We’re living in a fantastic era, and capturing yourself in a musical recording is no longer reserved for clients of studios costing tens of thousands of euros.
These days, all you need is a computer with a DAW like Pro Tools, Cubase or Live, an audio interface (great affordable models exist from Focusrite, Presonus or Steinberg) and a do-it-all microphone (like the classic Eagletone CM60 or the indestructible Shure SM58) to make a perfectly credible album.
The challenge isn’t so much the gear anymore as how you use it, and it’s always wise to lean on someone experienced for guidance.
There are no hard rules here—we’re talking about artistic choices—so we won’t tell you what you must do.
That said, there are definitely things not to do that can waste a lot of time.
So here are 10 mixing mistakes to avoid at all costs!
You can’t afford to have your album mixed there either? Don’t worry—there’s still hope!
Don’t let things get messy
Proper pre-mix cleanup is crucial.
It’s also tedious and less “sexy”, because while you’re cleaning, you’re not really making sound.
In fact, star engineers hand this off to their assistants and only begin once they have a clean session.
Start with track organization: name tracks with clear labels, group tracks by instrument so the entire drum kit, all the guitars and all the vocals are at your fingertips, color-code instrument types, hide tracks you won’t use, create groups and subgroups…
Once your session looks its best, move on to audio cleanup: remove the click bleed at the start and end of tracks, cut the singer’s chatter before a take, trim the stick-count intro…
There’s plenty to do!
Don’t let the musicians’ spontaneity make the mix sloppy
We live in a time where a musician who makes a small mistake during a studio take doesn’t have to restart from the top—and often doesn’t even need to redo that part—because it’s so easy to grab the note elsewhere if that figure repeats in the song.
The bulk of editing is about tightening the timing.
In the heat of the moment (and with the stress of recording), musicians don’t always play perfectly together, and if it’s too obvious, the listener may think they can’t play—and the mix gets more complicated because you’ll be trying to hide those “almosts” instead of enhancing the whole.
A bit of editing and it’s forgotten!
Of course, your edits must be clean—if they’re audible, it’s even worse.
Worst case, if the musicians are truly hopeless, there are convincingly realistic virtual instruments—like the classic Kontakt!
Don’t kill the musicians’ spontaneity
The issue with editing is the constant temptation to go too far.
In other words, you can fabricate a musical performance that’s technically perfect while scrubbing away all the players’ intent.
So learn to distinguish between rough edges that kill the energy of a track and those that actually add to its spark.
There aren’t clear rules here—this step relies on your artistic judgment.
A handy trick is to listen with half an ear—in another room or while doing something else.
If the flaw still jumps out, fix it.
If you only notice it during a focused, analytical listen, it probably won’t disrupt the musical message.
Don’t pile on information
Most DAWs can play back a huge number of tracks at once, but that doesn’t mean you have to use them all!
“More” doesn’t necessarily mean “better”, and the more elements you have playing, the more you’ll have to get crafty to make room for each one in the mix.
If a track doesn’t carry essential information, try muting it—you’ll often find the other parts pop out on their own.
Simple example: in metal it’s common to double rhythm guitars, but as soon as you stack more tracks than the main stereo pair, the sound gets muddier.
Save third and fourth guitars for specific, shorter moments and you’ll gain punch.
Two plate reverbs side by side—each weighing about as much as two dead horses.
Don’t drown everything in reverb
Reverb is a cover-up that covers up nothing: by adding a nice ambience, it makes an instrument’s tone seem prettier, flatters the vocal, and makes mistakes less obvious.
So far so good, right?
Except reverb is very invasive: it makes the mix blurrier and reduces the impact of transients.
When it’s a deliberate aesthetic, like in Brian Eno’s productions of the ’80s, heavy reverb is justified as an artistic stance.
But for most other styles, reverb should be felt rather than heard: the more discreet it is, the better it gently separates elements.
A more characterful, obvious reverb can work as a spot effect—and in that case it can even make sense to print it already at the recording stage.
Don’t slam the compressor
Compression—everyone uses it.
There isn’t an album on earth without it.
By lifting signals that are too soft and taming signals that are too loud, compression yields a more consistent level so each part sits more easily in the mix.
On a vocal for instance, compression is essential to avoid words sung too far or too close to the mic.
The problem is that if you over-compress, you lose the dynamics that give a track depth.
And an over-compressed song quickly becomes fatiguing—what first felt punchy and upfront turns into exhausting mush.
Compress, yes—but don’t kill the dynamics!
Fairchild compressor plugins from UAD. You can hunt down an original vintage unit, but it’ll set you back around $50,000…
Don’t EQ by boosting everything
EQ is the secret weapon of a successful mix: by finding the signature frequencies of each instrument, you prevent masking and avoid having to compress just to make them pop—provided each one has its spot somewhere between 20 Hz and 20 kHz.
But even mighty EQ is a trap when you fall for the siren song of boosting by default.
Put simply: an EQ can either cut or boost selected frequencies.
The issue is that by boosting, instruments end up fighting for space—sometimes worse than before the EQ.
By cutting what’s unnecessary and keeping only the ranges that belong to that track, the mix gets much clearer.
Sure, the soloed track may sound less flattering, but that’s a key to a good mix: never lose sight of each track’s role in the whole.
A bonus of subtractive EQ is avoiding excessive levels, which brings us to the next no-no…
Don’t mix in the red
Back in the golden age of tape machines (only those who didn’t live it are truly nostalgic!), you could push each track into distortion (“in the red”, referring to the VU meter needle) and get a pleasant overall compression.
The problem with digital is that the moment you hit the red zone, it rarely sounds musical.
Digital distortion (and clipping at worst) is a highly undesirable artifact that can instantly betray the “amateur” side of your production.
Also remember this simple rule: several tracks in the green can still sum to a master in the red!
Keep a close eye on your master bus meter and don’t hesitate to pull all your faders down.
It’s better to leave headroom than to skim the ceiling.
There was a time when recordings were made on these…
Don’t let phase issues ruin the party
The principle of phase is simple: it’s the alignment between the waveforms of two sounds.
When those shapes coincide, they’re in phase.
When one is the negative of the other, they’re out of phase.
Practically speaking, an out-of-phase signal means that instead of getting bigger, the sum of two tracks cancels frequencies and makes the sound smaller.
It’s very common when two mics capture the same source at different distances—for example, two mics on a guitar cab, or an overhead and a snare mic.
Listen carefully to individual tracks and then together, and if something feels off, flip the polarity (many plugins do this).
With good monitors, you’ll know quickly whether that inversion is needed.
Don’t rush it
There was a time when an album was made in a studio within a tight window and every minute cost serious money.
With the rise of the home studio, we may have lost the top-tier equipment found in pro rooms, but we gained time—lots of it!
You now have the luxury to let your mix rest for a few days and come back with fresh ears and perspective.
That’s a precious advantage—use it!
…and now it’s made on these!
