This book came highly recommended from several industry blogs I read. I thought I would read it and see what all of the hype was about. I am not one of those people who can read a book in a day….or a week. It is very hard for me to make time to read. This book arrived in the mail on Monday and I have read the introduction and make it halfway through the first chapter. Don’t judge me! So far it seems very interesting.

Ken Scott (The Beatles, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Elton John) says ”Finally, a book that teaches the Art of great mixing, not the pseudoscience. At long f*#@ing last.”

As Mixerman points out, “If you change how you think about mixing, you’ll be well on your way to learning how to mix.”

I don’t think reading this book, and this book alone, can make someone a better mix engineer. But I do think, so far, that this book has some really great ideas about how to better your mix. Almost all of the introduction was about the mindset one has when sitting down to start a mix. The introduction also focuses on mixing as an art. The first sentence in the introduction is this quote…”Mixing, done properly, and much like anything else worth doing, is an art.”

In the introduction the author also includes 10 steps to better mixing
Mixerman’s 10 Steps to Better Mixing
1. Mixing is an attitude.
2. If the song sucks, the mix is irrelevant.
3. Working the room, keeping people happy and relaxed, is half of mixing successfully.
4. Putting everything proportional in a mix is going to make for a crappy mix.
5. Gear used on a mix are tools that will make your life either easier or more difficult; they are not what makes a mix good or bad.
6. A mix can be great and not have great sound
7. If the mix doesn’t somehow, and in some way, annoy someone in the room, the mix likely isn’t done.
8. Mixing cannot be taught; it can only be learned.
9. The overall vibe of the track is much more important than any individual part.
10. Just because a part was recorded doesn’t mean it needs to be in the mix.
11. Be aggressive! (oops, that’s 11!)

I will be posting more of his insights into mixing as I read through the book. What do you think of his 10 steps to better mixing? Do any of them stand out as being very true or super dumb?

- brandon -