Hello Joe, thank you for making such a fair and balanced reaction to my video! Thank you for your kind words and especially for editing this video in a way that doesn’t take me out of context at all. At 6:40, the way you articulated this was so much better than I did and far more nuanced. I admit I cut out quite a bit in the edit and maybe I should have left it in. I also want to assure you that I completely agree that frameworks and processes are beneficial for creativity and I myself have many! I really was referring to folks who are selling a miracle mix cure or a blueprint for a hit song and overnight success. While I haven’t tried your course, I always viewed you as a fair and honest person and wasn’t meaning to group you in with any of those folks. Thanks again! Michael
I have apparaqntely been doing this longer than both of you and I will say this, youo both are great at presentation and keeping thoughts on point and present the material in a way ... for me....... reinforces and allows me to keep my attentions on point .... "im the guy that loves the book that came with the software" and reads help files front to back when learning something" So i dont come in expecting or looking for new knowledge but to reinforce and process compare with you to verify.... NOT that i havent learned a few things along the way as well for sure but when you are looking to "learn" you can learn from anyone if you pick them apart long enough, bUT JOE IS Great as a teacher ....as a teacher should be beacuase the formula for great teaching is = HOW and then WHY. context is everything!!! but you both have the subscriber levels that speak for them selves . I have neither the patience or inclination to teach , my BASS students used to say I was much more effective if i would just shut up and let them watch me play and answer thier questions ..... LMAO gotta love the truth
I think Joe misunderstood what you meant when you said beware of someone with a magic bullet. Repeatable workflow is good but every track needs to be approached with an individual treatment. I think this is what you meant. No magic EQ setting for every time. Listen and process as needed. Love your channel.
I didn't watch Michael's video so I don't have the context but I feel like the point he was making was geared more towards those thousands of videos you see called "The secret tip all the pro's use", the kind of thing suggesting there's a shortcut you can take to avoid experience.
True there are a lot of miracle quick fixes, like sound like a pro in 5 minutes.. Its taken me my whole life and I'm still learning. Yet i've been earning a living for 20 yrs.ITs always a challenge.
First thing that impressed me is the high quality of your voice recording and mixing. When you listen to other voices and notice that, well, things could have been better... and here they are. It is a pleasure to listen to your voice.
You, Michael Wynne from In the Mix, and MixWithJerry are the three best production channels on TH-cam and taught me probably 90% of everything I've learned.
1. Totally agree with Joe about making sure the person you're taking advice from is mixing the same kind of music as you. No point in listening to a great EDM mixer if you're looking to mix a slow jazz piece. 2. Courses/processes: I think both Joe and Michael are right. For beginners, having a process or framework to start off is invaluable, otherwise where do you start? Even when you become more experienced, you can still start off with those steps and tweak anything you need to. What's wrong, is saying you should have your compressor threshold set at xx, or increase EQ by nDB at yyyKHZ (as examples) as these will be different for every song. Maybe that's what Michael was referring to. 3. I listen to both channels and I respect both of you and have learnt a lot from both of you. I find it's best to get advice from multiple sources, if you keep hearing the same thing from different people then you have a good chance of that advice being correct.
After a couple of false-starts (falling into the plugin buying/researching pitfalls a few times) , I started my *real* journey into mixing two years ago. Eventually I became comfortable with my tools. Undoubtedly the biggest game changer for me was 1.) buying Joe's Home Studio Mixing Course - and 2.) Mixing the 50 bonus songs that came with the course. Putting in the reps is the *best* way to get better. I've played music for 40+ years - but when it came down to learning *mixing* - it was nice not worrying about the writing/performing piece of the puzzle. I could just focus on mixing Joe's tracks. Highly recommended.
Couldnt agree more. I have done countless remixes on old songs of mine. Definitely a different experience that shows me how much i've evolved. It helps me to be proud of myself and shows me what I really need.
I think that the point of Michael about "methods" was more against all ready made advices kind courses (like always compress / EQ that type of instrument with this very settings). I'm sure you share the same opinion on this point.
It’s perfectly ok to spend time in solo, making the strongest the ingredients. It should sound good by itself and in mix context. Lots of beginners will pull their hair out, unable to locate offensive frequencies, phasing, problems etc if they follow this rule too close. Healthy relationship with solo takes time lol. Especially when we are learning what makes great ingredients
Learning about gain staging, the difference between gain trim and mixing faders, lowering gain trim(input volume) at the source of the recording to get every instrument at the same level before you start mixing was a massive game changer for me. Also master the basics of routing and learn the differences between channels, sends, aux and buses. Group similar instruments into one bus and mix that bus rather than the individual channels, like bus drums, vocal buses etc...
To the point of the recording and musicians carving out space, a Nashville fiddle player said session work and just playing with other folks live made her understand when to play and more importantly when not to play. If you take any county or bluegrass song and listen to the fiddle, they come in and out so much. Even actually stop playing at times to not take over the song. A fiddle is so powerful and cuts through a mix it will just take over a song if the fiddle player doesn’t understand how to mix themselves while recording or playing live. So the arrangement and production is absolutely key!
Michael is my professor that I always have to go back to for references no matter where else I have been. He tells you the hows and whys - SOLID! I met him long ago because of FL Studio search
This is terrific Joe. Thanks again for this and all your other videos. I do have to admit though, that I've watched enough of your videos that there were several places where I knew where you were going to agree and where you would (gently) take issue with what Michael had to say. Which means I have taken your lessons to heart. Mind you my implementation of said lessons sometimes lags behind but I swear I hear GIRATS in my head all the time when I'm recording.
OH MY GOD....(i appologize for always writing a novel, Its a character flaw probably lol).... Im so glad you you decided to do this video, becsause i watched his this video in particular and heard you as you sat on my shoulder watching it with me LOL..... i could hear some of your comments that you actually just said...... (i was LMAO) The whole reason I come back your channel is because I have discovered that most of what I have learned in 25 years of home recording and how I learned it .(which can be heard if you listen to labeled older recordings or just compare the qualities , you can literally hear the progression of improvemants in technologies and processes . Ive had many iterations of my studio as tech has advanced ov the years. ..you have revealled that you also learned these same lessons exactly how I did. Its really quite amazing when you tell a story of how you learned something I have very very similiar EXPEREINCES ....... iVE SAID BEFORE you dont typically teach me anything i dont already know but you are a master at presentation and have a gfrgeat way that you break it all down annd it always seems to refresh and re-emphasize things i need to always be thinking of.... and it for that ...That I appreciate you. My channel purposely not labeled by me at Tutorialistic but rather " this is how I do it and you are a fly on the wall" for me its about the music content as much as the sharing of the process" and this FORMAT i am still develping so my channel is alol over the place as I work on my presentation. Only recently getting completely serious minded about the use of TH-cam as a monetary generator for myself. LOVE YOUR SHOW and LOVE PRESONUS , Im faithful paying user with an FP8 and pro 7 and misc different interfaces. I usewd to sell Pro Audio at SAM ASH and was comped a copy of S1 3pro and have been hooked ever since. LOVE YOUR CHANNELS AND your work
I've been mixing my own work for around 5 years and I can tell you, 12:53 was a painfully recent truth to learn. The better we choose our instruments, sounds and the way they play, the EASIER the mix
after 35 years of playing in bands, sound engineering for major touring acts live and working in my own home studio with pro musicians and singers the biggest issue that nobody is really talking about is the performance. Even many so called “pros” who are making their own records giving advice on their youtube channels who are decent enough musicians/producers/engineers but severely lack in vocal performance/ability. The vocal is by far the most important part of the mix and this is where i hear most amateur music fall flat, without a strong powerful vocal the mix is uninteresting and most people wont listen for very long. I would rather hear a poorly mixed song with a strong vocal than the other way around. Robert Johnsons recordings are sacred but by todays standards are terribly recorded.
