It's so validating to hear this advice from someone as good as Andrew. So many mediocre mixing engineers do exactly what he says he doesn't do and swear that it's the one true way to do things. These 8 minutes are honestly very inspiring for me.
@@pocket1684 Thanks for sharing your experience. Workflows can definitely vary since there's no correct way to do things and everything in music is subjective. I feel like sometimes I'm nervous to show other producers how I do things out of fear that they'll judge me or write me off as amateurish. So it's good to hear from people like you breaking the mold.
Yeah but he also clarified that if it works for you then by all means do it in a reference to gain staging. He's right there's so many ways to affect gain on a DAW it's kind of ridiculous to act like gain staging is the only way to affect gain level's. You may have a good vocal track moderately with naturally good staging minus a few spikes. To lower the gain stage on that whole track would be ridiculous. Why not just adjust the volume curve in those few sections or slap a limiter on it?
@@gerimayawhyte154 It's of course not the only way to affect the gain, but it's a really really good starting point. Especially with digital equipment you can run into some serious problem if your levels are off the chart. I really see no reason why you should not gain stage. It does not mean your mix will magically be great, but it will probably save you from some headache later on while mixing. When you know the rules, then feel free to break them if it suits you. But, then you will know about the pit falls. To just follow your intuition is the worst advice you can give someone without experience. Some might be that talented that they can just follow their gut feeling, but most people are not...
Andrew mixes more like a musician and less like an engineer - probably one of the things that makes him so good! And the "don't fix what ain't broke" approach is solid advice for anyone
“Stuff feels different depending on how much level you’re putting through it.” So freaking true man. As someone now mixing through a solid analog 2bus with lots of potential sweet spots that can be gained into I couldn’t agree more.
saying the drums have to work is exactly how I treat gain staging. I meter the kick to around -14db and for the rest of the mix I ignore the meters until I clip - which usually I won't, because when you meter to kick to -14db things usually fall into place.
@@PendelSteven Oxford English Dictionary: "pragmatic: dealing with things on practical rather than theoretical considerations." First synonym listed: "practical."
Exactly. Especially in music, everything is subjective to the ears listening to it. Every engineer has their preferences as to what they want to hear in the end product. You just have to balance what sounds good with volume, as opposed to maxing everything and making it sound essentially mono coming out of two speakers. Which is, unfortunately, the way a lot of modern producers do things. Essentially, listen to what has been forwarded and find a way to bring the best out of it. I think the biggest issue facing modern music is the true lack of care for each product. Where studios are now dealing in volume and not quality. Which is what separates the great producers from the not so great. The best thing any new producer can do is take advice from both present and past producers and find your way in between all of that information. Because the best of what you were going to do is going to come from experience and your own ears. Essentially, your end goal is always going to be to reproduced the best of what you’ve ever done. Which is very tough, because the sound coming from every musicians instrument is going to be different from the one before. The same thing with vocals. Which is where the experience of knowing what to do in different situation becomes very apparent. When I hear a very large Stereophonics soundstage in a recording, it makes me all giddy inside. Because it’s almost like listening to surroundsound out of two speakers. As opposed to listening to something that’s loud and has a very limited almost mono sounding feel. For which, my ears get tired really quick listening to them. The best songs I’ve ever heard are those that hide little nuances, that you’ve never heard before even though you’ve been listening to it for 20+ years. Essentially sounds that we’re waiting for technology to catch up to them, for your ears be able to hear them. And when you do, it’s like find a gold at the end of a rainbow. Which never gets old.
There isn't rules, but we are dealing with physics, and due to that certain things do matter. If you ignore certain rules it won't cut to vinyl very well, and in some cases not in a way that is even playable. Or phase issues might cause cancellation via summing to mono, which then won't work right for radio broadcast etc Many other things that could be listed. By all means break rules, but the physics matter
One thing for me to remember hearing his process, is that it's obvious that he's dealing with already excellent stuff. The musicians and recording engineers, already have a great sound before they ever send it to him. So, he wouldn't need to gain stage, do a lot of editing, or eq sweeps.
Wow you made a great point, and he has so much work to do, that there is no need to go through certain helpful routines, like bring down ever fader and start there, that is good for someone doing their own project or someone who doesn't have 100 mix to do each week. We need to be careful, some of those rules are good......
too man "experts" online pimping product, 'masterclass' nonsense and blueprint production technique. But this guy is the real 💛. Nice to hear from grounded person.
