I’m always trying to learn and grow as an audio engineer and producer, and hopefully you are too. The best way to learn is to listen to, watch, interact with, and read up on people who are more experienced than you and are willing to teach you. Last week I had the privilege of sitting down with Nashville based mix engineer Joe Carrell (www.mojoemix.com) and picked his brain on the art of mixing music.
Joe Knows His Stuff
Joe is a successful and creative professional mix engineer who has worked with a ton of top talent acts. If you follow contemporary Christian music at all then you’ll recognize some of his clients: The Newsboys, Michael W. Smith, Third Day, Jeremy Camp, Kutless, Thousand Foot Krutch, Bebo Norman, Plus One, Rebecca St. James, and the list goes on!
How To Improve Your Mixes
In the interview we covered a bunch of useful topics for the up and coming mix engineer. Here are a few of the points Joe dives into with me:
- How to approach mixing and mix workflow
- The dangers of recording too hot
- Saving time with mix templates
- Clearing up your mix with proper EQ technique
- Tasteful use of effects on the master fader
- The use of saturation plugins
- Simple and affordable acoustic treatment alternatives
Joe Carrell Interview | Runtime 48:54 Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Comments
GREAT interview–really focused, really helpful, lots of really specific practical tips as well as general stuff just to keep in mind. so often people who respond to these questions go off on crazy tangents and never really seem to get back to the point, but this was just the opposite. thanks to you both!
one thing i might need some clarification on–how to apply template information to a preexisting mix. i use Reaper, so i may just need to do the research. but unless you have already tackled this topic, which i’ll look into right now, it might be a good one to cover.
thanks again, mark
Mark – Glad you enjoyed the interview. Joe is awesome.
To answer your question, in Pro Tools you can simply import settings and tracks from a previous session (i.e. a template) into your current mix which is super helpful. Not sure if reaper can do this, but in essence you would be looking to lift tracks, I/O settings, and routing all from a template session and add it to your new mix.
thanks, Graham. I’m sure Reaper CAN do that. i just have to figure out how!
Great interview.. I like this Joe guy already. Best part? “Your studio doesn’t necessarily need to look like the inside of a coffin…”
Seriously good one-liner indeed!
Great interview! Really enjoyed listening to this one. Joe seems like a great guy and I’m sure I’ve got a few of the CD’s he’s worked on in my collection. Gonna have to go through them and look for his name now!
Great stuff. I enjoyed this. Thanks!
Thank you so much for this one Graham! I’m very curious to try some ‘analog distortion’ on the master as he mention he does some times.
This is very encouraging! Have a blessed one!
I really enjoyed this one.
Joey seems to be a very nice guy,
and it is very kind of him to share such great knowledge.
Thanks!
I enjoyed the “Coffin” quote as well; however, I must admit, my studio definitely looks like the coffin Joe referred to (I’ll post a Pic if anyone is interested). Suggestion: I travel every week and rarely get enough time to listen to interviews like this. However, if you offered an MP3 download, I could enjoy the interview on the flight. Also help kill flight time boredom!
Thanks for a great post…
Great idea Marc. The interview is now available for download on the post. Just right click and save as!
Pretty cool interview dude. I have one question: What microphones you used to record it and how you mixed it? You used a comp and an EQ, cutting let’s say 160hz?
@XearRx – are you referring to how I recorded our voices for the interview?
@Graham yes my friend
I used a USB mic from Editors Keys just into Garageband, nothing fancy. Not sure what mic Joe used, but he just tracked it dry and sent me the file.
[...] while back, Nashville based mixing engineer Joe Carrell was kind enough to do an interview with me. He covered so many important topics related to mixing and offered real practical advice for a [...]