Mixing Advice You Don't Want To Hear

If you’re like me, you’re always looking for new tips and techniques that will help take your mixes to the next level. You want your recordings to sound like the pro’s right? Me too.

The problem is that too often we blindly choose to ignore advice that can really help us and instead turn to anyone and everyone who will tell us what we want to hear, not what we need to hear. I understand, because I’m the exact same way.

Via Cliff Flickr

How Did You Get That Snare Sound?

Recently on the Simply Recording Podcast I was talking to Joe about a common question I get since my latest EP release: “How did you get that snare sound?” Part of me cringes when they ask because the answer to that question is a big ole let down.
 
You see the way I got that snare sound wasn’t through samples. It wasn’t through a cool new plugin. It wasn’t even through clever use of EQ and compression. No, the simple truth is we got that snare sound by using a snare that sounded like that. Boring, I know.

Literally we brought two snare drums that day. One sounded OK. We moved mics around, but it wasn’t helping much at all. Then we swapped out the snares and instantly I fell in love. The second snare sounded fat, thick, and huge. Just what I wanted. We threw up some SM57s on it and that’s what the final snare track sounds like on the EP.

Mixing Starts At The Source

For most of you, the reality is that you’re mixing your own music or at least music that you also recorded. If that’s the case, you are in luck! This advice that you don’t want to hear can actually help you! Yay!

You see the best piece of “mixing” advice I could give you is to record stuff (and people) that sounds good. Record drum sets that sound good, with new heads, and are in tune. Record guitar amps that have new tubes and have great tone. Record acoustic guitars that have fresh strings and actually sound the way you want the final product to sound.

People Don’t Do This

I know it sound obvious, but the truth is most of you aren’t doing this. I know because a lot of times I don’t do this either. I should know better, but still I can find myself throwing up some mics, pressing record, and thinking to myself “I’ll make this sound better, later.”

It must be part of human nature because I find it to be so common everywhere I go and with everyone I speak. We all prefer to fiddle with sounds in the computer for hours rather than take a few extra minutes to record something fantastic on Day 1.

The Photoshop Phenomenon

You see the same problem in the world of photography. So many aspiring photogs will snap picture after picture on their fancy DSLRs without taking the time to get the perfect aperture, white balance, and framing.

Instead they want to shoot a ton of pictures and get them back home to open up in Photoshop. Why? Because they want to fiddle with things, change things, and in essence “create” a great image in the box.

My wife is a professional photographer and she can tell you that what helps set her apart (and every great photographer apart) is the time to get the perfect image “in camera”. Then editing is a mere triviality if it’s needed at all. The result? Better pictures in half the time.

Are You Going To Take This Advice?

So the heavy question today is this: are you going to believe what I’m telling you? Are you going to take this advice and commit to record better tracks or better instruments or better performers instead of looking for more “mixing magic tricks?”