I love this guy. I noticed him and other masters don't stress meticulously gain staging every track. I intuitively knew this was a overboard youtube hype. It's necessary when you have an issue but a complete waste of time if you're constantly looking and applying it IMO
It's weird that 30+ years ago I would build my mixes similarly, but only from a songwriting need/requirement with drums first (typically a drum machine looped beat or programmed out with all changes), then guitar, then bass, then keys and finally vocals. I like how Andrew approaches the mix like that, like a songwriter would. The man is a genius and a legend. Always new stuff to learn from these videos.
After mixing for some time my own tracks -- I 100 percent agree with this approach. I just take a gander at the master mix bus and if I'm slamming it too hard, I selectively pair down and only then. Otherwise, I focus on feel, groove, whatever the song needs to accomplish what it needs to do. Don't limit yourself w/ structure unless absolutely needed!
Great video. The reason we see things being hyped are 1. because it’s good for beginners to know, Scheps obviously knows enough to not need to recite his ABC’s, and 2. to make a career out of audio on RUclips you absolutely HAVE to produce a lot of content, thus some of that content may be gratuitous.
This was really encouraging. I’m very much a beginner but I’m starting to work this way more as my skills develop. I’m less formulaic and just do what my ears tell me. I know a lot of the rules and they help me quickly fix problems. But I’m starting to get a feel for when I can skip a step (something like hi-passing guitars) or when I can solve a problem creatively rather than using a tried-and-true method. It makes for a more interesting, unique finished product
This has been the most truthful and directly applicable video I have ever seen. Thank you! I don't follow "rules" (anymore). I did the "sweep" of frequencies (in context, not solo) but still felt that, that was routine instead of useful. Great insight!
I like that he points out not doing something if you're not feeling like doing it. Waiting until the next session. Its such a delicate balance between where your analytical powers are and what state the ears are in. Forcing stuff just means having to do over again later.
I have been mixing and processing purely on the assumption that I "should eq and compress every channel". As soon as I learned to just listen and only fix things if they need fixing, that's when everything changed. And I'm so happy to hear that Schepps doesn't hear exact frequencies, I thought I was doing it wrong.
As a songwriter producer and arranger I’ve tried mixing without gain staging and it never works out for me because I also have to do my own mastering. I don’t see the point of working against myself in the final later stages.
I’ve been producing and writing music for about 5-6 years, and in that whole time, I’ve never gone about my process in the same way. Each session is always different. Sometimes I start by picking a bpm, sometimes drums, synth etc. same for the mixing process. This is why I love music, it has never gotten stale and it’s great knowing that no matter what I’m going through in life, I’ll always be able to make music. Even if the world falls apart and society re-starts, I’ll be banging a stick on some rocks trying to make a beat. It’s a beautiful expression of the human experience
(Just don't clip!) Andrew, you are so practical and level-headed. I am so happy to hear a seasoned professional talk about the mix and NOT surgical, solo track unnecessary tweaking! You keep things simple - like don't grab an eq if there's no need for one. It refreshing to hear pro talking about how basic mixing really is and should be! If it sounds good, it is. Thank you!
talking about soloing tracks reminded me that, late in the mix, I like to solo tracks and listen them "just to make sure." I found that if the solo tracks sound quite bad, I'm probably getting a pretty good mix. not a rule, but just something I use to gauge how far I am in the process
@Having a GAS™ with... all this is good but if you want to solo and treat the tracks and that works for you then do so yes no one listens to a song in solo but that's not why you might want to treat each track in solo example your K and bass you need to pick which 1 will be the star of the session if you listen to them in solo you might have a belter understanding of what the freq are doing. if you have a good ear and understand freq and know what your looking for or your client wants then this really can save time but really its not about saving time its about what works for you and in life all products start with 1 thing and then its built from the ground up
Really valuable video. Oftentimes it's good to get validation from a pro like Andrew. When I was a beginner, because of RUclips, I thought gain staging was a "thing" that you set out to do. However, it's something you do if you're hitting the mix buss too hard. However I have found it useful, if some tracks were recorded at very high level, to pull down all the tracks to a certain level using clip gain. Or even audiosuite normalise. Having said that, there's a video with CLA saying he gains the tracks up loud to hit the plugins hard. There's few rules in mixing!
