So EQuing to get rid of unwanted sounds, making sure one instrument doesn't "interfere" with another, or EQuing to lift certain frequencies to add presence. Next, use compression to make sure your instrument or vocal performance is balanced. Then do some side-chaining to make gaps for certain sounds like high-hats to shine. Then of course you'll be using reverb and delays throughout. And don't try to make a LOUD mix. Just shoot for a balanced mix so that everything "sits" in the mix, in it's own frequency range. This is basically what I'm hearing all "Master Producers" saying.
@@blindmelonstubbly its basically a compression, but triggered by another instrument. It's mainly used for kick and bass, because they both exist around the same frequency. Whenever kick drum hits, the bass gets compressed and makes space for the kick, so it can be heard easier.
What I love about this is that he’s not afraid to leave something alone if it already sounds good from the production. So many people take great sounds and feel the need to put a million plugins on them when actually little to no processing is required.
Pretty sure it was fairly comprehensively mixed on an SSL by Matt from Jamiroquai before Mick got it. Between them they did an amazing job, whole album sounds massive.
Totally agree. The number of tracks with zero inserts was impressive. Amazing contrast in colors between the different sounds, which obviously he doesn't f*** with if already correct.
Agree. Not taking anything away from Mick but yes, most of the tunes he mixes are recorded on exceptional gear by world class engineers recording world class talent.
@@ernestbuckley8671 Yeah, it's always a joint effort. But also knowing which tracks to leave untouched or only apply subtle processing on makes a great engineer. Someone unexperienced might have tweaked things a lot more... unnecessarily.
@@ernestbuckley8671 this the lamest excuse 😂😂 you can have great material and still make it bad Taking it the next level is truly the art of it Recording it well is an art but long as the recordings aren’t clipping, that’s about half of that battle.
@@maxreaper25 I have mixed tunes where friends were playing on tracks to world class session players. My friends are good musicians but they do not make a living playing. The tracks with the world class session players were not only easier to mix but those mixes sounded a whole lot better. I can tell you that when you work with world class talent, you start to look like world class talent. Mick is a legend, no one is taking that away from him. He has a track record that is unmatched. All I'm saying is, the musicians and singers make a world of difference.
Really enjoyed that. You guys got the audio and mic levels just right which makes it a pleasure to listen to aswell as a pleasure to watch. So many other channels get this so wrong and it shouldn't happen on an audio related video. Thanks again.
I remember hearing this song for the first time 2 years ago. Hard to believe that it's only 3 years old. I love the work Mick did on this. Every instrument is given equal space.
Time well spent. Takes a playful approach and a keen ear to know when you've "got it", and just get the cohesion happening, mix done. Overprocessed is the norm, and this goes to show how far a little here and a little there will take you, once everything occupies its own space. Textbook "Do", y'know?
wouldnt say it was this much balanced dynamically, vocals especially, sucks on DP...and crunch guitar chords at second phase of the chorus are sounding off of the proper mid freq mix, like a phone simulator
This is awesome. I had the pleasure of working on a song mix of an artist I produced named SVALA at his home studio back in 2000. It was the first time I saw a SONY Oxford console. His work is amazing!
A genius at work. Thank you for the information Mick. This is like a teacher showing you exactly where to read coz that's where the exam is coming from.
Great for learning and thanks a lot! In this case, personally I think huge ‘pre-mixing’ work was done in the recording process (eq, compression, etc) when putting everything into the DAW, and it is possible a lot of obvious things were made in the production stage - so it sounds so clean and overall great
I really Love that with good productions like these, there really Isn't much need for very intrusive mixing/doctoring . I always tell clients that the better the production/recording the less processing I need to do.. when something is produced really well, as mixers, all we need to do basically is balancing the instruments carefully.. It's really nice to see this illustrated by a world famous band mixed by a world famous mixer ;-)
The Alpha Compressor is probably the plugin that shaped the mix the most in that session, with all the beautiful distorsion from the warm fonction... yet, he pass on it so fast!! Maybe he didn't want people to notice his secret ? ;-)
This is what happens to your health when you sit too much. Mixing can be deadly! 😂 For real though.. I’m grateful I just got an electronic standing desk. Best investment I’ve ever made in my studio. Health is wealth! Dave Pensado is another example of bad health from sitting too much. We all gotta take a stand every now and then! 🙏🏼
From SonicScoop.com 'natch : ) Check out more here on our RUclips page, ruclips.net/user/SonicScoopVideo and at sonicscoop.com We've got a TON of great videos just like this one.
