What I Learned from Watching Brauer

Today I want to share with you my key takeaways from the most recent video series with Michael Brauer on Puremix.com. I have huge respect for Brauer and his work and workflow have inspired me a lot over the last few years. However, there are some pitfalls with the way he works and I want to share why his methods might be more complicated to the more novice mixer to implement. I'll talk about the relevance of production quality, and the mindset of a good mixer as well.
00:00 Intro
00:45 Brauerize Method Overview
01:26 The Tone Of Compressors
02:33 Bounce and Feel
02:55 The importance of Assistants
03:35 Gain Staging
04:00 Serial Processing
04:54 Vocal Chain
06:08 Before/After comparison
06:50 How much do professionals do?
07:12 Aggressive Master Bus Processing
07:32 The Importance of Headroom
08:18 Respecting the music and working hard!
08:44 Top Mixers work with Top Productions
08:56 What is the Intention of the Artist?
09:39 Don't Buy Plugins
10:14 The minimum you need
10:37 Am I switching?
11:34 The Thought Process Matters Most!
12:09 Understanding Concepts
12:22 Mixing Course Shoutout!
12:30 Outro
If you're interested in mixing and mastering, or 1-on-1 masterclasses, feel free to visit my website www.martinmixing.com

[@Jhn_Freeman]

I didn’t know from you until I found this video of yours and you explained very well detailed all the aspects that I also found in the Brauer videos. Exactly what you said it’s what I believe must be the goal of those videos. I think that more copying one to one what Brauer does, we must take the critical aspects, the structure and mentality to aboard the mix. At the end the best we can do is to find our own sound and method.

[@perryyeldham6746]

It's been my opinion from the beginning of learning to mix on a DAW that the long experience working with real analog gear gives the mixers we look up to - including you, Martin! - a huge advantage in mixing ITB. Let's face it, a majority of the plugins out there are emulations of analog gear. Monsieur Brauer can reach for this plugin or that one and get it to sound the way he wants it to because he knows what the real thing sounds like, and if he can't get the plugin to sound exactly that way, he can (and does) just grab another one to get it all the way there. Let's also face this: whether it's the real thing or an emulation, experience using the tools we have available to us - long and repetitive experience - and having a good idea of the way we want things to sound - is what really gets us to where we want to go as mixers.

[@Elektrotechnika]

Man, thanks for sharing that's awesome! I agree with you that the process as a whole is quite complex for someone who has not had the experience like Brauer. For me, it has been a huge source of information about specific tools and tricks (all-buttons mode parallel compression with 1176ers, compressors as character machines, the whole thing with the SSL 9000J and how it's affecting the whole mix, etc ..). I indeed bought 5-6 plugins after watching all that stuff but mostly not to replicate his approach 1:1 but to improve my current workflow and just make my mixes sound warmer, richer, and more expensive from the very beginning. I replicated the analog way of connecting a multi-track tape machine to the SSL console (with Softubes Tape and bx_console SSL 9000J plugins. I first tried the Studer A800 from UA but the straightforward and easy UX of the Softube emulation is just superb and serves all my needs) on every audio track. I also bought the Pultec EQP1A from UA as a native plugin to have that amazingly sounding high-end and low-end boost (just google "Pultec low-end trick) right at my fingertips and it really makes any sound source sound better by just inserting the plugin without moving the knobs! I also bought the MC77 as a gluing compressor like Brauer uses it and VCA, Opto, and tube compressors, namely the Model 5000 (combining the best of the API2500 and the SSL Bus Compressor), OptoRed (emulating the LA-2As) and Firechild (a Fairchild emulation with oversampling feature) by Tone Empire, to take my group processing and saturation on a new level. It sounds like a lot of new stuff but in the past I just mixed my way through here and there and used almost no compression at all, heavily relying on my mastering engineer to take care of the dynamics. I created a demo track with drums, bass, and a synth, and just by inserting those new tools on every channel and really by taking the time to shape each instrument to sound and feel better, I accomplish a 10x improvement in overall sound, bounce, feel, you name it ... All plugins have been on sale, so it was not a fortune and I never invested in premium compressors/eqs, etc before (speaking of Universal Audio, Softube, Plugin Alliance). I produce EDM/dance pop. And yes, I bought the Germanium by Softube, just because Brauer is so amazed by it and he said this would be the one if he had to choose one for the rest of his life. And it's really very interesting, I recommend playing with it. Just download a trial! I think it's important to learn those tools and what they are doing in order to make good use of them. I'm using a plugin called "GainMatch" that shows exactly the difference in gain before and after a plugin insert (useful to concentrate on the tone of the compressor rather than just boosting gain and thinking it sounds better), and it has a Delta button, pressing this you only hear the difference between your original track and what the plugin is doing with your track. It's extremely helpful to really get to know what the Pultecs, the tape emulation, and the compressors are adding to your sound. Otherwise, you really need well-trained ears to hear the difference between tape saturation and different settings etc ...

[@constantinranis]

Wow damn I actually do this just to save CPU because I ve noticed that my Mac works better when I don't have more than 3-4 plugins on every channel , so I split my mix bus in 3 Busses that resolves to 2 master Busses , crazy stuff XD