I deal
with a lot of haters on Facebook.
It amazes me how many people just lash out on random Facebook posts for no discernible reason.
I mean, is that the best use of their time? Being all condescending and facetious.
That last word means: "treating serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humor; flippant."
I'm
not telling you that because I think you're dumb and didn't know what it meant. I had to look it up too and turns out it's the perfect way to describe the average Facebook user with too much time on their hands.
They love hiding behind irony and sarcasm because it makes them feel superior. It's much harder to be helpful so it's easier to bash the helpers instead of offering any real value to the conversation.
Now, Facebook users aren't all bad of course! We have a pretty amazing Facebook Group, The Home Studio Musicians, that's full of helpful engineers that share tips and support each other.
This post is not directed at
them!
Whenever I write articles about mixing I post from the point of view of sharing what I know that has worked for me.
I never mean to imply that my way is the only way. It's absurd to think that somehow this one random audio blogger from Iceland has all the answers.
Ludicrous really.
But that doesn't stop the
Fakers of Facebook.
Take some of the more recent comments I've gotten:
Call me crazy but if the material is good all you need is a good EQ and a flexible compressor. Or perhaps one great channel strip plugin that has EQ, gate & compressor all in one. After that it is [sic] everything more is [sic] special spice ;)
This is in response
to Mixing With 5 Plug-ins, that teaches you how to use EQ, compression, reverb, delay and saturation to make great mixes.
This person is right to a certain extent. You can go a long way with just EQ and compression but I think you're short-changing yourself if you don't even
want to learn how to use reverb, delay and saturation. Aren't you an audio engineer that wants to improve?
Knowing how to use all the tools at your disposal is how you do that.
Also, what if you get material from a band that isn't good? It's not like you all work on professionally recorded tracks performed by seasoned session musicians. Sometimes you have to really dig into
your mixing skills to fix the tracks you're given!
Let's take another one, a real recurring nightmare of a comment:
Since when is there "a way" to do things. Ive [sic] learnt many ways to do stuff. And there is more then [sic] 1 route to my house hahaha. Just pick a route that suits you and master it. With a few back ups [sic] incase [sic] that route is stupid for some reason. Guys need to
stop being clever dicks stating better ways. Yeah better for you. Some dont [sic] have the equipment to do it "x" way. Take a chill pill and either take it or leave it.
First of all, I never say there is only one way to do things. My whole worldview is based on the fact that you can achieve your goals in multiple different ways. I'm just sharing my knowledge of what worked for me.
But because I
like sharing that knowledge with engineers that know less than me it somehow makes me a dick?
HAH!
Just sharing my knowledge for free for the last seven years. Such a dick move...
All right, let's end this entertaining rant (at least entertaining for me to write, I hope you got a chuckle out of it!) with a statement that does have some truth to
it:
You make it sound like those techniques are the only way to achieve said results. There are soooooo many ways to skin a cat...There is hardly a "right" way to mix anything. Anyone who says different [sic, although this could be an Apple reference] is selling something ;)
I actually agree with this comment completely (and I told them so too). There is hardly a "right" way to mix
anything. I don't even know if I would mix the same song the same way twice.
However, I do follow the fundamentals that I've learned throughout the years that have helped me (and thousands of other home studio musicians.
And to prove this person's point, I am selling something!
Newsflash, this is a business :) I sell products like EQ Strategies for people who want to learn how to EQ, and Quick Mixing With Stock Plug-ins for people who want to get a crash course in mixing in two hours. I also offer mixing services for musicians that don't want to mix their own recordings.
Of course, I still give most of my knowledge away to those that can't afford to purchase my products. I have almost 800 published posts on this website and drafts for about
200 more!
