Did you know that mixing can be summed up in just one word? It’s true. Mixing isn’t about plugins, converters, or studio monitors. It isn’t about acoustically treated rooms or golden ears. All of those things play a part (potentially) in getting a good mix, but to focus on them when mixing is to miss the entire point. Let’s kick off Mixing Month with this critical video…
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My name is Graham Cochrane and I'm the founder of The Recording Revolution, one of the world's most loved audio recording and mixing blogs with over 200,000 readers each month. 
Man, stunning video. Period. This is THE secret of a good mix. Something I always find in people telling me “what we can do to fix this recordings?” is that they completely underestimate the importance of the recording phase. If recorded tracks are good, then all you have to keep in mind is exactly what you say. Thank you for this video Graham!
Thanks Santo!
You are such a motivator, mentor, and a gift. I just want to say thank you. You are so appreciated.
Those are really good tips bro. It’s true that mixing is all about balancing all the sounds to make them sit well in the frequency spectrum.
I see a lot of tutorials online encouraging people to compress a kick drum that is digitally programmed, a kick drum with no dynamics 😀 so you’re right, people should know why they’re adding what ever effect or processor to their sounds.
Great tutorial Graham.
Such great wisdom, and it takes so much pressure off! Everything changed for me when I started focusing on gain staging and balance.
It does take the pressure off, so you can actually mix!
Loved this video. This is an issue that I come across a lot as a producer and it makes sense. Really appreciate you sharing your expert opinion on this, and it really makes sense what you were saying. I will be adding this to my mixing routine to focus on balancing rather than what I think “should” be done because other producers do it. Thanks again. Amazing information.
Thanks for another informative video Graham!
I do enjoy going back and re-watching your videos when I’m in different phases of a recording. Always brings new ideas to mind.
Best,
Joel
Glad they help!
Great vid Graham, and particularly timely for me. I sent a mix to a client last night and received his critique this morning. He wants the drums louder, which I’m not sure I agree with. So in my head I was crafting my response to him, and it all centered around this very concept of balance, and how that might be upset with louder drums in this particular mix. Then your email came right on cue!
So I’m going to send him some alternate mixes with the drums up, along with some cautionary notes about the critical kick-bass relationship, and the “gee now the vocal sounds behind the snare” thing. And the general “tail-chasing” that can be set off by what is seemingly a simple change to the mix balance.
Thanks for this great mixing tip Graham! You’re right on the money here …
Mixing Engineers of yesteryear were referred to as “Balance” Engineers.
Great Video!
Indeed
Excellent point Graham !! Good to always keep that mantra in mind.
What also impresses me is your delivery !! You do a real performance here.
Do write out your stuff first and read it off a prompter ?? Just curious.
No prompter, just turn on the camera and go!
Impressive ! I bet you do the same as a “worship leader”, as stated in your bio.
no video
Great job Graham, you are the only person in the industry that talks to everyone in a sincere voice, you are bright and humble, I appreciate the videos very much, you are giving us a chance to become better at this beautiful craft.
Sincerely
Reivaj Zemog
Glad to help!
Wow! I actually got something right! Over the years I’ve been recording, “balance” is exactly what I’ve been going for. When I was in college I knew Glenn D. White, the man who taught recording for the University of Washington. He has also been nominated for a Grammy for Best Engineered Classical Recording. His thing was to set up a stereo pair of Neumann KM-84 microphones and move the performers around on the stage until he got the sound right. And I’ve applied that to my recording and mixing. Is something,an instrumental or vocal part or a recorded effect, really necessary? If not, I get rid of it. Amazing how well that works!
Balance is something I instinctively have chased in even my most rudimentary recordings and MIDI mixes (not that I am hot stuff or anything).
I took a six-week course on mixing, and this was one of the aspects emphasized as THE reason why, in the first place, a console exists, and in the second place, why a person has a job mixing at a given console. We were also told that balance extends beyond levels of parts to EQ and dynamics as well–for every part meant to stick out, there must either be a loss of some other part for the sake of clarity and smoothness, or else room for that part to push above everything else for its duration.
