Mixing Breakthroughs: 5 Top Mix Engineers

We invited five top engineers to share some of the key ‘aha’ moments in their mixing journey, and to offer advice for those who’ve recently embarked on their own.

I always enjoy talking with fellow engineers about mixing, but it’s particularly fascinating when they’re top professionals who offer valuable insights that I can try to apply in my own work. This interview is a case in point.

I started by inviting five very successful mix engineers (more about whom you can read in the ‘Meet The Engineers’ box) to look back at their careers and pinpoint some key ‘breakthroughs’ on their path to mixing professionally ‑ lasting lessons learned on a project, pieces of advice that struck a chord, or perhaps deliberate changes they made in their own approach.

We covered such questions, of course, but, inevitably, we also wandered more widely into the skills and mindset that are necessary to become and remain a successful mix engineer. They all offered lots of advice and insights that every student of mixing should find valuable.

Solid Foundations

A common thread was how the engineers’ early grounding in recording studios provided both inspiration and a level of technical understanding that would set them in good stead for their future careers. David Wrench, for example, worked for several years as the house engineer at Bryn Derwen, an independent studio in Wales, and it was this experience that made him want to mix: “I decided I had to really figure out this mixing thing. I would see so many projects come through the studio, where so much care had been taken during the recording stage and then watch as they ‘overworked’ individual elements or overly mucked around with things at the mixing stage. Respecting and ‘working with’ a production is a huge part of how I mix.”

Barney Barnicott recounted a similar experience. “I was lucky enough to work for eight years in a great independent studio, and I noticed how the most talented engineers made things look so simple and easy. Early on, I realised one of the most important things in mixing is to do as little as possible in terms of processing, and really work hard on balance.”

Barney Barnicott.

Marta Salogni, who offered up some great thoughts on the personal and artistic approach to mixing music, was keen to point out that the technical grounding she gained in studios allows her creative freedom today: “I am very thankful for my past as an engineer, as it gave me the tools to be able to not worry about the technical aspect of a mix any more. The technical side is so assimilated it has become second nature. That is why I feel I can afford to focus purely on feelings, empathy, and the emotional response of my work.”

Mikko Gordon also has an eye very much on creativity, which he attributes in part to working under creative engineers, such as Nigel Godrich, but says: “I was always drawn to mixes and productions that sound ‘interesting’ rather than ‘good’, and I think it’s a great bit of advice to keep in mind. Looking back I can see how much of the music I grew up liking has a distinct sonic identity, which still influences how I work today.”

Understanding The Client

In the early parts of our conversation, Jolyon Thomas chose to discuss the importance of interpersonal skills and client relationships. “I learned very early on the importance of finding out what [the client] is feeling, or trying to aim for with a piece of music. You need to find a way of getting that vital information. I once had a call from a fantastic artist I was working with, she said her favourite part of the mix was this vocal effect on one word! If you’re tuned in, these sorts of things will appear with not much effort.”

David Wrench: I often try and imagine someone is in the room with me: how would I feel if I was playing this mix with Iggy Pop standing behind me?

Most of the other engineers also offered advice about understanding their clients’ wishes, and David Wrench suggested an imaginative technique for getting into the head of a musician or artist: “The life of a mixer can be a solitary one these days, and you can’t underestimate how different music sounds when you have other people in the room. I often try and imagine someone is in the room with me: how would I feel if I was playing this mix with Iggy Pop standing behind me, for example?”

Marta Salogni observed that “We as people are all different and don’t experience emotions in the same way. The bridge to those differences to me is an open communication and the desire to be their interpreter. My own ego stays beyond the threshold of my studio door. With my work I am merely asking questions: does this sound like anger to you? Does this feel like love or is it more like longing? Are we on the same plane, looking at the same landscape? If not, I’ll get back to work and plough this mix further, until I hold it up like a mirror and my artists can see themselves in it and say, ‘That’s it, that’s me, that’s what I wanted to convey.’ Nothing brings me more joy than to hear those words.”

Marta Salogni.

Mikko Gordon also suggested an interesting tactic. “In recent years,” he recounted, “there have been a few instances where I’ve felt something was missing in a track I’ve been mixing. In these situations, I’ve mixed the song as it is, but then also made an alternative version with a tape loop or some kind of other atmospheric texture underneath. I’ve then sent both versions to the artists, and nine times out of 10 that’s the version that gets used. So I’ve learned to trust my instincts, but also to make sure I’m respectful to the artist and to include the original version without additions.”

