Top 10 Reasons Your Mix SUCKS. 

You're absolutely right, but the problem is that you feel like going and remaking everything you did before. :D

Progress is progress

I’m having the opposite problem

the luck is absolutely true, i have a remix of the song "im the walrus" from the beatles that is my all time best mix, and it end up being out of pure luck

Amen

Can’t believe how long it took me to learn that. I finally learned that a good mix going inexplicably flat meant break time. Duh!

I'm going to do a series shorts this summer on compression for beginners, What to listen for. What it sounds like. Starting with the very basics and building from that.

Justin :-) And you're welcome! Thanks for the comment -Justin

It can be tricky to wear so many hats for sure! Some people make it work. Here’s an episode I did on mixing your own tracks, and the value of specialization as well: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0FJhpL0VHaI.html

I'm not Justin, but for mixing on headphones it really helped for me to use the SoundID Reference Plugin, in a nutshell it's just an eq which will flatten the frequency response of your headphones (you should check if your headphones are in the presets). It helped me a lot and I think there is a 30 day trial or something

Very relatable! Yes, sometimes of things can’t come together quickly, the best thing to do is get some distance from it, so you can hear it clearly again. Sometimes the issue isn’t the mix either. Sometimes a song demands to be revisited with a new approach, a new arrangement, a new temp or a new key. This idea of having one “canonical” performance of a great song is so 20th century. Maybe I should do an episode about that sometime. Hope that helps! -Justin

@@SonicScoop Thanks man, so easy to get wrapped up in one aspect and neglect others. Ask me how I know. Happy trails!

So awesome to hear! Exactly what I am looking to do :-) -Justin

Actually automation is another big one for me too. If you do a course on that topic, let me know 😊

Thanks for the ideas Amir! And for the kind words. -Justin

I still think that is covered by approach I recommend: Before applying processing, first decide what, if anything, needs to change. If you do that, you'll know which of these "flaws" actually need to be addressed. But if you just zero in on each track individually to "fix" each one before determining if it needs fixing, I think you're adopting a process that will take longer, wear you out more, often lead you in counterproductive directions. In Mixing Breakthroughs, I recommend starting your mix by working with NOTHING but volume and pan. This may seem restrictive if you haven't done it, but it's actually extremely freeing. And once you've done this to the best of your ability you'll be able to evaluate which tracks really need to be "fixed", and what you should spend most of your focus, time and energy on. I could do a whole podcast length answer to this question (and maybe someday I will!) But I hope that's a good starting point. Hope that helps! -Justin

@@SonicScoop Helpful! Thank you, Justin.

i think this could even be extended to a video about Mixing in mono, and its difficulties, its not even useful nowadays but its pretty interesting

So many! Here’s a good podcast episode on reverb specifically: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-EF4_N0Ud6c4.html Hope that helps! -Justin

Hey Craig, sorry I missed this! Three months is a long time. Which parts of the process took you the longest? I can definitely help with getting the mixing part to go MUCH quicker in the Mixing Breakthroughs course. The rest I can't help as much with. I think that you should be able to get to the place where you do the kinds of videos you are doing at least once every 4-6 weeks part time if you develop great systems for it. Your audio sounds pretty good, and although I could definitely help you with some ideas that could improve the results and speed of the mixing and mastering process further, I'd say the lowest hanging fruit for your channel gaining greater reach is the visual presentation. (Something I could do much better myself to be honest!) We can go into all of this in a lot of detail in either a private one on one session or in the members only mix feedback sessions. Hope that helps! -Justin

@@SonicScoop Hey thanks for the reply. To answer the first question, the process of recording usually only takes me a few hours, two days if it's really dense like The Argus was. Then the process of dialing in everything in post, is just endless. Particularly the drums and vocals, both of which I'm a bit of a novice doing anyway. As for the visual presentation, I'm hoping a 4k version of five of me in the room like on the Leo Sayer cover will do, but you're right I need cinematography for sure. Thanks for saying that about my audio. I do have my devoted listeners, but the algorithm seemingly malevolently keeps that number from growing. Hence the begging random people's channels for input as to why. I'm not usually one to join anything involving pay; I just don't work that way. So a Mixing Breakthroughs course would be great and all, but I guess I was just asking for advice and a critique, and you certainly delivered. I appreciate that very much, thank you. I'll certainly be watching your content when I can from now on and learning from you.

