The one and only rule of audio: it has to sound good
I don’t know about you, but one thing I’m sick of is some self-appointed expert lecturing me about the “rules” of mixing.
That you have to follow the “cut when you boost” formula, that EQ should always go before compression or vice versa, and so forth. That drum samples are Satan or that drum samples are God… and so on, ad nauseum. (BTW, have you noticed that for every person who says you should 100% always do a certain thing, there is another who says the exact opposite?)
Yes, there are certain things in audio that tend to work better than others, and we all have workflows and techniques that we keep going back to because they work for us. The problem is when those go-to solutions become rigid, inflexible rules!
If you keep doing things the same way, how can you expect your mixes to evolve? Yes, it’s good to stick to trusted tools/techniques that work for you, but you need to balance that against the possibility of stagnation, of getting stuck in your ways. Or worse *shudder* becoming one of those insufferable d-bags who waste their lives on Gearslutz or Reddit lecturing strangers on the internet about how they should be mixing (I’d literally rather be dead than turn into one of those people).
The truth is this: the ONLY THING that matters is whether it sounds good coming out of your speakers! It doesn’t matter if something is “fake” or “too processed” or “sloppy” or “robotic.” That is all BS. It only matters if it sounds good!
Want that trademark Taylor Larson snare sound in your mix? Wet, thwacky and thick as hell? Here’s how– some really unconventional processing going on here that you’ve probably never seen before. The session is Jason Richardson’s “Fragments,” ft Luke Holland, Mark Holcomb and Lukas Magyar.
We love people who live by this rule, and Taylor Larson is definitely one of them.
In this clip from his Nail The Mix session, Taylor shows why the rules of audio are meant to be broken as he mixes the snare in Jason Richardson’s “Fragments.” There’s a lot of unusual stuff going on here that you probably haven’t seen before– stuff that’s “against” the rules. For example, he uses a lot of presets.
You’ve probably heard from a lot of people (including us) that presets are BS. You’ve heard us say that every session is different, and therefore a preset built for someone else’s session is unlikely to sound good on YOUR session. While that isn’t wrong, this clip is proof that even THAT rule isn’t always true (in fact, make sure to copy down his settings for the snare gate, they will rock your world).
You’ll also see Taylor get amazing results out of some janky plugins that most of us would write off as trash– how many plugins are sitting unused on your hard drive because you told yourself they’re useless garbage? Maybe they’re the solution to your next mixing roadblock.
Try this as an exercise to find new creative territory: Pick a “rule” and break it. For example, if you always scoop a certain range on your kick, try boosting it instead. Or maybe you know that you hate Marshalls – so force yourself to use one. Or if you’ve told yourself that SSL E Channel is the best EQ for guitars, then throw an EQ you’ve never used before on your guitars. You get the idea.
The results of your experiment might sound like dogshit and end up being a complete waste of time, or they might sound amazing. But that’s not really the point. I can’t guarantee that your experiment will sound great, but I can you’ll learn something by stretching your creative boundaries.
Remember: if it sounds good, then it is good. Don’t listen to anyone who tells you otherwise!
Nail The Mix is our online mixing school that gives you REAL multi-tracks from REAL bands, plus a mixing class from the producer who recorded it. Past guests include Periphery, Gojira, Chelsea Grin, A Day To Remember, Machine Head and State Champs. Join now for instant access!