Breakthrough Moments

A couple of the engineers shared anecdotes about specific moments when their careers moved forward, or they gained a valuable shot of confidence. Barney Barnicott said he “was towards the end of mixing a Kasabian album, which I’d also recorded, when the American side of the label told us they were going to get Andy Wallace to mix the record for the American market. I just assumed that was it for me, as there was no way I could compete with Andy’s mixes. When he had finished, we set up the whole album back to back on an A/B button with everyone there in the studio to compare the two mixes. It was extremely daunting, but to my shock, most of his sounded pretty much exactly the same as mine. The band chose half Andy’s and half mine. It really gave me a lot of confidence in what I was doing.”

David Wrench.

David Wrench highlighted an experience that occurred on a specific project. “I was mixing the Caribou record Our Love and it was a project where my love of low end began to really cement itself into my mixing style. We were mixing the record at Strongroom Studios [in] London and managed to find a way of auditioning the mixes in some nearby clubs (Plastic People and Fabric) during the day. We spent a lot of time fine‑tuning the relationship between the kick drum and the bass — changing samples or using EQ or ducking. It was around this time that a clutch of projects I was involved with came out in quick succession and things began to take off for me.”

On that occasion, David had clearly gone the extra mile to ensure those mixes would work in the right environment, and it seems this wasn’t the only occasion. “Being based in Wales,” he said, “it was relatively easy to get your mixes onto Welsh‑speaking radio, which gave me a lot of opportunities to compare my mixes to material being played on national radio — [BBC] 6 Music, Radio 2 etc. Being a primarily self‑taught mixer, I was able to use this ultra real‑world context to hear how my mixes stood up.”

Learning To Listen

Sadly, we can’t all use broadcast radio as a mix reference check! But all the mixers discussed playback systems, as well as the somewhat deeper, more complex subject of developing your listening skills — and understanding precisely what it is that you’re supposed to be listening for.

Mikko Gordon stressed that “aspiring engineers [should] not just think about mixing in terms of just sitting between a pair of speakers”, and offered a simple tip: “Use a Bluetooth speaker in another area of the room, where you can switch between a kind of micro/macro style of listening. When I mentor engineers,” he continued, “encouraging them to listen and engage the musical/emotional side of their brain can be one of the hardest things to convey. I like to encourage people to work on this side of mixing and think of it as building muscle memory. Ask yourself: how does the music make you feel? In my opinion, music is about having an emotional reaction when listening to it: what is the essence of the song and how is the production supporting that? What can you then do in the mix to emphasise that?”

Mikko Gordon.

Similarly, Barney Barnicott told me that “I’m not always in front of the speakers, and spend a lot of time walking around with the music on. It helps distance myself from the technical side of things and it helps me hear issues I need to address.” Barney also made an observation that really struck me: “There was a point in my career where I realised that the mixes I was less worried about turning out well turned out better! So try not to put pressure on yourself and find ways of not actively engaging your brain and overthinking. You have to train yourself to keep some distance so that you keep that window of critical listening open. Trust your instincts, work instinctively. Oh, and try to not listen in solo!”

This idea of focusing more on the music than the technical aspects came up a lot, and Marta Salogni has clearly thought pretty deeply about how she listens. “The job of a mixing engineer is undeniably technical,” she said, “but the openness to the experience of how something should sound is vital. I always A/B with my eyes closed. Only then can I really start asking myself: is this actually better? I also have a simple rule that if something bothers me, or attracts my attention as needing to be changed, I only act upon it if I notice it twice. Our ears can trick us, and they can fill in the gaps too. Something that might feel like an urge in this instance might just be an itch that gets forgotten in a moment. To truly weigh up how important a change is, is to give it time to dissolve itself.”

Jolyon Thomas.Photo: Eva PentelJolyon Thomas told me that he’s “worked in a lot of different studio environments, and can find the pressure of time restraints and making a project work in a new environment to be quite stimulating. I like to think I can mix with anything... Developing your listening skills is one of the more tricky aspects of mixing to explain. Sometimes, it’s very hard to leave things alone. It’s not unusual to get files from people and it’s just covered in plug‑ins, and one starts to meddle. In some instances, the real pro in me can take the plug‑ins off, get a really musical balance, do some automation and so on, and send the mix back. Doing this, however, can be scary. The amount of plug‑ins doesn’t matter, of course, who cares? Really, it’s about having the confidence in your taste and your ears to be able to do that.”

