I'm the mix-coach for Hardcore Music Studio's programs, doing dozens of mix reviews every single week, and it's been a LONG time since I've related to a video so much haha! Fully recognize all of these problems as well, thanks for addressing them Joe!
@@HomeStudioCorner I hear ya. Fair point. Although you could sing a song solo acapella. It would still be a good song regardless if it makes it to a mix. I'm thinking Son House- John the Revelator. Just a voice and nothing else.
@@HomeStudioCorner Not if you're performing it live. There is nothing to mix in that case. Songs have been a part of every human civilization forever. Songs precede the concept of mixing, instruments, electricity, and agriculture. Thanks for humoring me and my semantics. Much love.
My new album comes out in November and listening to the recordings straight out of the studio blew me away. Right from the word go, the recordings were amazing. The mixes seem to just do themselves...
Watching this made me feel good because I’m always trying to get better no matter how good or experience i have mixing. Im 5 Years in. It just felt good to hear things i already know on top of you talking about the production portion. I pretty much became a producer 2 years in to mixing because i felt like a producer mixing tracks and making things less boring and having some what of a background in playing instruments. I remember going through my phase of too much high end boosts, or just doing doing eq based off some youtube videos i watched. I remember before i understood about getting a great take at the source, mostly talking about vocals. I really appreciate some one saying exactly what new engineers need to hear. He is not lying at all. The one thing i would add that i really feel what took me to the ultimate level is using reference tracks and using some type of plugin at the end of your mix bus that helps you reference tracks, level match, hear the mono channel and side channels separately, as well as lufs meter for both reference and main track, . My favorite go to is ab metric, i think that’s what its called, there are other good ones out there. All love brother and keep going
Great video Joe. Concise coverage of very important considerations. Thanks so much. As I have been writing and recording a series of songs these past few years, your tutorials have been very helpful. I was nodding my head in agreement throughout most of this video, because I have been arriving at similar realizations. This is especially true regarding the rule dictating careful arrangement of parts versus the "all skate" approach. In fact, making sure that all instruments play parts that consider and contribute to space/silence and the musical mosaic that becomes a groove makes a song easier to mix. This is easier to do when I play all the parts myself - no talking someone into playing more simply required. 😊 I have less trouble carving out e.q. space, etc. when parts are not all happening at the same time all of the time. I have been trying to convince other musicians of this important concept. How can we miss you if you don't go away now and then?
Number 4 as you got into it more made me think of Arrangement. If we have a crazy amount of frequency masking in a song that needs to be eq'd out to make room for everything it might just be an arrangement issue. Which as you mentioned goes back to "right at the source" and production.
I've spent the last couple of years learning and getting comfortable navigating my DAW (and buying way too many plugins). Until I had that piece down, it hasn't felt right taking a course. I finally feel comfortable with the basics. I know *how* to do stuff - but I don't know *when* and *when not* to do stuff. The typical "just use your ears, man" advice is not helpful to a newb. I just bought your Vocal Mixing Guide and the Home Studio Mixing Course. I'm super excited to start the next chapter.
Hey Joe, great tips! What ever happened with The Recording Revolution? It's been silent for quite a while and you were the new face. You and Graham have made me a better engineer and producer over many years!
Great video. Thanks for sharing your experience and now subscribed. . Wondering what you are thinking about tracks from different instruments with bad timing (example guitar rushing over drums and bass) and impact to the overall mix
i produce and mix at the same time lol and i mix with an spectrum analyser and my taste of music and i do half of my master proces on my mix bus and then finish mastering in project page lol i got my own formula lol
That's okay. This issue is when you wear all the hats, the project can become rushed. Taking a break between stuff, letting your ears rest and coming back with fresh ears can sometimes really help. I usually put my mix on my phone and listen to it outside and make a list of what I want to change. Then I'll comeback the next day refreshed with all my focus. Remember, its just a suggestion. Do you. But explore different ways.
You mentioned if your mix has too much high frequency boosting its usualy too bright.. but, have you seen CLA mix for example? cranking the 8k all the way on every channel. If the track is too dark theres no harm boosting highs
What is the issue (I think frequency but I could be wrong) if u keep hearing the track and it’s cause tension in my stomach, every time I get to mixing and I play it back it’s always tension in my stomach?!!?? Please help😢😢
Joe Might sound silly but how can you be the best at "get it right at the source" if you are in an apartment setting and most of your instruments are DI? It seems super easy as far as like technique, timing, no dead notes etc etc, but how can you really perfect it though? Great video!!
Joe what's your monitoring look like these days? Still using the 650's and what speakers if any? I think so much of the issues with levels is crappy monitoring. That makes it hard to get it right at the source when what we hear is skewed during tracking and even mixing.
This is probably a dumb question but is getting it right at the source include effects going in? For example if I play a piano with a chorus and reverb going in and it sounds good. Does that count as right at the source? My understanding of recording is a dry recording with no effects. Is this wrong to do?
I started out recording with some processing by necessity - I had a 4-track cassette Portastudio and I only had one compressor. I had to commit to sounds when I hit Record and whenever I bounced tracks together. Then when digital audio came along I got sucked into "you gotta record clean" but that led to poor decision-making and second-guessing and that meant unfinished mixes. So, a few years ago I went back to my old approach. This was reinforced by the Classic Albums DVDs where many tracks were recorded with some effects or room ambience (e.g. the lead guitar on Money by Pink Floyd). It doesn't take long to learn how much to do on the way in. It just takes some thought before hitting Record.
Joe you made a bubu.choosing parts is orchestration, arranging,structure.Overall producing! I ve critics all billboard s from 2007 . slowly producers were just mentally brain damaged people with no honest intention to develop their masters productions.they will not take your advice and if they only for short period of time.welll apart from that i ve listen only few countriesy songs with wierd pop drums like sintetic ones and thats it ! Music is dead!😊
Most people that are asking for help are not making beats so they cant “turn down the fader”. Most are getting the beats from youtube and doing 2-track mixes. Obviously if someone could just turn down the fader they would…
havent watched this channel in a while now. but i do remember, that every single lesson i got here put me on the wrong path with mixing. once i stopped listening to joes "advice" my mixes got infinitely better.
I think they're aimed at a certain type of person who's at a certain part of their music journey. It won't be helpful for everyone, but my mixes have gotten better thanks to wisdom from Joe and others. Joe seems to focus on big-picture stuff but that doesn't mean he's saying not to use clever tricks and more technical approaches to improving your mixes. Just that it's important not to skip the foundation. Not sure why you sound so angry either. Just be glad you found some people or systems that work for you.
