Line Level Mastering

One of the quickest ways to take your mixing game up a level is to stop mixing everything individually. It doesn't matter how good your snare sounds on its own if it gets lost in the mix! This is more of a mindset issue than a technical one, as it's easy as producers to forgot that the listener will be hearing the song as one cohesive piece of art.

A lot of the times, when people ask me to fix up their mix, they ask how I got everything to sound so 'clean'. Usually, it's as simple as cutting big chunks of frequencies that don't need to be there. Sure, maybe the guitars sound amazingly thick when in solo, but when blended with the rest of the mix, that low-end is clashing with the bass and the drums, and even sometimes the vocals. The same of course goes the other way. Maybe you want your bass to be this warm, low-end only monster so you've cut away the highs, but it's that high-end that lets it cut through the mix when it's all together.

Don't forgot to hear the song as the listener will, and not just as a producer can! If you've got a mix that you're struggling with, DM me and I'll see if I can point you in the right direction 🙂