(Part 2 Here) You ever take a class and continuously have your mind blown? That's been me the past few weeks. I've been taking one on one mixing and production lessons, and suddenly, the world makes sense. Suddenly, everything is much easier than I thought it was, and I can go in and mix with a path in mind; instead of blindly turning knobs to see what they do.
Did you know that the original reverb was created by hanging metal sheets in a room and playing the recording to catch the echo? I didn't but, now the room settings make more sense. Did you know there are simple ways to make a sound seem further back or forward, to create a more spacious, 3D sound? Well, yes, you can!
I found my teacher on Thumbtack, and he's been super helpful. There's a great book we're using that I definitely recommend. It comes with sample song files you can download and bring into your DAW to follow along and practice with the exercises. The man who wrote it has been working as an engineer for decades. He put so much easy-to-follow information into this book. Click Here to find it on Amazon.
Something else I learned in my lesson was the importance of networking. If you're doing everything yourself like I am, It can be difficult to hear how to make it better alone. You need another set of ears. So a got a few pairs. Even if someone else was mixing for me, I need to know how to explain what I want to be changed. If I'm hiring another engineer, I need to know how to talk to them.
I am in the final stages of mixing my songs and, I now have people who can listen to them and help me out along the way. I plan to release my EP “Human” in April! “Human” is about me being my imperfect self and recognizing how much I've grown into someone I adore. There are times when you can feel like you're not good enough, so why try. You can think of all the time you've "wasted" or compare yourself to those who have so much, sooner than you. But we can't hate ourselves for being human.