Episode 2

In this full-length mixing tutorial, Grammy winner Darrell Thorp teaches you all of the tricks and techniques he uses to help enhance dream-pop indie rockers Future Elevators from a creative and raw production to a finished and exciting mix.

See how Darrell combines bold decisions and simple tweaks that stay true to the artist’s vision and also add a layer of details that give the mix the perfect amount of polish.

Darrell explains his unique mixing philosophy and unorthodox techniques that help him create killer sounding mixes including:

• Extracting the maximum amount of tone from the drums to support the guitars and other instruments
• Adding low end and fixing a flat kick drum sound
• Fixing a wooly and boomy sounding bass tone with an innovative EQ plugin
• Metering and maintaining headroom in a dense mix
• Applying in-the-box mix bus compression and EQ
• Working with multiple layers of keyboards and guitars and getting a clear and punchy sound from each instrument
• Tweaking his listening volume for the ideal monitoring at each stage of the mix
• Fixing harshness with multiband compression
• Session setup and how to begin each mix with an open mind
• Gain staging tracks to optimize for later adding automation and plugins

Watch and learn as Darrell works on the mix from start to finish and then download the complete multitrack stems and practice mixing the song for yourself!