10 Worst Pieces of Common Mixing Advice

Not all mixing advice is created equal. Some of the most often repeated pieces of bad mix advice have a small kernel of truth in them... and a seed of destruction.

Justin Colletti highlights his favorite (or least favorite) pieces of advice around mixing. What are yours?

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[rickbiessman]

1:40 1. "Don’t EQ or compress by more than a few dB."
5:40 2. "In a 'good mix' you can hear every element clearly all the time."
8:20 3. "The Myth of a Thousand Little Choices."
9:38 4. "Here is the 'right way' to EQ or compress this instrument."
12:00 5. "Hi-Pass everything except for bass and kick drum."
15:23 6. "Don’t use EQ to boost. ...only cut!!"
17:29 7. "Don’t EQ in parallel [because of phase shift]!"
21:26 8. "Sweep your EQs!"
24:19 9. "You can’t mix on headphones!"
27:25 10. "You need a better 'X' to get good sounds."

You’re welcome :D

[butterblood]

One of the most helpful things I’ve learned in my short time recording/mixing is that not every track needs processing. I used to be guilty of thinking I needed EQ, comp, etc on everything.

[midnightsocean]

I once heard some advice, it was: don't learn what to do, learn how to do. In other words, learn how to use each tool in and of it's self. Learn how to sculpt and process each element to the desired direction. It's an unavoidable fact that, every song/artist/album is to some extent or another, different, and there is no "surefire preset formula" for most of the mixing process. Just learn your tools and attack each task within the context of the project you are working on. Things change. Demands change. Trends change. If you know your tools well, you can do what ever is needed regardless and you wont get locked into a "style" of mixing that might not always serve well.

[weedywet]

So glad to hear you talk about overdoing High Pass filtering and mid range roll outs. It's SO overdone, and why so many mixes just end up sounding thin. It's really one of the worst "internets" tropes.

[bboymac]

Ear training is everything! This is a game of good ears, creative thinking and colab work! Learn and work with new people! Experience is based on trying new stuff for new sounds!

[sorashima]

EQ is a side-effect of phase shift, not the other way around. I'm glad you tackled this!

[bboymac]

Rest your ears!! Then come back to it. This helped me big time!!

[grsfhhytff]

I've been mixing about 5 years now and number 1 has been a hurdle with me up until recently. I never had the confidence to be heavy on sources with a limiter. Once I got over this my drum sound got way better.
Also when you have a cheap, nasty setup like mine, phase meters, frequency analysers and LUFS meters are a god send. They give you the re-assurance that your ears aren't lying to you. I'd like to see more of these episodes. I find 'what advice to be wary of' is essential knowledge in the age of anyone being able to upload information. I have a decent B.S meter and watch audio channels that give me good advice such as yourself, Produce Like a Pro, SMG but there are some rotten channels out there which could catch you out if you weren't careful, with amateurs like myself posing as experienced mixers/ mastering engineers. I'm defo voting that you make this a series.
Cheers.

[TrevorWesleyOfficial]

Haha great stuff brother. It's funny cause with creativity.. there is no "wrong" way... and people tend to want a roadmap when the way to get somewhere is always gonna be different depending on who's driving lol. Sure we can have waze tell us every turn to make but at the end of the day it's better to learn our way around on the road and make wrong turns to find the best route but as you said... it starts with having a direction and a destination to aim for... for me, I don't always intellectualize the direction or destination but I intuitively go off a feeling and each decision either feels right or feels wrong.

[alexeysmirnovguitar]

Bad advice is "Stock plugins are always worse than third-party ones". Or "paid plugins sound much better, than free ones". Many great mixers use free/stock plugins a lot!

[christopherecatalano]

I sometimes like to use an automated eq sweep as a weird filter effect, but did find that trying to identify the bad or good spot usually made me lose sight of the bigger image. This is a great channel…honest, unpredictable in a good way, and not one bit patronizing. Thank you, this stuff is fantastic food for thought. Oh, and I love sharing the mixing duties between headphones and monitors, good point about learning what your stuff does.

[jhkarjal]

I had a bunch of bad advice in mind, but you covered them all. Good job.

Something I wish I could have avoided is the idea that making your mix "warmer", "deeper" and "more analog" was always something to strive for. Sometimes I get warmer sounds through processing and it just makes the mix worse as a whole, and extra depth can be very distracting as well.

[MatthewSwasta]

This approach of bad advice from the internet can and ought to be applied to the actual songwriting as well...write what you feel and what you want to project or say, get it right at the source, and don't let anyone tell you you're "doing it wrong".

Your (anti-)advice is great here...

[mpcdlp]

Pure gold, we need to hear this! You can argue the same goes for arrangements

[prod_by_gabe]

Awesome vid! thanks for the wisdom. Timestamps for those who need it
1: 1:34
2: 5:34
3: 8:19
4: 9:37
5: 12:00
6: 15:22
7: 17:31
8: 21:26
9: 24:18
10: 27:30
Bonus: 31:05

[johnsguitarpage]

RE Stereo bass frequencies - great to finally hear someone confirm something iv observed listening to sides only on great recordings - I'd recommend everyone listen to Blue Jeans by Lana Del Rey on Metric A/B (or similar) set to sides only to confirm Justin's point here - yet many of the most highly regarded repeat this 'always make low end mono' line.
The stereo low end on the first chorus of that song is what makes it, one of the most stunning things iv heard

[StratsRUs]

Just so great. Thank you for your talent and experience and then the ability to communicate it all so superbly.
You mentioned mixing darker than you should and that is what I'm working on.Going back and making sounds brighter.The reference songs I choose are vital now.

[brianvillage]

I like to understand how equipment works, or what certain pieces do and to spend some time playing with them on various sources to understand what the knobs and switched on each piece does.
It did take me a while to understand what compressors do, it took me a long time to hear low end and low mids properly and those are some of the main things that can quickly make or break a section or even a whole song, or album.

[Soforexx]

This is absolutely amazing. Thanks for the weekly update

[cornoc]

excellent well spoken advice. helps keep some perspective around.