I know the title question might seem a little bit too "basic" but im pretty interested in a more advanced mixers work process as well as their "quality control" of actually improving instead of just making useless EQ moves paired with overhyped VST's. While I noticed that my mixes improved slightly I always had the feeling that it's worlds away from a professional mix.

Also any recommendations on courses or books are welcome.

 

First rule: have enough channels and groups.

 

This is something that courses and books can't help you with. They can teach techniques, but you have to practice the application. The magic formula is therefore: practice.
Not just practice mixing, but practice analyzing. Train your ears. There is paid software or free websites like webtet where you can train the basics. But I would advise you, when listening to music, to analyze that music. Analyze everything. Always. Until you can no longer enjoy the music, because the analysis happens automatically. Then you're on a good path.

Otherwise, I can only recite the platitudes:
Before you do anything, listen to the material and think about how you want the result to sound. Visualize it (sonically). Spend about 30-40% of the time in advance to get the level mix and the panorama right. Once you start working with plugins, work fast. Make changes only when you know very clearly what you want to do. Automate everything. Less saturation is more.

 

well, nobody becomes an expert over night.

i make music as a hobbyist and honestly most of the times i avoid making things like using "subtle compress the mids up and down and do a handstand to give warmth also boost air around 328141Hz to give more space for the bass" stuff like this. if i hear a difference, i do it. if i turn on the compressor and spend 30 minutes fiddling around with it and then notice absolutely nothing different (or most of the time i just make the source worse..., like the joke "its bypassed" lol), then i just go on and leave it.

now, why is this? because i'm not an expert... and to become one i need to improve more, spend more time on the changes, understand better the tools i have at hand, etc.

you hear the difference between your traxx and a professional one because, well, the professional one is made by professional. and professional also had to start somewhere making shit mixes. and they have amazing ears because of this. they make changes we cannot hear at the moment, but in the final mixes these little changes add up and they make a big difference and we hear them in the final product

sorry this is not helpful, im following the thread 'cause this interests me as well, cheers

 

Train your ears. Read the manuals. That's about it.
This one topic is not enough to provide all the info you need. You can find plenty of info about ear training and how DSP works on the Internet tho. I'll tell you that u-He and TDR manuals are very informative, just as Dan Worrall-narrated FabFilter videos. His own channel is also good, albeit for a bit more advanced stuff, mostly.
But seriously, train your ears. Learn to know how imbalances sound, learn to hear the dynamics. There are methods and courses. It takes time, but it's the only way to actually know what to do in any given mix.

Here are two basic execrises. Before all that, make sure that your listening environment is at least not irreparably bad. Hearing reverberations and resonating glass plates instead of the actual sound won't help make out the changes you're making.

Spoiler: For frequency balance

Take an EQ of your choice. Take some sound, preferably a whole mix or a single instrument. Take a properly mixed track in a similar style, as a palette cleanser. Listen to the chosen sound without any processing, then boost some frequency (make sure you have enough headroom so it doesn't clip). Listen how it sounds with this frequency boosted. Then remove the boost and listen again. Then boost some other frequency and listen. Repeat a few times. Then listen how similar sound in your reference track sounds. Then do the same thing but with cutting instead of boosting.
Do that from time to time (on different sounds and even with different EQs!) and you'll train your brain to recognize excess or lack of certain frequency regions.

Spoiler: For dynamics

Now, take a compressor of your choice (preferably with automatic gain-compensation, so you won't have to tweak it too much) and a drum bus. And of course a palette cleanser reference! Dial in the shortest attack and release, the highest ratio and a squish the threshold. Gain-compensate so you hear what's happening, but mind the headroom. Now slowly increase the attack and hear what happens to transients. Increase it all the way, then decrease it all the way, then try to find the spot you like. Now do the same with the release, listen how with longer release the sustain first gets more natural, then gets weaker. Try to find the sweet spot here too. Now tweak the ratio and, yet again, listen to how the sound changes. Return to the highest ratio and try to adjust threshold instead, listen to how it's different to ratio. Now try to balance these two (and the gain) so the sound feels steady. Now listen to the drums in your selected reference.
Again, do that from time to time, with different drums, different compressors and, importantly, also on other instruments of course! Every instrument is compressed differently, it's just that the drums are more obvious for a start.

 

Agree except for this bit. I think that if analysis prevents you from enjoyment, there's something wrong with the way you analyze things, which will inevitably impact the quality of your work. An engineer have to be able to pick up on a vibe to preserve it in the final product.

 

That didn't refer to the analysis during mixing, but to analyzing when listening to music in general. If, while listening to a song, you break it down into its individual parts, musically and technically, from the big picture down to the tiniest nuances, the song is over before you even begin to enjoy it like a casual listener. And there's almost an infinite number of things in a song that can be analyzed, so you're still analyzing the song the tenth time you hear it.

 

Taking on mixing jobs continuously (experience). Always training your ears. Making mistakes and learning from them. Learning new techniques. Broadening your horizon (genres, styles, etc).

 

Last edited: Nov 19, 2022

I got it. What you describe sounds like an expressway to burnout.
There's time and place for technical analysis, and there's also time and place for introspection, listening to your feelings, and ultimately enjoying the things without a second thought. You have to do all three to understand the song, only one is not sufficient. And if your brain just beelines towards analysis, you have to employ discipline and stop yourself. There's a time and place for that. At least that's what I came to.

 

And you can find the corresponding book as pdf on libgen

 

Yes, emotions are part of it.

Nah, not really. It's the expressway to great analytical listening skills. No pain no gain.

 

Last edited: Nov 19, 2022

Absolutely right. Often overlooked is the value in mixing other peoples material. A pad (for example) you may be in love with in a track of your own may suddenly become apparent as problematic in another persons track because you are more invested in obtaining a good, clean, strong mix rather than highlighting specific elements of your own song.
It's why dentists go to other dentists when they need a root canal.

 

A great room (with ATC monitors) ..are a joy to work in & really helps you moving forward.