I find the easiest way to achieve balance is to start by mixing from nothing to something, rather than blasting first and trimming back from there. The sweet spots suggest themselves to an attentive, focused listener.
Anyway, that’s just me.
Thanks for that video Graham – good advice 🙂
With myself, it all starts with a song idea I might come across.
Then, when I start the tracking – mix processes, I try to focus on what I
am hearing in my head. The first place I start my balancing act is getting things to sound balanced on the way ‘IN’. Then, when I start the mix process, it must still have that balanced sound as it did when I started tracking. If not, I go back to see where it stopped being balanced, or what has changed along the way to kill that balance. No matter what, always start with the best, balanced, awesome sound on the way ‘IN’, before you even start recording! Garbage in = Garbage out. Right? Anyway, thanks for your advice. You just might be inspiring the next big engineer! 🙂
I’m trying!
Great advice Graham ! ! ! I know, I for one, make this mixing thing more difficult than it needs to be from time to time. Focusing on what’s important is where it’s at. Hearing you say it in plain english drives the message home. Thanks again…
Always a pleasure getting your knowledge! Thank you for all your dedication and sincerity! I have grown tremendously thanks to your help 🙂
When you talk about the endless questions of mixing, it’s like you’re inside my head, lol.
So easy… So obvious… Yet, so neglected! Great video! Thanks for repeating the word BALANCE enough times to me sick of it so that I never forget it! 🙂
It’s how I learn 🙂
Graham, thank you! Turning off my plugins
and automation taught me this amazing point,
and brought a fresh perspective to an
overly complicated mix. Balance, indeed! sf
Awesome.
Thanks, Graham,
Let it be foretold that you spoke the “Golden Word” when it come to audio mixing. “Balance” is, without a doubt, the 1st step and the ultimate solution when it comes to mixing your tracks or even submixing. I have followed you for almost 2 years, and I am so thankful to you for your precious sharing of knowledge when it comes to Audio Productions. I have downloaded most of your e-books on the subject, and I have progressed considerably, just by watching your clips on recording revolution.com. Besides creating and recording tracks in my little home studio, I love to cook gourmet style with a special passion for baking. If one knows what it takes to bake, the right ingredients, the patience and the right measurements to be added, it is similar to mixing tracks, instrumental and vocal. never too much or too little, or it will flop. Although I realize that there aren’t any set menus, just with a little patience, practice and experience, the true essence of one’s effort will sooner or later come through. A bit lengthy, so please forgive. Couldn’t thank you enough.
Yours,
JonNichi Sun Tiger
So glad to help!
If you make it happen at the mic, it will happen on the board.
Nice.
Excellant point indeed! I was always that person that “over analyzed” everything, being a perfectionist. Perfection is a very good thing to aim for, but does absolutely nothing when your overwhelmingly immersed into your project, songs, tracks, etc.. it just drives you insane, & leaves you exhausted & bummed out over the whole thing, period! Not a good thing to feel when your shooting for the stars, so to speak.(?) I very much appreciate your wisdom, of simply sitting down & taking a deep breath & to just get back to basics, to accomplish a good mix. Your sooo right dude about balance, it’s a very simple thing, but is immeasurably important & correct way to approach mixing. I love all your videos & e-books, etc… they help tremendously, & i’ve gotten better cause of it! I plan on getting all your books & systems for making great mixes & taking them to the professional level, & even making some cash from them as well. THANK YOU VERY MUCH, GRAHAM! You F–king Rule Dude!!!!
Sincerely,
Phil M.
Thanks Phil!
This video is a wealth of information!
It keeps you focused! Many thanx Graham!
You are very welcome!
Best information about mixing ever… and for free… I hope that everyone who are starting to mix watch this video before any other… 😉
Thanks Daniel!
Dude! you change the freaking game with this video. ttu!
Haha.
So glad I subscribed to your website, your honesty has confirmed how feel about my engineering and production.
Thanks Graham
Thanks Corey!
