7 Mixing Tips By Award-Winning Engineer Miles Walker

Miles Walker (@mixedbymiles) is a Grammy-winning, multi-platinum record selling sound engineer who has been a staple of the music industry ever since 2003. That year he graduated Berklee and began his career by moving to Tennessee to work with Music Row Records and quickly found a calling in pop music.

He found himself surrounded by the vibrant hip-hop R&B and pop scene and moved to Atlanta where he began to work at the famous Patchwerk Studios. Already music industry veterans like Bryan Michael Cox, David Banner and Leslie Brathwaite began to take notice, but soon he transitioned to another studio to work for Usher at Ush records.

By this point, his fate was sealed and countless massive artists and other industry professionals were inspired by his hard work including Britney Spears, Enrique Iglesias, Rhianna, Katy Perry and Wiz Khalifa. In 2010 Miles won his first Grammy for Beyonce’s “I am… Sasha Fierce” and in the following years, he would win 2 more.

Lately, Miles has been generously offering some of his golden mixing wisdom to the people of Instagram and we here at Jony Studios have been incredibly inspired. From inside tips to realities of the music industry, Miles Walker has given us an insight into what it takes to be an award-winning sound engineer. 

Here are some of our favourite #TuesdayTips, from the past few weeks in the words of Miles himself:

Project Preparation

“As a mix engineer, you have to honour whatever decisions the artist might have made before the record makes it to you. Mixing decisions start getting made early in the process—your job is to work with them, not against them.”

“Although file prep isn’t glamorous, and if we’re being honest, this is probably about 50% of the work of mixing. And it happens before you even lay a single finger on a fader.

For me, here are a couple of rules for file prep and some tips to make it easier for the entire crew:

1. I want the exact session that the rough mix came from:

   This is so I can have all the choices from the mix they sent over. Many times I’ll get a rough mix and it won’t match the session. This is tough because I don’t know the decisions that were made to take something out. To me, stems limit creativity. That’s why I always want the session.

2. I want to meet you in the space where you were creative:

   I don’t ever want a client to have to move their session over to PT or something else. I’m happy to do that. I’ll work that into my process–I never want someone to have to work theirs into mine.

3. Please send me the files zipped up from a service that DOES NOT require an account

   If you’re going to send the files this way, then please send your mixer a zip via a link. My favourite is WeTransfer and I can’t tell you how much I love them. I’ve had problems with corruption with many other services, but not them.

   It’s free, secure, and if you have a pro account you can send something up to 20gb. The best part is the fact that you get an email confirmation when I download it. You can see I’ve downloaded it, which means I’m about to start on it, which means that you can move to the most important step…

4. Communicate!

   After you’ve sent everything over, be in communication with your engineer. Don’t just send a link and then go radio silent. After you pass along the files, follow up to make sure that it’s everything that's needed.

   Delaying the start delays the finish. This saves everyone time, and time is money. We can fix small things quickly, so I can get back to mixing and you can get back to creating.

Keeping everyone happy

“Producers, mix engineers, recording engineers–we’re all stewards of the creative process. Meaning we help move that process along by filling crucial supporting roles to the artists. And if you believe your boy Plato, art is imitation. So at one point or another, each of us has been asked to utilize methods, techniques and styles from other artists.

For mixers, that most often comes in the form of a reference track. Artists will send you a list of tracks that they like something about. It could be the sound of a drum, the stereo separation or a track or something else.

It’s the same thing as asking a recording engineer to help your guitar sound like David Gilmour’s solo on Pink Floyd’s “Time” or maybe to get the bass tone that James Jamerson laid down on What’s Going On.

So when do those come in to play?

For me, I don’t even listen to them until I’ve gone through my first pass at the mix. When I’m building the essence of the song up, I am working with that specific performance. As I said, I’m picking the winners with the magic they created. And just like I don’t listen to an individual track when I’m setting up the session, I don’t listen to reference materials either. Even if I’m familiar with the song or the artist, I’ll try and keep it from influencing my first mix.

Now after that? Absolutely. We can definitely talk about reference tracks. But for me, I use them as a communication tool to help decode what the artist wants versus a template to try and copy.”

“Whenever I get the files for a mix, I do everything in my power to NOT listen to the files. I’ll usually have my amazing assistant @jumperatl set them up. It’s on purpose. I don’t want to hear the parts, I want to hear the song. Before I had the luxury of having an assistant, I would set them up myself (obviously.) But I would do it at the very end of the day when I’m burnt out.

Why?

Because by turning the process into something strictly mechanical, I’m able to tune it out (so to speak) & keep my ears fresh to hear the WHOLE song the next day. And that’s what I ultimately want to do. Hearing each part out of context could cloud my judgement as a mixer, & I think my judgement is one of the things people use me for.

When you as a mixer (or even as a listener) hear something the first time, you INSTANTLY react to it. "That’s a cool bass line, the vocal hook is good here, the drums lock in nicely"–you’re instantly making these notes, whether you want to or not. After my session is set up, I listen to the ruff mix. I make these mental notes, assigning a level of importance to each element–drums, vox, synth, etc.

