5 More Common Mixing Mistakes to

Avoid
By Rob Schlette on 11/13/2013 Mixing

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As a specialized mastering engineer, I hear a lot of mixes every week. Im

often impressed by how good so many of them are. Nothing beats that
feeling when you hear a mix thats really delivering the song effectively.

Unfortunately, thats not always the case. Sometimes an artist and their
mixer get themselves in the way of the music, and deliver something thats
competing against itself.

Thankfully, most mastering engineers will tell you that there is a surprising
lack of variety among the worst-case scenarios. There is a short list of
frequent mistakes that spoil the sauce much more commonly than any
others.

Far from a collection of complaints, this article is intended to be a useful

summary of the most frequently heard problems a tour of cautionary
tales.

1. Lack of Clarity
It is common for even the most effective mixes to have a bit of confusion in
the low-frequency presentation. These minor issues are usually a result of
the monitoring system and mixing room acoustics, and are very easily
addressed in premastering.

A lack of clarity is an altogether different issue. Clarity in a mix is the result of

contrast. The best way to avoid a lack of clarity is to reference material
youre familiar with in the mixing room. Find a basis for managing tonal
contrast in your mixes, and then continue to check in on it throughout the
mixing process.

Another way to ensure your mixes have the kind of built-in contrasts that
provide focus for the music is to turn some of those damned compressors
off. That brings us to distortion.

Distortion is fun, and lo-fi can be very appropriate for a lot of music. That
said, dirty doesnt sound dirty if it isnt presented alongside clean. Its the
contrast thats interesting not the distortion.

2. Sibilant Vocals

Sibilance is the unpleasant tonal harshness that can happen during

consonant syllables (like S, T, and Z). It is caused by disproportionate audio
dynamics in the frequency range often centered between 5kHz to 8kHz. Its
very easily solved at the track level.

Once the sibilance has become a component of the mix, it is less easily
solved. It can almost always be moderated during premastering, but never
 as well as it could be in the mixing stage. Take the time to double-check for
sibilance.

3. Inconsistent Vocal Level

In many popular musical genres, the vocal level is an important style cue
that listeners expect, whether consciously or not. In these cases, it becomes
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critically important to the music that your choices about vocal level are
executed consistently within each mix, and across the multiple mixes for the
ARTICLES
project.

This raises a closely related, sub-issue: mix recall and stems. If you take the
VIDEOS
time to print instrumental and a capella mix reductions, there are a number
of small mix tweaks and revisions that become much more simple to
execute, regardless of the amount of resources behind the project.
PRODUCTS

4. Loud Cymbals

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Cymbals are filled with lots of complex harmonic content, particularly in the
midrange band that humans (who havent damaged their hearing with
cymbals) hear most efficiently. In other words, cymbals are already loud.

Unless youre mixing for a listening level below 75dBSPL, there is nothing
productive that could come of turning cymbal content up. If thats confusing
to you, try turning cymbals off. Mix without them, and then listen to how
effective their slight addition is toward the end of the mix.

5. That Tuxedo T-shirt Isnt Working

Schtick, style, or fashion whatever you call it you have to pull it off all the
way if its going to work. There are few things less effective than mixes that
quote one or two attributes of a popular style without following through on
the whole presentation.

The best practice is to reference the right records as much, as early, and as
deeply as possible.

The well-known design critic Ralph Caplan said, thinking about design is
hard, but not thinking about it can be disastrous. This is very good advice
for people who create genre-parsing media.

[Here are 10 more common mixing mistakes]

You might also like:

1. Tips for Mixing Toward Loudness
2. 9 Techniques for Controlling Sibilance
3. Mixing with Mastering in Mind: Dynamics
4. The Complete Guide to Mixing Vocals: Dynamics
5. EDM: Where Producing and Mixing Collide
6. The Complete Guide to Mixing Vocals: EQ
 R O B SCHL ETTE

Rob Schlette is chief mastering engineer and owner of Anthem Mastering, in St.
Louis, MO. Anthem Mastering provides trusted specialized mastering services to
music clients all over the world.

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