 12 most common problems that slip through a long mix session — and the ones that cost revision time.
Using a compressor to fix level problems that faders should handle is one of the most common mixing mistakes. Here’s how automation makes everything sound more natural.