I think it would be useful to start a thread about things that made you a better mixing engineer. I can give you an example because one of the things that made me a better mixing engineer was when I realized my job wasn’t to add something, it wasn’t to make the song better. My most successful mixing experiences have been when I’ve been able to reveal something that was in the song, to bring it to life, to bring out something that was already there.
It’s admirable to try and take a mix and get it to the next level, but sometimes the act of doing that involves finding where the production and the recording might be getting in its own way. When you clear the path for that song to be exciting and exist in every conceivable environment, you do that song as service. And to those of you who are mixing your own stuff, if you’re using the mix process as an opportunity to elevate the song to a new place, it’s worth considering if that should have happened upstream.
Is there something that changed your perception of mixing? If so, let us know and share this with someone who belongs in a Beat Kitchen class.
