Last year I went on a month-long tour around Alaska with an Americana/alt-country band called Laura and the Killed Men.

The biggest problem with that tour was that I couldn't bring my gear with me.

You see, before I left on tour, I had gone on vacation to Iceland with my wife and some of our friends. After our stay in Iceland, I didn't fly home to Tucson to pick up my bass because we decided to spend the weekend before the tour started in Chicago with family.

This was a logistical problem that required me to think outside the box. 

Enter the internet to the rescue.

Instead of flying all the way back to Tucson to grab a bass guitar I just bought a cheap one on Amazon and got it shipped to the hotel!

Sure, buying an instrument online can be hit or miss, but I was in a bind and desperately needed a bass. Music stores in Alaska aren't cheap, so the best possible solution was an off-the-wall one.

Luckily, it all worked out great. The only thing the bass needed was a slight truss-rod adjustment, and it was good to go. It served me well on tour, and now I have a fun-sounding acoustic bass if I ever need that sound in the studio.

The point here is that there aren't always straightforward solutions to simple problems. 

Sometimes you need to think outside the box and try something new, even if it's risky.

It reminds me of my recent drum mixes. I have my go-to tricks I use every time (all of which I share in the Drum Mix Toolkit), but every mix is different, and you have to react to what's thrown at you.

Sometimes the go-to mix trick won't work because the song requires some outside-the-box thinking.

• Sometimes your go-to plug-ins just don't cut it
• Sometimes parallel processing makes the sound worse
• Sometimes you can't simplify everything down to a drum buss

When that's the case, don't hesitate to try something new and exciting.

It just might work.