Great interview.. Thanks for letting him speak without interruption most of the time.. was interesting to hear he uses a similar way of doing sessionsv to what I've been doing in more recent years, (getting away from technical approach and into) what sounds right is what's right.. Would love to hear what he'd do with my songs but I've no budget just good songs
I honestly do not know who he is, but his way is exactly how I decided to do my mixing and production, organically. Im in the game only since October of 2017, but this is how I work efficiently. So I like him. :-)
Check out Andrew Scheps on Discogs or Wikipedia. How did you spend 2013? Red Hot Chili Peppers - "I'm Beside You" (2013) Jake Bugg - Shangri La (2013) AFI - Burials (2013) Gogol Bordello - Pura Vida Conspiracy (2013) Red Hot Chili Peppers - "This Is the Kitt" / "Brave from Afar" (2013) Lady Gaga - Artpop (2013) Black Sabbath - 13 (2013) Red Hot Chili Peppers - "In Love Dying" (2013) Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Hanelei" / "Open" / "Close" (2013) Bon Jovi - What About Now (2013) Chic Gamine - Closer (2013) Beyoncé - "Angel" (2013) Beyoncé - "XO" (2013) Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Pink as Floyd" / "Your Eyes Girl" (2013) Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Catch My Death" / "How It Ends" (2013) Special Request - Soul Music (2013)
I do pretty much the same. Never close to overload on the master, that has a lot to do with the routing. Also, I work on one bit, section, aspect. Then as soon as I am bored, I switch over to another section/aspect of the song, or just another project. I admire Scheps! I have listened carefully to this genie.
It's good to hear that one of the best mixing/mastering engineer doesn't gain stage either. I always hated doing that and felt limited and couldn't get in a creative flow. Good questions you asked 👍
" I always hated doing that and felt limited and couldn't get in a creative flow." Because it's something to do during the mix PREP, not DURING mixing... Pretty sure Andrew doesn't need to do it because the tracks he gets are already top notch also...
@djabthrash the only gain staging I feel like I do is to get a quiet noise floor from my analog mic preamp and compressor, then set the levels one time before any processing on the mix and that's it. Then turn things up if too quiet or down in volume if things start to clip.
One of my favorite things is when I watch these professional, wonderful engineers and they just do things in the order that I’ve picked it up and I just need more work to mix. Well I’m learning I still don’t feel comfortable charging people any amount of money but
Gain staging is more of a visual technique since you have every instrument in your mixer at the same level, lets say -12db. From here you can easily see the mixing slides are all -12db at default just from looking at your mixer. Kick volume is set at default that you know is hitting -12db, you have a melody loop and you bring the slide down halfway in volume- not only is the slide halfway down, you know its half the volume of the kick. So if you ever wonder why something is too quiet its as simple as going back, visually searching and then listening. Good for learning to mix. Once your ears adjust you really don't need to.
The thing I like most about Andrew's comments here is that while they are about mixing music, the same advice can be applied to nearly every other creative endeavor.
I think that Andrew’s overall mixing perspective can pretty much be summed up (no pun intended) in one word: “Context”. Whether he’s saying that working in solo mode to EQ instruments isn’t a good idea, or that he doesn’t use the exact same processors, or the same processing chain from mix to mix, it’s because doing those things lacks context, and that context could be a particular instrument’s relationship to all the other instruments, or how one processor with a particular setting works great in one scenario, but not as well in another, or even different musical styles determining what/how he mixes. But, he’s also saying that workflows and methods are individual, and that ultimately, the goal is to end up with a great sounding mix, and there’s no “right” or “wrong” way to achieve that goal, but just a matter of using whatever methods or steps that one feels is best for them. Personally, I prefer to gain stage tracks before I start the mixing process, before I start to insert various processing, but, that doesn’t mean that I think that his way of not gain staging initially, but instead doing so throughout the mix process, is wrong…that’s his own process, what he feels works best for him, and there’s no doubt that he achieves great mixes. FWIW
I love this guy's attitude and style. Never realized he cussed so much though. Hehe. And... Now I'm going to have to hunt down which Rival Son's albums he's done. Love that band and their sound.
Awesome!!! Best advice I’ve heard since finishing audio engineering/music production degree back in 08. I feel like this process is the lost way or has become lost in this endless sea of immediate commoditized information.
Excellent, this is the justification I needed to not learn about gain-staging :) I keep telling myself I need to understand this better, or at all, but now I can let that go!