And then I follow my most important rule–you have to pick one winner for each part. And like the Highlander, THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE. And the mix needs to reflect that.

That’s not to say there can’t be a different winner in each section of the song. And look, you can have runners up–they can share the podium. But there can only be one winner. And that’s what I think about when I’m listening to it the first time. Because that’s how fans listen to it–something hits them. And what hits me is what I’m going to mix. I want to pick the winners from the magic they made.

Of course, artists and producers can & will disagree. But one of the reasons you hire a mixer is because you’re too close to it. This outside perspective is valuable.”

Presentation

“You’ve put all this work into a mix, and it’s time to send it back. How do you present it?

Well, there are a couple of things that I’ve learned over the years. The most important thing is this: conveying your excitement about the work you did. Bottom line? If you can’t be excited about what you’re doing, nobody else is going to be. If you can show your excitement and point out what you did to highlight those moments to people will be more receptive. So how do you do that?

Three is the magic number.

Like we talked about earlier on, you have to pick a winner for each section of the song. This is similar. Pick your three favourite moments and then talk about what you did to highlight those. Part of mixing a track is changing what they have. And for artists, these are very personal things.

If you change just to change, it comes across as you messing it up. But if you tell them what you were excited about and what you did to highlight that excitement, they’ll understand that. You liked the drums so you lifted them up in the chorus. You thought that vocal melody was AMAZING so you made sure it stood out.

And they’ll agree, or disagree. But like I’ve said over and over, they come to us for an opinion. So be confident in what you chose. Because if you don’t believe in it, why should they?”

Finishing the mix isn’t the end of your day

“If you’re gonna start, you need to be committed. But that’s not enough. If you’re going to finish, you’re gonna need consistency. Keep growing, stay hungry, be focused, and outwork everyone else around you.”

“There’s always this perception that when you’re a musician or a creative, that’s all you’re doing. You’re writing music, making beats, mixing records. And while this is true, the part that you don’t see a lot (especially on social media) is just how much of the grind is spent on your business.

Taxes, bills, marketing, business planning, accounting are just as paramount as being good at your craft. I once saw an interview with a brewery owner who talked about how everyone thought he had the best job–dreaming up beers, tasting them and seeing them make it to stores and bars. He said that way over half of his job is chemistry and cleaning, and less than 10% was all the “glamorous” stuff.”

Conclusion

All these great mix tips and more can be found on Miles’ Instagram including some incredible mixing memes. Jonathan the owner of Jony Studios is a big fan of Miles and highly recommends him! You can work with Miles Walker on your project by filling out the contact form on his website here.

There are tons of great audio engineers in the music industry today, who are some of the mixing and mastering pros that inspire you in your music? Let us know in the comments below!

- By Erik Steiner

Everything You Need to Know About Tracking

Today the music world has no rules.

Artists have the freedom to create and mix any form of music they can imagine. Music has reached the point where artists have the independence to create new categories of music by mixing rhythms and genres.

However, creating music still comes with its stages, dos and dont’s. In order to make good music that people will enjoy listening to, you still need to follow stages of music production that have been perfected over the years by professionals.

Like a chef in the kitchen, just because you have unlimited ingredients and tools to play with does not mean you should. There are some things when you mix and match that just don’t taste good.

On that note, check out Jony Studios’ mixing and mastering services that will help you elevate your sound and bring your song to life!

After arranging comes tracking:

WHAT IS TRACKING?

Tracking is referred to here as the instrument recording process. Since this process has many names, we’ll stick to calling it “tracking”.

A song is basically an idea flowing around until it is made tangible. And making a song tangible means recording it. You could play your song live but it wouldn’t be tangible since the song would disappear after it ends. The recording process is what captures the song in a format that lives on forever. This is what makes the song tangible and gives the listeners the ability to listen continuously without the song disappearing.

In simple terms, it is the process of recording various instruments used within a song. Multi-track recording, on the other hand, is the process where when you record a new track, you hear all the other tracks recorded as well. This multi-track recording process is used when the tracks are recorded one at a time.

HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM SONGWRITING?

Songwriting requires a different kind of focus. With writing, you want to experiment which is only possible when your mind is free of all new associations and connections. 

However, when it comes to performing a song, your focus needs to be on playing with the right feeling and in time. 

But remember: while recording you don’t have to get it perfect. There are many editing options that can fix mistakes and improve a song but there is a limit to what you can edit. Editing too much can make your song sound unnatural.

Need help with recording your music or editing your songs? Contact Jony Studios.

Combining the writing and performing/tracking stages of music production will greatly impact your song quality. In order to ensure the best possible outcome, focus on each individual step separately.

Conclusion

Tracking is an essential step in the music creation process. It allows you to record each instrument used in a full complete song. Without it you wouldn’t be able to record.

Still unsure of this step? 

Jony Studios’ offers music production services that will help you elevate your sound and bring your song to life!

Contact us here to get started.

- By Neha Agarwala

---

Curious about the other stages of music production?

