To practice guitar you download the best bands tabs and learn to play........self taught can get very good results


To practice mixing......

and to practice mastering

how do you do it

 

Whatever books you read or tuts you watched, at the end of the day there's only one method: learning by doing.

 

Listen to your favourite tunes, what makes them tick, then try to reproduce the results.

Rinse, repeat.

 

Good place to grab multitrack sessions to practice on:
The 'Mixing Secrets' Free Multitrack Download Library

As already mentioned.
1. Learn by doing
2. Mix. Take a break. Repeat.

Start by trying to get a rough balanced mix before attempting to apply any EQ or FX. Usually at a low to moderate listening level.
This will give you a chance to take note of what needs to be addressed.

 

By actually practicing, experiencing and the ability to switch your focus from details to overall feel and actual rate it.

Nothing you can just pick up in a tutorial besides some basic principles, but to actually develop critical hearing and analyse what to do while internalizing it to point where yo reach for certain frequencies to cut or boost without thinking about it.

It just takes practice and experience – years, if not decades of experience.

 

The most important part of that is that you also need someone else. You need someone to tell you if what you are doing is what you set out to achieve or the best you could get from what you started with.

This is important because unlike playing an instrument by ear where you have tones and timings that you can hit or miss mixing and post are a bit more esoteric and it is easy to pick up the wrong lead or get lost in a never ending rabbit hole of bad and good decisions that lead to a mediocre end product.

A good analogue would be to think of mixing and post as more akin to baking than to building a shed. Sometimes you cake looks good and tastes like shit and sometimes it looks like shit but tastes good. In the best of worlds all cakes would look good and taste delicious, alas such is not the world we live in.

 

Decent free Multitracks unmixed
https://www.cambridge-mt.com/ms/mtk/
https://www.telefunken-elektroakustik.com/multitracks

Pure trial and error isnt that time efficient, take what these tutorials say as starting point for your own mixes:


Search the following on Library Genesis:
Mixing secrets for the small studio
The Mixing Engineer's Handbook
Mastering Audio Bob Katz

Search for the following on Sister Site:
Bobby Owsinski - 101 Mixing Tricks

Youtube channels:
Fabfilter (Excellent series of entry level videos)
Waves
iZotope, Inc.
Produce Like A Pro
MixbusTV (Only his older videos)
WhiteSea JK did you really think I would recommend him?
Production Advice
pureMix
Michael White
"mix:analog" and "Audio Modeling" for a lesson on new technology


Honorable Mentions:
UBK Happy Funtime Hour



And remember you never stop learning, consistency is key

 

- take stems from a song you don't know and never heard
- make your own mix
- compare with the final versions that was made of it

 

For those who want to learn, I recommend the videos of Gregory Scott aka Mr Kush Audio.
They are short videos, easy to watch, and always great advice.

He makes great stuff too.
The plugins are fantastic, you can go there with your eyes closed.

No, I don't work for him, but I really enjoy everything he does.

For the videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheHouseofKushTV/videos
For plugins and hardware: https://thehouseofkush.com/collections/plugins
He also makes great music and his project is called "Sneaky Little Devil", it's great sound very deep, sensual, perfect music to make love, and it's free download.
To listen and download to his music: http://www.sneakylittledevil.com/