Thursday, January 23, 2014

10 Mixing Tips in 10 Days: Day Ten - Be Creative


It is officially the last day of the 10 Mixing Tips in 10 Days series. This has been a lot of fun and it's been great to get to share helpful information with all of you engineers out there.

Today I want to talk about being creative. More specifically, I want to talk about being you.
I want to talk about how you can bring something to the table that no one else can. I want to talk about how you can better your mixes by just being creative.



Mixing Tip:

Add creativity to your mix by incorporating your own unique ideas and abilities. 


One advantage you will always have as an engineer over everyone else is that they aren't you! No matter what they learn, or how long they have been doing this, they aren't you. They can't think exactly you do or be you. This gives you an amazing opportunity as an engineer to offer something to your clients that no one else can. The key to this is being creative. 

Creativity often gets overlooked in the process of mixing. It feels like such a technical process that it's easy to go through the motions without thinking about how we could be creative. We get so bogged down by rules and wrapped in signal chains that we never think about trying new things. It seems as though we forgot that music is an emotional and creative hobby. Musicians love creativity! 

Next time you are doing a mix for yourself or for a client, try adding some creativity. Don't be afraid to take a risk and do something new. It can scary when working with a client to push the limits. You think if you can just get them a nice, clean, polished mix, that they will be happy with it and you won't scare them away with your crazy ideas. I say to take the risk. Don't be afraid to try new things and push a song to its limits.

 You need to ask yourself the question, "How can I mix this song and surprise the client with how awesome it is?" You don't want to just make a good mix, you want to make the best mix. This is what will make you stand out as an engineer and keep clients coming back. Worst case scenario is they don't like it, you do a revision, and you're done. Best case scenario is they love it and keep coming back to you for work. It's worth the risk. 

Be creative when mixing and bring your own unique ideas to the table. 


Well this has been a very fun series. I look forward to doing more and sharing more helpful information on mixing. I'm also thinking about turning this into a video series so be on the lookout for that! Until next time, mix on! 


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