How did you get into mixing? (kind of rant)

[NinjaBeats]

Hey guys, just wondering how you all got into mixing.

My story is, I was a rapper, then made beats for my raps, then someone suggested I learned to mix to save money. It was something I initially hated. However, years later it's by far the thing I most enjoy out of the music creation process.

I enjoy it so much, I find myself fulfilled by this, constantly watching tutorials, trying new techniques, and practicing mixing songs a lot. Like it's fulfilling my expression that once only rapping, or beatmaking could do.

And I find myself doing less and less of those 2, and more focusing on mixing. It's a dilemma I hold in my head.

I have an album out on Spotify, with mixtapes, singles, music videos.

I guess I'm ranting, maybe there's no linearity. They all take a very long time to master individually. And I find myself getting lost in some more than others, often times the mix. Producing less of my own original music. And part of me thinks like "don't let the dream die of making your own music".

I don't know, did anyone feel like mixing was their path from the getgo? Maybe's it's ending up being mine. But I still love making music. This is just a thought I had and I'm curious if anybody else has felt similarly. At the end of the day we're all music lovers, just wondering how people get to certain paths.

[chris carter]

I grew up as a trained musician and after going through bouts of wanting to be a songwriter and then an engineer I pulled all that stuff together and became producer. I mixed out of necessity, but eventually I got a reputation and other people started hiring me to mix records I didn’t produce. About 10 years ago I decided to make mixing my focus and chose to be very selective in choosing production projects. So today, the bulk of my day to day work is mixing. It’s a different enjoyment from producing, but there’s definitely less chaos. I’ve done very well and I mix a ton of records and it lines up better with family life (wife, kid) than producing does. Mixing is all remote work these days so you have to be okay with working entirely by yourself whereas producing (record production, not “beatmaking”) obviously involves lots of interaction in the studio with other people (at least one other person).

[Smisch]

I had been writing music since I was young, but I was always dependent on others who had studios and could produce to be able to record my songs. Because of that I didn't get many songs recorded

When I was 21 I went to music universite and a commercial music business program where we learnt the basics in Logic.

It's very convenient to be able to go out to the studio any time and work on your own songs

[Detroit Soul]

The pandemic brought me indoors. I wrote 200+ tracks as an alternative to to working among the public, so I mixed those. Usually I'm a documentary photographer, photo journalist and street photographer as a freelancer, in addition to being a part time healthcare worker. I was sick very early during the pandemic.

[NinjaBeats]

I grew up as a trained musician and after going through bouts of wanting to be a songwriter and then an engineer I pulled all that stuff together and became producer. I mixed out of necessity, but eventually I got a reputation and other people started hiring me to mix records I didn’t produce. About 10 years ago I decided to make mixing my focus and chose to be very selective in choosing production projects. So today, the bulk of my day to day work is mixing. It’s a different enjoyment from producing, but there’s definitely less chaos. I’ve done very well and I mix a ton of records and it lines up better with family life (wife, kid) than producing does. Mixing is all remote work these days so you have to be okay with working entirely by yourself whereas producing (record production, not “beatmaking”) obviously involves lots of interaction in the studio with other people (at least one other person).

Thanks for the reply Chris, my bad for getting back so late. Been a hectic year (guess for everyone). So it seems like there was a pivotal moment where you had enough experience mixing, you were pretty damn good at it and people came to you looking to get their records mixed. That's what's interesting, like people have these moments and they know okay, this is where I'm going, what I'm doing. Maybe I just need to keep making music, even if it is for the sake of just mixing it. I'm having fun doing it, maybe something will come of it, maybe not.

I'm a teacher by day, been teaching 8 years and sometimes wish I could do music full-time. I read this book called "So Good They Can't Ignore You" which elaborates on progressing in a field. You do something long enough and get good enough, you're able to get some of the sough after lifestyle perks, like autonomy and choosing a career adapted to your lifestyle. Same time, I've been getting into music for 8 years (first production, then piano, then rapping, the mixing). I'm busy spinning a lot of plates. Maybe I just need to take the pressure off. Hopefully clarity will come.

[NinjaBeats]

I had been writing music since I was young, but I was always dependent on others who had studios and could produce to be able to record my songs. Because of that I didn't get many songs recorded

When I was 21 I went to music universite and a commercial music business program where we learnt the basics in Logic.

It's very convenient to be able to go out to the studio any time and work on your own songs

That is an awesome skill to have, being able to do all that yourself

[NinjaBeats]

The pandemic brought me indoors. I wrote 200+ tracks as an alternative to to working among the public, so I mixed those. Usually I'm a documentary photographer, photo journalist and street photographer as a freelancer, in addition to being a part time healthcare worker. I was sick very early during the pandemic.

Wow! 200 that's crazy, that's a lot of mixing practice. Sounds like you stay busy in general, awesome