Fantastic video , thx a lot for this , Joe ! Yesterday I saw a video of Marshmello and his process of making music and I was amazed about his simple process of doing things . In the end it's HOW IT SOUNDS IN THE MIX and not about the complicated process of using 10 plugins (or so) for a single track or having the most expensive gear in the world . Of course it's normal to develop your process during the years of making quality music but for a beginner or someone who does not have so much experience it's important to keep things SIMPLE and as they learn something new and useful , put those things into practice ! Happy New Year and thx for these amazing advices!
Thanks for this video Joe! I sell courses too here in italy and i work on recording, mixing and mastering for small artists, signed artists and labels of all kinds (major, indie etc.). Sold more than 3000 courses and listened that lots of people got better thanks to my methods. I never sold a panacea, but i am convinced that a clean and simple method could really improve anyone's mixing skills. I studied a lot of courses too, just for curiosity and in order to expand my knowledge. I think that depends from person to person, but with the kind of guarantees that an honest person like you or me offers (30 days total refund, no question asked), it is very difficult to make someone unhappy
I'm ever so grateful to learn from both of you! What a wonderful dialogue between two respected and trusted sources of how to get the best out of whatever we have to work with, and learning how to 'point' our ears. Thanks for sharing your opinion of Michael's post, Joe. Both of you bless us with your insights and experience. We all are improving, thanks to you fellas.
Loved the points: Have a process for everything (that you do a lot) and arrangement is the often overlooked precursor to a good mix. I had that exact experience of setting the faders on the Audiohaze recreation of Garden Song and realized songwriting, performance, and arranging do most of the heavy lifting in great songs.
A lot of great information here. I agree with both of your views. There's so many things I want to touch on here but I'd be writing a much too long post. I leave with you something I follow and I think in the world of mixing is highly important. "It's better to have tools that you may never need to use until the day comes and you need that tool". That doesn't mean buy everything but if something comes around that you can afford and it's such a great price why not put it in your tool box because you never know when you'll use it.
Making mistakes are amazing to learn from. Growth is found in mistakes. Knowing the range of what is too much and too little within yourself gives the template to your creativity.
I agree with your point about creativity and process, and I would even go one step further. Not only are creativity and process "not mutually exclusive," I believe that creativity is dependent on process. Creative ideas are not plucked from abstraction, they are solutions to problems that arise when a typical process is not generating a desired result. I agree with Michael's point that there is no one "correct" way to make music, but there are typical practices that lay the framework for how records are made and those practices can absolutely be taught and, depending on the quality of the teacher, can absolutely be valuable in the form of a course or lesson. I think his sentiment is aimed towards gimmicky course advertisements like "you NEED to learn this in order to make great records" or things of that nature, and unfortunately there are tons of opportunists out there trying to make a few extra bucks by undermining their potential clientele in this way. great video to both you and Michael, I love hearing people speaking genuinely and intelligently about these topics on this platform.
First of all, good stuff, thank you for giving commentary on Michael Wynne’s statements. I didn’t intend to chime in on this but your first comment made me go huh?… who told you to solo things and then mute that channel when you go on to the next one? That makes no sense? Start out soloing a channel, then, with that channel on, you add the next track and start working on it with the first one you worked on, etc… Get the kick sound you want, then add the snare to make those two tracks complimentary. But as you go, it’s a good idea to solo the track you’re working on (at some point) and then go back and forth between the soloed track and the track integrated into the mix. Once you get experienced, you’ll know what things are supposed to sound like, even soloed, so you can solo a track and make changes but always going back to including that track with everything else you’re working on. But it should be pointed out that it’s important to solo tracks as you’re mixing because sometimes it will reveal things about that track that you can’t hear in the overall context of the mix. You might hear excess noise or clicks or something funky with the effects or hidden distortion from a plug in that you didn’t notice when it wasn’t soloed. So soloing is still important but it shouldn’t be the only way that you mix tracks. The other item I disagree with is MW says that this will reduce ear fatigue, well, granted, anything you can do to reduce the amount of time you spend mixing is going to reduce ear fatigue but listening to a full mix is generally more fatiguing than when you’re working on a sound isolated. 2nd item, gear or ear and I agree with your take on that. 3rd point… For sure! How often do people listen to advice and hype but never listen to actual samples of their work! 4th point… I agree with you. I’ve been mixing for 40 years and, like you, over the years I have developed a formula or at least I should say a work flow or a consistent approach from song to song. But as you pointed out, it’s not a paint by numbers formula. I can’t take all my settings and presets from one song and paste it into another and expect it’s going to work perfectly, it never does and I’ve tried it many times. That doesn’t mean that you should start from scratch on every song either. But when you pull up some preset, be ready to scrap it and redo it from scratch because it may not work at all. Every song is different, even when tracked during the same tracking session, using the same set up and the same people. It’s almost odd that we can’t be more cookie cutter and I guess some people are, but I haven’t found that to be an effective method. Anyway, sorry to hijack the topic, appreciate the videos! All the best!
Totally agree with everything you said Joe. I know Michael is very good but instruction I've followed from you Johnny Geib, Jonny Lipsham and David Vignola have all been very helpful and all of you have a process you follow. That doesn't mean you can't add or subtract ingredients from the cake! 👍
about process is not how you cook it's about how you do every step. The way you EQ each item like a kick. I agree 200% with Michael. If you always take a template and add those same plugins the same way every time then thats what's we call the same process otherwise you don't follow the same process it's all about what it's needed at every step.
There was this guy who was trying to sell me an 8 weeks mixing/mastering course for like 3K with the promise that i after that my tracks would have that pro level (his mixes sound great indeed).. if i would be a total beginner and had the money, i might have fall for this, but since i already have some i know that even if he would give me all the knowledge and information he can, he would still have 15 year more experience than me and that is where the big difference is.. experience and practice, yes courses/Seminars etc are great investment but the expectations and the price should stay realistic
Funny how two of my favorite you tubers on audio mixing and recording differ somewhat in their approaches, yet I get so much out of both of them. I think what Michael means is about formulae, you know, guys that will tell you that if you apply such and such an fx chain every time, your mixes are going to be great. That doesn't make much sense to me. Some people work more with processes. Others don't, and just approach it sort of intuitively and holistically. That's kind of the way I work. There are some tasks that are often repeated that you can incorporate in your templates and such, but every song is different, and even the same song can be approached in many different ways. When I sit down to produce a song, I barely have a vague idea of what I want to do with it. As I go along and start putting it together, I get ideas and inspiration, and so I try different things, and many times I end up with something substantially different than what I had conceived initially. Anyway, that's my two cents worth. Both you guys rock. I've learned a lot from you and others, and hope to continue to do so.
Thank you for the video, Joe. I think establishing a few standard processes for mixing/engineering sets my creativity free and allows me to commit more time and energy to having fun. Your videos have helped me build those processes, thanks again for that.
Everything has a process. I watch Mike too. But it was more helpful to me to watch everybody I can on TH-cam, I'm not looking for a new trick all the time. sometimes I'm looking for new perspective. So they may not do anything I like but they may say something that make me think different or try something different.
13:53 about getting it right from the source i like to think of it this way: its like a patient in a hospital, where the Song & stems are the patient and the Mixing tools are the Medical tools , you can use medicine to cure the body, but you can't bring back the dead.
Cool video (except it stopped me progressing on the Recording course 😆 - that's what I sat down to do!! Oh well, lunch first now, then Christmas wrapping, then I'll get back to that!). And it made me check out Michael's channel too - excellent and worth watching. And, at least for me, I find the information and delivery from both of you complementary. You both talk to the "inner me" on this stuff...