It’s important to understand, but it’s something that has been blown out of all proportion by RUclips and forums. We like saturation, which is essentially bad gain staging. Some compositions are dynamic, others not so much, so chasing a specific number for everything doesn’t make sense. A distorted electric guitar is heavily compressed, so little reason for it have a huge amount of headroom like drums and vocals require, all you’re doing is trying to not require turning things up or down later, but it’s always advisable to do exactly that! Gain staging is literally the optimal level entering a processor that is the best balance between the ceiling (saturation) and the noise floor. That’s it.
2:05 he says it feels different ( i am not sure he is talking exactly what I have understood) but whenever I gain stage the tracks lose power to me even if I match the volume pre gain ( I am not sure why, but it does feel it loses the body of the sound)
That was one of the most insightful short videos on the mixing process I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen too many! Creativity front and centre but without pretending a routine is not a part of that along with flexibility and most importantly, listening to what’s needed. Plus, trust your own process if it works.
¨take care of problems when the problems exist. Dont go looking for problems¨ This is a so powerful advice and not only for music purposes !!
This hit home for me too, was gonna comment the same thing
That’s essentially Taoism.
A solution looking for a problem
Except when you realize there was a problem and you can't re record the parts
He just said if it ain’t broke don’t fix it in a different way and he’s right. It’s basic common sense.
"take care of problems when the problems exist. Dont go looking for problems"
great advice!
Those 2 sentences alone were worth the view.
Thats when you know a mix is done - when you go through it and there is nothing you want to change anymore - so simple. so great. Thank you!
Kind of bad advice for perfectionists though lol
@@Howitchewstofeel5gum Trust me 🤣
Yeah until you play it in your car 😂 you practice that and see how depressed you get
@@jzilla_grudgegang I feel you! I made peace with this when I realized most car stereos just suck and even high-level mixes sound like crap on them.
I just started and i guess im going through a weird stage cause everything sounds better on other speakers.
I am only mixing my own music though
It's so validating to hear this advice from someone as good as Andrew. So many mediocre mixing engineers do exactly what he says he doesn't do and swear that it's the one true way to do things. These 8 minutes are honestly very inspiring for me.
@@pocket1684 Thanks for sharing your experience. Workflows can definitely vary since there's no correct way to do things and everything in music is subjective. I feel like sometimes I'm nervous to show other producers how I do things out of fear that they'll judge me or write me off as amateurish. So it's good to hear from people like you breaking the mold.
{As good as..]... A master like.. FTFY
Yeah but he also clarified that if it works for you then by all means do it in a reference to gain staging. He's right there's so many ways to affect gain on a DAW it's kind of ridiculous to act like gain staging is the only way to affect gain level's. You may have a good vocal track moderately with naturally good staging minus a few spikes. To lower the gain stage on that whole track would be ridiculous. Why not just adjust the volume curve in those few sections or slap a limiter on it?
@@gerimayawhyte154 It's of course not the only way to affect the gain, but it's a really really good starting point. Especially with digital equipment you can run into some serious problem if your levels are off the chart. I really see no reason why you should not gain stage. It does not mean your mix will magically be great, but it will probably save you from some headache later on while mixing. When you know the rules, then feel free to break them if it suits you. But, then you will know about the pit falls. To just follow your intuition is the worst advice you can give someone without experience. Some might be that talented that they can just follow their gut feeling, but most people are not...
Andrew mixes more like a musician and less like an engineer - probably one of the things that makes him so good! And the "don't fix what ain't broke" approach is solid advice for anyone
Spot-on!
Is his rooted in music?
“Stuff feels different depending on how much level you’re putting through it.” So freaking true man. As someone now mixing through a solid analog 2bus with lots of potential sweet spots that can be gained into I couldn’t agree more.
saying the drums have to work is exactly how I treat gain staging. I meter the kick to around -14db and for the rest of the mix I ignore the meters until I clip - which usually I won't, because when you meter to kick to -14db things usually fall into place.
I love Andrew because he is so practical about mixing.
I think the word is: pragmatic.
@@PendelSteven Oxford English Dictionary: "pragmatic: dealing with things on practical rather than theoretical considerations." First synonym listed: "practical."
@@PendelSteven this video was made for you :)
"Take care of problems when problems exist. Don't go looking for problems." Great advice for mixing and for your life too! Respect.
