Mixing aggressively: it's not about energy
Tonight’s session might get a little aggressive. Not in energy — in intention. There’s a free video making the rounds that reframes mixing as a series of deliberate, track-wide automation moves, and it's the kind of thing you can start using before you finish reading this.
published today
Bliss Sampler lands on iPadOS with auto-sampling from AUv3 and hardware($19.99)
A $20 sampler that grabs sounds straight from your iPad plugins or external MIDI gear, exports as SFZ, and runs with low latency. The included 1 GB library won’t replace Kontakt, but the capture workflow is the pull.
◢ learn
▶ Electroclash bassline tricks that define the chords
Builds a D major track around a bass progression with octave jumps and long-held notes that create polyrhythms. Redux gates the top end, OTT shoves synths into daylight, and everything sidechains to the kick for a driving, raw feel.
▶ Mixing aggressively means automating like you mean it
The real move: pull three competing faders down by 1 dB each when the vocal hits, and you’ve carved 3 dB of space without touching an EQ. Shows hand-drawn volume swells, pan shifts verse-to-chorus, and automating wet effects sends.
▶ Stacking Schranz kicks with amp-sim rumble distortion
Duplicate the low rumble, smash it through an amp sim for textured grit, high-pass the layers, then cram a Drum Rack with hits and filter each through that distortion chain. Sidechain keeps it from collapsing.
◢ the word
▶ Shaving the Korg M1 piano into something percussive
Turns the M1’s piano into a stab with a shortened release, humanizes note timing to dodge transients, and nudges bass slightly behind the kick to fake sidechain before compression. Uses Redux, Erosion, and TAL Chorus to dirty it up.
Paul Johnson — Get Get Down
the piano stab that ducks under the kick like it’s breathing · pairs with the M1 classic house tutorial above
🔮 Producer Horoscope (for fun) — Your hi-hats will accidentally swing like Todd Edwards tonight; just roll with it.
Now go automate something you’d usually leave static.
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