The Biggest Lie In Music Production

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In today's video, we're going to talk about why you shouldn't mix while producing your tracks if you want to create better music. If you're an electronic music producer, you know how tempting it can be to try to do everything at once, but trust me, it's not the best approach.
When you mix while producing, you're probably not spending enough time on sample selection and sound design. These are crucial steps in the creative process that can make or break the final product. By focusing solely on the creative aspects and leaving the mixing for later, you'll be able to craft a solid foundation for your track that is full of possibilities.
Mixing while producing can also limit your possibilities later in the real mixing stage. By making decisions about EQ, compression, and other mixing effects before you have all of the elements of your track in place, you may find yourself boxed in later on. It's better to wait until you have all of the elements of your track in place so that you can make more informed decisions about how to shape the final mix.
Finally, mixing can often be a distraction from making important creative decisions or tackling the real problems of a track. It's better to focus on the creative process and leave the mixing for later when you have a clear idea of what you want to achieve.
In this video, we're going to explore the benefits of separating the creative process from the mixing process. We'll discuss how to use your DAW of choice, whether it's Ableton Live, FL Studio, Logic Pro X, Cubase Pro, or any other software, to build your track without worrying about mixing. Once you have your ideas down and you're happy with the creative direction of your track, we'll show you how to move on to the mixing stage and fine-tune the details to make sure everything sounds polished and professional.
If you're an electronic music producer who wants to improve your music production skills, this video is for you. By separating the creative process from the mixing process, you'll be able to focus on each stage more effectively and produce better quality tracks. So, don't mix while producing! Instead, take the time to separate the two and watch your music production skills improve.
Thanks for watching, and let me know in the comments what you think about mixing while producing. If you found this video helpful, make sure to like and subscribe for more electronic music production tips and tricks!
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Опубликовано:

18 апр 2023

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Комментарии : 64

@pickyourselfofficial Год назад

FREE guide - Finish at least one great-sounding song per month: pickyourself.com/framework/

@w.7258 Год назад

I think most people who apply the 'mix as you go' method are usually just doing light maintenance on some sounds, i.e. take some lows out of a pad, take some highs out of a sub etc. etc. they're not performing extensive surgery on every single element, if you are having to do this much work on every sound you've selected, SOUND SELECTION is the problem you need to work on

@pickyourselfofficial Год назад

Yes, the maintenance is not the issue (unless you get sucked into doing more and more mixing moves which definitely happens). Totally agree with your point on sound selection! 💯

@easyvelvet77 5 месяцев назад

@@pickyourselfofficial i think "mixing while producing" is nothing else than "maintenance" (i call this cleaning) to see more clearly what's missing in the composition. And to have, let's say, a drum tom resonance all along composition is total nonsense to me. So the term might be wrong in "Mixing while producing" cause it make total sens to me to clean up any new sample or fix their phase issue, or placement issue, or even to open their image with a chorus for a synth, or or or... So also you make some good points, i do not really agree with this being a myth, cause all those thing that i do "before mixing properly" a track when all composition is done, is still called "mixing". But all this might mostly be "terms issues"! 😉

@LostTouristOfficial 2 месяца назад

@@easyvelvet77 yeah I agree and should always get a good kick and bass balance if its the main meat of the song and I would class sidechaining as 'maintenance with a little sound design'

@Barfunkel Год назад

I recently completely separated my music making process from the mixing process. A wise decision, as it has made my music a lot better both musically and technically. It also has made the whole process faster, which is a bit surprising to me. So I definitely recommend this approach!

@pickyourselfofficial Год назад

Agreed! It’s a bit weird at first but soon you find out that what matters is a) critical listening and b) making the right decisions based on what you hear. If that’s done properly in the sound design and sample selection stage, your mix is going to fall into place easily.

@micha_ncl 11 месяцев назад

Mixing while producing is the best tool for me since sliced bread. It's a MASSIVE timesaver and I finished more tracks than before.

