Before You Mix

There’s a tendency to think of mixing as the place where a record becomes a record. That’s where we add the EQ, compression, saturation, reverb, automation and all the other things we associate with a finished production. But by the time I start mixing, many of the most important decisions have already been made. The…

There’s a tendency in modern recording to think we can fix almost anything later. Too dark? EQ it. Too bright? EQ it. Not enough attack? Add a transient designer. Too much room? Try to remove it. Not enough room? Add a reverb. And we can do all of those things. Modern mixing tools are ridiculously…