I Paid 3 Mixing Engineers to Mix the Same Song… and I'm Not Impressed



☛ Learn the go-to starting points for EQ and compression in heavy mixes with my FREE Mixing Cheatsheet: http://mixcheatsheet.com

I’m doing it again! This time around, I hired 3 mixing engineers to mix the same song…and I’m revealing the results of this blind listening test here.
Find out if paying 10x the price gets you 10x the quality when it comes to the final mix.

☛ I paid 5 mastering engineers to master the same song…and the results were shocking! Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/lJVkgYYsliA

☛ Song & multitracks contributed by Illegal Aliens: https://linktr.ee/illegal.aliens

☛ Listen to the work done by our students: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7IKa6mWxy8eq6Fu6j3QMCV?si=62540eff67a24faa

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23 thoughts on “I Paid 3 Mixing Engineers to Mix the Same Song… and I'm Not Impressed”

  1. Very interesting comparison …
    The Mix you put onto the 3rd place from the very beginning is really, really awful. I think I‘d be able to do it better, although I’m far away from being a professional. But this 3rd place mix isn‘t professional either.

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  2. Did you give the mixing engineers any instructions or reference tracks? I mean, I prefer a drier mix too – low on reverb – and would communicate that to the mix engineer.

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  3. A very interesting video that shows that a mix of a song is very subjective, and dependent on both the mixers interpretation of the song (technicalities of the mixing aside), and with the artist/person who submits it for mixing. Another thing to consider is does the person mixing it actually like or enjoy this type music or the song, even though they are happy to charge you for it, as that can make a big difference to the final result. (There is nothing worse than mixing something that is uninspiring or lacks quality in both performance and production, or something you plain don't like).

    The price/money thing is interesting and can't always be trusted as a sign of quality, as I'm sure there will always be someone who will make a better mix at a lower price than the top price guy or gal, but I guess it's a case of being lucky and finding one. In this example, the lower priced mix came out as you logically might expect (you get what you pay for, right?), but one day you might be surprised!

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  4. As a non-engineer, but a multi-instrumentalist musician of 40 years, if I had to choose one version to sit and listen to all the way through for enjoyment, I would choose the rough mix. Nothing need be said about the second one, but I found 3 almost as bad as 2, but in the opposite direction; where 2 was scooped to oblivion, 3 was so compressed and mids pushed that I started to get ear fatigue from a few seconds of listening. 1 was minimally better than 3, but also suffered from the same “loudness war” approach of squashing and then cranking it up. As soon as I saw the soundwave grids, I could tell 1 and 3 were going to have almost no dynamics. But yeah, even as a non engineer, I could have done some tweaking on the raw track that would have resulted in a better sound than any of these “professionals” did.

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  5. We must repent of our sins (sin is Transgression of The Law YAHUAH The Father gave through Moses)

    And we must believe on YAHUSHA Messiah WHO Died and rose 3 days later! Much love!

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  6. Not filtered out, mix 2 is shit and has no dynamics with a blanket over the mix, levels are off and the vocals are irritating. Mix 3 has too much bass but is generally the best one, version 1 is flat but workable but high end is harsh, nothing that can't be fixed but going further in mixing. I would pick it up from version 1 and improve from it if you have the stems. Version 3 is too wet as you mentioned, and I don't like the guitar on version 3, it's washed off.

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  7. There’s no right or wrong way to mix a record. If you are a mix engineer yourself then of course no one would do it like you would do it, so you should do it yourself. I’ve learned that the hard way after spending money.

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