Graham, I really appreciate your tips and tutorials! As said before, your delivery is honest, sincere and easy to understand and apply. Your knowledge and willingness to share it is a blessing for anyone starting out as an engineer as well as folks that have been doing it a while. My mixes and technique have benefited tremendously from your generosity and dedication to all of us! Deepest thank you!
God Bless!
You are quite welcome Randy!
Graham, I’ve been following the Recording Revolution for a couple of years now and find myself wondering why I haven’t commented on any of your videos until now! You’ve offered up so much of your time and expertise to help so many people start, develop, and flourish in this unique art called “Audio Engineering”, and I know many people have reaped the seeds you’ve sown. We all can’t thank you enough for bringing such valuable information to an open platform of knowledge such as this. I hope to purchase one of your training products someday soon.
Regarding this video, I needed a reality check of the whole reason for mixing any song. Balance is the perfect foundation to sum up everything we do in the mixing process as “tone finders” or “Balancing Acts” (which I think you guys should really make some of the merch you and Joe talk about on the Simply Recording Podcast).
I always look forward to your emails and your insight on sound production. Keep up the awesome work!
May God bless you with a wonderful increase in provision and protection. Thanks a bunch!
Thanks so much Seth. Humbled to hear that I’ve helped you.
Your so right on this one Graham! This took me a long time to realise. I wish I would’ve seen this years ago. Btw, hope to see some mastering related tips when you get to that phase with your album. 🙂
Got some videos here: http://therecordingrevolution.com/2013/06/12/mastering-with-stock-plugins-eq-video/ and of course my JumpStart To Mastering series here: http://jumpstartyourmix.com/
Enjoy!
Cool. Thanks 🙂
My general life philosophy is “what makes sense?” Being newer to home recording and with so much information available it’s hard to know what makes sense. This clicks things into place for me! For instance, I recorded some drums yesterday, lightly EQ’d the snare and without any compression I think it sounds incredible (though many people will recommend “compressing the **** out of” a snare track) and fits with the rest of the kit really well. Also, I think you nailed it when you said that you can’t fix a bad recording with mixing, and this encourages me to spend some more time in the reposition-record-reevaluate cycle before the mixing phase. I still have a ton to play around with and learn but when I get that good recording and start mixing, this will definitely stick with me. Thanks!
Your video was AWESOME…. Your words are not in vain. I declare I have been working on 1 song for 3 months now. Then right when I think I have it and export it, it is never sounds like it did in the DAW. But this is working to my advantage. After listening to your video I am going to go back over all the tracks and make sure they are panned and balanced correctly. At least if I am going to be doing 1 song for months, I could put my heart into it. Thanks for taking the time to post your video….singing out from Memphis!
Thanks Jerald!
You’re my guru & you’re AWESOME!!!
Well, I’m not a guru – just a guy. But glad I’m helping!
Hi Graham,
Just wanted to thank you for another “Keep it Real” video about the music recording process. I really appreciate your common-sense outlook and presentation. Very helpful. As I’m not an actual recording studio owner, I did have a question about your marketing presentation/strategies. I am currently trying to figure out how to drive traffic to my web business and engage potential clients. You seem to really have the hang of it (web videos, blog, ebooks, affiliate ad, etc…) and I am wondering if you would be willing to share where you got the knowledge/skill/mentoring/assistance to figure it all out and actually create it all? Thanks so much and best wishes. Todd
Hey Todd – I’ve learned a lot by trial and error, reading gobs of books, and even taking some online training courses in business marketing and growth.
I’ve taught a lot of how I run my freelance (web based) mixing business in this 6 week course: http://www.audioincome.com
Might help!
Thanks man … I feel transformed from a frustrated underachiever to someone who feels like they can at least shoot for something attainable …. Balance. Start with balance and stay with balance.
Thank you !
awesome video Graham!!!! thx 🙂
Thanks so much Ricky!
I’m really enjoying the design and layout of your site. It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more pleasant for me to come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a designer to create your theme? Superb work!
Hey fantastic website! Does running a blog similar to this require a massive amount work? I have virtually no expertise in programming but I had been hoping to start my own blog soon. Anyways, if you have any recommendations or tips for new blog owners please share. I understand this is off topic nevertheless I simply needed to ask. Cheers!
