101 Mixing Tricks Black Friday Sale

Today only - register for my 101 Mixing Tricks coaching program for only $197.
That's $100 off (33%) off the regular price of $297!

 Order It Now! 

---> You get all 5 Mixing Tricks modules consisting of:

• Module 1: “In Your Face” Interest Creation Mix Tricks including16 tips on balance, panning, automation, EQ and compression that add some amazing interest to any mix.

• Module 2: Mondo Effects Mixing Tricks, including 18 mixing tips about creating great reverb and delay effects that either jump out or blend seamlessly into the track.

• Module 3:Interesting Instrument Mixing Tricks, including 23 mixing tips that specifically cover guitar, bass, and keyboards, which includes how to get the famous Elton John piano sound, or a bass sound that pops through small speakers.

• Module 4:  Wicked Cool Drum And Percussion Mixing Tricks, including 28 tips for getting killer drum and percussion sounds.

• Module 5: Bad-Ass Lead And Background Vocal Mixing Tricks, including 16 tips to make that lead and background vocal either pop out of a mix, or blend in just right.

---> Lifetime 24/7 access

---> Q&A webinars and forums

---> Plus a Bonus Module consisting of all the editing tricks that the top mixers use to prep their tracks for mixing.

---> And I'll throw in my Mixing Engineer's Checklist eBook if you order today.

Find out more about the 101 Mixing Tricks online coaching program at 101mixtricks.com.

Order now because at midnight tonight, the price goes back to $297 forever!

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Using The 1176 - The British Nuke Setting

While the Americans were going for clean, British engineers in the 60s and 70s where going for big and brash. Here’s a really aggressive setting for the venerable 1176 compressor/limiter that’s sometimes called "British" mode and other times called "Nuke" mode, depending on who's using it.

This is a Bonus Trick #7 from my 101 Mixing Tricks coaching program, where there are 107 more tricks just like this. Check it out here.

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Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this blog at no cost to you (just click here).

Using the 1176 - The Bones Howe Setting

The Universal Audio 1176 limiter is a perennial favorite compressor limiter, but there are some standard settings that work especially well.

Here’s one used by the famous Los Angeles engineer Bones Howe, who engineered so many great hits of the 60s and 70s by Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Mama’s and Papas, Johnny Rivers and many more.

This is one of the bonus tricks from my 101 Mixing Tricks coaching program. Get 4 more killer tricks at 101MixingTricks.com.

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Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this blog at no cost to you (just click here).

Using The 1176 - The Dr. Pepper Setting

The Universal Audio 1176 is one of the greatest compressor/limiters ever made and has been used on countless hits throughout its 50 year history. Here's one of the go-to settings that works like magic on either the hardware or the plugin version.

This is called the Dr. Pepper setting because it takes its name from the old soft drink commercials where it was "Pepper time" at 10AM, 2PM and 4PM.

This is one of the bonus tricks from my 101 Mixing Tricks coaching program. Get 4 more tricks at 101MixingTricks.com.

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Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this blog at no cost to you (just click here).

The Programmed High-Hat Feel Trick

Programmed tracks are generally so stiff that we need to do something to give them a more natural feel. Here's a cool trick (#82) from my 101 Mixing Tricks coaching program courtesy of my buddy Dave Pensado that improves a high hat by automating a few parameters. Of course, it can be applied to any programmed instrument.

If you'd like to get 4 additional tricks that can be used on your next mix, just go to 101MixingTricks.com to sign up.

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Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this blog at no cost to you (just click here).

The REAL New York City Compression Trick

Many of you already use the New York City Compression Trick on your drum tracks, but it's possible that you're using just simple parallel compression. There's a lot more to the trick than that though if you want to do it right, and this video from my 101 Mixing Tricks program will show you the trick in all its glory.

Believe me, use this trick and your rhythm section will rock harder than ever before.

There's a lot more killer tricks where this came from covering punchy drums and percussion sounds, great lead and background vocals, killer instruments, and cool balance, panning, EQ, compression and automation tricks. Check it out at 101MixTricks.com.

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Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this blog at no cost to you (just click here).

The Abbey Road Reverb Trick

Here's a cool mixing trick from my 101 Mixing Tricks coaching program. Abbey Road Studios in London has long been noted for the great sounding reverb on the recordings done there. A big reason for that is the way they treat the signal going into the plates and chambers.

The Abbey Road Reverb Trick will show you how to get that same sound, plus a few enhancements to make sure that your reverb glues all of your mix elements together without it being obvious.

There's a lot more killer tricks where this came from covering punchy drums and percussion sounds, great lead and background vocals, killer instruments, and cool balance, panning, EQ, compression and automation tricks. Check it out at 101MixTricks.com.

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Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

Q&A WIth Mixer Manny Marroquin

There's always something new to learn about mixing and one of the best ways is to listen to others describe what they do.

Manny Marroquin is one of the go-to mixers for superstar artists like Alicia Keys, Kanye West, John Meyer, John Legend and Rihanna, among many others. He's a great Q&A where Manny answers questions about how loud he delivers a mix, widening mixes, getting the low end, his vocal chain, and how he begins a mix.

Get 4 killer mixing tips from my 101 Mixing Tricks coaching course here.

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Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

The Top 5 Mixing Mistakes And How To Avoid Them

Every day someone asks me to listen to a mix and give my opinion. I wish I had time to do it more than I do, but unfortunately I can't always get around to it. That said, there are a number of mistakes that keep cropping up with the mixes I do hear. Here are the top 5 mixing mistakes that I come across.

1. The vocal or lead instrument gets lost. Words get lost or the vocal seems buried during certain sections of the song. This is what automation is for. Go back and ride that sucker so every word can be heard.

2. There's a big frequency build up from adding EQ at the same frequencies to a lot of tracks. Everything sounds better with EQ added, especially when it's soloed. The problem is that if you EQ most of your tracks at the same frequencies, you'll end up with a lot of tracks that sound great by themselves that fight each other when added to mix. Better to do your EQing without soloing, or solo up several channels at the same time, in order to avoid the problem. And remember that you don't always have to boost the EQ. Attenuating a frequency can be more effective.

3. The stereo spectrum is mushy. This comes from taking panning for granted and automatically panning stereo elements hard left and hard right. When that happens it no longer sounds like stereo anymore and becomes "Big Mono" as my buddy mixer Ed Seay calls it. Just because a keyboard is in stereo, it doesn't necessarily mean that it should be panned hard left and hard right. The same goes for overheads. Many mixers intentionally stay away from hard left and right and try to give every track it's own place in the stereo spectrum.

4. There's too much compression. As the great engineer Joe Chiccarelli stated in my Mixing Engineer's Handbook, "Compression is like this drug that you can’t get enough of. You squish things and it feels great and it sounds exciting, but the next day you come back and you say, “Oh God, it’s too much.” Sometimes you have to really squash something so it works in the mix, but usually a little goes a long way.

5. There's too much low EQ. It's very easy to get fooled into thinking that you don't have enough low end either because you're mixing on small nearfield monitors or you're mixing too quietly. When that happens, you'll find that the mix sounds great in your room but way to boomy everywhere else. Take a listen to a recording that you really love first to see where the low end is at or take a look at a spectrum analyzer before you add any.

If you want to get some great mixing tips and tricks, check out my 101 Mixing Tricks coaching program and get 4 free tricks right away.

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Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.