Andrew how are they supposed to sell endless unnecessary plugins with such practical advice! Legend.
That said...for any job in life, you need the right tools to do it right. Sometimes that means a plug-in you didn't have before.
@@SixPieceSuits Agreed!
First thing I learned in recording student: There are NO RULES, only guidelines. Love this guy - he totally gets it- Its that simple!
Exactly. Especially in music, everything is subjective to the ears listening to it. Every engineer has their preferences as to what they want to hear in the end product. You just have to balance what sounds good with volume, as opposed to maxing everything and making it sound essentially mono coming out of two speakers. Which is, unfortunately, the way a lot of modern producers do things. Essentially, listen to what has been forwarded and find a way to bring the best out of it. I think the biggest issue facing modern music is the true lack of care for each product. Where studios are now dealing in volume and not quality. Which is what separates the great producers from the not so great.
The best thing any new producer can do is take advice from both present and past producers and find your way in between all of that information. Because the best of what you were going to do is going to come from experience and your own ears. Essentially, your end goal is always going to be to reproduced the best of what you’ve ever done. Which is very tough, because the sound coming from every musicians instrument is going to be different from the one before. The same thing with vocals. Which is where the experience of knowing what to do in different situation becomes very apparent.
When I hear a very large Stereophonics soundstage in a recording, it makes me all giddy inside. Because it’s almost like listening to surroundsound out of two speakers. As opposed to listening to something that’s loud and has a very limited almost mono sounding feel. For which, my ears get tired really quick listening to them. The best songs I’ve ever heard are those that hide little nuances, that you’ve never heard before even though you’ve been listening to it for 20+ years. Essentially sounds that we’re waiting for technology to catch up to them, for your ears be able to hear them. And when you do, it’s like find a gold at the end of a rainbow. Which never gets old.
There isn't rules, but we are dealing with physics, and due to that certain things do matter.
If you ignore certain rules it won't cut to vinyl very well, and in some cases not in a way that is even playable.
Or phase issues might cause cancellation via summing to mono, which then won't work right for radio broadcast etc
Many other things that could be listed. By all means break rules, but the physics matter
One thing for me to remember hearing his process, is that it's obvious that he's dealing with already excellent stuff. The musicians and recording engineers, already have a great sound before they ever send it to him. So, he wouldn't need to gain stage, do a lot of editing, or eq sweeps.
exactly
Wow you made a great point, and he has so much work to do, that there is no need to go through certain helpful routines, like bring down ever fader and start there, that is good for someone doing their own project or someone who doesn't have 100 mix to do each week.
We need to be careful, some of those rules are good......
too man "experts" online pimping product, 'masterclass' nonsense and blueprint production technique. But this guy is the real 💛. Nice to hear from grounded person.
"I don't do anything all the time." Terrific perspective.
I love this guy. I noticed him and other masters don't stress meticulously gain staging every track. I intuitively knew this was a overboard youtube hype. It's necessary when you have an issue but a complete waste of time if you're constantly looking and applying it IMO
Good advice, go by feel rather than a set in stone process.
It's weird that 30+ years ago I would build my mixes similarly, but only from a songwriting need/requirement with drums first (typically a drum machine looped beat or programmed out with all changes), then guitar, then bass, then keys and finally vocals. I like how Andrew approaches the mix like that, like a songwriter would. The man is a genius and a legend. Always new stuff to learn from these videos.
After mixing for some time my own tracks -- I 100 percent agree with this approach. I just take a gander at the master mix bus and if I'm slamming it too hard, I selectively pair down and only then. Otherwise, I focus on feel, groove, whatever the song needs to accomplish what it needs to do. Don't limit yourself w/ structure unless absolutely needed!
Great video. The reason we see things being hyped are 1. because it’s good for beginners to know, Scheps obviously knows enough to not need to recite his ABC’s, and 2. to make a career out of audio on RUclips you absolutely HAVE to produce a lot of content, thus some of that content may be gratuitous.
This was really encouraging. I’m very much a beginner but I’m starting to work this way more as my skills develop. I’m less formulaic and just do what my ears tell me. I know a lot of the rules and they help me quickly fix problems. But I’m starting to get a feel for when I can skip a step (something like hi-passing guitars) or when I can solve a problem creatively rather than using a tried-and-true method. It makes for a more interesting, unique finished product
Truer words have not been spoken ! That is a fact!. Mixing is like an itch you can't scratch. That mix is done when the itch goes away. ❤
This has been the most truthful and directly applicable video I have ever seen. Thank you! I don't follow "rules" (anymore). I did the "sweep" of frequencies (in context, not solo) but still felt that, that was routine instead of useful. Great insight!