I believe one of your commercials triggered my browser to resize, you might want to put that on your blacklist.
Great video Graham. An awesome controller that works great with PT 10 and is dirt cheap now days is the old Tascam US-2400, 24 channel HUI can be had on ebay for cheap. The only bad is no scribble strips but other than that, its great and 24 motorized, touch sensitive faders to boot.
Thank you for another golden nugget Graham! It really is important that you tell us in simple words what matters in mixing. I recognise myself stuck in the same kind of problems, looking for a better gear or plugin while my recording was bad in the first place. Now I concentrate on the recording thanks to your advice and both my recordings and mixes sound better than ever :).
Cheers!
You’re growing up. almost. just almost.
in additional, try to “look” at your sound by eyes.
I’m not talking about analyzer.
close your eyes and “look” at position, space, the background of story,
distance, the motion of players, the facial expressions of singer and so on.
your ears have already opened so now is the time to open your eyes.{o_o}
always thanks.
This is so true. I keep coming to this video. Thanks for reminding us the most important stuff!
the trick for a good mix is, actually, making a good mix
I don’t understand why this is such a gem… it’s always been perfectly obvious to me, though I appreciate having my philosophy re-enforced by you! Not so long ago, I didn’t even know what plugins and mastering were! To me, mixing was all about my volume sliders, no more, and it still is, pretty much. I’ve been recording for years with VERY minimal (much 2nd hand) equipment, “outdated” software, (no such thing… if it works, it works) and a few plugins, 99.9% of which I don’t even use. (a bit of reverb, sometimes some eq.. that’s about it) with GREAT results! I have and continue to avoid compression, because I find it muddies, and I’m a huge proponent of natural dynamic range… the more the better… and I don’t mind a little headroom on the signal! The loudest possible track is NOT the law! (I detest the “loudness war” and I won’t play that game.) I’m even coming away from mastering plugins, because when I compare the raw mix to the mastered ones, guess which has more clarity, and “air?” (not as loud or as much punch, for sure, but more dynamic range) And I’ve learned that radio stations compress the SHIT out of everything anyway, and take your dynamic range from whatever it was to about 5 or 6 out of 10. (mastered or unmastered, the radio makes it all sound the same) The biggest thing I’ve had to clue in on is getting the kick & bass to still be there at all on shitty little speakers, so I’ve learned to partially shift those 2 up out of the bottom end. For that, I’ve been using MaxBass, but the trade-off is less bottom for the good speakers.
Hey Graham your tips are the Audio Proverbs for Engineers and Producers. Thanks for all the efforts. Appreciate that. God Bless you bro.
Thanks!
Hi Graham
Although I respect you and the advice you give, it is not as simple as that anymore (IMHO).
I was fortunate enough to sit in on a studio session recently and was amazed at how much sonic alteration was done in the mix, particularly on behalf of the artist.
It made me think that the defined lines that were once recording-mixing-mastering done by, in turn, the recording engineer, mixing engineer with producer and artist, and then the mastering engineer, are now very blurred.
With better and more affordable software the artist can record, mix and even do away with mastering if the mix is good enough. It goes without saying that the composition is the key, but even a bland guitar solo can be elevated using plugins such as different guitar amps, stomp boxes, and then fx such as delay or reverb at the end.
I now see the future as being defined as recording, production, post-production (mastering), and although they may forever retain their ancestral names of recording, mixing, mastering, the processes will be very different from the old ways.
At no other point in the history of music has there ever been a time where the artist can realise their creation from beginning to end exactly as they envisioned it. Even the great composers of the past were limited by the size and type of orchestra and the venues which had different reverb qualities etc.
Today you are limited only by your own imagination – so create and enjoy.
Check out psychedelicshyhawkcollective on YouTube.
I agree with you – all the stages of music production are blurred these days. But my statement is still true: all mixing is – is balance. You balance volume (faders, compression), panning, frequencies (EQ, saturation, distortion), depth (reverb, delay), and time (arrangement). Whether you use few plugins or many, the goal of mixing is simply to create a balance that allows you to hear the production well.