The biggest lesson I ever learned from one of the best mix engineers in the country was to get it right at the source. My aim should be to use little to no EQ. If the microphone selection and placement is correct, you really don’t need to do nearly as much adjustment. This is especially true for anything that phase coherency of the overtones makes a difference. The advice to adjust EQ and other effects in the mix instead of solo? I will disagree to a certain extent. I solo all the time, but for brief moments just to make sure that I understand what is going on and I don’t have anything unusual going on that is getting masked. Just because we can’t hear something in OUR mix in OUR monitors doesn’t mean that someone else won’t hear it with their ears in their environment. Soloing allows us to hear something that’s off that while not immediately audible, will stand out like a sore thumb once you are aware of it. But just don’t live in the solo. Visit it briefly. Your mastering engineer will thank you. Selling courses? You CAN teach basic structure and process. Why else did I go to college for? But specific step-by-step instructions for how to create art? The problem is that most of what we do is “craft” not “art.” Actual art is creating something that has never been created before. Originality. 99% of what we do is NOT art, it’s craft. We use our craft as part of the process of creating art-almost always someone else’s. But let’s be realistic. Just because we work in the “arts” does not make us artists. Craft is structured, art is craft creating new structure.
3:50 - Homeboy (me) is literally on disability. My bean has been scrambled more times than I can count. Disability helps a person just get by. All of my gear is second hand. Most of it coming from the ARC thrift store. If something is broken, I have to fix it. A Yellow Tag day can put me into a powered sub for $10. Their is also the weird stuff like the gramophone that was buried in a shelf of type writers. - I lost 30+ of programming knowledge, with some of my work going in national, like POTUS level work, and it all went away over night. What replaced it was creativity that took root back in mid-late 90's. My ex-wife asked me to recreate a practice session from one of the nights our club was closed. And it stuck. - If you have to get away with $10.00 speakers vs nothing, Go for the $10.00 . Creating music doesn't have to be a rich man's game.
Courses and guides have been very helpful to me personally, so I would agree with you. However, I think what Michael was saying about following others process/techniques is that these processes aren't a magic pill for your mix. There have been many times that I have followed someone's process to get a specific result and it failed. Usually due to my poor execution or it simply wasn't right for what I was working on. Thanks for the vid!
The analogy about Michaelangelo sculpting the head bigger probably came from a hard lesson of finishing the work, looking at it from the proper distance and throwing the chisel across the room and having some choice words about how chitty weeks of work now look and how it's ruined (you can't add marble back to the sculpture). He tried his best and his project ended up as junk. But he learned. So the next time, he knew what the challenge would be and how to avoid issues.
Growing up I didn't have the solo habit simply because we only had mutes on our console which meant to hear anything standalone you had to either put it on a VCA alone or mute everything else and with 24 to 46 tracks that wasn't easy to do. The only time we did it was if we could not pinpoint a ringing or something that was sticking out badly.
I think he means eq moves that always work and processing chains that will always work or compression settings that will always work. He wants you to learn the tools so you can use them differently every song. He is a firm believer in work flow process though.
Great video. I have one thought to add. Honestly, I think the biggest issue I hear in the mixes done by advice givers on TH-cam is the lack of dynamic range. I think a good way to test a mix is to crank it up loud, but not painfully loud. If the mix starts to induce ear fatigue after 30 seconds because it's a constant barrage on the ears, or it sounds like a wall of noise, that'd be a bad mix. There's too much emphasis on getting the mix "loud enough to compete."
That’s interesting. It kinda ties into another point from Michael’s video, where he talks about the Loudness Wars being over. “Loudness won,” he said. 😂 He’s not wrong.
Hi Joe, I totally agree with the "getting things right from the source" philosophy, but what if I use a lot of virtual instruments and I need to do both producing and mixing myself? In this scenario, there seems to be no such clear boundary between "producing" and "mixing", sometimes I must add some plugins to make it sound good, and I don't know if that means I'm doing mixing too early. P.S. I have no experience of recording real instruments in a studio, and I guess that's part of why I will have this question.
Hey Joe. Thanks for all the videos. Might be a bit late for this to be seen, but could you do a video on *how* you approach getting it right at the source? To me it's starting to sound a bit like "use your ears". As a hobbyist without great equipment it's hard to know what to do with this advice in a practical sense.
I will say when it comes to using stock plugins to needing to buy plugins to sound good…. It matters what type of music you’re producing. If you doing a 4 piece rock band or an orchestra. Stock plugins will be fine. If you’re producing electronic music stock plugins only take you so far. And that’s because in electronic music we use a lot of specialty plug-ins. Plugins that do specific things. Like the Kickstarter 2 plugin. Which is a side chain effect plugin. And yes you can do side chaining with a compressor. But Kickstarter can do more and get more precise and is way faster than setting up a compressor and the whole side chain setup. In electronic music there are a lot of plugins like this. You can not get the same result with a compressor. Close maybe. But not the same.
I watched Michael's video when it came out. I think what he was trying to get across, and I do believe there's plenty of TH-cam click bait out there, was referring to producing a "hit" song if you use a specific formula rather than using a measured approach. 🤷🏻♂️
Take this with a grain of salt what I’ve learned from my time mixing is that having proper clocking helps biiiig time lots of cheap interface do sound ok for what its worth but they usually uave terrible conversion and clocks ? My point is having a good clock and conversion will help you hear things better quicker and believe it or not the plugins react better i can hear the reverb tail settle better the eq curves i can frequencies i wasn’t hearing before the compressor actually reacts better plus higher sample rates means i can apply pitch correction with ease so for me good converters with god clocking is a must if you want to speed track your mixing or you will be fighting with it also because of the clocking offer lower jitter i cam get louder mixes with ease that doesn’t distort early but when i tried this with my lower end interface it distort early again this is my report on what ive learned . So good interface good speakers good cables dont go overboard. Basically if you can get mastering quality in the early stages you ate set
I was thinking! Your notebook is always in hands reach. Do you take notes when mixing. I find when putting something down on paper it sticks to my brain and i give it more love.
When people already mention at the headline that they have XX years of experience, it makes me sceptical and most of the time i don't watch any further. I'll be 63 in December and I'm still learning this fascinating topic called music and everything which belongs to it, even after decades. This is due to the nature of the subject, especially in this genre. 75%, if not more, on social media think they have experience just because they may have attended a course or might have sniffed a bit of Studio Air and is making them to so-called sound engineers, producers and so on ? At least 85% of their content is advertising (open or subtle) for the how-many-must-i-have-of-them plugins. The ones who really have experience and talking sense are rarely seen on social media or can be counted on 10 fingers. You Mr. Gilder are one of the fingers. Thanks for your content.
I’m 64, I’ve been writing, recording, and performing original music for 50 years. I’ll take advice if it makes sense to me, for my music. Joe often has good advice, or methods. Thank you.
Joe, I’m with you on the gear question, though there are nuances that might be useful. Are there any special combinations of tools you find helpful to craft certain processes. VCA in front of a Vari Mu, EQing and or de-essing reverb sends, for instance. Your description of mixing in solo is very funny. I think many of us experienced this early on. As always… Thank you, and Happy Holidays
4:24 Good equipment and good skills makes an astounding output. It goes hand in hand. Its like rpg games. A high level character will not optimize his skills ang damage output if he has low level equipment
It's not about wanting a track to sound amazing in solo, or in both solo and the mix. It's about utilizing the higher resolution provided by listening to the track in solo. Learn what makes a sound work in the mix, and then how to adjust it towards that in solo mode. Then obviously also mix it within the rest of the tracks. But a lot of the time the full mix can mask sounds so much that you barely hear what you're doing
2:53 "It's not the gear, it's the ears" really should be phrased "it's not the tools, it's the skill". And it should primarily be reserved for answering questions like "what's the best plugin for mixing vocals?" and other beginner questions looking for a quick fix without learning *why* a tool is good or bad.
Good video, but a slightly click-baity thumbnail. Was hoping to hear something juicy that I’ve been doing wrong - but… nope 😅 Informative video. Thanks for sharing! 🙌🏻
a process, specially when starting something is great. So a 101 process that has some level of success is always to use as a starting point. Once you feel confident enough you can get away from it.
