Mix with your eyes closed

[paravrais]

Sometimes I go next door and ask if I can set up my monitors. Then I drive to Essex and mix from there.

[wub]

I noticed bitcrushing in other peoples tunes after playing them slower.

[Depone]

I actually do this a lot.

When I come to a point of 'ok what do i add/take away next' I will turn my comp monitor off and play it back without any visual clues.
You will find that you will come up with more original ideas musically because you are not being visually cued by some blocks of audio/midi.

[Killamike49]

I noticed bitcrushing in other peoples tunes after playing them slower.

[SKIN E]

Just mix with your eyes and ears? I mean some suggestions are great like turning off your screen, but just turning your chair around for a second or sit somewhere else in the same room and smoke a ciggi works just fine

[Earjax]

Every time I've finished doing a load of mixing on a track I'll bounce it off completely and listen to it with my eyes closed, I find it helps to focus on all the different elements of the mix and gives you a bit of a different perspective.

[Killamike49]

Every time I've finished doing a load of mixing on a track I'll bounce it off completely and listen to it with my eyes closed, I find it helps to focus on all the different elements of the mix and gives you a bit of a different perspective.

Yeah, i always just bounce, and have a wank with the internet while it plays though a couple times. I note what i don't like, then fire up my DAW and edit whatever i need to.

[Artie_Fufkin]

I noticed bitcrushing in other peoples tunes after playing them slower.

It wasn't obvious to me that Bar9's wobbles were bitcrushing :oops (and Datsik)

[Gewze]

if i close my eyes i just imagine the clips wizzing past. it doesnt work for me

[nitz]

I close my eyes after the mix is down then check and listen, not during, that would be a bit of a push for myself!

[mikeyp]

if i drive with my eyes closed i feel the road way more

[wub]

^^ Easy to do in America, all your roads are straight, right?

[mikeyp]

^^ Easy to do in America, all your roads are straight, right?

lol at first i was like "what the hell is that supposed to mean" and then I thought about it and kind of, yeah haha. a majority of roads here are just perpendicular to one another

[Killamike49]

^^ Easy to do in America, all your roads are straight, right?

In Europe are the roads all over the place or something?

[outbound]

If I find that my eyes start to bias when I'm adjusting levels I'll drop the fader to the bottom, look away form the screen and then slowly bring it back up till it sounds about right. (It usually ends up in the exact same position though! )

[AxeD]

If I find that my eyes start to bias when I'm adjusting levels I'll drop the fader to the bottom, look away form the screen and then slowly bring it back up till it sounds about right. (It usually ends up in the exact same position though! )

So much this

[Electric_Head]

It`s all ears for me.
I close my eyes, look away, watch media player visualizations, etc.
Even if I watch the levels I never let my eyes control the decision.

[Genevieve]

Meh, I do look away from the monitor while doing certain things. It's not a conscious thing either just.. sometimes I really listen and I just look around.

As for mixing with your eyes closed... I just do what sounds best and then I look at the spectrum analyzer to see the little bits I've missed that I dont'want to bleed over.

I've completely distanced myself from mixing according numbers.. I was never 'strict' with it and just took 'em as rough guidelines, but now I dont'bother.. Probably because I make various types of music and in my hardcore stuff the kick and the and bits of sub and kick HAVE to bleed into each other to get the desired sound. Well when I do dnb/dubstep, I always keep the fader for the sub channel at its original position, because I know if I focus my mix around that, it will sound good and not clip and everything will fit in effortlessly. But that's it.

[SKIN E]

^^ Easy to do in America, all your roads are straight, right?

In Europe are the roads all over the place or something?

Basically yea

[Huts]

I don't follow any set formula when I mix, however it drives me nuts when something isn't a whole number. Having a sound a -5.3 drives me nuts so I put it to an even -5.0. Unless I'm automating the volume in which case I don't care