The 10 Most Common Mixing Mistakes Made By Beginners

Over the course of my recording and teaching career, I’ve noticed that most of the mistakes beginners make are very consistent across the board regardless of the student, artist or producer. Whether it’s with recording or mixing, it just seems most people have the same incorrect tendencies with how they approach it. And on the most part, it’s due to lack of awareness of the correct methods and techniques. In my opinion, the best way to limit mistakes is to be aware and educated about what they are and not to neglect them once you're aware of them. And of course making mistakes is all a part of the journey and the learning process, but my job is to help you minimize potential bad habits by making you aware of them before they stick. 

So I’ve come up with a list of what I believe to be some of the most common mixing mistakes beginners make that I feel can be easily avoided and corrected once you’re aware of them.

And some of these mistakes aren’t even a matter of avoiding them. It’s that many times people are just misinformed as to the correct way of doing things. Even though I strongly believe that you should just do what works best for you and gets you the best results, there’s still definitely a right and wrong way of doing a lot of things when it comes to recording and mixing. corrected or avoided that will ultimately make all the difference in the world in how your mixes turn out. 

So let’s get right into it!

Here are 10 of the most common mixing mistakes made by beginners

(In no particular order)

1. Using Too Many Effects

This is probably the most common mistake of them all and I’m pretty sure that almost everybody is guilty of doing this at some point in time, including me. So I understand that in the beginning it may seem like a fun thing to do, but it’s really just a tell-tale sign that you have no idea what you're doing. For some reason, It’s almost a natural tendency for people to just keep adding more effects to their vocals and instruments to try and make things sound good when in reality, they’re actually just doing more harm than good. Because all this really accomplishes is making things sound unnatural, weird and just plain bad. And of course in some cases an unnatural sound is desired as a creative element but we generally want to stay away from adding too many effects when it’s not needed. 

There’s a very significant saying that I picked up when I first started studying recording which is, “garbage in, garbage out”. Meaning no matter what you do, you can’t fix a poor performance or lack of talent with mixing. And this has remained true through all of my years of recording regardless of what the marketing ads say about their plugins and gear. It doesn’t matter how much experience you have and how many techniques and secrets you may know, mixing can’t make it sound good. 

This is some of the best advice I can offer for people new to recording because it’s such a common mistake people make. So try to avoid adding too many effects at all costs or it will ruin your mixes even more. Focus on getting good performances and working with talented people and your tendency to want to do this be minimized drastically. 

Which leads us to…

2. Over Processing

Over processing is directly tied into using too many effects. So what do I mean by over processing? 

In the world of recording and mixing, processing is the term used for the effects used on an individual track or groups of tracks. And this processing accounts for so much of the whole mixing process itself. Over processing is the result of adding too many effects on your tracks such as boosting too many frequencies when applying equalization or over compressing the signal. The good news is that it’s just a tendency and it can be overcome with practice and experience. It’s just better to be aware of it sooner than later. Over processing is one of the fastest ways to ruin your mixes so it’s very important to know what it is and how to correct it.

I find that the tendency for us to over process in the beginning is largely due to two reasons:

• Lack of knowledge and understanding

• It can naturally sounds more pleasing to our ears

So what do I mean by lack of knowledge and understanding? It’s actually pretty simple in this case. The reason why we would over compress or add too much eq to our audio is because we still don’t know how to use these tools properly. And the only way to fix this is through good old fashioned practice and experience. Most people tend to keep adding more effects to their audio simply because we don’t know what else to do to get the results we want.

The second reason people tend to over process is a tricky one to overcome and it mostly relates to the use of equalization. And the reason this is so tricky to overcome is because in theory, boosting frequencies makes our audio sound clearer, cleaner and crisper. It just naturally sounds more pleasing to our ears when higher frequencies are raised, so of course we tend to turn them up. The problem is that most beginners tend to turn them up too much which leads to unpleasant harnesses, which ultimately leads to bad sounding mixes. 