@pickyourselfofficial 11 месяцев назад

Happy that it works so well for you :) It’s mostly less experienced producers who struggle with this, being overwhelmed with mixing possibilities even before the core sound selection is done properly.

@SouravOjhaMusic Месяц назад

Not every timesaver things can be good for health just like processes sliced bread. So musicians who take themsleves as artist first sound engineer second will resonate with this. i dont know about engineers though. I am creating and inventing myself uniquely everyday just by being musican first engineer later. and those who wants to be artist first be a artist and ignore this slice bread comments, because at the end of the day, sliced bread will never be Baguette, first one is mechanical industrial piece of garbage and the later one is absolute pure art so people choose your bread wisely. dont fall for this fastfood junk timesaver trap.

@larusso-synthwave3168 6 месяцев назад

Procrastinating is really an issue. Cause you think you are doing something but the truth is you should spend time more wisely. I really love mixing and mastering but this is all useless when you doing it on a bad song 😅 ! So: choose your sounds wisely. Never underestimate the sweet spot for the cutoff in your synth!! Its so important! Do some basic cleaning (low and highcut, compression) cause you don't want to get annoyed by low end rumble while composing your music! Put most of your time & energy into good melodies, transitions and arragments to create a GOOD song! After this its time to focus on mixing to get the already good sounding work even better sounding. Thanks phillip, you helped me questioning my producer workflow 😊 still learning....

@owlmuso 9 месяцев назад

Great video on a very important topic. Thank you!

@pickyourselfofficial 9 месяцев назад

Glad it was helpful! 💯🙌🏻

@theTIREDman1 Год назад

Hey bro! Great video. Funnily enough, the more vital thing I got from this video was your specific chain for the kick and how you went about perfecting it to get the sound you want out of it. It can be frustrating as an intermediate producer when you feel like there is something that professionals know something that you don't know, such as your kick chain. More like these!

@pickyourselfofficial Год назад

Haha nice! Yeah I’m actually gonna do one about kick drum processing specifically. There some cool tricks that I haven’t even shown here.

@Projacked1 Год назад

100% spot-on. I have had a really sh*tty period of depression, which totally killled my creative brain. It's awful, but I decided to make use of it. I love sound design, but I also realize that you have to limit yourself, to find your sound as fast as possible. It took me years , only to find the solution was right there, in my face the whole time. Signature is your unique sound from the 'gear' you already prefer. Sample packs are creativity killers imho. Make your own. I now use only 1 of the 10 bassdrums I have in an old drumcomputer, which I layer with another synth. And boom there it was! I did the same years ago with choosing only one synth that would do it for me. I know that machine (almost) inside out, with room to spare for future ideas. I give the same advice now to anybody willing to listen, because you have to want it first. I start with my ABC's in the composition and go from there. Your tips add a nice little touch that, when it comes to composition. Forget FX, just listen to your head first, and give it a second if there is missing something. Again, spot-on dude. My favorite producers, I know, can spit out a fat song in a day. That's where you want to be, always in the zone. DJ's are a great example; millions of them, but how many can actually make the mix itself truly shine? -> those are the ones that take the process serious, and work on creating something more then the sum of it's parts. Also being critical-minded seems to be SO offensive these days, which is stupid. Be honest to yourself; Is the sound there? No ? Go get it! This is my motto; Sound is absolute, you can not have what is not there in the first place. Your statement on EQ is the same, and you are the first I hear say that on RU-vid! If your interests are not in the technical parts of say ; an EQ. Just pick one that sounds great, learn it, and stop fuzzing your own brain. So any of the younger generations watching; Pick a proper channel like this one, and stop confusing your own creative process. FInd the instruments YOU need. Not what some random producer on RU-vid tells you to 'always' do. Often people don't realize that a LOT of the producer channels, make their living with the channel itself and associated work from it, and not so much their own productions. That means you are forcing creative processes from other people onto yourself. Bad idea, waste of time, and prone to frustration in your future. Much respect to you man for taking another route in RU-vid-land! Peace from the Netherlands!