SonicScoop, this is really amazing. I'm down here in South Africa and information is really scarce this side. would love to subcribe to your school on mixing.
I think this video proves that mixing is more like putting accents on certain spots of the mix, so it sounds even better. Good sound selection and proper recording will make your life so much easier because you don’t have to use billion eq curves and shit ton of melodyne correction to fix that vocal. it just plain better and more satisfying to get that perfect vocal take and just not worry about fixing it because you already hear that it sounds pretty awesome without any kind of eq or compression. Good raw mix is like a person’s body, and mixing/mastering is a clothing. If you have very fit and muscular body - most of the clothing will fit you well and you will look good just in plain white T-shirt and blue jeans. When you are an obese person and you have a bad posture, you may improve your look by wearing expensive clothing and searching for clothing which fits you in a certain way but at the end of the day you realize that you will never become as attractive as a person described above. This analogy was inspired from my journey from being obese to becoming fit, but it’s a completely different story))))
I watch so many of these type of video and ive learnt so much but one thing I think all the time is, they always have some amazingly recorded stems from a well know artist I would love to see them with some really bad, amateur stems and then see how the pros fix real problems. Because as a mixer coming up thats probably what youll be working on for the first 2 years or so
Yeah, wow I was just shocked to see no HPF on really any of the EQ's on a dance pop tune (& no LPF on things like bass synth).. I wonder was any other BANDWIDTH EQ reduction done outside the box (Input stage or hardware mixing or mastering?), but at any rate, that's a great tune and mix!
Great Guy. I enjoy watching this level of work, at mixcing stage he don't lose time and naturallity repairing bad tracked. Then keeps focused and simple, just mixing.
Pro Tools user in here. I think that phase invert should be a part of Pro Tools now. I guess it doesn´t have these options because back in the analogue days, you had all you needed in hardware. However, I think it should be included.
Great mix breakdown! I just A/B'd this mix with the CD, and sadly the CD suffers from over limiting.... really sad for such funky, dynamic dance music.... the kick just gets crushed by the mastering. If the CD were just 3 dB quieter, it would really be amazing! Automaton's DR is 7 on dynamic range database.
![Mixing Masterclass with Bob Power [MixCon 2017]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cHxMsawJsTc/mqdefault.jpg)
![Mixing Masterclass with Bob Power [MixCon 2017]](/img/tr.png)
![Mixing Masterclass with Michael Brauer [MixCon 2020]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/PS7f_Jsln04/mqdefault.jpg)
Love Mick's enthusiasm, he sounds like a happy nerdy kid. The world needs more people who are this passionate about music.
YESSS HAHAH I Loved him
So EQuing to get rid of unwanted sounds, making sure one instrument doesn't "interfere" with another, or EQuing to lift certain frequencies to add presence. Next, use compression to make sure your instrument or vocal performance is balanced. Then do some side-chaining to make gaps for certain sounds like high-hats to shine. Then of course you'll be using reverb and delays throughout. And don't try to make a LOUD mix. Just shoot for a balanced mix so that everything "sits" in the mix, in it's own frequency range. This is basically what I'm hearing all "Master Producers" saying.
@@blindmelonstubbly its basically a compression, but triggered by another instrument. It's mainly used for kick and bass, because they both exist around the same frequency. Whenever kick drum hits, the bass gets compressed and makes space for the kick, so it can be heard easier.
What you also get is how he uses the gear.
sidechain to prevent certain sounds from taking up too much space and causing other instruments to lose oomph
It’s all about “masking”.
The thing here is the recordings are basically spotless so very very minor processing is going to happen.
02:20 Mix Playthrough
04:10 Workflow
06:11 Bass
08:25 Drums
15:34 Keyboards
20:45 Guitars
25:40 Backing Vocals
27:05 Lead Vocals
30:25 Master Bus
ty
king
What I love about this is that he’s not afraid to leave something alone if it already sounds good from the production. So many people take great sounds and feel the need to put a million plugins on them when actually little to no processing is required.
true, but his "raw" material is really good already :p everything is edited and preprocessed
It may be that a lot of the sound engineering took place using outboard equipment, but the point is valid nonetheless.
