The Three Invisible Skills to Mixing

Learning to mix isn’t something you study once and then you’re set for life. It’s more like learning to play a musical instrument. It takes time and diligent practice to master. In this article, we will discuss what we at Rectify like to call the three invisible skills to mixing. Practicing these skills whenever you step up to the board will transform your mixing, allowing you to strengthen the connection between your presenter and their audience. The three invisible skills are:

1. Listening

2. Vision

3. Execution 

Listening

Learning to mix is a process that can last a lifetime. With diligence and practice, we can become competent rather quickly. Styles change, so too will our mixing. We need to first learn the skill of active listening. Active listening allows us to learn from changing styles, diverse cultures, and sonic explorers. We begin by immersing ourselves in a variety of musical styles. Having a broad exposure to a variety of music will help us develop a deep and rich catalog of music tones we can draw from in our mixing. You don’t have to love everything you listen to but objectively listen to the strengths and tendencies that make each style unique. Don’t be afraid to experiment with some of the sounds that you discover.

Later, I will give you some homework if you are keen to dive into active listening. But for now, I want you to put on some songs that you know well. What instruments are used in each song? How many people are singing?

Deep listening to music is one way to engage in active listening. We live in a world that is teeming with sounds. Our brain is very adept at tuning most of it out. Let yourself be drawn into the soundscape around you. There is always something interesting to find. I think you’ll find that this has applications in your mix.

Vision

Our second invisible skill to mixing is vision, and no, I’m not just talking about having the sense of sight (if only that’s all it took). Vision is where we use the listening observations we learned in skill number one as the raw material for our art. Eventually, all of our listenings allow us to approach our mixes with an increased level of familiarity and confidence. If we are working to mix a rock band, we can recall the great rock mixes we have listened to in the past and draw from that catalog of tones. The tones that we put together and our ability to execute them is the heart of mixing, it’s what gives expression to our taste and preferences.

Develop a picture in your head of how you want each element of your mix to sound. We want to develop the habit of imagining the sound we want before we begin to make changes. The key takeaway here is that we do not make changes to our mix without first knowing what we are trying to accomplish. If you have your destination in mind, you’ll know when you have arrived. After that, all you have to do is get there…

Execution

Execution is all about how to get to your destination.

One of my mix heroes is Robert Scovill, he mixed for Tom Petty for 20 years, you can find his website here: https://www.robertscovill.com/

In a podcast I frequent, he relayed this insight: “When I step up to the mixer, the mix is already done. I have a vision in my head of the mix, now all I have to do is execute my vision.”

Execution is where art and technology come together. This is where our time spent in ear training, our study of the physics of sound, and the work with all the technical tools at our disposal all come together. Just as faith without works is dead, so too is vision without execution. If we have developed a picture in our head of what we would like the mix to sound like, but we do not have an understanding of how to use the mix tools in front of us, it is extremely unlikely that the mix will reach our objective. If we understand the subtlest details of mixing equipment but don’t have a vision, we are lost. It is in the combined skill of vision and technical know-how that we arrive quickly at our destination. This is the alchemy of turning raw stage audio into a finished mix.

We Walk the Line

The effective mixer walks the line between scientist and artist. We need to have the technical mastery of our tools so that we can create the sounds we envision in our minds. Like the musicians on stage, we need to practice our craft. 

Today, the development of these skills is more accessible than ever before. In our next three posts, we will elaborate on each of these three skills and discuss how they can be used to enhance your mix. Until then spend some time critically listening to music.

Ciao!