I like that he points out not doing something if you're not feeling like doing it. Waiting until the next session. Its such a delicate balance between where your analytical powers are and what state the ears are in. Forcing stuff just means having to do over again later.
God damn . As a photographer and aspiring filmmaker I wish we had this level of wisdom with color grading tutorials. Fascinating stuff!
This interview/advice is SOOO beautiful I can’t explain.
I really needed to hear this , the man is an legend.
I have been mixing and processing purely on the assumption that I "should eq and compress every channel". As soon as I learned to just listen and only fix things if they need fixing, that's when everything changed. And I'm so happy to hear that Schepps doesn't hear exact frequencies, I thought I was doing it wrong.
it gives me relief hearing this man giving his knowledge
As a songwriter producer and arranger I’ve tried mixing without gain staging and it never works out for me because I also have to do my own mastering. I don’t see the point of working against myself in the final later stages.
YES! This is the best advice I’ve heard in years. Too many 20 yr olds on youtube telling people “how to mix” and leading a whole generation astray.
In short..... "Have a structure, not a routine" 😉. Great insightful video btw
I’ve been producing and writing music for about 5-6 years, and in that whole time, I’ve never gone about my process in the same way. Each session is always different. Sometimes I start by picking a bpm, sometimes drums, synth etc. same for the mixing process. This is why I love music, it has never gotten stale and it’s great knowing that no matter what I’m going through in life, I’ll always be able to make music. Even if the world falls apart and society re-starts, I’ll be banging a stick on some rocks trying to make a beat. It’s a beautiful expression of the human experience
So much good information in this for me, and happily a fair amount of affirmation. I would add only one thing. Don't work when your ears are tired.
Glad you enjoyed watching Mark
(Just don't clip!) Andrew, you are so practical and level-headed. I am so happy to hear a seasoned professional talk about the mix and NOT surgical, solo track unnecessary tweaking! You keep things simple - like don't grab an eq if there's no need for one. It refreshing to hear pro talking about how basic mixing really is and should be! If it sounds good, it is. Thank you!
typical jew, Andrew did nothing special, all engineers do the same thing, he is who you know cause he sucked c0ck and got to mix famous bands
Damn that was one amazing interview!
wow, great talk! I stay with this two quotes: Mixing is to resolve creative problems with technology and always Be reactive to what we listen!!
Feel so nice listening someone who know perfectly what he's doing. ❤
Many producer have OCD about processes and lose feel obsessing about it. Use your ears - great advice here !!!
The best interview on the subject I've ever saw. Thank you so much.
Oh man! So many great points here! His common sense approach is really validating for me--some things I'm doing and some things I'm not. This is GOLD!
Always great to hear a master mixer advice!
talking about soloing tracks reminded me that, late in the mix, I like to solo tracks and listen them "just to make sure." I found that if the solo tracks sound quite bad, I'm probably getting a pretty good mix. not a rule, but just something I use to gauge how far I am in the process
@Having a GAS™ with... all this is good but if you want to solo and treat the tracks and that works for you then do so yes no one listens to a song in solo but that's not why you might want to treat each track in solo example your K and bass you need to pick which 1 will be the star of the session if you listen to them in solo you might have a belter understanding of what the freq are doing. if you have a good ear and understand freq and know what your looking for or your client wants then this really can save time but really its not about saving time its about what works for you and in life all products start with 1 thing and then its built from the ground up
Really valuable video. Oftentimes it's good to get validation from a pro like Andrew. When I was a beginner, because of RUclips, I thought gain staging was a "thing" that you set out to do. However, it's something you do if you're hitting the mix buss too hard. However I have found it useful, if some tracks were recorded at very high level, to pull down all the tracks to a certain level using clip gain. Or even audiosuite normalise. Having said that, there's a video with CLA saying he gains the tracks up loud to hit the plugins hard. There's few rules in mixing!
This guy speaks my language so clearly. Definitely my favorite engineer of the greats.