@pickyourselfofficial Год назад

Great comment! Thanks for the detailed insights, love it! Yeah, I was even resisting a bit before starting the channel just because I didn't want to be in the same bucket as a lot of other music production RU-vidrs. I come from a totally different background, doing professional mixing and mastering for 15+ years. And only after hundreds (if not thousands at this point) projects I decided to make a channel and talk about this stuff.

@Projacked1 Год назад

Wow, how the world has changed huh? I slowly gave up my dj interests and progressed/ reverted back into creative recording and production, because I could always keep my love for the mix. I'm glad you did this. Sometimes RU-vid algorithms are a good thing I guess haha. It was -> recommended to me 😅

@pickyourselfofficial Год назад

@@Projacked1 yeah, to be honest: I’m super thrilled about new technologies, new methods and I would even consider myself an early adopter in many cases. But I have a problem with advice that just gets preached without a deeper layer to it. Some critical thinking is often necessary to see what is flawed about it.

@pensoamordigofuria3203 28 дней назад

Thank u very much for this video. It is great! I think maybe we need a video on how to analyse samples to know which are good and which are not. I watched your video on Granulator and making music with field recordings, which I loved, especially because I like to make music sampling and with field recordings, but it is not easy to know when what you have is good, and it seems that this kind of material needs a lot of equing and other tricks as part of the sound design. What do you think?

@jimmydiamond-im5xs 3 месяца назад

Thank you again! Super good advice! I definitely falled for mix as you go lie! I did it all the time, cuz I thought I hade to, but this way is so much more logical.=)

@fakshen1973 7 месяцев назад

I mix as I go. But a lot of what I do relies on sound design to work. I have to be able to know I haven't overcrowded the track. If I have three different drum loops happening at once, for example, that's going to require some attention to know if those three are going to sit well together. I find the opposite of what you're daying to be true. I'm now stuck with some parts I can't get rid off and now I'm trying to get the square peg in the round hole.

@erikbosgra1775 6 месяцев назад

Wow. Some critical judgment on sample selection lets you create a song faster. The creation proces will then stay fun. Good advice to stay focused on the complete song. Thnx 🔥🧡

@CHARLIEH-df1qg Месяц назад

I always mix as I go. But I also switch out sounds as I go. Especially kick, snare and bass. Maybe a bit backwards. But I find it helps me gain "swing". I often start out with a hard kick. Then later on I switch it to something that fits the other instruments better. Often a bit softer kick.

@travesdymusic Год назад

If you’re an ableton user you can make a drum rack or sampler rack with all your “secret weapon” sounds, If using a sampler you can map a macro to the selector, press play on your track, than go through your sounds and find which one fits the best.

@pickyourselfofficial Год назад

Exactly. I might do a quick tutorial soon on that technique. It’s super handy.

@mattster303 6 месяцев назад

Don't think you can map the chain selector in a drum rack.(i might be missing something) But Instrument rack you can tho...

@djmightyming3329 6 месяцев назад

Great channel great teacher

@pickyourselfofficial 6 месяцев назад

That means a lot, thank you! 💯🙌🏻

@kafkakos3618 Год назад

Hello, for mixing during the session/arrangement - I start with putting a utility on the kick/low end and set the utility at -10. I add a utility device on each track thereafter and mix in the volume to balance off with the kick/low end, usually around -12 or thereabouts. I then find that the master channel is around around -10 or -8 and this allows me to transition straight to the mastering stage. Whats your thoughts on this process?

@pickyourselfofficial Год назад

Nothing wrong with that, if it works for you then don’t change a running system :) have you already watched my gain-staging video? Might be nice to double-check the process: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-13n68Xby66c.html

@kafkakos3618 Год назад

@@pickyourselfofficial will check this one out, thanks. Good to know I’m on the right track 👍

@flossless200 Год назад

as a beginner this is game changing. thank you.

