@Mastering Engineers: What's often done wrong by Mixing Engineers?

[Tarekith]

Too many fancy effects, effectively making the mixes too wide and weak in the center.

[Greg Reierson]

I'd go back to the tracking before blaming a mix engineer for bad mixing. That's where most of the trouble starts. Then they could avoid all of the layers of processing trying to fix those problems.

Beyond that, too much processing, flat-as-a-pancake mixes, too much <50Hz, spectral imbalances, forgetting what the most important mix elements are (drums louder than vocals for example), mixes that are either too wide or too narrow, mixes where everything masks everything else, mixes with only crash and splash but no tone in the stereo field, mixes where loudness trumps musical intent.

A lot of this has to do with current musical styles. When there is distortion and hype on every instruments it's more difficult to mix with clarity. Can't blame the mixer for not being able to hear articulation on the vocals and bass when he has 4 thin crunchy guitars and a drummer who is riding a heavy crash. OTOH, mixers need to shift gears for different styles. A country song mixed like a hip-hop song won't please anyone.

Pay attention to the most important things in the mix (vocals, solos, etc.) and let other mix elements support them rather than compete with them.

[MASSIVE Master]

Bad core sounds -

Tracking too hot -

Mixing too hot -

[lowland]

Sometimes when things aren't right it's because there's been a failure to serve the song. One cause is sound engineers at the track/mix stage showing off and forgetting what they're there to do: I tracked and mixed for quite a while and was occasionally guilty of that myself.

We live in an age when sound manipulation has never been so sophisticated or easy to achieve, and all too often music falls victim to 'I've got a (insert processor of choice) and I'm going to use it' syndrome. There are exceptions, but musical content is usually more important than the recording.

[Virtalahde]

Trying to predict what I do.

"I mixed the drums too loud because you're going to push them down anyway". No, I wouldn't, but now I have to.

[teebaum]

mixes who try to sound like masters and try to impress the musicans/ producers/a&r's with

- too loud cymbals /shakers/ tambourines/triangle (who mask the highs of the other instruments)
- too much (plugin-)compression who bring up the artefacts of poor recorded signals
- too much grainy (plugin-)saturation

[teebaum]

Originally Posted by Virtalahde

Trying to predict what I do.

"I mixed the drums too loud because you're going to push them down anyway". No, I wouldn't, but now I have to.

[wado1942]

Thinking they have to make the sound in the mix.

[cuebism]

Originally Posted by Virtalahde

Trying to predict what I do.

"I mixed the drums too loud because you're going to push them down anyway". No, I wouldn't, but now I have to.

+1!

[SASMastering]

Mixing engineers usually make really good mixes without many exceptions.

Most other people don't do it as well cause they are not a mix engineer, there are exceptions of course.

It is good to have a definition of what a mixing engineer actually is, like someone who earns a living solely from mixing. They normally know exactly what they are doing cause they do it day in, day out.
If there is a problem I believe is beyond the realms of good taste, I point it out, it can be ignored or acted upon at the producers/musicians/engineers discretion, insert any known audio anomaly 'here' as I am sure many mastering engineers do.

[sessionatstudiom]

Over compression. That is mostly the problem I see. Guys fall in love with compressors. Get lazy in the mixing or tracking stage and use the compressor to be their volume control of certain instruments. Which in turn makes things not breathe as much and then fights for frequency space in the mix because the compressor is so heavy handed. Making their job harder and mine in the end also.

This is done both in tracking and mixing.

Just one of the things I have seen recently.

[kosmokrator]

Originally Posted by SASMastering

Mixing engineers usually make really good mixes without many exceptions.

Most other people don't do it as well cause they are not a mix engineer, there are exceptions of course.

It is good to have a definition of what a mixing engineer actually is, like someone who earns a living solely from mixing. They normally know exactly what they are doing cause they do it day in, day out.
If there is a problem I believe is beyond the realms of good taste, I point it out, it can be ignored or acted upon at the producers/musicians/engineers discretion, insert any known audio anomaly 'here' as I am sure many mastering engineers do.

this.

[nomatic]

Misuse of Dynamics processing / over compression....
No HP LP filters on individual channels resulting in build up of frequencies.
Over EQing ......
Panning issues having to do with trying to fill every quadrant between
L C R.....
Every mix element competing for front and center......
To much buss processing using plugins........
The lost art of mixing is to stack the stereo field front to back and side
to side using EQ, delay, and light dynamics processing ect...So elements
can live and breath discreetly but connected at the same time.