So how do we fix this? Well the solution is directly tied to the next mistake I'm going to cover which is…

3. Not Utilizing Subtractive EQ

Out of all of the techniques to be learned in the rabbit hole of mixing, subtractive eq will always be the foundational key to great mixes. With everything that I’ve learned about mixing over the course of my career, I can confidently say that this is undoubtedly one of the most important skills that you should learn and develop if you really want to take your mixes to the next level. And because of this, I really hope this post will be the tipping point for you to really begin to study and apply this crucial technique effectively. 

So if subtractive eq is the key skill to learn, then why do so many people new to mixing not utilize it? Again, the answer is actually very simple. They don't know what frequencies to cut so most people end up not bothering with it at all. They think that boosting frequencies makes everything sound better so what's the point in cutting anything especially if I don’t know how to do it properly anyways. Not only was this the case for me in the beginning, but I see it over and over again with my students. And when they do try their hand at subtractive eq, they’re nowhere close to cutting the correct frequencies so it doesn’t sound better to them anyway. And it’s back to boosting everything again. 

But there’s no need to worry and let this discourage you because I have some great tips for you on how to ear train, how to use subtractive eq but most importantly, understanding what frequencies to cut. 

Ear Training tips…

1. Get your hands on an EQ music frequency chart and use that as your guide. These guides give you a birds eye view of the frequency range that instruments and vocals lay in. This is a great tool in the beginning when it’s so difficult to do it by ear. Download this music frequency chart above!
2. There are some incredible ear training apps such as train your ears that were created for this purpose. They're inexpensive and very effective.
3. Do ear training with an eq plugin by doing simple eq sweeps and filter cuts. This is a great exercise to help train your ears in the beginning that’s really easy for anyone to do. This is something I've done in the past and it worked really well for me. Check out this video here to see how it’s done!
4. Use an eq with a frequency spectrum analyzer. This is super important for anyone new to mixing. Being able to visually see the frequency range of your audio is a massive advantage, especially when you’re first learning to use eq. If your daw doesn’t come stock with an eq with a frequency spectrum analyzer I highly recommend the Nova EQ by Tokyo Dawn Labs. Download it here!

4. Effective Gain Staging

It always amazes me how long it takes for some beginners to become aware of this concept.

When most people start making beats and doing music production, they literally do their entire production through massive clipping and distortion and have no idea about managing levels and gain staging. But I believe this is one of those things in music production that should be taught and known as soon as possible, for a couple of reasons. Number one, It’s easy to understand and implement. And number two, it affects everything going on in your mixes. 

So let's first understand exactly what gain staging is?

I found that wikipedia had a surprisingly simplified definition that I will use here:

In audio engineering, a gain stage is a point during an audio signal flow that the engineer can make adjustments to the level, such as a fader on a mixing console or in a DAW. Gain staging is the process of managing the relative levels in each step of an audio signal flow to prevent introduction of noise and distortion, feeding the inserts, such as equalizers and compressors with the right amount of signal, particularly in the analogue realm. Ideal gain staging occurs when each component in an audio signal flow is receiving and transmitting signal in the optimum region of its dynamic range.

As beginners you will mainly be dealing with gain staging within your DAW from track to track and plugin to plugin. And while signal chains vary in size depending on the amount of gear you have, most of you won’t have a large external signal chain in the early stages so it’s much easier to address gain staging. 

Here’s some simple gain staging advice for beginners to help you manage levels and avoid distortion…

1. Always keep your eye on the output meter. Whenever you’re clipping and in the red, select all of the tracks in the session and bring the volume down until you have at least -3db of headroom on the master output meter. And keep repeating this process throughout the entire mix until the track is ready to be mastered.

2. Always keep in mind that every effect and new track you add to your session increases the overall volume, and the more you add will eventually lead to clipping the master output. 

3. Never bring down the volume directly on the master fader in your sessions to get headroom. The master fader should always stay at 0db. Instead, make sure to select all of the tracks in the session and lower the volume of the tracks simultaneously. Then turn the output volume back up on your audio interface to get listening levels back. 

4. Manage levels on your plugins. Now this tip can seem like a lot of unnecessary extra work but it’s an important element to gain staging in digital recording. Most plugins have an input and output meter and they’re not there just to look fancy. They should be used for gain staging and to control levels within that plugin. So for example, if you’re using any effect where you are boosting the signal such as an eq, make sure to watch the meters on the plugin to see if you’re clipping within the plugin. Because although it might not be completely audible or clipping in the master fader, it’s still technically clipping and causing some form of distortion. And the more plugins you add to the signal, the more this extra level keeps building. So even though it might seem like an extra hassle, managing gain staging at the plugin level is a very good habit to get into early on.

