Mixing / Production

Disappointed with the commercial mix of his band’s track, Barnabas Koch sought the help of our tame engineer...

How much preparation is required before a recording session, and when should it all begin? We asked some top producers to share their wisdom.

Creating alien worlds, bringing droids to life and giving Star Wars more realism. We talk sound design and foley with the team behind the critically-acclaimed Rogue One.

Achieving a naturalistic sound on a Hollywood film set isn’t easy — but was central to director Damien Chazelle’s vision for La La Land.

Thoughtfully prepared DAW templates can leave you with more time for the creative and musical side of mixing.

Recorded, mixed and co-produced by Greg Fidelman, Metallica’s Hardwired... To Self-Destruct has proved an unexpected career high point.

Having set out to capture a live-band feel when tracking, our engineer is tasked with steering the mix in a more polished pop direction.

Watch engineer/producer extraordinaire Eric Valentine as he crafts a shimmering surf guitar sound, in the vein of Smash Mouth or Third Eye Blind, that employs three amps and judicial use of modulation effects.

We sat down with songwriter/producer Jake Gosling ahead of his masterclass at ACM in Guildford, UK, to talk about creating better arrangements, getting the best out of performers, and the advantages of having a simple recording setup. 

When it comes to mixing drums, few things have studio newcomers tearing their hair out more often than compression. We clarify matters by identifying a series of distinct drum-mixing tasks for which engineers commonly use compressors.

The team behind a three-day event on Hastings Pier had to battle weight restrictions, noise limits and the elements to make it happen!

Beyoncé’s right-hand man DJ Swivel has reinvented himself as a mix engineer — and his work with the Chainsmokers produced 2016’s biggest track.

Live opera can be a life-changing experience — and London’s premier opera house is using immersive sound to explore new ways of sharing it.

We explore some more advanced techniques and less-obvious applications for Synchro Arts’ powerful audio-alignment processor.

Maximising A Minimal Arrangement: Our engineer tackles the recording of some stripped-down electric-guitar and vocal arrangements.

Dolby Laboratories have been leading the development of surround-sound systems for four decades, but over the last year or so they have been piloting an intriguing surround system in a famous UK night-club...

Electronic, heavily processed and sample-based, 22, A Million was a radical departure for Bon Iver — and from normal recording and mixing practice...

We dive deeper into Synchro Arts’ powerful pitch-processing and audio-alignment software.

LA-based producer Eric Valentine (Queens Of The Stone Age, Slash) recreates the guitar sound from QOTSA's unique 2002 album, Songs for the Deaf. We look at every link in the chain from tuning and guitar choice through to amp settings, pedals, mic selection and post-processing.