Art Of Mixing

Mixing is one of the most important stages in making music – right after recording and production.

How your track sounds in headphones, in the car, or on Bluetooth speakers comes down to how well you mix it.

The truth is, mixing isn’t about stacking plugins or copying presets.

It’s about balance, space, and making decisions that let every element of your track breathe.

But here’s the thing: to really get good at it, you need to put in the hours, make mistakes, and most importantly, learn from them.

Most independent artists fall into the same traps over and over again and I’ve been there too.

You think it sounds fire in the moment, but then you play it somewhere else and realize something’s way off. 

That’s why in this article we’re breaking down the Top 10 Mixing Mistakes independent artists make all the time, and how to avoid them so your tracks actually hit the way they should. 

Let's dive in. 🤿

Ignoring Room Acoustics

There’s a reason why big studios spend so much money on room treatment.

Acoustics have a huge impact on how we hear sound from our speakers - and the way we hear sound directly affects the mixing decisions we make. 👂

For example: if your home studio makes the low-end hard to hear, you’ll probably crank up the bass so it feels right in your room. 

But once you play that same mix in the car or on a Bluetooth speaker, the bass is going to be way too heavy.

On the flip side, if your desk and sub are sitting in the corner and the bass is booming like crazy, you’ll instinctively turn it down.

The result? Your mix will sound thin and harsh everywhere else. 😖

So what’s the move?

• Treat your room - even basic stuff like a rug, a bookshelf, a couch, or a couple of acoustic panels will make a big difference.
• Don’t rely on just one system. Always check your mixes on both headphones and speakers.
• Learn how your room really sounds. Play 10 of your favorite reference tracks and take notes: is there too much bass? Too little? If you understand the way your space colors the sound, you’ll make better decisions when mixing your own tracks.

At the end of the day, you don’t need a million-dollar studio. But you do need to know your room and your gear.

Once you figure that out, your mixes will translate way better everywhere. 

No Reference Tracks 

A reference track is simply a song you play during your mix to keep your ears in check. ✅

When you’re deep in your own track, it’s easy to start making decisions just based on what you like in the moment.

And sure, that’s part of mixing – but without a reference, you can easily overdo things.

Let’s say you love heavy bass.

Without a reference, you might push way too much low-end into your mix. But if you stop and check a track you admire – one that’s bass-heavy but balanced – you’ll notice the difference and pull things back before it gets muddy.

Same with vocals: if you want them to blend smoothly with the beat, use a reference where you love how the vocals sit and compare. 👀

The key isn’t to switch back and forth every 5 seconds. It’s about checking in whenever you make big decisions, so you always have a benchmark. 

One tip: don’t just grab random underground tracks with questionable mixes.

Go for records that are clearly well-mixed – often songs from charts, Billboard, or just big commercial releases.

Personally, I like to keep one strong commercial track I respect, and then a few others (mainstream or underground) that simply match the vibe I’m going for.

That way I get both the polished standard and the inspiration I love. 📈

Overprocessing Every Track

Mixing isn’t about slapping 15 plugins on every track. 🎚️

A great mix is about balance: making sure each instrument has its own space, the whole song feels glued together, and the listener can clearly hear what the track is about.

If your vocal is packed with lyrics and emotion, it needs to sit upfront so people can feel it. 

If your beat has a lot of melodic layers, maybe some smart panning will open it up so everything has room.

But here’s the mistake most beginners make: trying to “perfect” every single track with heavy EQ, compression, and effects.

The result?

An overcooked mix that’s harsh, crowded, and obviously over-processed.

Instead of sounding professional, it sounds like you forced every plugin in your DAW just to feel like you did something.

The truth is, a clean mix often comes down to simple volume balance and subtle adjustments. 🛠️

Use EQ, compression, and effects with purpose not just because you think every track needs them. Sometimes less really is more. 

Poor Source 

If your source material is weak, your mix will be weak too.

It’s simple: you can’t polish a bad recording into something clean and professional.

If your vocal track is full of background noise – dogs barking, computer fans humming, planes flying overhead – plus room reverb because you were standing half a meter from the mic… good luck making that sound crisp and upfront. 🎙️

With that kind of source, you’ll spend more time fighting problems than actually enhancing the sound.

The same goes for instrumentals.

If you grab a beat off YouTube in low-quality MP3, don’t expect it to blend perfectly with your vocals.

It’s always going to sound flatter and less spacious than a proper WAV file or, better yet, tracked-out stems.

The lesson here: focus on the source first. Record clean, strong vocals in the best environment you can, and get the highest-quality beats possible.

The better the raw material, the easier your mix will fall into place – and the more professional it’ll sound in the end. 👌

Weak Vocal Production 

If you want your vocals to shine in the mix, you need to record them right from the start. 🎤🔴

That means a few basics: keep your voice in good shape, stay hydrated, and warm up before you hit record.

Use a pop filter. Try to control your room as much as you can, even a simple reflection filter around the mic or some makeshift treatment will help keep the recording clean.

But it’s not just about capturing the vocal – it’s about how you produce it. 🖥️

One single vocal track usually won’t cut it. If you’re recording verses, one clean take plus some light ad-libs can work.

But for hooks and choruses? That’s where stacking and layering makes all the difference.

Double up your main vocal and pan them left and right. Add harmonies to highlight the key moments. Throw in some ad-libs to bring energy.

The result is a chorus that sounds wide, open, and professional, not thin and empty.

The mix can only do so much.

If you don’t give yourself enough raw vocal material to work with, you’ll always be limited.