Hey Craig. I checked out the Leo Sayer cover. You have a GREAT visual gimmick idea on that one. Unfortunately, I would have no idea what makes this video unique or interesting based on the thumbnail and title you selected. It tells a prospective viewer who might like it absolutely nothing about what's in it or what makes it unique. That's part of the visual presentation you've got to work on. People should be able to see, at a glance, why they might like the video, and what unique or interesting promise it's likely to deliver on. I also think you have to get over this idea of not wanting to pay for help. Don't let an overzealous commitment to a DIY approach get in the way of getting what you want out of life. But to be honest, I suggest you DON'T spend money with me. Your audio and mixes could be improved by 30-40% for sure and we could look at ways of doing that together. But your thumbnail and titling strategy could easily be improved 300%-400% with half as much effort. And you overall visual aesthetic can be improved 300-400% with a bit more effort than that. You should be seeking out some channels that help you with that kind of thing first. It's the lower hanging fruit for you. And I'd recommend that some paid courses or memberships from people you grow to trust in that area could potentially do you a ton of good and give you back way more than you give them. What I can help you with most at this stage is streamlining your mixing and production process so things take 1/2 to 1/5th as much time on that front, freeing up bandwidth for you to focus more on your visual aesthetic, which is the lower hanging fruit for you. Unfortunately, a 4k camera simply isn't going to do it. Improving lighting and backdrop and the way you set whatever camera you do have are the way bigger wins here. A 720p shot with better lighting and backdrop is going to look better than a 4k shot with poor lighting, backdrop and camera settings every time. And this is coming from a guy who puts VERY LITTLE effort into his camera shot. So please understand that I'm like the pot calling the kettle black here. I easily have one of the worst visual aesthetics in my genre! But the results are good enough for me based on the fact that I put about 1/10th as much time effort into my channel as channels that have gotten that dialed in much better! But with what you do, which is about creating an aesthetic experience, rather than delivering information, you HAVE to improve that side of the aesthetics even more than I do. All I have here is a very basic DSLR and some very basic lights, in a studio that's in a repurposed bedroom where I have put practically no effort into creating an attractive backdrop. You should be able to quickly surpass the video quality I have here and beyond with a bit of care. I usually can not write messages of this length to people asking for advice because I would have no time to get things done that I need to get done. That's why I charge for consultations. And honestly, anyone who has advice worth taking is going to have little time and have to prioritize who they answer based on who is paying. Free advice is often worth what you pay, because the people who are in a position to give it away for free often don't have much of value to give you. And they know that if someone isn't paying for and invested in their advice, and therefore taking it seriously, they are less likely to actually act on it. Often, when you pay for help you are doing yourself a favor. But again: DO NOT PAY ME PLEASE. Please don't become a member or get the courses. Go get help on the video front instead, and for advice on the RU-vid algorithm/strategy front. Once you have seen how much you can improve on those fronts and how quickly, particularly by paying for organized holistic courses that you are personally invested in, you can consider coming back to me for more help with mixing and the like. Once you see how much that kind of thing can help you, I have no doubt you will have a different perspective. At this stage of your development, if I hear that you paid a single penny for another guitar or instrument or pedal or camera or plugins or set of speakers instead of paying to invest in yourself or your own skills, it means your priorities are wildly misplaced, and I won't be able to answer any more of your messages. I'm dead serious on that. Paying the people who make guitars or pedals or plugins or cameras instead of paying for people who can help you actually get what yo want out of those tools would be completely backwards for where you are right now. The only equipment you are allowed to invest in right now in my book is 1. lighting and 2. backdrop. NO cameras. No musical gear or music production gear. Zero. Not until you have figured out how to make the most of what you have. You could either invest a LOT of time in learning to improve your visuals and your thumbnail/titling strategy, or you can invest a little bit of time and a little bit of money. I recommend the latter because time is more precious than money. Especially as you get better. Which reminds me, I have to stop writing now and get back to work! X-D One exercise you will likely be reassigned is to go back and redo ALL of your exiting thumbnails and titles with what you have learned. This will likely substantially increase your traffic without creating a single new video. But you will have to improve the visual feel of your videos going forward to go even further Seek out channels that will help you master RU-vid strategy around thumbnails, titles and niche, and channels that will help you with lighting, backdrop and shot composition. PLEASE consider getting some of their premium material instead of wasting money on more gear. When you've seen the results you can get there, come back to me and we can talk. Hope that helps! Hope it doesn't come across as too harsh. But you are talented and skilled and dedicated enough to what you are doing that you deserve a swift, stiff kick in the pants on this. Normally, this kind of custom targeted email from someone who actually knows what they are doing could cost hundreds of dollars. That's why you're not getting it for free elsewhere. I don't want you to pay me. But I do want you to do this for me as a favor in return: Stop getting in your own way. Put your attention and energy and financial resources in the right places instead of the wrong ones. What got you here isn't going to get you where you want to go. Hope that is helpful. When you have doubled your traffic and more by doing what I've said here, I think you will have a different perspective on paying for help from people who can actually help. This is the first and last time I can devote this much energy into a RU-vid reply. And this is why you aren't getting replies. People who can actually help you with this are busy. And now, I'm 30mins behind on my work for the day! That's why I can't really do this kind of thing. But fortunately for you, I was inspired by what you are struggling with, and I know you are not alone in making the errors I'm seeing here, so the exercise of writing to you helps me formulate my thoughts so I can help others with the same problem in public facing videos and courses in the future. Very best, -Justin

@@SonicScoop I can't thank you enough for this. I'm going to copy and forward it to my email so it doesn't get buried. You couldn't be more articulate, concise or correct, about everything. Thanks for making the time. Off to revamp my visuals from the ground up!