I think he is talking about courses to get a perfect mix, rather than courses about how to use specific tools or techniques, e.g. compression master class, EQ 101 etc.
Hey Joe, my philosophy is you cannot achieve success if you randomly look up how to do things. If you want to learn recording, pick one person that you find trustworthy and follow only them. I follow you on TH-cam exclusively. When I was learning Sony Movie Studio Platinum, there was a person in Australia that I followed. When learning about photography, I follow a person that I know is trustworthy and knows his stuff. When learning fingerstyle guitar, a person to trust would be Tony Polecastro. Stick with one person so you do not get conflicting advice. I would trust Joe Gilder completely.
It is always great, if someone finds a way that suits their learning development. But for me, your advice would have been the opposite of helpful. I have learnt so much from so many different people, and I wouldn't have, if I had followed only one. Conflicting advice is not a bad thing at all. It shows, that there is not one truth, but many different approaches and you can find out, what is right for you.
if GIRATS is so important, and I know it is, no doubt, then I wish you would do twice as many videos on recording than on mixing, but somehow most recording channels talk about mixing but maybe they should give tips on recording. It's easy to say "change things until your raw tracks sound good", but how and what and how and why and how? Would be cool if this topic becomes your new content. This gives new material for the next 2 years. Show us what you hear and why and how you move the mics or dial in the amp settings. thanks ❤ Sending love from Europe.
point #2 is a thing, people argue about to this day. I think, it's not the gear or the ears. It's rather the knowledge and decisions you make, when mixing and on that purpose given there are only a handful of people that can nail a mix even, with the baddest gear on earth. For example deadmau5, this guy is so impressive, that you could give him a Playstation 1 with Music 2000 and he will manage to make song, that fills the dancefloors, exaggurately speaking
Solo mixes are fine....for solo mixes. I sometimes make a solo mix of a part just to get it out of my system. It will never go anywhere near the final full mix, but it helps me hear what I am looking for when the entire mix is happening. But that track in the big mix ain't the solo mix version.
Perhaps you've heard the phrase "there are no 'stupid questions'" (which has an occasional caveat "NOT asking questions is stupid"). So, while you may believe questioning Michaelangelo on the tools he used to create "David" might be "boring" (which is, by far, one of the oddest terms to associate with asking a question, and certainly creates confusion about the way you navigate your thoughts), it's actually quite smart to ask questions pertaining to the tools he used, because, in all likelihood, he didn't use just one chisel (or even just a singular tool - or even a tool with which everyone is familiar or knows how to properly handle/implement for the task), so to understand the tools used and the technique used during the process is to gain knowledge for future application when you, yourself attempt such an undertaking. It's called "education", which doesn't have to come by way of trial/error. It's why we have teachers/educators. There are myriad examples of where you, personally, attempt to impart wisdom from things you've learned, and that helps those who aren't as knowledgeable to sidestep those pitfalls on the way to quickly becoming more educated about the PROCESS. PROCESS. As in totality of something, which, yes...includes inquiries about things which you, personally find mundane. The last point I'll make in relation, is that some people have learning disabilities and REQUIRE greater detail to better/fully comprehend the process of something, so with the primary goal being to lift everyone through educating them, don't dismiss the way someone best learns information just because it isn't necessarily something with which YOU agree, got it?
One of the biggest obstacles to GIRATS is the Ego. "I recorded this awesome guitar part, so I have to put in the song." When in reality, the guitar part just doesn't fit the song. Letting go, and doing the right thing for the song is often much more subtractive than additive; but taking out parts from your creative efforts feels destructive rather than constructive because of ego, pride and vanity. Yet ultimately many of the very best productions are very 'basic' because they have exactly the right components in them. Nothing more, nothing less. Letting go of the 'nothing more' portion is very difficult at times.
Funny your get it right at the source comment makes me think of the fact that I have always complained there are a zillion mixing videos on TH-cam but very few recording videos
PArt of that is because people don’t want to watch it. They want mixing content. So we give them what they want, while trying to encourage them to look at the REAL problem, which is recording.
@ I wonder if everyone started “engineering” channels that taught how to get the best tones from mid level gear, mic techniques, etc etc eventually people would start moving towards that (eventually) it would def take time. So the juice wouldn’t be worth the squeeze right away so I get that not all creators could wait that out. I know for myself the only thing I’m finding are people recording with gear out of most people prices range. Mics that cost more than my car or my yearly salary lol. Thanks for the reply! Appreciate it
joeHello joe , pls help me pls... I activated the license and when I open Studio One 7, I enter my email and password and it gives me an error like this...CHECK YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION... my internet s dont have a problem.. dont know whats problem ... I'm a Windows user. Please help me... I bought this product from you. I am from Georgia.. not from the United States of America. But I don't think this is a regional problem. pls answer me fast ... thanks
Joe, I have been a subscriber for a looong time. This video finally convinced my to take your 5-step mixing course but I never signed up for your newsletter and I assume I missed your holiday deals (if you had any). Do you have any incentives coming up or any available right meow?
Nope, it's definitely gaslighting. It has some good intentions, like keeping people out of the black hole of plugin purchases, but it doesn't instill confidence in anyone, since in the same way you can't chisel with a wrench, you can't do multiband compression with a stock EQ. What a certain track needs in terms of processing is entirely individual and can't be blindly confidently guessed by your favourite mix engineer on TH-cam, regardless of their competence or confidence level. Get tools to expand your palette of techniques you can apply and try to stick with stuff you actually need and use instead of going on an endless shopping spree. Totally agree with Michael here.
Sure, right tool for the job. I don't think anyone out there is saying you can multi-band with a stock EQ. For me and my experience, though, to you use your example of multi-band compression, I could take it or leave it. It's a useful tool, but I don't find myself actually needing to use it all that much.
One more for the algorithm; if any of you great gear guys don’t think gear matters, I will pm you my address so you can send me the gear you say you don’t need.
▶︎▶︎ Free 5-Step Mix Guide here: www.5stepmix.com
last point is so, so true. get it sounding great in the studio/in the recording phase. the rest ist just polishing...
Hello Joe, thank you for making such a fair and balanced reaction to my video!
Thank you for your kind words and especially for editing this video in a way that doesn’t take me out of context at all.
At 6:40, the way you articulated this was so much better than I did and far more nuanced. I admit I cut out quite a bit in the edit and maybe I should have left it in.
I also want to assure you that I completely agree that frameworks and processes are beneficial for creativity and I myself have many! I really was referring to folks who are selling a miracle mix cure or a blueprint for a hit song and overnight success. While I haven’t tried your course, I always viewed you as a fair and honest person and wasn’t meaning to group you in with any of those folks.
Thanks again!
Michael
That makes sense! Thanks for being a voice of reason in the sea of nonsense. 🤘
I have apparaqntely been doing this longer than both of you and I will say this, youo both are great at presentation and keeping thoughts on point and present the material in a way ... for me....... reinforces and allows me to keep my attentions on point .... "im the guy that loves the book that came with the software" and reads help files front to back when learning something" So i dont come in expecting or looking for new knowledge but to reinforce and process compare with you to verify.... NOT that i havent learned a few things along the way as well for sure but when you are looking to "learn" you can learn from anyone if you pick them apart long enough, bUT JOE IS Great as a teacher ....as a teacher should be beacuase the formula for great teaching is = HOW and then WHY. context is everything!!! but you both have the subscriber levels that speak for them selves . I have neither the patience or inclination to teach , my BASS students used to say I was much more effective if i would just shut up and let them watch me play and answer thier questions ..... LMAO gotta love the truth
Joe is a Presonus lapdog . . . .
I think Joe misunderstood what you meant when you said beware of someone with a magic bullet. Repeatable workflow is good but every track needs to be approached with an individual treatment. I think this is what you meant. No magic EQ setting for every time. Listen and process as needed. Love your channel.
