Mixing and mastering is an art form. I am full of admiration for those who excel in these difficult areas. Or, at least, they are difficult for me.

In the rear view mirror, the artform was not only to make music enjoyable for our ears, but also to make music physically suitable for vinyl and the limitations of reading vibrations with a needle. As technology has advanced, that is no longer a limiting factor for mixing or mastering, although the skills are still needed when choosing to release on vinyl.

To me, mixing is about finding balance between all sound elements, make room for each and every individual sound. Blend them, make them support each other, challenge each other, create wanted tension and avoid unwanted. Hide sounds, move them back and forth, accent some sounds and make all sounds work together in unity to form the musical experience of the piece.

Of course, there are a lot more to say about mixing, but I’ll leave that to those who master that art. I mix my tracks as part of the music creation process, as I add sounds, I make them work together and change the over all balance as the track develops. Often, as I make the final listening rounds, I only find myself making small adjustments and change tiny details. Every now and then I find that I need to rethink and, on those occasions, I start with one individual element, adding another, then another, and so on, while continuously making the adjustments as new elements are being reintroduced.

Mastering, a whole different thing and something that I am the first to confess as some kind of sound magic. I understand the process, take a mixed track and make it sound better, adjust levels to suit the distribution media (vinyl, digital, streaming, etc). And yes, I use mastering plug-ins to lift the music, but I cheat, I have these plug-ins last in my mixing-chain from the start, meaning that as I export the completed music file, all I do is to normalize the levels and fix start and ending with cuts and/or fade.

This way suits me, but does in no way communicate that mixing and mastering is not needed, it is just the way I handle it, with my current level of experience. I get wiser (I hope) with time, and perhaps somewhere along the way, I’ll find this way to handle it insufficient. But for now, this is how I do things.

Which leads med to feedback form others, and opinions of others. I see an opinion as another person’s perspective, given their current level of experience. I respect that and want to validate that. But I do not need to share that opinion or adapt to it. I will gladly listen to it, and if possible, learn something from it. Who the person is, and my relationship and/or opinion of the person is affecting how I value the opinion. Some random person, that I do not know anything about, does not have the same validity as someone close to me, or some one I know to be a recognized expert in their field.

Perhaps an example. I got feedback on social media, regarding strange bi-noise from a synth-sound. To the person giving the feedback, it was unwanted and did not belong in the finished track, and the track was unbalanced. What the person did not know was that as I discovered that bi-noise, I wanted to bring it forward and use it, enhance it, because I think it adds something to the track. The person giving feedback (as assume), had the best of intentions, perhaps have a ton of experience, but in that instance, I can only say thank you and ignore it. Respect it and recognize it as the other persons valid opinion, but not accept it as something I need to adapt to or adhere to.

Stay curious!

//Nalle