We all know that drinking and driving is not a good combination. We also know that being drunk is not suitable when working with dangerous gear and machinery. But what about mixing a track?

Most of my favourite albums were made in the 70s/80s and I think we all have heard about how wet and fuzzy that period was. I have read a lot of band biographies during the years and since the musicians never seemed to be sober during recording session, I assume that the most mix-engineers were drunk as well.

I have some friends that claim to be more creative and produces better when they are drunk. They say they get a better flow thinking outside the box and they don’t get stuck on trying to get the perfect sound. So can alcohol be the key ingredient when making a kickass mix too?

I was at a party last night and we were drinking and having a good time. I rumbled home at 4 in the morning and thought that I would give the mix that I am currently working on a try, just for fun with no expectations at all. I sat down in my studio and I felt so inspired and full of energy although it was late and I had been awake for almost 19 hours. At the time I remember I had a feeling that everything was going great. I changed some reverbs and tweaked a lot on my EQs, but overall I thought everything was running pretty smoothly.  After a while, approximately an hour, I closed my session and went to bed.

When I woke up later that day with an aching head and my mouth like the Sahara desert, I went right away to listen to my mix again. And WOW – I must have awakened the whole neighbourhood because the playback level was really loud and I usually tend to listen at lower volumes compared to my work colleagues and other mix-engineers.

The second thing I really disliked was that I had been pushing up the high-mid and highs on almost every track. I am not sure if it was because my ears got tired really quickly due to the high playback level or if it was an affect from the alcohol. Luckily I’ve developed a CMD + S tick, I am saving at least ten times every minute, so I could restore my mix without any problem.

I guess alcohol combined with mixing is not my thing at all. But I am very curious about your experiences? Have you ever tried to mix when you were drunk? How was your result? Leave a comment below.