I've been watching both your channels and I think you both give stellar advice and I've learned a lot! So thank you both :)
As a subscriber of both channels for a while now I love the level of respect here. Cheers lads!
I didn't watch Michael's video so I don't have the context but I feel like the point he was making was geared more towards those thousands of videos you see called "The secret tip all the pro's use", the kind of thing suggesting there's a shortcut you can take to avoid experience.
True there are a lot of miracle quick fixes, like sound like a pro in 5 minutes.. Its taken me my whole life and I'm still learning. Yet i've been earning a living for 20 yrs.ITs always a challenge.
I think he meant numeric formulas, e.g. "use threshold set at -x db ratio at x:1" etc
First thing that impressed me is the high quality of your voice recording and mixing. When you listen to other voices and notice that, well, things could have been better... and here they are. It is a pleasure to listen to your voice.
You, Michael Wynne from In the Mix, and MixWithJerry are the three best production channels on TH-cam and taught me probably 90% of everything I've learned.
I’m glad I found these guys as well. Jerry is cool. 😀
Max from Mixelite too
Absolutely YES to everything, boss. Thanks again for so much
Michael is basically where 80% of my FL and production knowledge came from and for that i'll always be thanksful!
1. Totally agree with Joe about making sure the person you're taking advice from is mixing the same kind of music as you. No point in listening to a great EDM mixer if you're looking to mix a slow jazz piece.
2. Courses/processes: I think both Joe and Michael are right. For beginners, having a process or framework to start off is invaluable, otherwise where do you start? Even when you become more experienced, you can still start off with those steps and tweak anything you need to. What's wrong, is saying you should have your compressor threshold set at xx, or increase EQ by nDB at yyyKHZ (as examples) as these will be different for every song. Maybe that's what Michael was referring to.
3. I listen to both channels and I respect both of you and have learnt a lot from both of you. I find it's best to get advice from multiple sources, if you keep hearing the same thing from different people then you have a good chance of that advice being correct.
After a couple of false-starts (falling into the plugin buying/researching pitfalls a few times) , I started my *real* journey into mixing two years ago. Eventually I became comfortable with my tools.
Undoubtedly the biggest game changer for me was 1.) buying Joe's Home Studio Mixing Course - and 2.) Mixing the 50 bonus songs that came with the course. Putting in the reps is the *best* way to get better.
I've played music for 40+ years - but when it came down to learning *mixing* - it was nice not worrying about the writing/performing piece of the puzzle. I could just focus on mixing Joe's tracks. Highly recommended.
Couldnt agree more. I have done countless remixes on old songs of mine. Definitely a different experience that shows me how much i've evolved. It helps me to be proud of myself and shows me what I really need.
i believe Micheal is the best person making mixing videos on youtube, in my opinion.
As usual, you nail it :)
I think that the point of Michael about "methods" was more against all ready made advices kind courses (like always compress / EQ that type of instrument with this very settings).
I'm sure you share the same opinion on this point.
This is how I took it and was about to comment the same.
Joe I think it’s great to show respect to other creators, as you’ve done in the intro. Thanks for all the awesome learning material here on TH-cam
It’s perfectly ok to spend time in solo, making the strongest the ingredients. It should sound good by itself and in mix context. Lots of beginners will pull their hair out, unable to locate offensive frequencies, phasing, problems etc if they follow this rule too close. Healthy relationship with solo takes time lol. Especially when we are learning what makes great ingredients
Learning about gain staging, the difference between gain trim and mixing faders, lowering gain trim(input volume) at the source of the recording to get every instrument at the same level before you start mixing was a massive game changer for me.
Also master the basics of routing and learn the differences between channels, sends, aux and buses.
Group similar instruments into one bus and mix that bus rather than the individual channels, like bus drums, vocal buses etc...
If my chisel wasn’t working for me I would definitely be tempted to ask Michelango which model he was using lol
To the point of the recording and musicians carving out space, a Nashville fiddle player said session work and just playing with other folks live made her understand when to play and more importantly when not to play. If you take any county or bluegrass song and listen to the fiddle, they come in and out so much. Even actually stop playing at times to not take over the song. A fiddle is so powerful and cuts through a mix it will just take over a song if the fiddle player doesn’t understand how to mix themselves while recording or playing live. So the arrangement and production is absolutely key!
Michael is my professor that I always have to go back to for references no matter where else I have been. He tells you the hows and whys - SOLID! I met him long ago because of FL Studio search
This is terrific Joe. Thanks again for this and all your other videos. I do have to admit though, that I've watched enough of your videos that there were several places where I knew where you were going to agree and where you would (gently) take issue with what Michael had to say. Which means I have taken your lessons to heart. Mind you my implementation of said lessons sometimes lags behind but I swear I hear GIRATS in my head all the time when I'm recording.
Thank you Joe..I had a revelation during your presentation. God bless you
OH MY GOD....(i appologize for always writing a novel, Its a character flaw probably lol).... Im so glad you you decided to do this video, becsause i watched his this video in particular and heard you as you sat on my shoulder watching it with me LOL..... i could hear some of your comments that you actually just said...... (i was LMAO) The whole reason I come back your channel is because I have discovered that most of what I have learned in 25 years of home recording and how I learned it .(which can be heard if you listen to labeled older recordings or just compare the qualities , you can literally hear the progression of improvemants in technologies and processes . Ive had many iterations of my studio as tech has advanced ov the years. ..you have revealled that you also learned these same lessons exactly how I did.
Its really quite amazing when you tell a story of how you learned something I have very very similiar EXPEREINCES ....... iVE SAID BEFORE you dont typically teach me anything i dont already know but you are a master at presentation and have a gfrgeat way that you break it all down annd it always seems to refresh and re-emphasize things i need to always be thinking of.... and it for that ...That I appreciate you.
My channel purposely not labeled by me at Tutorialistic but rather " this is how I do it and you are a fly on the wall" for me its about the music content as much as the sharing of the process" and this FORMAT i am still develping so my channel is alol over the place as I work on my presentation. Only recently getting completely serious minded about the use of TH-cam as a monetary generator for myself. LOVE YOUR SHOW and LOVE PRESONUS , Im faithful paying user with an FP8 and pro 7 and misc different interfaces. I usewd to sell Pro Audio at SAM ASH and was comped a copy of S1 3pro and have been hooked ever since.
LOVE YOUR CHANNELS AND your work
I love Michael, just as you so helpful.
I've been mixing my own work for around 5 years and I can tell you, 12:53 was a painfully recent truth to learn. The better we choose our instruments, sounds and the way they play, the EASIER the mix
after 35 years of playing in bands, sound engineering for major touring acts live and working in my own home studio with pro musicians and singers the biggest issue that nobody is really talking about is the performance. Even many so called “pros” who are making their own records giving advice on their youtube channels who are decent enough musicians/producers/engineers but severely lack in vocal performance/ability. The vocal is by far the most important part of the mix and this is where i hear most amateur music fall flat, without a strong powerful vocal the mix is uninteresting and most people wont listen for very long. I would rather hear a poorly mixed song with a strong vocal than the other way around. Robert Johnsons recordings are sacred but by todays standards are terribly recorded.
Fantastic video , thx a lot for this , Joe ! Yesterday I saw a video of Marshmello and his process of making music and I was amazed about his simple process of doing things . In the end it's HOW IT SOUNDS IN THE MIX and not about the complicated process of using 10 plugins (or so) for a single track or having the most expensive gear in the world . Of course it's normal to develop your process during the years of making quality music but for a beginner or someone who does not have so much experience it's important to keep things SIMPLE and as they learn something new and useful , put those things into practice ! Happy New Year and thx for these amazing advices!