Check out these blogs to learn more:

Songwriting

Arranging

Editing

Mixing and Mastering

Techniques To Improve Your Guitar Solo

If you are a musician / guitarist, you must have likely come across the idea of scales. They seem to pop up everywhere (especially in some of the best solos of all time) and no great guitar player should ignore them. 

Whether you are composing solo or jamming with a band, knowing scales and how they interact will allow you to write better music, find great chords and improvise like you knew what you were doing the whole time! 

Scales

Scales are simply a grouping of notes known to sound good together. In the western sphere of music that usually means 7 unique notes repeated up and down until no more pitches are available. The first and most important is what’s called the root note, the start of a set of tones and what gives it a sense of home or resolve. On a guitar fretboard, these same notes are reflected all the way up and down, it can be quite daunting to try and memorize where each one is though, which is where patterns come in. 

Scale Patterns

Patterns are easy ways to remember scales due to the fact that related notes always form the same “shape” (If you are playing on a traditionally stringed guitar, more information about alternative tunings can be found here). By remembering a set of scale patterns you can use any scale wherever you are on the fretboard. 

Patterns can often stretch over 4 frets, therefore, it’s important to have strength in all fingers in order to play them effectively. By using all fingers, your hand can remain comfortable over the majority of notes for extremely easy access and even faster licks!

The Pentatonic Scale

You may be familiar with the traditional western scale consisting of 7 unique notes which are commonly found in almost all music made these days. Pentatonic scales are adaptations of these scales which scales (heh) it back to only 5 notes. The name comes from the Greek word “pente” which, you guessed it, means 5 and is also very commonly found in modern music especially blues, pop and rock. What’s great about this scale is its simplicity, it still has major and minor tonalities and works great over the chord progression and as an improvised solo. 

Pentatonic Guitar Patterns

Knowing any one of these patterns will get you right on your way to making your own custom guitar licks at frightening speed but to be really free you need to know all 5. Each adds its own special character despite being in the same key, which makes any melody you play all that more interesting. Be sure to remember at all times where the root note is, as that will likely be the start and end of a particular phrase, giving it a sense of accomplishment before you go on to tear it up for another bar. 

Each of these patterns is in the key of g minor but as I said, these patterns can be adapted for every key, all it takes is to move it (and the root note) slightly. If you learn all the patterns really well and move them to different keys you will notice a huge difference in every aspect of your guitar playing. 

.

The first Minor Pentatonic Pattern starts with the root note on the 3rd fret sixth string. Each note on the 3rd fret should be played with your first finger, each on the fifth fret with your third finger and 6th fret with your fourth (pinky) finger.

Once you get all the way down to the last note (on the 1st string 6th fret), try playing it backwards and then strum a G minor chord. This pattern and that chord should go together perfectly. 

.

The second position starts on the sixth fret and does not have the root note first, which may be confusing at first. Start with your second finger and play all notes on the 8th fret with your pinky because you’ll have to go down to the 5th fret with your first. 

.

This third pattern presents an added level of difficulty. While starting with your second finger on the eighth frets, once you reach the second string you will have to shift your positioning up one fret and back when playing it in reverse. Fortunately, this is the only pattern that involves a shift of position. 

.

The fourth pattern in the series of G minor pentatonic scales moves up to start on the 10th fret, it involves all fingers lined up to the 13th and does not require a position shift. This is one of my personal favourites.

The final and fifth pattern moves all the way up to start on the 12th fret with your second finger. This, and the first are the only patterns that contain 3 root notes and, in this case, the root on the last note makes a very pleasant finale or end to any melody you might play. 

How to adapt to different keys

Playing the minor pentatonic in g minor is a great way to get started, but it is very limited in terms of songwriting, therefore, as stated, it is very important to also know how to move these patterns to different keys. Lucky for us, all you have to do is remember where the root note is! Remember when I mentioned how important it was? In the case of the first pattern, this is especially easy since you are starting with it. For example, playing an A minor pentatonic with the first pattern only requires you to move and start the pattern on the fifth fret. 

As always, it is very important to be familiar with all 5 patterns but using this framework it shouldn’t be too hard to find them. For example, if the A minor pattern 1 starts on the 5th fret, where would pattern 2 start?  Don’t be discouraged if you have to count out the frets at first, once you get familiar with these patterns and the notes, it will be second nature to play a pentatonic in any key. 

Another cool practice tip is combining the patterns, try starting with the first pattern and working your way all the way up the fretboard by going through each one! 

Conclusion

To truly make this work in your songwriting and playing, these techniques require lots and lots of practice. Even if you know where the notes are, building muscle memory to complete these patterns subconsciously is another level that will greatly improve your guitar skills. 

Some preliminary, structured practice will be required to get the hang of it, but once you are more familiar, playing to a backing track or creating your own interesting licks and solos with the pentatonic scale can be extremely helpful not to mention great fun!

You’ll also find yourself quickly noticing when other guitarists use these techniques in their music, what are some of your favourite solos using a pentatonic scale? 

If you’re interested in guitar playing or getting your music recorded and out into the world, check out our services at Jony studios and keep up with our blogs for more great music tips and tricks!

Contact us here to get started.

Do you have any techniques you love? Let us know below!

- By Erik Steiner