Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio by Mike Senior (2011-02-25) Paperback – 1800

I've been mixing my own music for nearly 30 years now, when I got my first cassette four-track! I've read so many books and manuals on recording, mixing, mastering, etc. I subscribe to Sound On Sound, Tape Op, etc for several years. I have been posting on Gearslutz (music production forum) for a decade now...I feel like this one book could replace all that.Serious.Every page is packed with amazing tips and tricks. Which makes sense considering this the man behind Mix Rescue in SOS. He gets so many problems thrown at them and he solves them in very elegant, practical ways. He is a professional audio problem-solver! Quite often I'll listen to the before and after mixes at Mix Rescue and think the 'before' sounds perfectly acceptable. Then I'll hear Mike Senior's mix and he's elevated it to a love of professionalism that just sounds classy.I'm used to reading pretty dry manuals and reference books. This one is written in a very down-to-earth, readable style with a sense of humor as well.I highly recommend this book to anyone who mixes professionally or casually.

After producing for 10+ years, I wanted to get better at my mixing skills. I can't believe how much I learned form this book. Mixing aside, it talks about good composition and production fundamentals that I had never even though about. His language is plain and straightforward. He suggests plenty of free and cheap solutions as well. Many books I've read, discuss tricks that are completely inaccessible to people who don't have 15k+ worth of gear and engineering school under their belt.

This book is truly a game changer. If you're like me and thinking you can build a home studio that comes somewhat close to a professional environment, buy this book as it will save you a lot of time and money trying to cut through the industry hype to figure out what you need to move forward. The first four chapters alone detailing nearfield monitoring setups with ported vs non ported are worth their weight in gold alone. My mixes and mastering have jumped leaps and bounds after reading and putting into practical approach the lessons taught in this book.

After mixing and mastering a couple CDs with rather trivial arrangements of just 2 instruments, I thought I was ready to jump into something more complex with songs consisting of 6-10 tracks. Little did I know I was in over my head. I started reading this book just as I was starting the project and am thankful I did. I've been scanning the various chapters and then going into detail where I found big holes in my knowledge. This project is coming along fairly well now, even knowing I'm probably going to find sections of the book that will make me want to go back and redo things that I've already done. For me, with my (limited) prior experience, this book is at exactly the right level for me to understand and make immediate application to my current project. It may not be as great for someone who has zero experience in mixing, but I highly recommend it to anyone with a basic idea about mixing and needing good, practical advice on how to improve quickly.

This book is extremely helpful and well rounded. I spent years muscling my way through a DAW learning the elements of mixing the hard way. This book is very well structured to bypass some of those hard lessons. It still requires some background and sweats having been put into some basic sound engineering, but for those folks who are prepared, this is a very good place to mine for information. I have read through several books in this genre and this one stands above the others.

This is by far the best book I've read on mixing. I have read a couple of other books on mixing and mastering and hundreds of magazine articles on the subject. Mike Senior tells you not only what problems to look for but gives you multiple detailed solutions for fixing them! A lot of other books will go into long winded descriptions of the problems you may face, but rarely explain them in a way as easy to understand and most often they don't give you clear instruction on how to fix them. And, other resources are often DAW specific whereas Mike Senior gives you the tools regardless of the DAW you're working in.Let me tell what this book is not. It's not a manual for recording. This book assumes that you already have your project recorded (often from the perspective that you're working on someone else's project) and that you're ready to start mixing. It does not discuss proper micing technique, effects during recording, or basically anything to do with the recording process. This book also does not cover mastering in any form. Senior goes to great lengths to explain exactly how to get a commercially viable mix completed that's ready for mastering. Look elsewhere to learn about mastering.This book was a pleasure to read. While there is no lack of specific technical explanation, Mike Senior keeps it at a minimum for need to know topics only. Actually most of the technical jargon will be during the first 80 pages when he is explaining why it is so important for your monitoring environment to be up to par. But, I wouldn't recommend skipping over the beginning even if you think you know all about having the proper treatment for your mixing room. There is tons of excellent info in this section and Mike even calls it the most important part of his book. Otherwise, he often tries to throw in a few jokes and some witty banter to help keep it light. And, all of his advice is backed up by quotes from some of the top names in the recording industry.I'd like to mention that Senior also recommends a bunch of free plugins that can help you achieve the results he is. So, don't think that this is going to be a lesson in "you don't have the cash to get the gear necessary to get the job done."Seriously, if you've read my entire review then you're ready to click add to cart and check out. You can forgo reading any other source about mixing. Everything you need to know is right in this book. From monitoring, to timing and pitch, arrangement editing, and every type of plugin processing. Honestly, I didn't know there were so many different uses for reverb.FYI: I've been home recording, mixing, and mastering as an enthusiast for over 15 yrs. From techno to hip hop, and now rock with a live 6-piece band. We record 20 tracks simultaneously in our home bedroom studio. Since finishing this book my mixes are already 10x better than before and I've barely scratched the surface on implementing the techniques detailed in this book.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

good book.

👌🏼

All in all, a good book. My only complaint is with the big black blotch on the cover.

Still working through this but even as a fairly experienced producer/engineer (7 years on and off) I found tons of great stuff in this book

University professor library resource request

Worst book ever

Great Quality & it was at an affordable price! Thank you

Awesome book!!!

good info to be found here