Audio myths about mixing

It’s not at all surprising that there are a couple of audio myths when it comes to mixing music.  Nevertheless, many people just need to create rules for themselves to feel safe, hoping falsely that they will seem to be less insecure or clueless about their task. Let’s check out some of these mixing misconceptions.

“You need to use EQ in a mix”: Well, do ya, my friend? Of course you don’t. It all depends on the tracks you are working with. If you elbow up the faders and what you hear sounds good, just smile. Why the hell would you want to ruin that perfection with some unnecessary EQ? Of course, some genres have a higher chance for this to happen. The ones that work with actual, recorded tracks, so you have control over the recording.

Common mixing audio myths

“Subtractive EQ is superior to additive”: No, it isn’t. It’s one of those legends that many people keep chanting. Let it remain their insecurity, not yours. If a track needs something to be removed, remove it. But if the mix would improve by boosting something on a certain track, don’t be a fool to try to remove the rest of the frequencies on every other track. Funny as it sounds, some guys would rather do that, instead of the obvious boost. It’s just silly.

“You need to automate”: Well, arguably some genres are more prone to get the living shit automated out of them. But it doesn’t have to be the only way to create excitement. Again, if they are real, (preferably live) recorded tracks of a band or artist, chances are high that they have played with dynamics. In other words, they already “automated” themselves. Which means it would sound pretty awful if you tried to exaggerate or take selfish control over it. Unless they sucked to begin with.

Don’t fight it

“You need to fight against bleed”: Yup. The common, never ending war against bleed. It’s one of those persisting myths regarding audio. Sometimes of course killing excessive bleed is a must. But the better and more well thought out the recordings are, the least you have to try to eliminate bleed. Why? Because the tracks were recorded to work together right from the beginning. Granted, mixing stuff this way might be a bit trickier, but the results sound so much better, that it’s worth it in the end.