David Wrench suggested that developing the ability to focus on the emotional impact of a mix is hugely important. “I run intensive five‑day seminars for Mix With The Masters [https://mixwiththemasters.com], and one of the things that I double down on is encouraging participants to make this ‘mental shift’ regarding mixing. Learn to listen to music and approach a mix like a listener. Think about the flow of the music, dynamics, and worry less about the small technical details — [they] can often be picked up or sorted later, anyhow. Find your own way of detaching your active brain. For example, I sometimes take a nap in the afternoon at my studio and will put a track on a loop very quietly in the background. It might sound odd, but when I get myself going again, I seem to instinctively know what a mix needs!”

Break Time

Taking a break from working might seem like a simple thing, but I think it was telling that nearly all the engineers stressed the importance of breaks, and more generally of working to keep your sense of perspective when mixing. For example, here’s what Marta Salogni told me: “I think breaks are an essential moment of defragmentation for our brain. A mix is an exercise in an endless series of decision making; it can become overwhelming at points, and perspective is essential. That can take the form of a walk outside, a few pages of a book, listening to another record, switching on the radio... Anything that gets my body, brain and ears off this chair. Our ears get tired the more we listen to sounds, so naturally we start to become accustomed to louder volumes, to brighter frequencies, and lose the compass of a clear listen. A break every couple of hours can’t be skipped. Or we might be led down the wrong path, and consequently have to spend a long time retracing our steps.”

Mikko Gordon describes how he mixes “as ‘working in waves’, with a gentle reminder to myself that it doesn’t have to be perfect straight away. I try not to spend too much time on one aspect of a mix, and instead look to gradually refine things over multiple passes. Regular breaks and resisting the urge to hit the solo button are key to this approach.” Barney Barnicott’s approach struck me as being pretty similar. “I only work on a mix for around four hours,” he told me, “and take lots of breaks. If I can, I like to chip away at a mix over a few days with the gaps in between providing that crucial objectivity that we quickly lose when sitting in front of the speakers for hours.” David Wrench, on the other hand, told me that he “can work very long hours when mixing, but I always make a point of finishing a mix in the morning when my ears are fresh.”

Gear Talk!

It’s the ear not the gear, as the saying goes, so it’s not surprising that relatively little of our conversations centred on the tools of the trade. Yet, it does seem that there were some points in these engineers’ careers when the gear itself had a notable impact.

“We often crave old analogue gear,” Jolyon Thomas shared, “but it can have serious quirks! I once mixed a record on the EMI Neve at ICP studios [in Belgium] and when listening on headphones, I noticed the mix would go wider and narrower upon each revision, which was a bit odd. I began to notice that James, my engineer, would be walking over to the sofa and tweaking some button that, unbeknownst to me, was the air con — basically, if the console was too warm it would affect the stereo image! I gather he knew this but, being a seasoned professional, was covertly doing his job to keep my earphones balanced. We take them for granted, but plug‑ins are so good now and provide us with very reliable tools — UAD have really got my back!”

David Wrench returned to his love of low end when talking about equipment, and described incorporating a subwoofer into his monitoring setup as a breakthrough moment. “I can recall sitting in a mastering session with Mandy Parnell,” he explained, “and suddenly being able to hear all this low‑end information that I just couldn’t hear on my monitors. I’ve since become a strong advocate for using subs when mixing and even sometimes sit with my feet on mine when mixing — I love to ‘feel’ the bass and kick drum as a physical thing. People often comment on the low end of my mixes and I do think it’s an element of my work that has helped me stand out.”

Barney Barnicott explained that a more recent acquisition has had a positive impact: “I grew up mixing on a Neve, and then an SSL, and I still mix on the SSL now here at Blue Bell Hill Studios. I’ve often struggled with mixing in the box, it just takes so long and can be a bit boring, but due to some of the projects I get it’s sometimes necessary. I’ve recently bought an SSL UC‑1 [DAW control surface] and it’s really helped: I can mix quickly and don’t have to worry about looking for plug‑ins, and it actually sounds exactly like an SSL K Series. It’s been a bit of a gamechanger for me. I just feel comfortable using my hands and I like not having to look at what I’m doing, just listening. It doesn’t replace the sound of the desk, but it’s the next best thing.”

This idea of tools being there to facilitate a way of working as much as for their sound also seems important to Marta Salogni, who said that “from the very start my aim has been, as well as building my own set of tools, to build an environment and a workflow that allows me to follow my instincts, and to not get stuck in cerebral troubleshooting, which to me breaks the focus of a mix. Before starting a new project, I make sure that I can dive deep into it without my attention being broken or needed elsewhere. That means that I check my equipment, my desk, my computer, and make sure that there will be no bumps on the road ahead for the day.”

