On my weekly live group Q&A call with my Mixing Mastery students last night, we got into a discussion about “what’s the most important thing in a mix.” There were various answers, like getting the balance of all the parts right, or making...
One of the things I notice about amateur vs. pro mixes is that often, the amateur ones sound like they were done seat-of-the-pants, without much cohesiveness. They lack focus and continuity, and things just seem to be arbitrarily placed, rather than having...
One of the most common recording questions I receive from my clients and students is, “what’s the best way to record acoustic guitar?” Well, there are a lot of factors, but the first piece of advice I always give is to record the guitar with a microphone, rather than...
The other night, I was having a conversation with an old music buddy of mine about performances. Specifically, memorable, live music performances. We concluded that the ones that really stuck out for us and stood the test of time were the ones that were phenomenally...
I’ve been having an interesting conversation with one of my coaching clients lately. The topic is a common one among music people (and all creatives, for that matter): trying to resolve the “conflict” or the “incompatibility” between...
There’s an interesting tendency I find among some home studio enthusiasts when I get into a discussion about recording with them: they’re looking for a “magic pill” or “silver bullet” that will suddenly make all of their recordings sound like blockbuster hits. They...
