What Actually Made Me a Better Mixer
Recently I went through my archive preparing it for long-term storage. I opened a few mixes from 6–8 years ago. I love opening old sessions and seeing what decisions I made back then I wouldn’t make today. I love it because I could hear how far I’ve come. Back then I felt like I was doing a good job, and honestly, I was. But I also realize that there are definitely levels to being a great mixing engineer, and you have to go though each one to understand the last. To me, growth is about the ability to make informed decisions based on your experience and ability to help the artist translate and elevate their work. Practice decision making, identify your mistakes, learn from them and move on to the next one.
I approached mixing the way most people are taught to: start with the foundation, build up from the rhythm section, or lead with the vocal depending on the song. There’s nothing wrong with that. Theres only so many ways to start a mix and as they say “it aint rocket science”. The real issue is the mindset beneath it.
Following intuition is uncomfortable at first because you don’t know what you don’t know. But the real turning point came when I was hired to redo mixes that were clearly built using plug-in templates pulled from YouTube influencers. The mixes were technically “correct,” but emotionally flat. I have nothing against many of these people who are called to teach, and I’ve even made tutorials myself! But following someone elses formula over and over again flattens intention. Eventually you have to start making decisions to commit, finding confidence in your own way, and develop and trust your intuition.
I saw other engineers working in sessions with 120 tracks of processing chains and color-coded routing forests. Layers and layers of routing, splitting channels to M/S, doing things because they saw it online but couldn’t explain the reason WHY. A lot of us learn to chase “secrets,” hoping there’s a technique that elevates everything at once. I was not invulnerable to many of these things, I had to unlearn all of that myself.
Most of what I was seeing was people following tutorials or someone elses templates instead of following their instinct. The biggest early lesson: you can’t outsource your taste.
Most musicians and self-producing artists I work with struggle not with the tools, but with decision-making. They want to make music! They want it to sound great! They need someone with the resources to make the record they want to make! They need someone to hold them artistically accountable and help finish their record.
When I realized what this meant to me years ago, I had some amazing realizations:
Plugins are fun to collect but they do not make me a better engineer. What makes me a better engineer is learning the tools I go to most often inside and out, knowing exactly what they can do, and understanding their limitations. So even though I own a thousand plugins, I probably use the same 20 or so on every mix and I know them intimately. The tools matter only insofar as they solve creative problems.
Personal taste and emotional clarity are my core instruments. I am hired for my opinion, my intellect, my research, and what I bring to the table.
Our work exists to satisfy the depth of our own curiosity, not to meet external expectations. My job is to model this and serve that artist the best I can.
How I do this:
1. Daily Critical Listening Practice.
I listen widely. Not to prove eclectic taste, but to study intention and execution. I build weekly playlists, listen in multiple environments, and think about how a mix communicates meaning, not just balance.
2. Prioritizing the emotional spine.
I mix from a cinematic perspective. I ask: What scene is this song building in the listener’s mind? My moves come from imagery, energy, metaphor, and narrative. The technical choices follow the emotional logic.
3. Reading the book or doing the course is not “DOING THE WORK”.
I pull inspiration from so many places: books like Decoding Greatness: How the Best in the World Reverse Engineer Success and courses like Mixer Brain by Jeff Ellis. But reading and watching are not doing. Taking in information is great if it makes you feel good or you’re learning something. You have to put those things you learn into practice and decide what they mean for you, personally. You have to find a way to integrate the things you learn into your philosophy and live them.
4. Learn the business of what I do inside and out.
Its not enough to just be good at what I do but I have to understand the business behind the art world, participate in organizations with people who are the best at what they do, and understand the difference between what gets me the results I need for my clients and what is just more marketing speak and noise.
What Actually Made Me a Better Mixer?
The results show up in how artists respond to their mixes and how few revisions we need to get there. The deeper I commit to the practice of listening and decision-making, the more clearly I can hear what the artist is actually trying to say. What made me a better mixer was doing it every single day and developing my own and approach that complimented the intention of the artists who hire me to work with them.
Side note: I am trying to write more here at Substack to further develop my voice and writing ability. Its a little rough right now but just like mixing, I am learning how to refine my style. If you like what you read here, please consider sharing it with a friend or peer. Thank you!
