Wondering if your mixes are any good? Grammy-winning mixer Dom Morley shares some advice for those struggling with confidence about their mixes… the best news is it might not be you that’s the problem.

You’ve finished a mix and you’re feeling pretty good about it. It’s dynamic, it’s full, it’s punchy, the vocal’s nice and clear. It’s the real deal. Or is it?
Up it pops - that nagging doubt. That cut in your confidence. Is my mix actually good, or am I just excited about finally finishing? Will I hear this in two weeks’ time and cringe? Is it even possible to get to a point where you can finish a mix with confidence? Well, the good news is the answer is ‘yes’, the bad news is that (like all worthwhile pursuits) it’s not easy.

First, check your fatigue

Before you sign off on a mix, consider whether you have allowed yourself ear breaks during the process. If your ears are tired, then your perception will be shot and there is a strong chance that you’ll not be hearing things as they really are. Finishing a mix in this state will certainly damage your confidence as you’ll hear problems in it the very next day. It’s often a good idea to get to a point where you feel you are done and then come back to it the next day with fresh ears for final checks. It’s surprising how many details you can catch in this review process. Allowing yourself the time to get it as good as possible will improve your results every time, and confidence will follow.

Trusted monitors

I’m sure you’re already aware that you need to work on a pair of speakers that you absolutely trust, but how do you get to this mythical level of trust? The answer, again, is time. Listen to lots of music on your speakers. Lots of it, all the time. You will get used to them and importantly you’ll get used to what ‘good’ on them sounds like. Compare how something sounds on your home stereo and in your car to your studio speakers. I’ve had my main studio speakers for about six years and trust them implicitly, but I still set aside a short period of every day to listen to random tracks on Tidal to maintain my perspective with them. I do know one guy who used Yamaha NS10s on his home stereo so that he really got to know them. While I applaud his dedication in principle, you only live one life, and NS10s while you’re relaxing at home? Nope. 

Also, I’m a big fan of mixing on headphones. Headphones are great for mixing because they don’t care what sort of room you’re in, and the bang-for-buck with headphones is significantly greater than with speakers. I realize some people may take issue with this last point but look at it this way: the best headphones I’ve ever heard in terms of flat-response, un-colored, detailed sound are the Rosson Audio Rad-0, a pair of which will set you back somewhere in the region of £2500. Those are some pricey headphones! But, if I wanted to buy a pair of speakers that gave me the same level of un-colored, super-detailed mixing confidence then I’d probably need to spend around ten times that. And I would need to treat my room to the same level as well. All of a sudden, expensive headphones are starting to look pretty cheap…

Feedback

Another tried and tested way to gain confidence in your mixes is to get feedback from people you trust. Of course, the phrase “people you trust” is doing all the heavy lifting in that sentence, but there are places where you can find good feedback if you ask the right questions. I was an assistant in a large studio when I was younger and would ask the freelance engineers that I got on well with for feedback on the mixes I was doing - “What three things would you change in this mix?”. I learned an enormous amount from this simple question because it was specific to just three ideas, so relatively easy for people to help me, and the answers gave me enough to work with without becoming overwhelming. With only three changes requested it also meant that only the big issues were brought up. Their answers gave me the confidence that at least some of what I was doing was right (“well he didn’t mention the bass, so I guess I nailed that”) as well as pointing me towards the issues that I couldn’t hear myself at the time, so my skills increased over time. I realize that I was lucky to be able to do this, but these days there are other places you can turn. There a few online mix feedback services around now, and there are also quite a lot of forums where these questions are commonplace. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that there are a lot of people on forums who talk a lot without any real knowledge, but if you watch a forum carefully, you’ll soon work out which members are knowledgeable and which members just like to talk. Accept advice gratefully from everyone, but you’ll know whose advice is actually worth acting upon. 

Time

I mentioned this earlier in reference to getting used to speakers, but this is the big one. Sorry. We all want shortcuts to mastery, but to really gain confidence in your abilities in any pursuit then the equation is purposeful practice x time. For more details on ‘purposeful practice’ I recommend you read ‘Bounce’ by Matthew Syed, but the essence of it is that while you are practicing your skill you are actively trying to get better at it every single time. Goal setting, measurability, accountability. All of that stuff. It’s easy to go over the same ground and feel like you are practicing, but you need to actively push yourself to get better each time you approach your craft. You can reduce the ‘time’ part of the equation by amplifying the ‘purposeful practice’ part of it.   

There’s an old saying that you never finish a mix, you just stop working on it. While this can certainly be the case - we can all keep tinkering with a mix until the end of time - there comes a point where all you are achieving is ‘different’ instead of ‘better’. Have the confidence to make the call that it’s done takes time and experience, but you can fast-track that by building a mixed environment that you trust, keeping vigilant on hearing health, and finding an honest feedback system that pushes you forwards.

More Recording Resources From Dom Morley

Dom is the founder of the Mix Consultancy, a zero risk (money back guarantee) way to get notes on your tracks to help improve the sound. Whether you're an artist who likes to mix all their own work, a composer putting together a pitch on a limited budget, or an engineer who wants a discreet second opinion before sending a mix off to a client - we're here to help.

“I just completed a mix with the help of Dom Morley & The Mix Consultancy. The mix we turned over was qualitatively better than the one I would have gone with on my own.

It's been said that "a mix is never done, it's just abandoned", but the truth is, you *really* do feel a sense of completion and closure having worked with Dom because you know in your heart that you did everything you possibly could to get the best result possible for the client.

The beauty behind the process is that not only do you get a better mix for your client, but Dom's advice contains all kinds of gold that you can borrow and deploy in future mixes.”

Geoff Manchester

From engineering tips to production advice, EQ and compression basics to mix specifics, we’ll give you the information and guidance that you need to take your mixes to the next level. Find out more here

In addition to the one-to-one advice Dom has produced some excellent online courses;

• Everything You Need To Know About Recording Vocals
  Preproduction, DAW set-up, preparing the studio, psychology, equipment. Literally everything you need to know.

• Mixing 101

  This is a short, free, mini-course on the four things that you really need to know in order to get great mixes, and the four things that you really don't!