Thanks for this video Joe! I sell courses too here in italy and i work on recording, mixing and mastering for small artists, signed artists and labels of all kinds (major, indie etc.). Sold more than 3000 courses and listened that lots of people got better thanks to my methods. I never sold a panacea, but i am convinced that a clean and simple method could really improve anyone's mixing skills. I studied a lot of courses too, just for curiosity and in order to expand my knowledge. I think that depends from person to person, but with the kind of guarantees that an honest person like you or me offers (30 days total refund, no question asked), it is very difficult to make someone unhappy
I love both of them..
They both are my online teacher.🙏🏻👍❤️
I'm ever so grateful to learn from both of you! What a wonderful dialogue between two respected and trusted sources of how to get the best out of whatever we have to work with, and learning how to 'point' our ears. Thanks for sharing your opinion of Michael's post, Joe. Both of you bless us with your insights and experience. We all are improving, thanks to you fellas.
Loved the points: Have a process for everything (that you do a lot) and arrangement is the often overlooked precursor to a good mix. I had that exact experience of setting the faders on the Audiohaze recreation of Garden Song and realized songwriting, performance, and arranging do most of the heavy lifting in great songs.
Now I've gotta make a reaction video to your reaction video, thanks.
A lot of great information here. I agree with both of your views. There's so many things I want to touch on here but I'd be writing a much too long post. I leave with you something I follow and I think in the world of mixing is highly important. "It's better to have tools that you may never need to use until the day comes and you need that tool". That doesn't mean buy everything but if something comes around that you can afford and it's such a great price why not put it in your tool box because you never know when you'll use it.
Making mistakes are amazing to learn from. Growth is found in mistakes. Knowing the range of what is too much and too little within yourself gives the template to your creativity.
I agree with your point about creativity and process, and I would even go one step further. Not only are creativity and process "not mutually exclusive," I believe that creativity is dependent on process. Creative ideas are not plucked from abstraction, they are solutions to problems that arise when a typical process is not generating a desired result. I agree with Michael's point that there is no one "correct" way to make music, but there are typical practices that lay the framework for how records are made and those practices can absolutely be taught and, depending on the quality of the teacher, can absolutely be valuable in the form of a course or lesson. I think his sentiment is aimed towards gimmicky course advertisements like "you NEED to learn this in order to make great records" or things of that nature, and unfortunately there are tons of opportunists out there trying to make a few extra bucks by undermining their potential clientele in this way.
great video to both you and Michael, I love hearing people speaking genuinely and intelligently about these topics on this platform.
First of all, good stuff, thank you for giving commentary on Michael Wynne’s statements. I didn’t intend to chime in on this but your first comment made me go huh?… who told you to solo things and then mute that channel when you go on to the next one? That makes no sense? Start out soloing a channel, then, with that channel on, you add the next track and start working on it with the first one you worked on, etc… Get the kick sound you want, then add the snare to make those two tracks complimentary. But as you go, it’s a good idea to solo the track you’re working on (at some point) and then go back and forth between the soloed track and the track integrated into the mix. Once you get experienced, you’ll know what things are supposed to sound like, even soloed, so you can solo a track and make changes but always going back to including that track with everything else you’re working on. But it should be pointed out that it’s important to solo tracks as you’re mixing because sometimes it will reveal things about that track that you can’t hear in the overall context of the mix. You might hear excess noise or clicks or something funky with the effects or hidden distortion from a plug in that you didn’t notice when it wasn’t soloed. So soloing is still important but it shouldn’t be the only way that you mix tracks. The other item I disagree with is MW says that this will reduce ear fatigue, well, granted, anything you can do to reduce the amount of time you spend mixing is going to reduce ear fatigue but listening to a full mix is generally more fatiguing than when you’re working on a sound isolated. 2nd item, gear or ear and I agree with your take on that. 3rd point… For sure! How often do people listen to advice and hype but never listen to actual samples of their work! 4th point… I agree with you. I’ve been mixing for 40 years and, like you, over the years I have developed a formula or at least I should say a work flow or a consistent approach from song to song. But as you pointed out, it’s not a paint by numbers formula. I can’t take all my settings and presets from one song and paste it into another and expect it’s going to work perfectly, it never does and I’ve tried it many times. That doesn’t mean that you should start from scratch on every song either. But when you pull up some preset, be ready to scrap it and redo it from scratch because it may not work at all. Every song is different, even when tracked during the same tracking session, using the same set up and the same people. It’s almost odd that we can’t be more cookie cutter and I guess some people are, but I haven’t found that to be an effective method. Anyway, sorry to hijack the topic, appreciate the videos! All the best!
thanks for doing content on Michaels content.
Totally agree with everything you said Joe. I know Michael is very good but instruction I've followed from you Johnny Geib, Jonny Lipsham and David Vignola have all been very helpful and all of you have a process you follow. That doesn't mean you can't add or subtract ingredients from the cake! 👍
True. We have too many people recording music nowadays and not enough musicians.
about process is not how you cook it's about how you do every step. The way you EQ each item like a kick. I agree 200% with Michael. If you always take a template and add those same plugins the same way every time then thats what's we call the same process otherwise you don't follow the same process it's all about what it's needed at every step.
There was this guy who was trying to sell me an 8 weeks mixing/mastering course for like 3K with the promise that i after that my tracks would have that pro level (his mixes sound great indeed).. if i would be a total beginner and had the money, i might have fall for this, but since i already have some i know that even if he would give me all the knowledge and information he can, he would still have 15 year more experience than me and that is where the big difference is.. experience and practice, yes courses/Seminars etc are great investment but the expectations and the price should stay realistic
100% agree with the gear crap lol, I see so many people obsessed with gear that produce 0 music
At least they can show their expensive gear with their online "friends".
Funny how two of my favorite you tubers on audio mixing and recording differ somewhat in their approaches, yet I get so much out of both of them. I think what Michael means is about formulae, you know, guys that will tell you that if you apply such and such an fx chain every time, your mixes are going to be great. That doesn't make much sense to me. Some people work more with processes. Others don't, and just approach it sort of intuitively and holistically. That's kind of the way I work. There are some tasks that are often repeated that you can incorporate in your templates and such, but every song is different, and even the same song can be approached in many different ways. When I sit down to produce a song, I barely have a vague idea of what I want to do with it. As I go along and start putting it together, I get ideas and inspiration, and so I try different things, and many times I end up with something substantially different than what I had conceived initially.
Anyway, that's my two cents worth. Both you guys rock. I've learned a lot from you and others, and hope to continue to do so.
Thank you for the video, Joe.
I think establishing a few standard processes for mixing/engineering sets my creativity free and allows me to commit more time and energy to having fun. Your videos have helped me build those processes, thanks again for that.
Everything has a process. I watch Mike too. But it was more helpful to me to watch everybody I can on TH-cam, I'm not looking for a new trick all the time. sometimes I'm looking for new perspective. So they may not do anything I like but they may say something that make me think different or try something different.
Love Joe's advice been watching him since I started recording
13:53 about getting it right from the source i like to think of it this way:
its like a patient in a hospital, where the Song & stems are the patient and the Mixing tools are the Medical tools , you can use medicine to cure the body, but you can't bring back the dead.
Cool video (except it stopped me progressing on the Recording course 😆 - that's what I sat down to do!! Oh well, lunch first now, then Christmas wrapping, then I'll get back to that!).
And it made me check out Michael's channel too - excellent and worth watching. And, at least for me, I find the information and delivery from both of you complementary. You both talk to the "inner me" on this stuff...
The biggest lesson I ever learned from one of the best mix engineers in the country was to get it right at the source. My aim should be to use little to no EQ. If the microphone selection and placement is correct, you really don’t need to do nearly as much adjustment. This is especially true for anything that phase coherency of the overtones makes a difference.