Record strong, record smart, and set yourself up for a mix that really elevates your track. 📈

Relying Too Much on Presets

Presets are a great tool when you’re just starting out.

They can give you a quick vibe and help you understand what certain plugins can do. ⚙️

But once you’ve mixed your 5th, 10th, or 15th track, it’s time to start moving beyond them. 

If you just keep copying a “vocal preset” from a random tutorial on YouTube, you’re not actually learning how EQ, compression, or reverb really work. 

You’re just dropping someone else’s settings onto your vocal – and those settings were made for a completely different voice, beat, and vibe.

At first, sure, that’s fine. 

But if you repeat that process over and over without experimenting or tweaking, you’ll never develop the skills to make decisions for your own sound. 🔊 

You’ll stay stuck in “preset mode” instead of learning how to craft mixes that truly fit your style.

Don’t get me wrong – presets aren’t the enemy. I still use them sometimes to get a starting point or to save time.

But the best mixes come from knowing your tools and dialing in the details yourself.

That’s how you go from “basic” to “pro.” 🚀

Mixing in Solo Too Much 

One of the easiest traps to fall into is mixing tracks in solo. 🎧🚫

You mute everything else, start tweaking your vocal, and after 10–20 minutes you think it sounds great. Then you bring the beat back in… and suddenly the vocal doesn’t fit at all.

That’s why the golden rule is: always mix in context.

Listen to the whole song as you make adjustments. That way, every EQ cut, compressor tweak, or reverb decision is made with the bigger picture in mind.

You’ll immediately hear where the vocal is clashing with the beat, or where the instrumental is covering something up.

Now, solo does have its place. Especially at the very start.

For example, if you need to clean up a vocal with noise reduction, a gate, or a quick EQ cut, it’s fine to do that in solo. 

But once you move past those basic fixes, keep the whole track playing.

Mixing is about balance, not perfection on individual tracks.

A vocal that sounds flawless in solo might completely disappear in the full mix. 🎶

Context is everything. 

Rushing the Whole Process ⏳

There’s a term in the mixing world called the death spiral. 🌀

It’s what happens when you keep stacking plugins without really checking if they’re helping - and you end up with a worse mix than you started with.

Here’s the fix: every time you add a plugin, bypass it and compare. Listen before, listen after, and ask yourself: “Did this actually improve the track?” If the answer is no, remove it or lower the adjustment level. (for example, from +4 to +3dB on eq)

It’s that simple.

Without this habit, it’s easy to go overboard - boosting too much, compressing too hard, drowning everything in reverb - and by the time you’re done, the mix sounds cluttered and unnatural.

Mixing takes patience. Don’t rush the process. Every move should be intentional and done with purpose.

If you slow down and make decisions carefully, your mix will always come out stronger. 💪

Take Breaks 

One of the most underrated mixing tips is simple: step away from the session. 🛑🎧

Here’s how my process usually looks: on day one, I prep the tracks. I clean up the project, organize everything, and listen through to get a feel for the song.

On day two, I actually mix it. Then I take a break.

On day three, I come back with fresh ears and decide if the mix really holds up - and if not, I make the small tweaks that are needed.

The mistake a lot of beginners make is mixing for 4–6 hours straight and convincing themselves the track is finished and released the same day. 

The problem?

Your ears get used to whatever you’re doing, even if it’s wrong. If your clap is 5 dB too loud, after 10 minutes your brain will “normalize” it, and you won’t even notice anymore.

That’s why perspective is everything. 🧐

Even a 20-minute or 1-hour break can reset your ears. But the real magic is listening again the next day.

Suddenly, you’ll hear all the little details you missed. And honestly, sometimes the fixes are tiny, like pulling the vocal down half a dB, but they make the mix way tighter.

Don’t rush. Give your ears space to reset. The next day, you’ll always hear the truth. 

Learn on Your Mistakes 

Like I said at the very beginning, one of the biggest mistakes in mixing is not learning from your own mistakes. 🧠

If you’re mixing your own tracks, once a month do a session where you’re completely honest with yourself.

Go back, listen to all the songs you’ve mixed so far, and point out which ones are your best, and which ones didn’t turn out so great. 

Write down what went wrong in the weak ones, and what really pushed the strong ones forward.

For example: if you listen to five tracks and in three of them the bass is too loud, that’s a sign.

It probably means in your mixes the bass is always a bit too much - so next time, you need to pay closer attention. Maybe it’s your room acoustics, maybe it’s your listening setup, or maybe you’re just not using reference tracks enough. 

On the other hand, maybe your vocals are always sitting right, always strong and clear – but your beats sound weak, compressed, and pushed into the background.

In that case, the next step is obvious: put more focus into learning how to mix your beats better, how to balance them with vocals, and how to keep the instrumental alive in the mix. 🥁

The point is: the mistakes you notice the most often are the ones you should attack first. That way, with every new mix, you’ll keep leveling up. 

Wrapping It Up 

At the end of the day, mixing isn’t about throwing fancy plugins on every track or chasing some magic formula.

It’s about making smart decisions that keep your song clear, balanced, and competitive on any system.

You’re gonna make mistakes, that’s part of the process.

The real key is catching them, learning from them, and making sure you don’t repeat them on the next track.

That’s how you grow. 

So don’t stress if your mixes aren’t perfect yet. Nobody’s first 10, 20, or even 50 mixes are perfect. What matters is that you’re putting in the reps, paying attention, and sharpening your ears.

Avoid these 10 mistakes, stay patient, and keep learning and trust me, your mixes will start to hit way harder, everywhere they’re played. 🚀

If you are just starting out, mixing give you a solid headache and you are looking for someone to mix your tracks hit me up.