The Most Important Tip I’ve Learned In 30 Years Of Mixing. The Secret Of How Not To Be Fooled.

Mark Wingfield is a critically-acclaimed jazz mixing and mastering engineer. He has mixed or mastered three Downbeat Magazine Masterpiece Albums of the Year, two JazzWise Best Releases of the Year and three All About Jazz Best Albums of the Year. Jazz albums he has mixed or mastered have received more than 300 rave reviews worldwide.

Band leaders or musicians on the albums Mark has mixed or mastered

Chet Baker, Allan Holdsworth, Tony Levin, Chad Wackerman, Gary Husband, Nguyen Lee, John Marshall, Jimmy Haslip, Carles Benavent, Bob Mintzer, Theo Travis, John Etheridge, Jeremy Stacey and many others.

Mark mixes and masters at his UK based Heron Island Studio.

If you are interested in working with Mark on your next album you can contact him here:

[TheHouseofKushTV]

Agreed. I get mired in this a lot less when I work 'briskly', meaning I'm not hurried but I'm flowing from task to task crisply, decisively, never spending more than a minute or two on a given instrument or aspect of the mix before letting it go, widening my focus, noticing what other thing pings my attention, then shifting to that. Also, taking breaks more often than I want, ideally stepping outside to hear the breeze and the sounds of life, always resets my perceptual baseline. And relentlessly moving forward is critical for me; if I find that I keep wanting to circle back to something I've already addressed more than once, I try to figure out what the deeper issue is, what's actually causing the rub, because at that point what I'm hearing is not a problem, it's a symptom of something larger. I try to always stay grounded in the biggest picture possible, namely 'is this production stirring a feeling in me from the first note, and does it keep me hooked until the last?' Clarity, punch, detail, space... all that stuff is nice, but what I'm after is 'the story', a vibe that grabs hold and won't let go thru the up and downs of the dynamics, the ins and outs of the transitions, and the maybe-no-one-ever-hears-this easter eggs buried all along the way.

[joshhoe]

amazing advice. I produce lofi music and i've been caught out on this many times. Thank you for articulating this so clearly ! This phenomenon is why sometimes i feel like a plugin is making a difference and realize it was on bypass the whole time !

[fivebyfivesound]

In addition to learning the first principles of audio processing and mixing, along with the fundamental tools, this insight—the one of recognising shifting and loss of perspective—has by far been the most important lesson I’ve learned and my three years of mixing. Thank you for illuminating it so plainly for us all 🙏🏽

[kpec]

When I get to the point where the only changes on a mix are subtle, I usually stop. Because if I'm at 95-98% of a good mix, I reach a point where I'm more likely to make the mix worse than to fix small things and achieve perfection.

[DavidD-unoy]

What I learned about mixing is that the musician hears what he intended but the engineer hears what he did. Crossing that void is the challenge in making the right mix.

[kevinbatchelor]

Great advice. Make the changes with fresh ears, be bold, trust your gut, move to the next step. Don’t get bogged down in the minutiae.

[slavmanofficial]

thank you so much, this video just helped me finish a mix I've been struggling on and overthinking for a month now.

[davidroberts]

I like these mixing videos that don't always focus on the technical side, the mindset is equally important ask Mike Tyson.

[johnplainsong]

The zen of mixing.
You say you aren't a Buddhist, but a bit of you is!
Fascinating stuff, thank you.

[zootook]

I've been mixing and mastering for nearly 10 years and never really thought about it like that, but this makes soo much sense.
Thank you very much for sharing!

[croay]

I got you. As a composer myself, it's something I'm constantly aware of. There's this feeling that everything needs to be perfect, which can be overwhelming. That's why some producers choose to work DAWless. Limiting options can prevent getting lost in endless tweaking.

Nowadays, I take a more direct approach in my productions. I focus on trusting my decisions instead of overthinking them (even if they prove to be wrong in retrospect). Looking back, it's always easier to identify mistakes. The more you create, the better you become at it. While overthinking and overtweaking only lead to frustration and wasted time.

[mldunn]

It doesn't only apply to mixing and working in the studio - it's the same with listening (for pleasure or erudition) - the amount of times I have listened to, especially, longer works, especially symphonies (old and new) and they can sound like different pieces of music entirely that I like or dislike depending on where I am in my head at that moment. Great point Mark, thanks!! Every moment is different, to be appreciated for what it is (and since music is all about things unfolding over time, perhaps that is not as esoterically irrelevant to music as you - almost apologetically - imply!)

[greeneyes]

Another variant of what you are hinting at: You spend some time a/b -ing a track's plugin...only to find out after a few minutes that you are bypassing the plugin on a completely different track. I constantly have to remind myself to take breaks frequently and to set myself a time limit for the amount of what to do in a session or a day.

[AironExTv]

This matches my experience as a 25 year editor and re-recording mixer. I read a while ago that this is called sensory adaptation. It's how we cope with louder environments, isolate voices in a conversation taking place in a loud enviornment and in general don't go nuts. It took me a similar amount of time to recognize this in myself. My loops are around dialogue lines, which I try to do less now. Getting fresh perspectives is what I do most now. Saves me a lot of time and confusion.

[DrMax]

Very interesting. And no zoom jumps or distracting background music makes listening to your ideas very enjoyable.

[billcompeau]

I really enjoy this type of video that deals with the most important approaches to mixing and mastering, thanks for doing these!

[acecomet]

I agree with you . I feel that too. I ve been mixing for 30 years and figured this out lately. I am glad i am not the only one feeling this. Great video

[mcpribs]

Yes! I’ve made this realization recently, but couldn’t organize my thoughts, or experiences as well as you have. It’s really changed how I mix drums, especially, and I’m so much more satisfied with what’s coming out of the speakers. Everything is breathing more. Thank you!

[markhalpin]

The best method to keep you ears in check is to put a mono plugin on the master bus. Your music will sound different and you will have to adjust the frequencies. When it sounds great, go back to stereo and adjust the frequencies again. Eventually you will get it so they both sound great. Remember, live shows and club music is played in MONO. Getting it to sound pumping, loud, clear etc in mono and stereo is the trick to a good mix.

[stevenewtube]

One important thing I’ve learnt in my 40 years mixing is context: always play from the start to the end. Yes, sometimes you’ll focus in to segments but to really, to hear the affect in context you have to listen from the beginning. Yes, we will by then be at a different place in the universe and it will sound, well like it does. Tweak away until you can go from start to finish and don’t feel the need to change anything and you good.