MIXDOWN MOJO

Ten tips for breathing life into lacklustre mixes

For many years, studio engineers and music producers were constantly wishing for cleaner, crisper-sounding equipment in order to make their job that bit easier. Indeed, it was the very imperfections that came as a by-product of working around the limitations imposed by things such as naturally dull analogue tape recordings, noisy mixing consoles or low-quality digital gear that directly or indirectly contributed to the overall sound of records made in the 1970s to 90s. And that’s particularly true in the case of electronic genres such as house, techno and rave.

However, we now live in an age where 100% repeatable, high-definition recording and production systems are king, and, conversely, producers and engineers are looking to add a bit of that lost mojo into contemporary productions. Well, guess what? We’ve got a killer set of tips aimed at adding movement, vibe and mojo to your endeavours!

Over the next few pages, we’ll run through a bunch of top tips for getting a more organic, less digitally perfect sound inside the computer, all without having to remortgage your house for that Neve desk you always wanted. So if you’re keener than Austin Powers to find your mojo, read on…