Top 5 WORST Mixing Advice!

The Top 5 WORST mixing advice I've received throughout my career this far.

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WHO AM I
I’m Emily, an audio engineer, home studio educator, and content creator for music creatives. I run my own music business (Fair Air Music) that includes: Mixing/Mastering Services, Online Digital Products/Courses, a Podcast, and Educational YouTube Tutorials. I also write weekly newsletters for those wanting to gain knowledge and insight into the music industry.

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⌚️ Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:40 - Bad Advice #1
1:38 - Bad Advice #2
2:35 - Bad Advice #3
3:47 - Bad Advice #4
4:38 - Bad Advice #5

[HunterShawMusic]

The high-pass one misses some things. Most tracks (ESPECIALLY tracked in a home studio) have unnecessary rumble and noise down at 40-50Hz. A lot of times this isn't audible in a mix, but eats up headroom for mastering, can make compressors grab in a weird way, and can subtly cloud up the low end when you stack a bunch of tracks with a bit of rumble. Also, basically no consumer level speakers produce anything below 30Hz. If you want a decently loud master, high-pass everything. Just don't high-pass things too high, and be careful of how the phase shift at the cutoff frequency may interact with other mics on the same instrument. Your point about cutting out drum bleed is genre specific. You'll see it more in metal, rock, country, and some pop with live drums. It's great when done right. For the music I mix, I basically only do it on tom close mics and occasionally kick drum. Depends on the song. Overhead panning is also just preference, not "bad advice". Many new and old songs of all genres have hard-panned spaced-pair, Glyn Johns, XY, Blumlein, or ORTF overheads.

[Cod]

Yeah, I used to indulge in the 'sweeping frequency nightmare'. Such a waste of time and the best way to kill the sound! I only ever do that now if I can hear something definitely wrong (which is rare).

[topangasideeye]

I totally agree on the drum piece. I’m a drummer who has been recently recording from home and I could see some subtle panning for effect on certain parts, but not the whole mission. I’ve submitted professionally produced material which I think sounds great for review through outlets like TAXI and the feedback is always that it doesn’t sound “modern” enough. Everybody on the pop and alternative and even modern country spectrum wants flat, punchy, un-nuisances rhythm tracks with no dynamics when it comes to commercial use. It makes sense if that’s the sound you’re going for, but it kills me that it seems to apply across every mainstream and even “indie” genre these days. I just stick to what I like.

[confectionarysound]

Excellent advice Emily! Or...advice about bad advice? Either way, I wish you had told me all this years ago! :)

[jacobskovsbllknudsen]

I do like my drums wide though haha. If you just tame the overheads and make sure that the cymbals are not too loud and overpowering it can still work just fine IMO. But I hear ya.

[TeamUltraSlow]

Slightly OT, but even in my beginning journey of recording and mixing, client “advice” (even my band mates) seems to have some issues as well, especially on genres that have certain expectations or think it can’t be “produced”.

Two from someone in my punk band:
Just pan ALL the guitars down the middle.
Don’t put any reverb on the vocal.

Had to fight the urge to give him what he wanted just to see the reaction 😀

He sure would have been surprise by how much reverb and delay was on that vocal track and the separated guitars since he liked the finished product!

[jurgenschuler]

Emily, you know No 3 won't get you endorsing plugins. Nice video! Oh, and to add my favorite anti-advice, which is not really advice, but a question of mindset: If it's free, it's worthless.