Pretty sure it was fairly comprehensively mixed on an SSL by Matt from Jamiroquai before Mick got it. Between them they did an amazing job, whole album sounds massive.
this is because of the keen ear. the more you train your ear the more you trust it to do what you want
Totally agree. The number of tracks with zero inserts was impressive. Amazing contrast in colors between the different sounds, which obviously he doesn't f*** with if already correct.
Half the battle of mixing is getting a great recorded audio, the record engineer rocks!
Agree. Not taking anything away from Mick but yes, most of the tunes he mixes are recorded on exceptional gear by world class engineers recording world class talent.
@@ernestbuckley8671 Yeah, it's always a joint effort. But also knowing which tracks to leave untouched or only apply subtle processing on makes a great engineer. Someone unexperienced might have tweaked things a lot more... unnecessarily.
I think you mean 100%
@@ernestbuckley8671 this the lamest excuse 😂😂 you can have great material and still make it bad
Taking it the next level is truly the art of it
Recording it well is an art but long as the recordings aren’t clipping, that’s about half of that battle.
@@maxreaper25 I have mixed tunes where friends were playing on tracks to world class session players. My friends are good musicians but they do not make a living playing. The tracks with the world class session players were not only easier to mix but those mixes sounded a whole lot better. I can tell you that when you work with world class talent, you start to look like world class talent. Mick is a legend, no one is taking that away from him. He has a track record that is unmatched. All I'm saying is, the musicians and singers make a world of difference.
Get Lucky has one of the best-sounding mixes I've ever heard. Kudos to this gentleman!
thanks to Mick, cherry bomb goes crazy too 😹
I love how Mick was sponsored by UAD but spent just as much time talking about FabFilter and Soundtoys. A lot of integrity there, and a great mix!
This Mike Wazowski is a genius! Now i understand. A big eye for the Music Production!
Underrated comment
love how authentic this guy is
just thinking about how a great mix starts with something essential - a well recorded and good composition/arrangement.
Truth!
The recording engineer did an outstanding job on this track, most of the work essentially.
And the producer. And the musicians. As it should be!
-Justin
Shout out to this guy and the high quality production of this video.
It cannot be understated how important a great recording and arrangement help create at a great mix.
Yes, and would love to see a rundown of what mastering did after the mix.
Clever trick with the HH sidechained to kick for groove enhancement !
Right!? Very clever
agree! also note he put sidechain on the snare also.. not common
classic ;-)
Really enjoyed that. You guys got the audio and mic levels just right which makes it a pleasure to listen to aswell as a pleasure to watch. So many other channels get this so wrong and it shouldn't happen on an audio related video. Thanks again.
Agreed!
YEs yes yes !
This even happens on blockbuster movies so how fortunate are we here?
YES!! Haha I watched a lecture thing Joe Dart gave at berklee I think and you couldn’t hear his bass for your life
Like how can you not like this guy
I remember hearing this song for the first time 2 years ago. Hard to believe that it's only 3 years old. I love the work Mick did on this. Every instrument is given equal space.
to have it look so flawless and easy takes decades of experience, props!
Recording is great, I really like how much dynamic range he leaves in the mix and he doesn’t over compress anything
This guy mixed the best album of the 10's RANDOM ACCES MEMORIES
it seems that Mick's greatest trick is infusing his enthusiasm and happiness into the music :) what a cool guy
Time well spent. Takes a playful approach and a keen ear to know when you've "got it", and just get the cohesion happening, mix done. Overprocessed is the norm, and this goes to show how far a little here and a little there will take you, once everything occupies its own space. Textbook "Do", y'know?
I’m now always gonna see this guy’s face and neck whenever I listen to Daft Punk or Jamiraquai
Such a buttery smooth sound
definitely. it's his blueprint. sounds exactly like his work on the daft punk's album.
wouldnt say it was this much balanced dynamically, vocals especially, sucks on DP...and crunch guitar chords at second phase of the chorus are sounding off of the proper mid freq mix, like a phone simulator
how do you get that silky sound?is it the convertors or is this bounced thrue a ssl console or what?can somebody tell me?
It's technique not tools.
it's recorded properly.
Generous and humble person. Love him.
Mick Guzauski = best mixer . Period
He did an amazing job with daft punk
Not just a genius at his craft, he seems like a very nice man :)
This is awesome. I had the pleasure of working on a song mix of an artist I produced named SVALA at his home studio back in 2000. It was the first time I saw a SONY Oxford console. His work is amazing!
You don't need to do much when everything is recorded beautifully!