@pickyourselfofficial Год назад

That’s great to hear! Thanks so much for the feedback, I’m glad it was helpful :)

@allancerf9038 7 месяцев назад

I'm impressed with your unassuming personality and strong opinions - a good combination. I've subscribed. I have a request for a video - if you take them. I was inspired by this myth-busting video which I agree with. Request - How about a video(s) of things you think are time-wasting in general? It could include anything. From fundamentals as in this video (don't mix and produce at the same time) to ...you alluded to the normal Ableton compressor and I guess, you don't like it. So another time wasting video might be on- things you do like in Live and things that really aren't worth using. Some would consider such videos, 'negative,' (mainly in my country the USA, not nearly so much in Europe) but I disagree. A video(s) about steps to avoid is enormously useful. You've already made another I know of regarding multibrand compression and what are, better options.

@krnflks Месяц назад

For that first kick sample, if I wanted more low end I'd pitch it down.

@Cytasis 26 дней назад

this can lead into other issues like threating the harmonics in a wrong way and also can sound weird in terms of the key of the Song

@casualintrovert207 7 месяцев назад

I've been doing this for well on 10 years now out of necessity because If I can't get my sounds processed and sounding the way I want them to sound as i'm working on the music, I really cannot continue the production. I really never have a dry production and then export the stems to mix in a new project like that, I never have. It ends up using more CPU sure, but i've found ways to manage that. Additionally, I think the mixing aspect of the music is actually a big part of the sound I get from my music as a whole, so it really is required for me as im making the music.

@oldtimer666 7 месяцев назад

Me too i also mix while producing and have mixed in the same project with all midi tracks mostly. One thing how do you go about level matching and gain staging the tracks? Do you put gain plugin after your processing chain?

@casualintrovert207 7 месяцев назад

I have a gain plugin set to around -20 to -14 db on all my tracks as the first thing in the chain@@oldtimer666

@TDiamond777 7 месяцев назад

this amount of work beforehand is definitely not what im and I can't believe people are tbh, im more so just cutting certain frequencies or boosting certain ones at the beginning then fully process everything later! Good video and eye opening towards my methods of "mix as you go" showing that im not doing so much excess at the beginning which is a good way to go Sound Design & Sound Selection are definitely key

@pickyourselfofficial 7 месяцев назад

Yeah I think it’s a really personal choice. The more experienced you are, the more “mix as you go” you can do without causing damage.

@dazza1000 11 месяцев назад

Hi Phillip @pickyourselfofficial Thanks for the video. Some good advice here even for non-electronic musicians like myself. : ) Kind regards, Darren (Wales, UK)

@pickyourselfofficial 11 месяцев назад

Thanks Darren, really happy to hear that!

@btomas. 5 месяцев назад

The attack on Pro-L² is not a classical limiter attack though. Any transient less than the attack time you set it to uses a built-in quick release time. The actual dialed release time is only used for transients longer than the attack time.

@SuperHonkyPodcast 6 месяцев назад

It's all personal preference. I absolutely cannot continue to build upon my instrumental unless the quality/clarity already sound good. I refuse to move on if I load up an 808 that sounds terribly muddy and distorted. I refuse to move on if I have not yet side chained the kick with the 808 to duck the 808's frequencies. I won't FULLY mix the project or anything but I 100% mix on the go and I'd say it's one of the only reasons I even finish projects! Date a woman that wears makeup? Or one that doesn't? Depends on you sir!

@pickyourselfofficial 6 месяцев назад

I love that analogy, haha.

@wizzy2600 7 месяцев назад

Putting sidechain and simple low/high passes while producing is imo crucial in producing electronic music, at least in my process.

@pickyourselfofficial 6 месяцев назад

Yeah this can be a part of sound design in my opinion but it definitely crosses the boundary to mixing. It’s all a matter of intention in my opinion.

