If you're into making music for a while now, I'm sure you've already read some interviews or seen some videos of professional world-class mixing engineers talking about their work.
There are plenty of videos on the internet of pro mixers explaining us their gear, techniques, and even mindsets. Have you ever wondered and asked yourself one of these questions?
How can they show us how their workflow without losing their jobs?
Maybe they are not showing us their "real" secrets?
Why don't I sound like favorite mixer even when I use his techniques?
If you did, hopefully this article will show you the simple answer to all these questions.
So why do pro mixers even make tutorial videos and show us how they work?
Simply because they are nice people who want to help us young audio engineers get better at our craft.
They're teaching us their favorites tricks and techniques, and maybe sometimes even things that are unique to them.
But how can they show us their tricks without losing their jobs to someone else who'll use these tricks?
To answer this question, let's take a look at a classic example that I'm sure happened to most of you:
You've seen a video of your favorite mixer compressing a snare track, and it sounds amazing.
Then, you go to your own project and apply the same compression settings to your snare track, but it doesn't sound anything like your favorite mixer.
What went wrong?
Nothing went wrong, you simply missed the point! The reason your favorite engineer is so good is not because he used these specific settings.
It's because he messed around with the compressor until he found the settings that fit the best.
He didn't just automatically dialed in the compressor to some secret settings he uses on everything.
"But how can this be true when I'm doing the same thing?"
Simply because world class mixers have much more experience than you and me.
They have developed their skills and ears to the point they're at now.
They became great because they worked hard and learned so much, not because they found a secret magic plugin.
Well, isn't that disappointing?
There's no secret settings, no secret plugin, just purely skills and experience. It might be, if you were looking for that one thing that will improve your mixes instantly. But it's not when you realize you already have everything you need to get amazing mixes.
All you have to do is keep practicing to gain more experience and develop your skills.
And that's why pro mixers aren't afraid to share their "secrets".
Because they're are not secrets at all.
They are mostly tricks to add to your bag, or tips that will help you take a step forward in your audio journey.
And using them can help you, but it will definitely not make you sound like your favorite mixer.
They don't show you the things that "made them great", because there are no such things.
What "made them great" is their hard work, tons of practice, and huge amount of experience.
Copying your favorite mixer's gear/plugins/settings blindly won't make you any better.
Instead, you should learn from them.
And this also answers the question "Why don't I sound like my favorite engineer even though I use his exact plugin settings".
To put it simply, it's not about the settings.
It might be obvious to many of you, but it's also worth mentioning that pro mixers work on much better sounding recordings, which obviously make their final mix sound much better.
You have to remember that you'll never get a professional sounding mix if your raw recordings doesn't sound professional.
So don't rush the recording stage just to dive right into mixing.
Hopefully I've helped you solve some of your questions on the subject, and cleared any confusion.
So remember, we get better with practice, not by copying plugins.
Do you like watching videos of pro mixers?
Who's your favorite producer or mix engineer?
Share your answers with us in the comments!