That is one of the secrets of great mixing for sure... great recording!
-Justin
A genius at work. Thank you for the information Mick. This is like a teacher showing you exactly where to read coz that's where the exam is coming from.
Great for learning and thanks a lot! In this case, personally I think huge ‘pre-mixing’ work was done in the recording process (eq, compression, etc) when putting everything into the DAW, and it is possible a lot of obvious things were made in the production stage - so it sounds so clean and overall great
I really Love that with good productions like these, there really Isn't much need for very intrusive mixing/doctoring . I always tell clients that the better the production/recording the less processing I need to do.. when something is produced really well, as mixers, all we need to do basically is balancing the instruments carefully.. It's really nice to see this illustrated by a world famous band mixed by a world famous mixer ;-)
Mick is the real deal. That's why he's there and we are all commenting.
The Alpha Compressor is probably the plugin that shaped the mix the most in that session, with all the beautiful distorsion from the warm fonction... yet, he pass on it so fast!! Maybe he didn't want people to notice his secret ? ;-)
I could watch Mick talk through his mixes all day. So cool!
This is what happens to your health when you sit too much. Mixing can be deadly! 😂 For real though.. I’m grateful I just got an electronic standing desk. Best investment I’ve ever made in my studio. Health is wealth! Dave Pensado is another example of bad health from sitting too much. We all gotta take a stand every now and then! 🙏🏼
In my opinion one of the greatest mixers in the world!
Woah! Where did these come from? Haven't started watching yet but Mick Guzauski is one of my favourite mixers of all time. Thank you
From SonicScoop.com 'natch : ) Check out more here on our RUclips page, ruclips.net/user/SonicScoopVideo and at sonicscoop.com We've got a TON of great videos just like this one.
SonicScoop, this is really amazing. I'm down here in South Africa and information is really scarce this side. would love to subcribe to your school on mixing.
+Job Thako
You have the internet, you have literally all the information of everything ever lol
Forget about the mix, what a production!!
This oxford eq on the master bus is adding a lot of polish :)
Mick's presentation is awesome. Great talent
pure F**ing gold right here! Love the artist, his album and the engineer.
Awesome work Mick. You own this sophisticated pop funk mixing style.
that sidechained hh was so sick never thought to do that before
Thanks Mick for taking time to share the knowledge behind the mix, always learn something new & interesting!!!
that lil side chain high hat pump hahaha... dude your cool mick.
I LOVE stuff like this, when do you ever sit beside a guy mixing awesome Jamiroquai?
I think this video proves that mixing is more like putting accents on certain spots of the mix, so it sounds even better. Good sound selection and proper recording will make your life so much easier because you don’t have to use billion eq curves and shit ton of melodyne correction to fix that vocal. it just plain better and more satisfying to get that perfect vocal take and just not worry about fixing it because you already hear that it sounds pretty awesome without any kind of eq or compression. Good raw mix is like a person’s body, and mixing/mastering is a clothing. If you have very fit and muscular body - most of the clothing will fit you well and you will look good just in plain white T-shirt and blue jeans. When you are an obese person and you have a bad posture, you may improve your look by wearing expensive clothing and searching for clothing which fits you in a certain way but at the end of the day you realize that you will never become as attractive as a person described above. This analogy was inspired from my journey from being obese to becoming fit, but it’s a completely different story))))
Great insights and analogy Amir! Glad to have you tuning in.
-Justin
this guy loves his life! nice vid! this is knowledge.
Lots of great information there! Thanks SonicScoop and thanks Mick!
I really like the plugins and mix Mick did on the Antelope Audio Orion interface. Those ( Antelope Plugins) are killer!
Studio One has the input control for each track. Really helpful indeed.
I watch so many of these type of video and ive learnt so much but one thing I think all the time is, they always have some amazingly recorded stems from a well know artist I would love to see them with some really bad, amateur stems and then see how the pros fix real problems. Because as a mixer coming up thats probably what youll be working on for the first 2 years or so
We’ve got that too! Try here: ruclips.net/video/PS7f_Jsln04/видео.html
Thank you so much! Such great bits and pieces we can all learn from
23:11 when he reveals the real secret of this amazing mix :) fantastic presentation.
what a joke
Truth lol
What a nice guy! A total legend for sharing a lot of awesome methods too. An incredible, invaluable production lesson.
It's crazy how much that came together because of his 2-bus.
Eq the Eq, parallel comp and limit...rinse and repeat
Man, these lessons are KILLING!
