I've talked about him before, but Jon Taffer is a TV personality you love to hate.
If you don't know him, he's in charge of the show Bar Rescue on the Food Network and he just came out with a new book I'm looking forward to digging into.
His show is rife with conflict so it's a no-brainer that he wrote a book about the topic.
It's called the Power of Conflict (affiliate link).
I'm a sucker for a good argument so I hope to learn a thing or two so I can rifle some feathers on my Facebook ads and trick the angry elves and tonal trolls to give me some free exposure from Zuckerberg.
I don't have cable so I don't watch his show a lot but any time I walk into a room that's playing Bar Rescue on TV, I know I'm in for a good time.
Honestly, I could watch food-related shows all day long...
When my daughter was born we actually spent the entire 48 hours in the hospital watching the Food Network.
I owe Ted Allen and Bobby Flay a debt of gratitude for keeping us company while we figured out the whole "oh...we're parents now..." situation.
But back to Bar Rescue...
The premise is this: Jon Taffer is the "Bar Makeover" guy and he also happens to be a giant asshole with an expertise in arguing with bar owners.
Every episode he takes a terribly run bar that has a bad name, bad employees, poor management and no differentiation and turns it around.
I've actually been to a real-life Bar Rescue bar. It's called "Chilleen's on the 17" and it's on interstate 17 in Black Canyon City, between Phoenix and Flagstaff.
It's a standard southwest cowboy dive bar, and they even have an entire shrine dedicated to the guy with a life-size Jon Taffer cardboard cut-out so you can snap a photo with him.
And before you ask, no I'm sorry I don't have a silly picture of me with Cardboard Taffer.
The show basically rethinks the whole concept behind each bar and turns them around.
And that got me thinking about how you could rethink your whole mixing process.
If you're stuck in a rut and always doing things the same way with the same results while not really improving, maybe it's time for a Mix Rescue?
Here are a couple ways you can do things differently next time:
- If you always start all faders up, how about you start with the kick and bass instead? This approach teaches you to get a solid rhythmic foundation.
- If you always start with all the drums, how about you use the top-down approach and start with the master fader, moving down into groups and then finally into your individual tracks? This approach makes mixing a little faster and easier.
- If you always work on everything at once, start by listening to the song and then picking out the most important instruments in the mix and emphasize them first. It'll teach you to sculpt everything else around the most important parts of the mix.
- If you tend to reach for the EQ first, how about you start by managing your dynamics with a compressor instead to get a level mix that way.
- If you always use reverbs, try to create depth with delays instead.
- If you're normally scared of limiters, how about you face your fears and put them on every track just to see what happens?
- If you're always conservative with your processing, try to go overboard and over process just to see how things sound. Pushing your plug-ins might show you new sounds you didn't think were possible.
Those are just seven ideas you can take when you're stuck in a rut, but the main idea here is to get out of your comfort zone every once in a while.
Don't always follow the same approach every time.
Deviate from the path.
Take the long way home and notice what's new.
However, if you have no approach at all...
If it always seems like you're throwing spaghetti at the walls and nothing seems to stick....
...It might be because you forgot to cook your spaghetti!
While I can't help you with your dreams of opening up a Raw Pasta Restaurant, I can help you make your music better.
And the best place to start is with Step By Step Mixing: How To Create Great Mixes Using Only 5 Plug-ins.
And if you've already read the book but still want more help with your music, hit reply and let me know how I can help.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Björgvin