Mixing aggressively: it's not about energy
Tonight’s session might get a little aggressive. Not in energy — in intention. There’s a free video making the rounds that reframes mixing as a series of deliberate, track-wide automation moves, and it's the kind of thing you can start using before you finish reading this.
published today
Bliss Sampler lands on iPadOS with auto-sampling from AUv3 and hardware($19.99)
A $20 sampler that grabs sounds straight from your iPad plugins or external MIDI gear, exports as SFZ, and runs with low latency. The included 1 GB library won’t replace Kontakt, but the capture workflow is the pull.
◢ learn
▶ Shaving the Korg M1 piano into something percussive
Turns the M1’s piano into a stab with a shortened release, humanizes note timing to dodge transients, and nudges bass slightly behind the kick to fake sidechain before compression. Uses Redux, Erosion, and TAL Chorus to dirty it up.
▶ Electroclash bassline tricks that define the chords
Builds a D major track around a bass progression with octave jumps and long-held notes that create polyrhythms. Redux gates the top end, OTT shoves synths into daylight, and everything sidechains to the kick for a driving, raw feel.
▶ Mixing aggressively means automating like you mean it
The real move: pull three competing faders down by 1 dB each when the vocal hits, and you’ve carved 3 dB of space without touching an EQ. Shows hand-drawn volume swells, pan shifts verse-to-chorus, and automating wet effects sends.
▶ Stacking Schranz kicks with amp-sim rumble distortion
Duplicate the low rumble, smash it through an amp sim for textured grit, high-pass the layers, then cram a Drum Rack with hits and filter each through that distortion chain. Sidechain keeps it from collapsing.
Paul Johnson — Get Get Down
the piano stab that ducks under the kick like it’s breathing · pairs with the M1 classic house tutorial above
🔮 Producer Horoscope (for fun) — Your hi-hats will accidentally swing like Todd Edwards tonight; just roll with it.
Now go automate something you’d usually leave static.
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