Mick Guzauski is such a master. Hopefully one day I can be that great.
this something u have to re watch about 3 times - Peanskean Riddler
Mick’s Mixing at mixcon
A mixing masterclass with Geoff Swan would be a dream come true
Mick is the Best.... Love You Mick!
excellent, he's such a nice and humble guy. he skipped a lot of the vocals, no leeds actually... maybe Jay didn't want him to show his tricks 😂
I thought exactly the same, would have been interesting to hear😬
The lead vocal: Fab Filter Pro-Q 2, UAD 1176, Fab Filter Pro-DS, Soundtoys Microshift, Valhalla Plate
@@matheusatallah this is a post-mix, so don't expect to get similar results from that list
Still learning from the legends I’m 2022!
Yeah, wow I was just shocked to see no HPF on really any of the EQ's on a dance pop tune (& no LPF on things like bass synth).. I wonder was any other BANDWIDTH EQ reduction done outside the box (Input stage or hardware mixing or mastering?), but at any rate, that's a great tune and mix!
Definitely some analog EQ, either on amps, on the way in, or when printing
Obviously Guzauski dosnt give a flying fuck about diet or exercise anymore... which is selfish... cause we need his genius for years to come!!
Good Point man! And with all due respect to this guy! It's actually quite annoying to hearing him talk, unhealthy as fuck ahaha
Pawel Walentynski LoL. That's halarious
Great Guy. I enjoy watching this level of work, at mixcing stage he don't lose time and naturallity repairing bad tracked. Then keeps focused and simple, just mixing.
Wow. Thank you for uploading those!
Micks Mix with Mick!
Great decision on the side chain in the hi hat
"just a little bit of compression"
almost blows up
It's a good song with an amazing mix. This guy is a big ball of mixing talent!
Straight to the point, very enthusiastic guy...Oh man, I love this man. Thank you for the Video sharing full of knowledge 💎
Seems like most of the work was done in the tracking phase before it got to Mick
Like most pro recordings.
it's his balance that makes or breaks the record! he is very simple.
Going to buy this album now... hadn't heard it before this video. Great work!
A+ energy from this man
What a cool cool dude 👌🏼
he is a genius...love his mixes for Walter Afanasieff
I love this guys mix on this song! Very crisp and still warm. Very nice!
And a big thank you to Michael Jackson.
Yep the drums pattern is "Beat It"
wow, pro tools has no phase invert toggle switch on each track? Reaper does and it costs $60 for personal use .
Pro Tools user in here.
I think that phase invert should be a part of Pro Tools now.
I guess it doesn´t have these options because back in the analogue days, you had all you needed in hardware.
However, I think it should be included.
Im like 80% sure they do have that you just have to find it in the audio suite
draco shootin L's it is included in plugins like EQ and Trim.
Of course it is included but it should also be included within the tracks.
Jesús Armas oh yeah theres a lot of ways protools does things that is just overly complicated but im hoping for more improvements soon
For what you pay, which I believe is now $1200 per year, you would think they would have done some major upgrades. It needs a complete redesign.
Mick G. has Golden ears!
Mick is a legend in the studio(s)! 🎶
Great video. Thanks for publishing.
Really great! Even the video was well mixed! :)
Great mix breakdown! I just A/B'd this mix with the CD, and sadly the CD suffers from over limiting.... really sad for such funky, dynamic dance music.... the kick just gets crushed by the mastering. If the CD were just 3 dB quieter, it would really be amazing! Automaton's DR is 7 on dynamic range database.
Amazing skills!
wait, you are telling me that this whole mix, tracks and vsts/effects are running in real time on a single mac? Wow....
No. You can see he is using a lot of UAD2 plugins, which run on external gear (on SHARC processors).
Mick is best!!!
I’m digging this track. Why am I like two years late though? I mean don’t answer. Just let me vent.
oh my god right? I'm out of touch. oof
same here.
WOW! love him
Love this guy
this guy is awesome.. great vid
Bass sub group: interesting choice using be brainworx eq just for the mono maker.
i be watching these mix lectures and they got these plugins. I'm over here using mostly fl studio stock plugins lol.
automaton was such a great mix man seriously.
This was great! Thanks Mick.
Mick is amazing...and I appreciate this video...but can we hear him say "Who took my stapler?" just once? :D :D
This man is awesome
Sonicscoop thank you so much for these tutorials... Amazing!