Great interview.. Thanks for letting him speak without interruption most of the time.. was interesting to hear he uses a similar way of doing sessionsv to what I've been doing in more recent years, (getting away from technical approach and into) what sounds right is what's right.. Would love to hear what he'd do with my songs but I've no budget just good songs
I honestly do not know who he is, but his way is exactly how I decided to do my mixing and production, organically. Im in the game only since October of 2017, but this is how I work efficiently. So I like him. :-)
Check out Andrew Scheps on Discogs or Wikipedia. How did you spend 2013?
Red Hot Chili Peppers - "I'm Beside You" (2013)
Jake Bugg - Shangri La (2013)
AFI - Burials (2013)
Gogol Bordello - Pura Vida Conspiracy (2013)
Red Hot Chili Peppers - "This Is the Kitt" / "Brave from Afar" (2013)
Lady Gaga - Artpop (2013)
Black Sabbath - 13 (2013)
Red Hot Chili Peppers - "In Love Dying" (2013)
Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Hanelei" / "Open" / "Close" (2013)
Bon Jovi - What About Now (2013)
Chic Gamine - Closer (2013)
Beyoncé - "Angel" (2013)
Beyoncé - "XO" (2013)
Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Pink as Floyd" / "Your Eyes Girl" (2013)
Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Catch My Death" / "How It Ends" (2013)
Special Request - Soul Music (2013)
Andrew Scheps is such a genius!!! I love his mixes and his entire approach and philosophy on the process of mixing!
Hey, great interview and some sage advice from Andrew. To sum it up: Have a loose structure but don't let it get in the way of finishing a great mix!
Thank you sooooo much for 7:02 !!!! Makes so much sense!!
I do pretty much the same. Never close to overload on the master, that has a lot to do with the routing.
Also, I work on one bit, section, aspect. Then as soon as I am bored, I switch over to another section/aspect of the song, or just another project.
I admire Scheps! I have listened carefully to this genie.
So well explained. Thank you! What a guy! A legend.
It's good to hear that one of the best mixing/mastering engineer doesn't gain stage either. I always hated doing that and felt limited and couldn't get in a creative flow. Good questions you asked 👍
" I always hated doing that and felt limited and couldn't get in a creative flow."
Because it's something to do during the mix PREP, not DURING mixing...
Pretty sure Andrew doesn't need to do it because the tracks he gets are already top notch also...
@djabthrash the only gain staging I feel like I do is to get a quiet noise floor from my analog mic preamp and compressor, then set the levels one time before any processing on the mix and that's it. Then turn things up if too quiet or down in volume if things start to clip.
@@devinkei1469 Nothing i said before contradicts what you just said :)
@djabthrash I know haha, I mean we all gain stage, just very early on as you mentioned and not over thinking it as we go
@@devinkei1469 exactly :)
This is soooo helpful, especially when you just start to learn mixing and need advice from PROs like Andrew
One of the best explanations of how to mix from one of the best!
Use your ears not the dials and gauges!
"Don't go looking for problems."
One of my favorite things is when I watch these professional, wonderful engineers and they just do things in the order that I’ve picked it up and I just need more work to mix. Well I’m learning I still don’t feel comfortable charging people any amount of money but
"Take care of problems when the problems exist. Don't go looking for problems" - actually an advice for life 7:35
Ha! I have the Scheps Omni strip and didn't know about the holding Ctrl..... cool interview!!
Gain staging is more of a visual technique since you have every instrument in your mixer at the same level, lets say -12db. From here you can easily see the mixing slides are all -12db at default just from looking at your mixer.
Kick volume is set at default that you know is hitting -12db, you have a melody loop and you bring the slide down halfway in volume- not only is the slide halfway down, you know its half the volume of the kick.
So if you ever wonder why something is too quiet its as simple as going back, visually searching and then listening.
Good for learning to mix. Once your ears adjust you really don't need to.
The thing I like most about Andrew's comments here is that while they are about mixing music, the same advice can be applied to nearly every other creative endeavor.
HARD AGREE with most of what AS says. One of my fav engineers
I think that Andrew’s overall mixing perspective can pretty much be summed up (no pun intended) in one word: “Context”.
Whether he’s saying that working in solo mode to EQ instruments isn’t a good idea, or that he doesn’t use the exact same processors, or the same processing chain from mix to mix, it’s because doing those things lacks context, and that context could be a particular instrument’s relationship to all the other instruments, or how one processor with a particular setting works great in one scenario, but not as well in another, or even different musical styles determining what/how he mixes.
