Carrying on with my research on Young Guru I further examined his interview with Sound On Sound Magazine, I was particularly interested in Young Guru’s workflow when it comes to mixing.

When asked about his workflow for mixing Young Guru said “More and more people mix as they record, but I don’t like to do that, because usually I’m tracking to the [MP3] two‑track, and I will have been listening to that for a long time and its sound gets kind of ingrained in me……After I’ve laid down the mix, I’ll run each individual audio track via the board and print it back into a new Pro Tools Session with effects, EQ and everything on it, and at the right level. So in my stem Session all faders are set to zero. If I later want to change the level of the snare, all I have to do is change it in the stem Session”

Young Guru’s point about refusing to mix as he records is a very sensible production technique I shall emulate when I record my own artists, by separating the mixing and recording processes it will allow me to give my ears a break and start the mixing process with no premeditated ideas on what the mix should sound like.

By creating a second Pro Tools session for his stems where all the faders are set to zero, it streamlines the whole mixing process making it easier to create a final mix. This is a technique I have already started to use in my own work.

Full interview available at https://www.soundonsound.com/people/secrets-mix-engineers-young-guru

This post relates to learning outcome 5