@substance90 Год назад

But isn't the kick example more of a sound design session than mixing? I think EQing, compression and saturation are needed during sound design.

@pickyourselfofficial Год назад

Yes and no. If you start with a super raw bare-bones drum machine sample, then yes, it’s part of the sound design but has to be adjusted again in the mixing phase. What happens in real-life far too often is this: inexperienced producers take a sample from splice that already has been heavily processed. Then they think they need to further “mix as they go” and get lost in tweaking complex effects chains before even getting to the essence of a good song idea… only to find out later down the line that they struggle with mixing because there’s already so much processing on every track that whatever they try, it doesn’t make it better. So I’d say it’s a matter of experience. If you have a well developed ear AND you know how to prevent yourself from getting lost in tweaking, by all means, mix as you go. But for 95% of producers out there this isn’t a good strategy in my opinion.

@thepdc3372 6 месяцев назад

I mix whilst producing... but then do a tweak mix at the end

@pickyourselfofficial 6 месяцев назад

It’s all about finding your way, you seem to have done this!

@Flux_One 8 месяцев назад

Some would argue that not mixing on the go creates mud, which can distract you from the creative process. The same can be said of sound designing on the go

@pickyourselfofficial 8 месяцев назад

Interesting point. I respect all views but I still think most I experienced producers don’t go far enough with sound design and sample selection. Mixing then become the “easy” fix which often doesn’t turn out as expected. But yeah, you definitely have a point there :)

@chrisconnollyofficial 7 месяцев назад

🐎💩. Mix as u go is best as there is less work to do on the mix at the end. Each sound is crafted to fit the track as you go along.

@pickyourselfofficial 7 месяцев назад

If you got the best results this way, more power to you. My issue with that is that less experienced producers often try to make up for a lack of sound design skills (especially synthesis) by applying tons of mixing effects. And it just doesn’t work. So maybe not entirely 🐎💩, huh? 😜

@Madkay 8 месяцев назад

First of all quality of the samples, then basic staff like EQ (up or down in low/high), sidechain bass, place whole element in group, limiter with +6dB on master. For me, these above are must-haves when creating, with a basic EQ you can tell if a given element fits into the overall mix.

@pickyourselfofficial 8 месяцев назад

Thanks for contributing and sharing your workflow!

@Mclennnan Год назад

It's worked well or me for the past 30 odd years doing this.

@pickyourselfofficial Год назад

Good to hear! Everyone needs to find what works for them :) As long as you've put in the work to get good source material in plus you know what you're tweaking, this approach works fine. Most producers (especially early on in their journey) unfortunately don't and get tricked into thinking that all they need to make a crappy kick sound great is a complex effects rack.

@Mclennnan Год назад

@@pickyourselfofficial lol...but it is actually possible to make a crappy kick sound good or even great. Why should you be discouriging people to work one way rather than experiment. Why would you advocate your point of view so strongly, a point of view that's very much from the past and well before computers. Not to worry though, as you are'nt the only one digging up advice that was meant for studios and multitrack recording to tape. Back then they got there sounds right before commiting to tape. A process that we can now do and undo effortlessly.

@pickyourselfofficial Год назад

@@Mclennnan Not sure if you're doing this professionally but for me at least, I get hundreds of songs to listen as a mixing and mastering engineer and most of them have a sound design and sample selection issue that is rooted in the "mix as you go" philosophy. They pick a crappy sample, slap on tons of effects (without having a clue of what's going on) and try to fix things that can't even be fixed with mixing tools (like adding sub-bass to a kick sample that doesn't have these frequencies to begin with). Don't worry, I couldn't care less about "the old studio days". What I DO care about is showing a different perspective. I coach every mixing and mastering client to reverse-engineer the problem in their production and when I then get stuff back, it doesn't sound weirdly overprocessed anymore and the mix and master is at least 50% better. So I'm just sharing what I experience day to day. That's not supposed to challenge your way of doing things rightfully for 30+ years ;-)