Got this question from a reader:

For tracks with very little pan complexity, can I mix and master with just headphones?

Yes. 100% yes.

It doesn't even matter if the song is complex and has a lot of tracks. You can still mix on headphones if you want. Andrew Scheps told us at NAMM in January that he predominantly mixes on headphones.

So if he does it without much trouble, I think you can too.

However, my only caveat is to make sure you listen to your mixes on as many speakers as possible so you can hear how your mixes translate in the real world outside of your fancy studio headphones. We have to reference our mixes on shitty speakers after mixing on our fancy studio monitors and the same applies when you're mixing on headphones.

In fact, this week I'll be talking a bit about a track I just released that I mixed almost exclusively on headphones.

The reason I had to mix it on headphones was that it was a surprise gift for my wife for our anniversary and I didn't want her to hear the song until I was ready to give it to her.

So I mixed the entire song on headphones until she left for a meeting and then I referenced it on all my studio monitors and my earbuds to make sure I was making the right mix decisions.

Crazy For Me

That song is called "Crazy For Me" and it's the first song I've released as a solo artist. I'm equal parts incredibly proud of it and scared shitless about putting myself front and center like that. I've always been a bigger fan of standing outside the spotlight, but still on stage. Being a part of the band, but not the frontman. Being an influencer, but not famous. Honestly, I'd rather be Harry Nilsson than John Lennon, just making music without the burden of being a musician.

So, the first experiment of that nature is "Crazy for Me." I did it in collaboration with Dane Myers over at Custom Tracks who helped me flesh out the production and provided me with some amazing session musicians.

Best of all, I'll be giving the multi-tracks away this week so you can have the pleasure of mixing these session musicians yourself!

The multi-tracks include:

• Drums
  
• Bass
  
• Acoustic guitar
  
• Electric guitar
  
• Organ
• Horns
• Vocals
  

And if you'd like to know how I mixed the song, I also created a custom mix video that shows you all the things I did to take the rough recordings to a finished mix.

This custom mix video is only available until Friday night so if you'd like to learn how I transformed the track from this:

Crazy For Me Unmixed

to this:

Crazy For Me Mixed

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Then head on over, listen to the entire song and grab the multitracks and custom mix video through this link.

Cheers,

Björgvin