On a similar note, Mikko Gordon told me that he’s “an advocate for using a smaller palette of gear when mixing. I know I like 1176s and I’m a big fan of spring reverbs, for example, and having a core set of tools that you lean on can help you get to a certain point quicker and without distraction. That being said, I always like to build in a little space for experimentation, and I’m a big fan of using analogue tape for texture or for loops and effects.”

Mikko Gordon: Having a core set of tools that you lean on can help you get to a certain point quicker and without distraction.

Mixing Tips

As we headed towards the end of our conversations, I asked the engineers if they’d like to offer any final practical advice for aspiring mix engineers, so here’s what they said.

Marta Salogni: “I would recommend not letting other people’s methods limit yours. If a session arrives with someone else’s routing, naming, format — remodel it. Don’t get caught in that spider web if it doesn’t make sense to you. All our brains work in different ways. I colour code instruments tracks in the same way in Pro Tools or with different markers on the desk. That way I don’t have to read what they are, I don’t have to engage that part of my brain which is very conscious, and I can instead react quickly to an impulse. I am methodical in my process. I’ve learned that to be a very valuable tool for my workflow: it allows me to dive from a starting point and retrace my steps if I need to.”

Mikko Gordon: “If you’re new to mixing I think it’s important to learn to finish a mix. We improve by building up our experience over different projects and even if you’re perhaps not 100 percent happy, take the lessons and apply them to the next project.”

Barney Barnicott: “Try focusing on the core elements of a mix first: the drums and main rhythmic elements, and vocals. Once happy, begin to bring in the other elements, knowing how much space you have to play with. A nice thing to try is leaving the bass until last, as it takes up so much room — being able to then shape the bass to fit with the other elements can really work well. Also, a good tip is to not start with the drums. It’s very easy to obsess about getting a great drum sound, but it is more effective to shape the drum sound with some context, once everything else is happening. Lastly, I don’t mix with anything on the master bus — this forces me to work much harder to get a great mix.”

David Wrench: “Even if you have been mixing for while, try not to be too set in your ways. I recently mixed an amazing project for Yanis & the Law, featuring the late, great Tony Allen on drums. I got a bit stuck with how to place the drums, so I called the project’s producer to ask about how the drums should sound. He explained how Tony approached his drums sonically, with a focus on the midrange rather than your more traditional drum processing. Once I started down that path everything came together and it was a great lesson for me.”

Just Make It Sound Cool?

I could easily have filled this issue with many more of the insights that these talented mix engineers shared during our conversations, but I have to draw the line somewhere, and I’d like to draw this article to a close by sharing just a few more of their thoughts that particularly resonated with me.

Marta Salogni: “I know many people nowadays feel like there is very little sacred space/time in which we can let ourselves feel truly immersed in a creative thought; often I hear loved ones, friends and colleagues telling me that they feel they can only do so at night, or very early in the morning. I try every day to create that feeling for myself, a prolonged night or dusk, for as long as I can. A sort of meditation if you wish. That’s how mixing feels to me.”

Jolyon Thomas: “Don’t underestimate the importance of fun in all this; try to inject a bit of randomness into your workflow — this might be using some cool guitar pedals or an old synth you have sitting in a corner. Sometimes, I’ll just run something over with absolute disregard for the result, it’s just fun. Even if you get one little transition or effect, that can make a huge difference to the mix and leave a little signature.”

Barney Barnicott: “Try to be brave when mixing and take a big‑picture approach. Don’t labour over a mix that isn’t working: pull the faders down and start again. At the end of the day, mixing is about taste and instinct — so learn to trust yourself!”

Mikko Gordon: “I think it’s helpful to decide what kind of mixer you aspire to be, or where your strengths are. I have a lot of respect for engineers who can mix in an appropriate style for a certain genre, but I’m personally drawn to mixes that have a clear sonic identity. It’s a simple thing, but make a point of listening to tracks you like on your monitors or mix headphones — it can often be surprising how bold some of the mix choices are!”

David Wrench: “I remember a conversation I had with a singer from a Welsh band called Topper, many years ago. We were setting up to record vocals and I asked the singer how he wanted his vocals to sound. He said ‘Just make me sound cool!’ The objective is always the same: just make it sound good, make it sound cool — you just need to figure out what that is for each mix!”

I hope that you’ve drawn some inspiration from these conversations — I certainly did — and that they’ll help you make progress on your own mixing journey. And for the more inexperienced engineers out there, who are just embarking on that journey, there’s one recurring theme that I’d like to draw to your attention: although it’s very important that you learn the technical side of mixing, you should focus at least as much on learning to interpret what artists really want their music to feel like, and on developing your own personal approach to mixing.