MIX:SMART system - Fast mixes that translate, even if your room is untreated
Transform your mixes with MIX:SMART - Master the art of fast, flawless production today!
✅ Finish fast mixes that always translate
✅ A 7-step system that works every time, to accelerate your music production workflow
✅ All you need to know to finish a “radio-ready” mix in just one day, even if your room is acoustically-untreated
✅ Unlock your true creative potential instead of losing time endlessly tweaking elements to fit into the mix
✅ A system that works in any DAW* and for any genre!
If you can take one of your sketches and finish the complete song in a day or two - adding the missing parts, then mix & master - then do not buy this book. If you want to be introduced to a system that accelerates your workflow and delivers a mix that always translate, even if your room is acoustically untreated, then read on!
Until a couple of years ago, I used to spend weeks trying to get a mix right. I managed to cut down the time to a few days, but even then, my mixes weren't up to par with professional Beatport songs. For each song, I experimented with different techniques to improve my mixes and reduce the time required, as spending so much time on a single mix is not practical. It took me around 200 mixes to refine a system that works every time. Of course, experience played a significant role, but with this system, I can now mix while creating the song quickly and efficiently.
In the past, mixing during the creation of the song interrupted my creative flow, but with this system, I know what to listen for with every sound I introduce. I devised a quick method to tonally balance a sound and make it fit in the mix within a minute. This allows me to listen to my song at "radio-ready" quality as I progress it, enabling me to decide quickly if a newly introduced sound or preset would fit the song or not.
Before using this method, I would often add sounds to the project that didn't fit the song properly, causing me to go back and change them, then mix and master again, which took weeks to finish a song. Now I can finish a song (starting from a previously-made sketch) in one day. Since I’m waking up late, I usually do it in two afternoons :)
I did it in my livingroom, with a pair of Neumann KH120A speakers and a couple of Bose portable speakers. If I can do it, you can do it too!
A spectacular view of my - otherwise in daylight - boring setup
MIX:SMART
The internet is filled with tons of information on mixing, with people offering a ridiculous amount of solutions such as cumbersome parallel routings, endless processing chains, huge stacks of submix processes, tons of “analog” plugins, and the list goes on and on. However, understanding the basics (the WHY?) behind mindful compression, EQ, and volume level adjustments removes the need for these complex solutions. After experimenting for years, I have learned that the vast majority of audio sources, including recordings, synthesizers, and samples, rarely need extra processing aside from the ones I mentioned above. In essence, what people do when implementing these complex solutions is finding fixes for the problems they created by not properly processing their tracks in the first place.
Based on my findings after mixing hundreds of songs, I have identified the processing techniques that work almost every time. I am excited to share with you MIX:SMART - the system that synthesizes my experience into an easy-to-follow workflow that will allow you to quickly tonally rebalance a track and achieve a professional-sounding mix.
Here's why: A good sounding song starts with the basic ingredients - the tracks. If we rely on submixes (that is, feeding groups of tracks into summing busses), then the worst track in the group will heavily influence the subgroup processing, causing the entire group to suffer. Similarly, if we don't use groups and send everything to the master channel hoping to fix problems on the master bus, the same thing happens - instead of enhancing a good mix, the master bus processes will actually fight to fix the issues. Projects can have many tracks, but with my method, using the same starting point for each new track solves most of the problems. Tweaking this starting point further improves the mix.
So we have to ensure two aspects:
- Using a mastering chain from the very beginning of a new project. A chain that can be trusted. A chain that is able to signal when and where things are bad, and a chain that will sound great when the the mix is great. This is the ST Master Bus Chain. Tested and refined over hundreds of my own bad and - lately - great mixes and top40 great mixes.
- Making sure the tracks feeding the master bus chain are as close as possible to great tonal balance and dynamics. This is the role of ST Channel Strip. Tested and refined over the same volume of songs, is designed to work in conjunction with the ST Master Bus Chain.
With just a handful of plug-ins you can quickly achieve a geat sounding mix. Having a solid base will allow you to go virtually anywhere sonic-wise.
But enough talk, check the example below and hear it yourself!
✅ No more days or even weeks to mix a song
✅ No more high-hats that are either harsh or too low in the mix
✅ No more mixes that sound harsh and dull at the same time
✅ No more basses that are either too boomy or too thin
✅ Now you can achieve great sounding mixes with MIX:SMART!
Here’s what you get
✅ MIX:SMART eBook - the essential guide to mixing fast - from which you will learn:
✓ A 7-step system that accelerates your music production workflow and helps you finish fast, flawless mixes that always translate. A mix that sound at its best in your studio, car, headphones, smartphone speakers, big venues, everywhere!
✓ How to deal with the downsides of an acoustically-untreated room
✓ How to have your music sound “mastered” right from the initial idea of your song, and enjoy creating by previewing your song in progress at “radio-ready” quality
✓ How to remove guesswork from mixing, so you can spend your time being creative instead of endlessly tweaking elements to fit into the mix
✓ How to achieve a loud, dynamic, clear, and pleasant mix everytime
✓ Hands-on information on how to approach specific type of sounds (drums, percussion, transition fx, bass, melodic instruments, vocals)
✓ How to have that nice and soft high end with no harshness that you love so much in your favourite artists’ music
✓ How to keep the bass under control at all times
✓ How to achieve that overall punchy and clear sound
✓ How to achieve a wide mix that sounds also good when played in mono
✓ A system that works in any DAW*
And to help you boost your game, I’m also including the two presets (compatible with any DAW*) that I use on absolutely every track in my projects (and on the master bus), to achieve a polished sound right from the initial idea of the song: The ST Channel Strip and the ST Master Bus Chain. All the macro knobs are already assigned for you, so you can avoid the tedious job of doing the assignments yourself.
