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No Wonder Top Pros Ignore This Mixing Advice

Alex Emrich | Audio Edges

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🎛️ Want to build your mixing instincts faster? Work with me 1:1 → https://go.audioedges.com/mentorshipn...

What separates the world’s top mixing engineers from everyone else? They learn the techniques, understand the rules, and develop the judgment to know when the song needs something different.

In this video, I break down powerful mixing advice from Chris Lord-Alge, Serban Ghenea, Mark “Spike” Stent, Andrew Scheps, and Greg Wells. These legendary mixers have worked on some of the biggest records in the world, and each one offers a different lesson about audio mixing, music production, creativity, commitment, and breaking the rules.

We’ll look at

• How Chris Lord-Alge uses reverb and delay to create depth without worrying about realism
• Why Serban Ghenea sees massive sessions and excessive plugin chains as a failure to commit
• Why Spike Stent allows clipping and distortion when they add the right energy
• How Greg Wells decides when less is more and when more is more
• Why Andrew Scheps focuses his attention on the few elements that carry the emotional identity of the song

I also share how these ideas have changed my own mixing process after six years of mixing professionally, working on more than 1,500 songs, and helping other engineers improve their mixes.

If you’ve been overthinking EQ settings, compression, gain staging, plugin order, headroom, track counts, clipping, reverb, or whether every sound is technically correct, this video will help you focus on what actually moves the record forward.

Learn the techniques. Then use your own judgment to decide whether the song actually needs them.

Because one of the most important things you can learn about mixing is what to unlearn.

Let me know in the comments which mixer’s perspective connected with you the most.

WATCH THE ORIGINAL VIDEOS:

Mixing with Depth w/ Chris Lord-Alge | Ep....
Serban Ghenea shares about modern mixing, ...
Mark "Spike" Stent at the University of We...
Andrew Scheps on Jay-Z, Recording Vocals a...
Producing the Music for Wicked with Greg W...

ABOUT ALEX:

I’m a professional mixing and mastering engineer, producer, and educator. My work has appeared on Spotify Editorial playlists, FM and Sirius XM radio and the Billboard Canada Top 40 Charts.

📲 Follow Alex here → Instagram: alexemrich
🌐 Work with me → https://www.alexemrich.com/
🎛️ Free Mixing Cheat Sheet → https://www.audioedges.com/homemixing...

All third-party excerpts are included for criticism, commentary, review, and education. Full credit belongs to the original speakers, creators, and publishers linked above.

The thumbnail is an AI-assisted editorial composite featuring the mixers discussed in this video. It does not depict an actual group photograph or endorsement.

#Mixing #AudioEngineering #MusicProduction

20 Comments

@audioedges Creator 3 weeks ago Pinned

Want to stop worrying about “rules” and trust your mixing decisions? I’ll personally coach you 1:1 to build pro mixing instincts → https://go.audioedges.com/mentorshipnurture

@futilerecordings 4 weeks ago

I hate when people say that, a certain software emulation of a hardware unit, doesn't sound like the real thing. I don't care if sounds authentic. And you shouldn't care either. Does it sound good? That should be your only question. I have a bunch of IK Multimedia plugins. Their distressor sounds nothing like the real thing. But it sounds awesome, and I use it all the time.

@KickTheDragonProductions 4 weeks ago

I had to unlearn a lot after going to college, namely “set in stone” rules that I found out to be untrue.

@PaulWegmann 3 weeks ago

Man, I opened an old session and I had a proQ3 destroying my room and overheads group, with autoalign between L and R mics, with a paralel comp, etc. I deleted all that shit and the original sound was just beautiful. I put an API550b with -4 in 300hz and thats it.

@WelshJ-420 3 weeks ago

CLA just says stuff that makes so much sense in my head.

@gnosis33-real 3 weeks ago

Im so grateful that I no longer face all of the problems pointed out here after almost 2 decades of producing, now everything I do, every tool I reach for has a purpose and there's no guessing anymore I can just grab the tools I need to craft the idea in my head

@Mourninghorse 2 weeks ago

Great Video thanks for posting! Is that an Eleven rack in the background? thanks JC

@chunkomusic 3 weeks ago

These are the videos I wish I seen starting out, countless amounts of hours, days and weeks going down rabbit holes of the "rules" and getting nowhere, we get so technical that we forget that music is just meant to sound good and there is no rules deep down. Anyone that's relatively new to the industry and going down a rabbit hole of mixing please keep note of this video, you won't regret it.

@still616 3 weeks ago

Another awesome video Alex! 👏

@kylrmusicofficial 4 weeks ago

Great video!

@squidcaps4308 3 weeks ago

The last project i mixed and mastered, the output is clipping like crazy. Reds all over the song. Sounds great.

@cerebrumexcrement 3 weeks ago

good stuff. 👌🏼

@pesloth 3 weeks ago

Gold!

@caelilohr 3 weeks ago

very valuable video right here.

@masteredbystefan 4 weeks ago

Yesss!

@mcmut8909 4 weeks ago

The most important thing in mixing is to build instinct and good ears thst can tell good balance. If u got that, the rules become cringe

@ItsJustAdrean 4 weeks ago

I agree with Schepps. Do the big stuff first. Hipass your hihat out of a loop, remove anything offensive. Pan and level. Build your track out.

You can retouch it later.

@SteamMastering 4 weeks ago

I have a Rhodes piano that's 51 years old. I partially restored it a few years ago.

Some of the tine bars in the lower registers are hella unstable, but I deliberately didn't replace any of them.

The rich "chorusy" sound comes from that instability..

I have a Nord Electro, which sounds amazing but sterile when compared to the old real one.

@vigilant545 3 weeks ago

That's a lesson we all have to learn and accept. Don't stay in the midwit mindset for too long. Well, we all have stayed there for some years 😅 until we eased up and moved on.