There is something about a professional recording engineer grabbing the faders of his console and going to work that just seams to blow away what the average home recording guy can do. Why can't you get the same sound in the your home studio mixes? Let's see why.

I get emails from bands all the time who attempted to record their band on a Roland recorder. Sometimes the sound quality of their home tracking isn't all that bad. Some bands need to take more time to get the performances they are looking for. If each member of the band sounds good, the tracking should go pretty smoothly. This is why I always recommend that a professional mixes any project that means anything to the artist. Mixing is a tough thing to master. It takes years and years and years to even get started. It takes even more years to become great at it. There are a number factors that seperate that average band recording their own record with the a real mixer.

A professional mixer has a total understanding of equaliziation. He/she knows that to expect when he reaches for a parametric eq. He'll come pretty close to finding the exact frequency just by listening. He/she has used his parametric eq so many times that he knows exactly what it will sound like when you grabs that eq. I know 90% of the time that if I'm mixing a metal band, I'll need to cut out 300 Hz out of the kick drum. I'll listen for about 2 seconds just to make sure, but I immediately know that the kick drums typically found in metal music have a certain sound that requires eq. This is normal. I've heard many home recordings where it was obvious that the amateur mixing person simply didn't know this.

A professional mixer has used a compressor for years. Most home recording beginners barely know what a compressor is. I've been fighting with compressors for the past 4 years day in and day out. I would say that I'm finally to the point where the compressor isn't laughing at me. It certainly took a while. The more I learn about compressors, the more I realize that they are the most powerful mixing tool (with exception to the volume fader). There are probably 50 tricks you can do with a compressor. If you aren't familiar with a compressor, you are lossed. You will not be able to mix a great sounding record that translates onto many stereo systems. At least not in the rock, pop genre. If you think you can, I want to hear it.

Compressors can be used to make drums hit harder with more attack or softer with less attack. When mixing, compressors can actually make drums sound closer or far away. Using parallel compression, you can easily bring more live and aggression into your drum sounds. By compressing a room mic, you can control how much reverb is on the cymbals vs the snare drum. Compression can often reduce or even eliminate the need for eq in certain instances.

Most importantly, a professional mixer has tremendous ears, tremendous studio monitors, and a tremendous room. If you are luckly, you have just one of the three. Most people have none. You have to remember that a pro may have mixed 1000 songs or more on his current studio rig. He knows how a kick drum is going to translate to the outside world. He knows what his studio monitors are telling him. I've never seen an amateur mixing session ever translate even close when taken out to other speaker systems. The ability to create great sounding mixes comes from experience. If you don't have experience, impressive tools, impressive ears, and an impressive room you may want to consider hiring a professional mixer for your important project.