✅ The ST Channel Strip**
✓ A professional mix starts with perfectly balanced individual tracks. This channel strip does exactly that!
✓ The ready-made channel strip preset as explained in MIX:SMART eBook
✓ Get a perfect EQ tonal balance in seconds with just two knobs
✓ Dial-in compression (compensated in volume, so you can clearly hear it) with a twist of a knob
✓ Address those rogue peaks straight from the track level, with the final clipper
✓ Adjust the sound’s width to improve mix’ mono compatibility
✅ The ST Master Bus Chain***
✓ The secret of all great producers, the Master Bus Chain: the last chain to process the sound, the first to be placed in the project!
✓ Get the industry-standard loudness without losing punch or sounding distorted
✓ The ready-made mastering chain preset as explained in MIX:SMART eBook
✓ A plug-in chain calibrated on hundreds of songs
✓ Remove the guesswork on how your mix will sound after mastering
✓ Use this chain from the beginning of your song so you can make informed decisions about how each element you add to your mix will sound when the song is “mastered”
✓ You can now avoid ear fatigue by producing at lower levels, since your song is at “radio-ready” loudness
Remastering Old Songs Demonstration
Just notice how effortlessly the Master Bus Chain can lift a song to a density of -9 LUFS with virtually no distortion. Make sure you listen at various levels (from very very small volume to high) so you can discern the impact it makes. If you can't hear a significant difference, I strongly suggest you re-evaluate your monitoring, because the difference is simply huge!
Transparency Demonstration
A good mastering chain should behave very transparent when a song is already at a perfect density and tonal balance. I selected few examples to showcase this. While there is processing going on even with the input knob at 0%, when a song has perfect tonal balance and density, the chain will do nothing extra.
One more thing! Have you ever noticed that you're often not in the mood to do something, be it music production or any other activity, except for binge consuming (food, media, socials)?
You know you have to do it, you know that practice is the only way to grow and get better, yet you still can't start doing the work. You know you have to show up daily, but somehow you fail to make music, keep your nutrition on course, or go to the gym.
Instead, you watch tutorials or spend endless hours talking with strangers on online communities. I had this exact issue! Procrastination is so insidious, many times we're not even aware that we're actually doing it. After reading dozens of books and talking with coaches for hours, I FINALLY GOT IT!
At first, I condensed my findings in my notes app. Then, I thoroughly filtered them and transformed them into something cohesive and useful - this book, including essential mindset hacks to start doing and achieve your goals!
✅ EXPONENTIAL GROWTH eBook - from which you will learn:
✓ How to rewire your mind and TRULY ENJOY THE PROCESS. Any process!
✓ Learn the method once, apply it on anything: music making, work, fitness, eating healthy, being less stressed because of the daily events, you name it!
✓ How dopamine rewards you and how you can use it to your advantage, to build healthy habits
✓ The growth mindset. How to implement long-lasting positive changes
✓ Understanding and identifying procrastination, how to overcome it when approaching goals that seem unattainable
✓ The exponential growth - how very small changes have a big impact: spending just 10 minutes a day generating a musical idea may seem trivial, but if done consistently for a year, you'll have 365 ideas. It's statistically impossible that none of them will be top-notch. It is guaranteed that at least 10 out of the 365 ideas have a hit-song potential!
✓ How to deal with overthinking
✓ How to deal with the lack of confidence
✓ How to get back on track after skipping tasks
✓ How to manage, even better, remove stress from your life
✓ Why sleep is important and how to get quality sleep
The bundle that will sky-rocket your mixes and mindset
60-day Money-Back Guarantee: Learning to produce music is a process that takes time and practice. However, if you don't believe this book can help you improve your sound, just let me know within 60 days, and I'll refund your payment.
* The channel strips are built with VST plug-ins that are contained inside Blue Cat’s PatchWork, which is compatible with all DAWs on Windows and macOS. All you need to do is to make sure that your DAW is compatible with Blue Cat’s PatchWork, and the rest is solved by the container.
** The ST Channel Strip is delivered as a preset for BlueCat’s PatchWork plug-in, with macro knobs mapped. You will need the following 3rd party plug-ins in order to use the ST Channel Strip preset: BlueCat’s PatchWork, FabFilter Pro-Q 3, SIR Audio Tools StandardCLIP, Tokyo Dawn Labs TDR Molot GE.
*** The ST Master Bus Chain is delivered as a preset for BlueCat’s PatchWork. You will need the following 3rd party plugins in order to use the ST Master Bus Chain preset: BlueCat’s PatchWork (mandatory), iZotope Ozone 10 (mandatory), FabFilter Pro-Q 3 (mandatory), Air Music Tech Air Lo-Fi (optional), EndeavorFX Contemporary Color 2 (optional).