The advice to adjust EQ and other effects in the mix instead of solo? I will disagree to a certain extent. I solo all the time, but for brief moments just to make sure that I understand what is going on and I don’t have anything unusual going on that is getting masked. Just because we can’t hear something in OUR mix in OUR monitors doesn’t mean that someone else won’t hear it with their ears in their environment. Soloing allows us to hear something that’s off that while not immediately audible, will stand out like a sore thumb once you are aware of it. But just don’t live in the solo. Visit it briefly. Your mastering engineer will thank you.
Selling courses? You CAN teach basic structure and process. Why else did I go to college for? But specific step-by-step instructions for how to create art? The problem is that most of what we do is “craft” not “art.” Actual art is creating something that has never been created before. Originality. 99% of what we do is NOT art, it’s craft. We use our craft as part of the process of creating art-almost always someone else’s. But let’s be realistic. Just because we work in the “arts” does not make us artists. Craft is structured, art is craft creating new structure.
3:50 - Homeboy (me) is literally on disability. My bean has been scrambled more times than I can count. Disability helps a person just get by. All of my gear is second hand. Most of it coming from the ARC thrift store. If something is broken, I have to fix it. A Yellow Tag day can put me into a powered sub for $10. Their is also the weird stuff like the gramophone that was buried in a shelf of type writers. - I lost 30+ of programming knowledge, with some of my work going in national, like POTUS level work, and it all went away over night. What replaced it was creativity that took root back in mid-late 90's. My ex-wife asked me to recreate a practice session from one of the nights our club was closed. And it stuck. - If you have to get away with $10.00 speakers vs nothing, Go for the $10.00 . Creating music doesn't have to be a rich man's game.
Courses and guides have been very helpful to me personally, so I would agree with you. However, I think what Michael was saying about following others process/techniques is that these processes aren't a magic pill for your mix. There have been many times that I have followed someone's process to get a specific result and it failed. Usually due to my poor execution or it simply wasn't right for what I was working on. Thanks for the vid!
Thank you! 🙏🙏
The analogy about Michaelangelo sculpting the head bigger probably came from a hard lesson of finishing the work, looking at it from the proper distance and throwing the chisel across the room and having some choice words about how chitty weeks of work now look and how it's ruined (you can't add marble back to the sculpture). He tried his best and his project ended up as junk. But he learned. So the next time, he knew what the challenge would be and how to avoid issues.
Always the + Joe. 👍
Growing up I didn't have the solo habit simply because we only had mutes on our console which meant to hear anything standalone you had to either put it on a VCA alone or mute everything else and with 24 to 46 tracks that wasn't easy to do. The only time we did it was if we could not pinpoint a ringing or something that was sticking out badly.
I think he means eq moves that always work and processing chains that will always work or compression settings that will always work. He wants you to learn the tools so you can use them differently every song. He is a firm believer in work flow process though.
I like you Sir for what you are teaching
Great video Joe. I would be very interested in a video about your process of making youtube videos.
Great video. I have one thought to add. Honestly, I think the biggest issue I hear in the mixes done by advice givers on TH-cam is the lack of dynamic range. I think a good way to test a mix is to crank it up loud, but not painfully loud. If the mix starts to induce ear fatigue after 30 seconds because it's a constant barrage on the ears, or it sounds like a wall of noise, that'd be a bad mix. There's too much emphasis on getting the mix "loud enough to compete."
That’s interesting. It kinda ties into another point from Michael’s video, where he talks about the Loudness Wars being over. “Loudness won,” he said. 😂 He’s not wrong.
Hi Joe, I totally agree with the "getting things right from the source" philosophy, but what if I use a lot of virtual instruments and I need to do both producing and mixing myself? In this scenario, there seems to be no such clear boundary between "producing" and "mixing", sometimes I must add some plugins to make it sound good, and I don't know if that means I'm doing mixing too early. P.S. I have no experience of recording real instruments in a studio, and I guess that's part of why I will have this question.
"Ay, Mike" is definitely the way I would have wanted people addressing Michelangelo.
Great content
Hey Joe. Thanks for all the videos. Might be a bit late for this to be seen, but could you do a video on *how* you approach getting it right at the source? To me it's starting to sound a bit like "use your ears". As a hobbyist without great equipment it's hard to know what to do with this advice in a practical sense.
I will say when it comes to using stock plugins to needing to buy plugins to sound good…. It matters what type of music you’re producing. If you doing a 4 piece rock band or an orchestra. Stock plugins will be fine. If you’re producing electronic music stock plugins only take you so far. And that’s because in electronic music we use a lot of specialty plug-ins. Plugins that do specific things. Like the Kickstarter 2 plugin. Which is a side chain effect plugin. And yes you can do side chaining with a compressor. But Kickstarter can do more and get more precise and is way faster than setting up a compressor and the whole side chain setup. In electronic music there are a lot of plugins like this. You can not get the same result with a compressor. Close maybe. But not the same.
There is a process. That's why there are templates and presets to make something like we do all the time, a process, faster.
I watched Michael's video when it came out. I think what he was trying to get across, and I do believe there's plenty of TH-cam click bait out there, was referring to producing a "hit" song if you use a specific formula rather than using a measured approach. 🤷🏻♂️
You're probably right. I just wanted to clarify that having a system/process isn't inherently non-creative.
Thank you.
Thank you for the class!
Take this with a grain of salt what I’ve learned from my time mixing is that having proper clocking helps biiiig time lots of cheap interface do sound ok for what its worth but they usually uave terrible conversion and clocks ? My point is having a good clock and conversion will help you hear things better quicker and believe it or not the plugins react better i can hear the reverb tail settle better the eq curves i can frequencies i wasn’t hearing before the compressor actually reacts better plus higher sample rates means i can apply pitch correction with ease so for me good converters with god clocking is a must if you want to speed track your mixing or you will be fighting with it also because of the clocking offer lower jitter i cam get louder mixes with ease that doesn’t distort early but when i tried this with my lower end interface it distort early again this is my report on what ive learned . So good interface good speakers good cables dont go overboard. Basically if you can get mastering quality in the early stages you ate set
I was thinking! Your notebook is always in hands reach. Do you take notes when mixing. I find when putting something down on paper it sticks to my brain and i give it more love.
There is a level of gear quality that does make a difference. If you can’t hear it, you can’t mix it.
Now that I own high level preamps (api, neve), 3000€+ mics, hw compressor, I am very sure that gear matters.
When people already mention at the headline that they have XX years of experience, it makes me sceptical and most of the time i don't watch any further. I'll be 63 in December and I'm still learning this fascinating topic called music and everything which belongs to it, even after decades. This is due to the nature of the subject, especially in this genre. 75%, if not more, on social media think they have experience just because they may have attended a course or might have sniffed a bit of Studio Air and is making them to so-called sound engineers, producers and so on ? At least 85% of their content is advertising (open or subtle) for the how-many-must-i-have-of-them plugins. The ones who really have experience and talking sense are rarely seen on social media or can be counted on 10 fingers. You Mr. Gilder are one of the fingers. Thanks for your content.
I’m 64, I’ve been writing, recording, and performing original music for 50 years.
I’ll take advice if it makes sense to me, for my music.
Joe often has good advice, or methods.
Thank you.
Joe,
I’m with you on the gear question, though there are nuances that might be useful.
Are there any special combinations of tools you find helpful to craft certain processes.
VCA in front of a Vari Mu, EQing and or de-essing reverb sends, for instance.
Your description of mixing in solo is very funny.
I think many of us experienced this early on.
As always…
Thank you, and Happy Holidays
Yeah, I agree with Michael when he said you need the right tool for the job.
4:24 Good equipment and good skills makes an astounding output. It goes hand in hand. Its like rpg games. A high level character will not optimize his skills ang damage output if he has low level equipment
It's not about wanting a track to sound amazing in solo, or in both solo and the mix. It's about utilizing the higher resolution provided by listening to the track in solo. Learn what makes a sound work in the mix, and then how to adjust it towards that in solo mode. Then obviously also mix it within the rest of the tracks. But a lot of the time the full mix can mask sounds so much that you barely hear what you're doing
Precisely!
