Posted at TOMB:
One thing that has helped me over the years is doing and re-doing, which is obvious, but not to be under-estimated. Mix anything and everything, your stuff, others’, downloads, and in different ways – bright, rhythm driven, vocal emphasized, etc.
And read. I read here, elsewhere on the net, certainly TapeOp magazine. Equipment reviews at places like SOS often have practice tips, as well. And books. I really learned a lot from books. Mike Senior’s are excellent, Mixerman’s, The Guerilla book, the various “Handbooks”. Older books are cheap on ebay, etc. – you just might have to ignore a few chapters on ADAT or whatever.
And, listen. I mean, put on yer Walkman or yer Discman or yer Ipod/digital player or yer phone, listen to stuff you like and stuff you do and stuff that has something you wanna do and compare and contrast. Listen to AM and FM, to earbuds and monitors and living room and bookshelf stereos and in yer car. Listen to love, but also to analyze. What makes FM sound like FM? Why does an 808 kick on a 80’s dance track sound so good there but not work in a alt.country track? Youtube studio vids can be useful to help identify stuff, when you see the mics and their placement.. Look up the Lanois stuff with Black Dub, the Nick Cave studio stuff, the “making of [album]” stuff (the Steely Dan one is pretty good).
Finally, do be sure to consider the music itself, the arrangements. Do ya need 4 electric guitars, or will one acoustic serve better? A loud voc into a Shure dynamic, or an intimate voc into a condensor? A kick above or below the bass? Reverb or delay or none?
Bonus: don’t underestimate your gear. That M179 is actually a very usable condensor (I like ’em on toms and even OH’s sometimes, also), Bono likes to sing into Beta 58’s.
Double-secret probation bonus: FWIW, I pass-filter damn-near everything, but EQ as a last resort. I try to do it with mic placement; with my own stuff I find I sometimes do a little boost or cut on FX’d bass, brighten a lead vocal or guitar – that’s about it, other than drums, where on two-mixes I often do a shit-ton. On recent acoustic projects (the “C-19” stuff at the first link below) I have had to do a fair amount of EQ on upright acoustic bass, and sometimes on congas, that I did not record. But as an aesthetic, EQ is something I try to avoid, other than the afore-mentioned pass filters.
Pro-tip: listen to yer audience. When a kid says there’s too much distortion on the guitars, when the wife says the vocal is pitchy, when the fellow muso says the arrangement is too busy, at least try it their way. So, try and find some folks what are willing to give respectful critique, and accept it gracefully.
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I mix with olive juice.
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