Hi Hector, Here’s a video where I go into a little more detail on the two biggest reverb mistakes: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-EF4_N0Ud6c4.html I should probably do a whole course on the subject sometime though! Hope that’s a helpful place to start, -Justin

@@SonicScoop Thanks Justin! Yes, it would be really nice with a more in depth turtorial on reverbs, you could be focusing on just the vocal, what different reverbs do to a song, how a spring on vocal is better in some situation, what reverb does to the emotion, how far you can take a reverb or how less can get away with!

Look into Mixing with Mike on RU-vid or buy his courses!

It doesn’t sound strange, that’s the entire reason why mixing is a separate profession

Haha-I hope it didn’t keep you up at night! -Justin

Oh I hear you. Been there done that! Here's an episode I did on the general idea of making things sound really impressive and massive: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nmtRrKuTttc.html -Justin

Crazy! I use them for live venues. But never for studio work. You'd think he could afford the best monitors and room treatment.

@@chaddonal4331 he can. But why bother? If you know your headphones really well, they work just fine.

That's true, even Luca Pretolesi does mix using headphones with sonarworks reference 4. I would recommend using "Studio Monitor Headphones" for anyone who's working in an untreated room. You'll get better results this way as compared to using speakers.

You’re not necessarily doing it wrong! If your results are good and the payoff you’re getting for the time invested is good for you, then keep doing what you’re doing! That said, most of the major mixers who I have interviewed (and I’ve interviewed many of them) usually mix much more quickly than that. 4-8 hours is the norm for many or most of them. I was amazed by that too, as it used to take me MUCH longer to mix. So I dedicated quite some time to figuring out how they do it. The result of that was the Mixing Breakthroughs course. Granted, you may be considering some things “mixing” that they don’t consider mixing. For instance, you may be considering as part of your mixing stage setup tasks that they are usually having handled before the final mixing stage. (Often handled by an assistant at the professional level.) So some of what’s going on may be a difference in terms, but some of it is almost certainly a difference in process. At the higher levels in the industry, yes, recordings do tend to be pretty stellar to begin with, and if they are not, then they are generally still in the production phase rather than the mixing phase. You may be doing things in the mixing stage that many of them might consider production phase. So that can be part of it. But I don’t think that’s all. From what I have seen from great mixers, from myself, and from my students and clients is that creating a system that speeds up mixing and makes it more seamless and more creative is a huge part of it as well! Automation can go quite quickly if you have several banks of motorized faders at your disposal as many top mixers have. But this is not necessarily required for fast mixes as evidenced by some trackball magicians working on very big records! (And as evidenced by my own results and those of coaching clients and course students.) I believe that a lot of this faster, more creatively minded kind of mixing process can be adopted at any level with the right processes and systems in place. That’s what a lot of mixing breakthroughs is about accomplishing. In it, you can even see and hear me go head to head with Michael Brauer on a track that was done by hobbyist musicians, with me using nothing but a mouse and stock pro tools plugins. We both took about 4 hours to mix it. And I believe the results I get from these systems are in the same league-and most viewers seek to agree. I hope you will as well. (I do have a free version of that video out in the channel as well if you’d like to give your opinion.) All I did was use the faster approaches to better mixing covered in the course, that I learned from studying, watching, watching and interviewing these guys. I’ve come to find that if you can get the technical and the production phase stuff out of the way first, the mixing stage can become incredibly fast, creative and fresh. It’s also worth noting that the idea of mixing across multiple sessions is itself a fairly new concept in music production! Most of the favorite records you grew up with were likely not mixed across multiple sittings. I believe that is something that can help mixes feeling fresh and alive. Thanks for the thoughtful comment. I find a lot of it relatable, even though I’ve changed my tune and have come to believe that so much of that time investment can be reduced by using better systems. Hope some of that is useful and makes sense! -Justin

@@SonicScoop Yes it makes sense. Certainly that if everything is stellar (recording, performances, arrangement, no need for more or less editing audio which could really well be considered as a production step it can be way shorter to makes it. I tend to do everything from composition or just arrangement to mastering other than perform if I record an artist or a band). Editing audio can be freaking long so if I put this less or more in the mixing stage... it adds up. Dynamics EQ on loud high pitch vocal when each different vowels has peaking harmonics problem can be long to do. If you run on that kind of problem it can consumes time. :P I may have a short mix one day... Thank you for your fleshed out answer! You write very quickly ah ah! You're one of the best I found on youtube. Keep making the in details great work! ;)

You can get to know almost anything if you listen on it enough and hear enough references through it! As a somewhat older guy who is likely losing some high frequency hearing, he probably doesn’t mind their brightness as much as I do. Fortunately, mixing is a lot more about *listening* than hearing, so there are a lot of amazing older practitioners out there. -Justin

Based on your comment, I think you’d really like the episode if you actually listened to it 🙃 -Justin

Lol, try listening instead of skimming and you might learn something like thousands of others apparently have 🙃 These episodes are not designed to just give little tidbits of information so much as they are designed to actually change behavior for the better. But different strokes I suppose. Good luck in your journey! Thanks for stopping by, -Justin

@@SonicScoop Ok fair point. Do you also share your wisdom in a short format like RU-vid shorts? I don't have 40 min. to spare because you know. I am really busy producing and mixing music ;)