The Kintners Music Some of the greatest mixers to have ever lived are YouTube coaches.

This mixer was used for Boots on the Ground and many other things by bkbirge. The Cars liked it. Worked for us too. Today is pics of mixers.

I mix my own stuff, (not a whole lot else).

Mixing music is fun for me. But I’m not as good at it as a lot of folks. Maybe I’m better than a couple of folks. My approach. I’m probably one of the best mixers out there for most of my music. All I need. But if I was after a Grammy, I’d probably want a big shot producer and mixing team. Good thing there’s YouTube?

I hope you don’t hear the mixing.

I think it’s an interesting time for music and this is just one of many reasons. When I mix a song, I’m hoping you don’t think about the mixing and you like my voice or bass, guitar, lyrics.. djembe! But these days, mixing is the star.

This is the lyric video to one of the songs we made on the Doc’s mixer up there. I like it. Good music, good protest, good times.

Audiophile phone speakers.

It’s just bizarre, frankly. Most folks aren’t like me with expensive headphones and nice monitors. Everywhere I go folks listen to ear buds, their phone, Bluetooth speakers. I listen to all that stuff too in attempt to not make my own stuff sound wonky on it.

Negative feedback could be useful if..

But my most common “negative” feedback has to do with my mixing. When that happens I have no idea what aspect of mixing or broad strokes concepts of where to improve next. Unless they list specifics like the guitar too loud or something, I’m clueless.

The Zoom recorder (R16) is a very cool tool. I can record lots of tracks really quickly with it if I practice. Made whole albums with it. Runs on batteries, easy to grasp for me. I keep it on a music stand to track quickly then import to computer when I am in mixing mode. I have modes. lol.

New(ish) mixer here.

I am fairly new to mixing. Been writing and playing a long time. But mixing less than 10 years. So, of course, I get on YouTube and find exciting gurus to show me how to automate a vocal, and lo and behold, Chris Lord Alge is on tons of videos with mixing advice, really?

Famous mixers’ advice.

If you don’t know CLA, he’s up there. Lots of awards, lots of great records. Celine Dion to Muse.. Green Day to Chaka Kahn. On and on with millions of records sold. There’s no doubt in my mind that man is one of the better mixers out there. He’s the real deal.

I am in album mode. Enjoying it. But there’s stuff everywhere.

Back in the seminar days.

Now let me enter here that I paid lots of money to go to a mixing seminar early in my addiction and the first thing they told us when we got settled is that we’re already doing it right. No one who was mixing now knew what was going to make for an awesome mix in 20 years. That was our job to find out and keep going. They even broke us off into groups and we ended up learning from each other.

I’d like to carry that sentiment with me until the day I die. I don’t know what a good mix is for your music. I can only hope you’d like how I mix it. But, I do know a good mix for my music. It’s when you don’t think about mixing at all when you hear it.

I mixed this one back in 2023. I still like it. It is NOT pro. But I think it does right by the song. It’s serious. Calling that ok because it is, and I’m tired of being a dick to myself.

“Famous” mixers everywhere.

Back to CLA, he could have gone to the same seminar. Lol. But he took it a different route. My question is why? He’s not the only one. He’s a fabulous mixer, so is Sylvia Massey. So is Joe Carrell. So is Warren Huart. Pensado, Dan Worrall, etc..

These are not just some good mixers, techs, producers, and knowledgeable folks, they’re some of the world’s finest at what they do.

Understand, I really do like these folks. It’s not about them. I think it’s about us.

This is hard for me because I like many of them. But, back to the seminar, these folks seem to think THEY have the answer because they experience success. OR they don’t get paid enough so they have to do YouTubes to make ends meet. Whatever the case, they don’t seem to think like the folks did back at that seminar. “You’re already doing it right,” they said back then. The mixers and producers on YouTube say “do it like this, like I did it.” I try not to do that with mixing. Why? Because I don’t have your ears, I only have mine.

I would never tell you the mixer is a star of the song. Most of the time I don’t know who the mixer is. Before the last 10 years, I never knew who it was. It’s a little different today. But not that different. If a mixer is great, I don’t think much about the mixing at all. I’m okay with that even when I’m in hardcore mixing mode. I’m hoping no one thinks about the mix, just the song.

I strongly recommend this DAW if you do not want to learn fancy DAWS and you know how to play your stuff. This thing is a game-changer for me. Even if I don’t mix a final with it, I’m fairly certain I don’t know a quicker way to track. Priceless. It does sound great, don’t get me wrong. But the tracking experience is very flowy and nice. Tape 16 DAW. Do the demo!

Mixing is the star.

We’re bad at this mentality lately. Mixers are fucking stars! They have product lines, courses, YouTube’s. This goes against my seminar I keep going back to. Today’s mixers aren’t saying, “you’re doing it right.” They’re saying “do it like me.”

It stifles music.

The impact this has on the music is stifling. As an artist with lots of time writing and performing, but not as much mixing, it makes me consider paying up to get pro mixing or mastering. I don’t want to stand out because I made it..That’s my line of thought I guess, but I’m lying to myself.

Keys? Key? Get it?

🔑 Key.

“You’re already doing it right.” Was what I needed to hear at that seminar. And they drilled it. I was on the way to learning something fulfilling to me and for my music. I really was doing that right. YouTube be damned, I like my own songs when I am able to make them. That’s key. Because if I don’t like them, it’s very difficult for me to ask anyone to listen to them. I think it’s neat I can make stuff that some people out there like. Feels great. Makes me feel a part with what I’m good at. A hand. I don’t really get THAT in anything else. I’m kind of a one-trick pony in that regard. Music? Cool! Anything else, “how much does it pay?”

What does the world’s greatest mixers on YouTube tell us?

The world’s greatest mixers on YouTube should tell us a few things, no throwing shade at them. These are just some societal observations; there’s a lot of folks listening to the mixing of music and not the music, or mixing music who don’t write songs. While not “bad,” it makes for tension when it comes time to show someone a song. Not for the song, but the mix. I think that’s a shame. Also, maybe there’s not a lot of money in mixing. If the world’s greatest mixers start teaching and making instructional videos, it’s possible they need extra cash. What’s that say about the whole profession?

It also possible they want to help the scene out of the goodness of their hearts. I don’t doubt that. But how do they change the scene when they’re saying, “do it like me,” instead of “you’re already doing it right?” That’s the part of mixing I liked better ten years ago.

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