After hours of grueling mixing work, you finally get to that finished mix you worked so hard on.

It sounds balanced and punchy. You can pick out all the instruments clearly and they are playing together in unison, creating an intricate and amazing arrangement.

You pat yourself on the back for a job well done and you call it a night.

As you fall fast asleep with a proud smile on your face you don't hear the final frightening Yuletide trickster slip into your studio undetected.

To Candle-Stealer, candles are a lifeforce. Back in the old days, they were made from tallow rendered from animal fat. You could use them to lead the way or to fend off starvation. When we had the choice between eating candles made from animal fat or gnawing on the soles of our shoes for survival, Icelanders found candles valuable indeed.

However, modern fire codes being what they are, there are slim pickings for Candle-Stealer to pilfer from your studio.

Famished, he turns to the only light he sees. Your studio computer. He finds this new invention frustrating and pointless so he bangs on your keyboard and hits every button until it boots up. He keeps picking at the keyboard, holding down keys and clicking on windows until the computer starts pinging back at him.

He snarls back at the computer but no matter what he does, there's no food to be found. Thwarted by technology, he abandons your studio in search of sustenance somewhere else.

When you return to your studio to bounce out your final mix your computer is still running.

Funny, you think. I could've sworn I turned that off last night.

You try to log in but the computer won't take your password. After a few futile attempts, your administrator account disappears leaving you with no access to your files. The final mix is due tomorrow!

You grab your second computer and you browse for solutions. Seems like this is a common problem so you try every single MacOs ninja move the internet tells you. After a couple of coding tricks, you get into your account and you breathe a sigh of relief. The session is still there.

You click on it and you get an error. Corrupted or incomplete? What does that mean? You open your DAW and you get the same message. You realize to your horror that every single application on your computer is corrupted. No backup...let's hope this file is intact and it's just the computer. In a panic, you copy the session onto a flash drive. It's huge. The minutes feel like hours. But your troubles ain't over.

You realize that your new Macbook doesn't have an old USB port so you can't open it there. You dig up one of your ancient laptops and you finally get the session copied but then realize you don't have the required software to open it up. Regardless, even if you had the software, your plug-ins would be out of date.

So you upload it to the cloud and call for help. A friend has the required software and hours later, after intense moments of waiting for files to upload and download, not knowing whether your final mix is corrupted or not, your friend texts you,

"I was able to open it."

You stare at your phone and hold your breath.

"It's intact?" you ask.

"Yeah, looks like it."

You jump from the couch, exclaim expletives and fistbump the universe.

Now, dear reader: You may think these fables fictitious. And you may believe these Yuletide Tricksters exist only in folklore, but believe me when I tell you that the problems they cause are certainly a fact.

The session in question was mine. Saved from the freezing clutches of computer hell, I give you a two-hour live mixing session where I show you how to mix a song from start to finish.

My Insiders members have already gotten to enjoy the video, but to celebrate the holidays I wanted to spread some Yuletide cheer to counteract all the havoc my Yuletide Tricksters have wrought on your studio.

Watch the entire video here, and I hope you celebrate a happy holiday season, wherever you are in the world!

Warm Yuletide greetings,

Björgvin