We all love getting a bit creative and putting our own personal stamp on things. Now there’s really nothing wrong with that and it’s what separates Michael Jackson from Mozart, or Pablo Picasso from Vincent Van Gogh. Brilliant creativity is truly unique and it’s a wonderful thing.
But is it a mixing engineer’s job to put their own personal stamp on the music?
If your super cool delay effect or use of compression is there simply for you to create your own “signature sound”, then your efforts might be misplaced.
I firmly believe that it’s not the mixing engineer’s job to impose their “signature sound” on a record. While it is possible to recognise a Manny Marroquin mix or a Serban Ghenea mix, it’s not about them. They haven’t made themselves the star of the show because they know what the most important part of a music mix really is.
In today’s video, I’m going to explain what I feel that is and how you can use that to your advantage!
So check it out!
Now, I’d love to know…
What do you do to keep yourself on track while mixing and stay true to the song?
Leave a comment below!
professional sounding mix every time...
I totally agree…..without a good song, you got nothin but technological noise.
I’ve heard that the secret to a successful song is a good song, played on good instruments, by good players, tracked well and edited throughly AND THEN a good mix and mastering job.
I’ve spent my life chasing that principle……sometimes you can actually make all the parts come together.
Peace
Amen sir!
Hey Stephen, cool man. I like the visualisation you are talking about and stopping to consider the song performed in a particular context. Doing this provides production ideas direction and intent in the mixing. This is helpful as it’s a tangible example of the “bigger Picture” mixing engineers talk about. Thanks for the post. White Heat.
Great! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Great video Stephen. The more I mix the more I’m realising that it’s not about ‘my’ sound…. I think it’s a beginner mindset to want to make it unique because when starting out we want to be known. Its nice to let that go and serve the song 🙂
Mixing it’s just half technical, the other half is subjective, hence why so many people look for certain engineers: theyir own sound.
I agree with you, you cant make a great mix out of a poopy song, but “going crazy” in the mix sometimes can turn things very interesting. Tbh for me it’s quite hard to know what’s the artists/producer intention, but what I usually do it’s tro ty to make the song as exciting as possible, a song that makes people move, scream and feel.
Thank you for taking the time to stress this seemingly simple, but often overlooked principle. It is so easy to get wrapped up with the virtually infinite array of software sounds and tools at one’s disposal and end up stepping on the song itself. I have been guilty of this and your excellent video does a great job of making the point. I just loved the way you presented it. I am a solo singer/ songwriter who performs regularly and all my songs are written with the goal of hitting the mark with just my voice and acoustic guitar, so the approach you took in this mix hit home big time with me. Why should I need to change horses midstream, so to speak? Thank you again!