5. Not Using Acoustic Treatment

The main reason why this mistake is made so often is largely due to two things. Lack of education and high cost. As a beginner, it’s very difficult to understand how important acoustic treatment is to a recording studio if you're not educated on it and don’t have much experience recording and mixing. Then once you factor in how expensive it is, I completely understand why people don’t bother getting acoustic treatment in the beginning. They figure why not put that money into more gear or software because room acoustics seem pretty useless anyway. And to be honest, to a large degree they’re actually right. Depending on your budget, acoustic treatment actually isn’t where your money should be going when you're first getting started with recording and making music. But that definitely all changes once you start mixing. 

In all fairness, most people new to recording don’t hear the difference acoustic treatment makes in their sound unless they hear a well done before and after demonstration. That’s when it begins to make more sense. But even then, most people still won’t fully understand how it applies to recording and mixing. 

Since the science behind room acoustics is technical by nature, I’ll try and simplify it by giving you a little analogy to help give you a better understanding. 

Having your space acoustically treated makes all the difference in the world as to how your mixes turn out in the end. Your room affects everything you hear coming out of your speakers and ultimately how your mixes will translate in other listening environments. So if you’re serious about your music and are releasing it to the world, it’s just an investment that has to be made. Acoustic treatment may be pricey but it’s still a very small price to pay to have a more accurate listening environment and to have your music sounding great in all playback systems.

6. Using Presets The Wrong Way

Now this is a good one. Especially for all of you preset and template users that think you have mixing all figured out. And don’t get me wrong, presets have their place when they're used correctly but most beginners don’t understand what presets are really designed for. There’s a huge misconception when it comes to using presets and it’s important that I clear it up for you guys. 

And I get it, if you’re new to mixing and not quite sure how EQ works, it’s much easier to use the vocal clean up preset to eq your vocal and call it a day. But there’s a massive problem with using presets in this way because presets are actually designed to give you a starting point to work from, not a finished outcome. Now there are times where you can get lucky and a preset will work really well without having to adjust it in any way, but nine times out of ten, they need to be adjusted and tweaked to fit your specific mixing needs. Every scenario and every track is different. So how could one single preset be the answer to everybody’s specific production or tracks? If it were that easy, we wouldn’t need professional engineers! 

7. Not Using Effects Sends

Now this is a subject that tends to elude a lot of beginners and intermediates because they simply just don’t fully understand how important it is to learn routing and to use buses and sends. But to be fair, I completely understand that learning to setup effects sends and buses can be challenging to people new to using recording software and mixing. I know it was for me and that was the main reason why I avoided doing it so much in the beginning. Understanding routing and I/O was actually very challenging for me so the benefits of using effects sends didn’t outweigh my struggle with setting them up. So it was easier for me to just leave it alone. 

The reason why I’m referring to my struggle with this subject is because I see so many of my students avoid using effects sends for the exact same reason. So I'm sure a lot of you are in the same situation once was. And even if setting them up isn’t an issue for you but you still aren’t using them, it’s really important to understand why you should be using them almost exclusively when it comes to using creative and time based effects such as reverbs, delays and modulation. 

There are 3 very important reasons why you should be using effects sends.

1. Using effect sends drastically reduces the amount of cpu you use in your sessions. For example, one reverb effect send can be used on all of your tracks in your session that require reverb rather than having to put a new reverb plugin on every track. And that's just one effect! Every plugin you load up in your session slows your system down unless you’re using software and gear that operate through DSP platforms (such as universal audio). But even then, why use a bunch of plugins that you essentially don’t need!
2. Using effect sends allows you the ability to put effects on other effects. For example, you can add a delay, distortion and a phaser to your reverb for a completely unique sound. Putting effects on effects takes your creativity and versatility to a whole new level and can really be a game changing mixing technique once you start putting it into action.
3. It’s much easier to automate your effects. If you setup your effects through an effect send you can pan, adjust volume and automate plugin parameters easier and with more detail. This also ties into giving you more creativity and versatility in your mixes.

