Why Are You Not Better at Mixing?

Hello Friends & Students!

Some people wonder how I decide what to write in this weekly blog. Where do I get my ideas from? Well, to be completely honest I get the ideas mostly from reading all the e-mails I receive on a weekly basis. I receive anywhere from 3-5 emails per day from my supporters asking me various questions and when I see a pattern of the same type of question I tend to address the topic in a blog post like this one!!

This week I want to address something that I think a lot of newbie mixing engineers tend to forget. There are a lot of my students who feel that they are not becoming better at mixing and mastering fast enough. I mean, they purchase one of my training products and watch them, sometimes watching them several times. Then they work on their next project and they sometimes feel like they have not made as much improvements in their mixing chops as they would have liked. They are looking to go from an absolute beginner to a pro after watching one 3-hour training session.

So this week I want to remind all of my students at every level of something that we all tend to forget. You need to think of getting better as a mix engineer as you would at getting better at playing an instrument. In other words, you would not purchase a guitar lesson course, watch it, and then pick up the guitar for the first time and all of a sudden you are playing like Eddie Van Halen right? The training is just that, it’s training. After the training you then need to lock yourself in a room and put in the practice. That’s the only way to get better at playing any instrument right?

So how does this transfer to becoming a great mixing engineer? It’s simple really……PRACTICE! Mix as much as you possibly can. Mix different styles of music, especially if your not familiar with a specific style of music. Get out of your comfort zone and MIX, MIX, MIX!! That is the only way we get better at ANYTHING, you need to practice.

Mixing music is a craft. It’s no different than playing an instrument. Your favorite high-profile famous mixing engineer did not get that way over night. It takes years of time behind the console. It takes years of continuously finding different training tools and methods. The old saying is true, the more you do something the better you get at it. The good news is that you will see progress fairly quick and as long as you keep things in perspective and not expect to be Chirs Lord Alge over night, you will be great!

So having said all of that, this is exactly why I created the QUICK MIX SERIES. I wanted to give all of you a new song to mix every month with a video training tutorial. This way, if you do not have clients sending you sessions yet you will always have something to work on. I purposely do not give you a “sneak peak” of the song so you can listen before you purchase. All I give you is the “style” of music we are working on. I want you to take on the challenge regardless of weather you like the music or not. Why? Because when you start working with clients, you are not going to like their music more times than not trust me. You need to get used to working on mixes that are NOT your favorite type of music.

So enough of me rambling! You get the point. Practice and you WILL get better. Go out to my website and if you have not purchase every QUICK MIX SERIES product go do it now and lock yourself in that room and get to work! They are so affordable it’s crazy. In every QUICK MIX SERIES product you receive

 - Raw audio files for you to mix in you DAW of choice
 - 60-90 min video training tutorial on how I mixed the song. 

 Hope this was a helpful reminder and gives you a new found inspiration.