It takes about ten years of mixing to reach the library door......

[djwaudio]

I recommend to mixers, watch out for the buildup of distortion. Especially IMD that comes from processing, and not enough headroom through the effects chains and busses, etc.

That goes for the tracking folks too, use the pad on those mics!

[Atak]

Originally Posted by sessionatstudiom

Over compression. That is mostly the problem I see. Guys fall in love with compressors. Get lazy in the mixing or tracking stage and use the compressor to be their volume control of certain instruments. Which in turn makes things not breathe as much and then fights for frequency space in the mix because the compressor is so heavy handed. Making their job harder and mine in the end also.

This is done both in tracking and mixing.

Just one of the things I have seen recently.

So true

Sent from my MOTWX435KT using Tapatalk

[Camera]

Cleaning up the beginning of the mix too much. I'd prefer it if they left the clean ambience (clean up the hums and noisy tracks) right before the top of a song.

[Kenny Gioia]

Very interesting topic. I always want to ask my Mastering engineers what they think but I'm afraid of the answer.

Plus, they probably don't want to piss me off and tell the truth.

I usually just listen to what they do (compared to my mix) to see what I'm doing wrong.

[Musiclab]

Originally Posted by Kenny Gioia

Very interesting topic. I always want to ask my Mastering engineers what they think but I'm afraid of the answer.

Plus, they probably don't want to piss me off and tell the truth.

I usually just listen to what they do (compared to my mix) to see what I'm doing wrong.

I always ask, sometimes I even send the mix for them to check before I'm done. I guess they think what I do is good since they refer clients with bad mixes to me. I would also agree with Greg Reierson, tracking a project is critical, too often I'm dealing with some poorly recorded tracks.

[glassmaster]

Those mixing engineers. They almost never bring a nice bottle of wine or tequila to celebrate the completion of a project.

[Kenny Gioia]

Originally Posted by Musiclab

I always ask, sometimes I even send the mix for them to check before I'm done. I guess they think what I do is good since they refer clients with bad mixes to me. I would also agree with Greg Reierson, tracking a project is critical, too often I'm dealing with some poorly recorded tracks.

If I attend, I'd obviously ask. It would be rude not to.

But I've attended 1 or 2 sessions in my entire career. You just have to let go at some point and that's when I do. I listen to the result as a fan. Trying not to be the mixer or producer.

[Bruce Wayne]

This is awesome! Very very helpful! So much that I can apply to my mixes as I find myself making a lot of these mistakes mentioned!

Cheers.

...And I'll definately bring a bottle of wine or tequila to celebrate the next time;-)

[Brad Blackwood]

Printing heavily clipped / limited mixes.

[Table Of Tone]

Many things really.

1. Mixing too hot and/or using lookahead limiting.
2. Too much (or the wrong type of) bus comp.
3. Drum light with too much mid clutter in the sides.
4. Bad tracking.

I'd say that tracking either makes or breaks it and it's often not the mix engineer's fault.

[Laurend]

1) Using a limiter on the master buss searching for volume.
2) Accepting poorly recorded tracks in the mix.
3) Messing around with processors to mask the tracking flaws.

[Kenny Gioia]

What about Essss?

[Bob Olhsson]

I think the biggest mistake is trying to second-guess mastering or being afraid to use eq. or compression on the bus. A mixer's goal should be a flat transfer.

[CHAOS]

Originally Posted by Bob Olhsson

I think the biggest mistake is trying to second-guess mastering or being afraid to use eq. or compression on the bus. A mixer's goal should be a flat transfer.

Yes! Bob says it again.

[Kenny Gioia]

Originally Posted by Bob Olhsson

I think the biggest mistake is trying to second-guess mastering or being afraid to use eq. or compression on the bus. A mixer's goal should be a flat transfer.

Yup. As always.

[wwittman]

Originally Posted by Bob Olhsson

I think the biggest mistake is trying to second-guess mastering or being afraid to use eq. or compression on the bus. A mixer's goal should be a flat transfer.

exactly.

Ideally, mastering isn't supposed to DO anything, other than the transfer.