For a more detailed look into the advantages of using effects sends, check out or tutorial here!

8. Not Using Reference Tracks

This is a mistake that I made for far too long than I care to admit and is something I personally avoided doing for a long time when I first began my mixing journey. I just didn’t fully understand its importance and effectiveness so I neglected to do it. And if I’m being completely honest, the main reason I didn't do it much for the first few years is because it negatively affected my confidence as a mixer. Referencing my mixes to experienced professionals who did it for a living and with years of practice under their belt didn’t go over too well with me. Hearing their mixes and hearing mine did not make me feel too good about my progress to say the least. So my dented ego said, I can do this without the references. But that proved to be a massive mistake. 

I later came to find that using reference tracks is actually one of the best techniques to use to get you on the path to getting better at mixing. Don’t let your ego or neglect stop you from using this powerful tool that's so easy to utilize. 

Reference tracks should inspire us to do better, not make us feel bad about our experience level. Using reference tracks is probably the easiest topic and technique on this list to implement so there’s really no excuse not to be doing it and It’s just too powerful of a mixing tool to be neglected.

9. Spending Too Much Money & Obsessing Over Plugins

This is something that I talk about a lot and will continue to keep stressing because it’s so important. If you really want big results with your mixes, the smartest thing you can do is invest your money into education and not into more gear and software. And I completely understand why people think that having expensive gear and a bunch of plugins will help them more in the short term because I used to have the exact same mentality. But in reality, the need we develop for getting quick results just causes us to spend money in all of the wrong places. Take it from somebody who has already been down that road and wasted a bunch of money. 

For an in depth discussion on this topic check out our post here

Also, keep in mind that there are a ton of great free plugins on the market. Some of which I use on everyone of my mixes which is why I've created a free plugin download page for easy access to all of the industries free plugins in one place. 

Click here to get free plugins!

10. Mixing Only In Headphones

(I will be discussing this topic in more depth in a future post so stay tuned). But before we get into this one, I want to make it clear that mixing in headphones is not actually a mistake that people make but it’s an important topic that needs to be discussed so that beginners are aware of the difference between mixing in headphones and monitors and how it can affect your overall results.

There’s always been a huge debate on whether you should mix in speakers or in headphones and this will always continue to be a hot topic in the world of recording. While there are definitely some benefits to mixing in headphones and in some cases I even recommend it depending on your situation, the overall consensus is that it’s not the best way to go if you’re in a situation where you have a choice. 

I’m not going to get into a long winded discussion on this topic in this post but I will present a couple of points for you to take in. 

In my opinion these are the 2 most important reasons not to mix in headphones if you don’t have to: 

1. Headphones cause ear fatigue much quicker than monitors will (click here to see our post on ear fatigue and what it’s all about). 
2. Headphones give an unnatural sense of space because of the direct insertion of audio into the eardrum at a 180 degree angle. While this reason is much more technical, it’s still a fact. It’s much more difficult to make accurate decisions within a “false” sense of space. And even though most consumers listen to music on headphones, this still isn’t the most accurate way to mix. This is why there’s so much headphone monitoring software available nowadays (software that emulates different mixing spaces/rooms to allow you to mix in headphones more accurately).

The other side to this discussion is that I completely understand that studio monitors might not be in the budget and headphones are the only option you have, which is a very common scenario for beginners. If that’s the case, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with using headphones until you can afford a pair of monitors. Another reason to mix in headphones is if the space you're working out of isn’t acoustically treated. A bad sounding room can be much more disastrous to your mixes than working in headphones. But even with that being said, I strongly advise to not get in the habit of only mixing in headphones as you move forward in your mixing journey. A good balance of both will get you the best results.

Conclusion

The truth of this topic is that whatever stage of the mixing journey you find yourself in, it's inevitable that you'll be making mistakes that your unaware of. But how are you going to know what mistakes you're making if you don't get out there and study and learn? This is the whole tie in to what I always preach about! Education is the key to better results, not buying new gear and plugins. And as a beginner to the mixing world, being aware of these mistakes that we've covered will can make all of the difference in the world. 

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