Joe, show us an example of 2 sounds competing vs not competing when they occupy the same frequencies… 👍🏼
2:53 "It's not the gear, it's the ears" really should be phrased "it's not the tools, it's the skill". And it should primarily be reserved for answering questions like "what's the best plugin for mixing vocals?" and other beginner questions looking for a quick fix without learning *why* a tool is good or bad.
Good video, but a slightly click-baity thumbnail. Was hoping to hear something juicy that I’ve been doing wrong - but… nope 😅 Informative video. Thanks for sharing! 🙌🏻
a process, specially when starting something is great. So a 101 process that has some level of success is always to use as a starting point. Once you feel confident enough you can get away from it.
Michael is the who showed me that FL Studio can be sexy. Love this dude
Thanks.
I think he is talking about courses to get a perfect mix, rather than courses about how to use specific tools or techniques, e.g. compression master class, EQ 101 etc.
Hey Joe, my philosophy is you cannot achieve success if you randomly look up how to do things. If you want to learn recording, pick one person that you find trustworthy and follow only them. I follow you on TH-cam exclusively. When I was learning Sony Movie Studio Platinum, there was a person in Australia that I followed. When learning about photography, I follow a person that I know is trustworthy and knows his stuff. When learning fingerstyle guitar, a person to trust would be Tony Polecastro. Stick with one person so you do not get conflicting advice. I would trust Joe Gilder completely.
It is always great, if someone finds a way that suits their learning development. But for me, your advice would have been the opposite of helpful. I have learnt so much from so many different people, and I wouldn't have, if I had followed only one. Conflicting advice is not a bad thing at all. It shows, that there is not one truth, but many different approaches and you can find out, what is right for you.
if GIRATS is so important, and I know it is, no doubt, then I wish you would do twice as many videos on recording than on mixing, but somehow most recording channels talk about mixing but maybe they should give tips on recording. It's easy to say "change things until your raw tracks sound good", but how and what and how and why and how? Would be cool if this topic becomes your new content. This gives new material for the next 2 years. Show us what you hear and why and how you move the mics or dial in the amp settings. thanks ❤ Sending love from Europe.
Point taken. A lot of that is covered in my recording course and VIP membership.
point #2 is a thing, people argue about to this day. I think, it's not the gear or the ears. It's rather the knowledge and decisions you make, when mixing and on that purpose given there are only a handful of people that can nail a mix even, with the baddest gear on earth. For example deadmau5, this guy is so impressive, that you could give him a Playstation 1 with Music 2000 and he will manage to make song, that fills the dancefloors, exaggurately speaking
Yep, but I think that's a given. People don't literally mean "ears." They mean skill, insight, experience, etc.
Solo mixes are fine....for solo mixes. I sometimes make a solo mix of a part just to get it out of my system.
It will never go anywhere near the final full mix, but it helps me hear what I am looking for when the entire mix is happening. But that track in the big mix ain't the solo mix version.
Perhaps you've heard the phrase "there are no 'stupid questions'" (which has an occasional caveat "NOT asking questions is stupid").
So, while you may believe questioning Michaelangelo on the tools he used to create "David" might be "boring" (which is, by far, one of the oddest terms to associate with asking a question, and certainly creates confusion about the way you navigate your thoughts), it's actually quite smart to ask questions pertaining to the tools he used, because, in all likelihood, he didn't use just one chisel (or even just a singular tool - or even a tool with which everyone is familiar or knows how to properly handle/implement for the task), so to understand the tools used and the technique used during the process is to gain knowledge for future application when you, yourself attempt such an undertaking.
It's called "education", which doesn't have to come by way of trial/error. It's why we have teachers/educators.
There are myriad examples of where you, personally, attempt to impart wisdom from things you've learned, and that helps those who aren't as knowledgeable to sidestep those pitfalls on the way to quickly becoming more educated about the PROCESS.
PROCESS.
As in totality of something, which, yes...includes inquiries about things which you, personally find mundane.
The last point I'll make in relation, is that some people have learning disabilities and REQUIRE greater detail to better/fully comprehend the process of something, so with the primary goal being to lift everyone through educating them, don't dismiss the way someone best learns information just because it isn't necessarily something with which YOU agree, got it?
Great video
Hey Joe the next song I mix. I'll leave u a link. I'd love ur opinion. If it suck butt cracks an toe nails that's what I expect to hear😂😂
One of the biggest obstacles to GIRATS is the Ego. "I recorded this awesome guitar part, so I have to put in the song." When in reality, the guitar part just doesn't fit the song. Letting go, and doing the right thing for the song is often much more subtractive than additive; but taking out parts from your creative efforts feels destructive rather than constructive because of ego, pride and vanity. Yet ultimately many of the very best productions are very 'basic' because they have exactly the right components in them. Nothing more, nothing less. Letting go of the 'nothing more' portion is very difficult at times.
I would argue if the guitar part doesn't fit the song, you didn't get it right at the source. That's the thing people don't understand about GIRATS.
mixed first album on $90 headphones and laptop
One thing I’ve learned mixing FOH is take off the headphones and listen to the house cuz that’s what the audience is hearing and paid to come enjoy.
His mixing advice is definitely solid for beginners but not really for more advanced producers
Funny your get it right at the source comment makes me think of the fact that I have always complained there are a zillion mixing videos on TH-cam but very few recording videos
PArt of that is because people don’t want to watch it. They want mixing content. So we give them what they want, while trying to encourage them to look at the REAL problem, which is recording.
@ I wonder if everyone started “engineering” channels that taught how to get the best tones from mid level gear, mic techniques, etc etc eventually people would start moving towards that (eventually) it would def take time. So the juice wouldn’t be worth the squeeze right away so I get that not all creators could wait that out. I know for myself the only thing I’m finding are people recording with gear out of most people prices range. Mics that cost more than my car or my yearly salary lol.
Thanks for the reply! Appreciate it
joeHello joe , pls help me pls... I activated the license and when I open Studio One 7, I enter my email and password and it gives me an error like this...CHECK YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION... my internet s dont have a problem.. dont know whats problem ... I'm a Windows user. Please help me... I bought this product from you.
I am from Georgia.. not from the United States of America. But I don't think this is a regional problem. pls answer me fast ... thanks
Contrast in color
Joe, I have been a subscriber for a looong time. This video finally convinced my to take your 5-step mixing course but I never signed up for your newsletter and I assume I missed your holiday deals (if you had any). Do you have any incentives coming up or any available right meow?
The biggest thing right now is that my VIP membership is back open: www.homestudiocorner.com/vip
@@HomeStudioCorner Merry Christmas to me... Merry Christmas to me (sung to the tune of 'Happy Birthday'...)
09:13
It is not the process that produces creativity, creativity leads to a certain process.
Nope, it's definitely gaslighting. It has some good intentions, like keeping people out of the black hole of plugin purchases, but it doesn't instill confidence in anyone, since in the same way you can't chisel with a wrench, you can't do multiband compression with a stock EQ. What a certain track needs in terms of processing is entirely individual and can't be blindly confidently guessed by your favourite mix engineer on TH-cam, regardless of their competence or confidence level. Get tools to expand your palette of techniques you can apply and try to stick with stuff you actually need and use instead of going on an endless shopping spree. Totally agree with Michael here.
Sure, right tool for the job. I don't think anyone out there is saying you can multi-band with a stock EQ. For me and my experience, though, to you use your example of multi-band compression, I could take it or leave it. It's a useful tool, but I don't find myself actually needing to use it all that much.
One more for the algorithm; if any of you great gear guys don’t think gear matters, I will pm you my address so you can send me the gear you say you don’t need.
Now THAT'S a good strategy.
This just feels like more regurgitated TH-cam slop