But, he’s also saying that workflows and methods are individual, and that ultimately, the goal is to end up with a great sounding mix, and there’s no “right” or “wrong” way to achieve that goal, but just a matter of using whatever methods or steps that one feels is best for them.
Personally, I prefer to gain stage tracks before I start the mixing process, before I start to insert various processing, but, that doesn’t mean that I think that his way of not gain staging initially, but instead doing so throughout the mix process, is wrong…that’s his own process, what he feels works best for him, and there’s no doubt that he achieves great mixes.
FWIW
What an incredible interview and what gems!
I'm so relieved to hear somebody credible say this!!! thank you sir! 😌
Thankyou thankyou thankyou Andrew. To hear that I'm approaching and mixing with the same mindset has given me a boost.
I like the way he thinks. I think a lot of us tend to overcomplicate things. Especially those of us who've only been doing this a couple years.
sweet interview. Cheers.
OMG I didn't know about the control button band pass filter thing
what track he is talking about around 7:03 anyone?
Andrew is THE MAN.love his no nonsense approach ❤️
Love this, someone who’s out there doing it everyday and seems to be able to shut out all the distractions and bullshit and just get on with it!
This makes me want to go work on a mix 😅
Quality content, my friend. Thanks!
So glad this channel found me. Many thanks for sharing your techniques. ✌️🎧🎼
I love this guy's attitude and style. Never realized he cussed so much though. Hehe. And... Now I'm going to have to hunt down which Rival Son's albums he's done. Love that band and their sound.
me neither. gain staging is like that maddening teal and orange process in movies now.
I need to fully understand this VCA workflow. Sounded interesting, practical and logic. Well, that was Andrew Scheps' advise of course
Andrew always explains it so well. Like warm sunshine!
Awesome!!! Best advice I’ve heard since finishing audio engineering/music production degree back in 08. I feel like this process is the lost way or has become lost in this endless sea of immediate commoditized information.
This may be the best audio engineer interview ever recorded.
great great one! top notch advices from a legendary mixer
We just uploaded another Andrew Scheps interview that you may be interested in. Thanks for your support!
I try not to clip my plugins and obviously not the faders, but beyond that if it sounds good it is good!
Just one more shining example of a musical genious who is incredibly down to earth.
Loves this bloke….so practical and logical 👊👊👊
Great conversation, so good to hear different approaches.
This is GOLD! Thanks for sharing this.
Excellent, this is the justification I needed to not learn about gain-staging :) I keep telling myself I need to understand this better, or at all, but now I can let that go!
In all seriousness, there's a lot of really great advice packed into this short video.
It’s important to understand, but it’s something that has been blown out of all proportion by RUclips and forums.
We like saturation, which is essentially bad gain staging. Some compositions are dynamic, others not so much, so chasing a specific number for everything doesn’t make sense. A distorted electric guitar is heavily compressed, so little reason for it have a huge amount of headroom like drums and vocals require, all you’re doing is trying to not require turning things up or down later, but it’s always advisable to do exactly that!
Gain staging is literally the optimal level entering a processor that is the best balance between the ceiling (saturation) and the noise floor. That’s it.
2:05 he says it feels different ( i am not sure he is talking exactly what I have understood) but whenever I gain stage the tracks lose power to me even if I match the volume pre gain ( I am not sure why, but it does feel it loses the body of the sound)
This is either 1. in your head, or 2. it sounds less powerful because you’re no longer hitting your bus processing as hard.
That was one of the most insightful short videos on the mixing process I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen too many!
Creativity front and centre but without pretending a routine is not a part of that along with flexibility and most importantly, listening to what’s needed. Plus, trust your own process if it works.
love his stuff! thanks for the interview
Dave Pensado, Andrew Scheps, Jaycen Joshua and Derek Ali are my favorite mix engineers
Not worrying about it, and understanding it are two different things. Learn first, break after.
I totally understand what he is saying and he is right. Just get your mix to sound good!
always wondered why i should start mixing faders down
It's like starting to Paint a Picture without knowing the size of the Frame
When you do a painting, you do it element by element as opposed to the whole thing at once. This is why you start a mix with the faders down.
Loved this, thank you!
Man!! I totally relate to what he said about gain staging.
This was great always love hearing Andrew thx fr the input n output! And thank u for finally relieving my obsessive anxiety about gain staging.
Simply thank you
Always so insightful to hear Andrew Scheps talk. Impressive modular too.