I just started playing around with it and actually made a few recordings (working on a remastered mix right now). I main keys (using a midi controller) and just software instruments.
Any basic tips, or must-know before I venture into this world of mixing? I'd appreciate it a lot. Thank you.
Another thing about MixCoach, you'll cover styles like Rock, Pop, Folk, Gospel, Electronic Dance (not as much), Country, Bluegrass, Jazz and Big Band. I think Kevin even covered an A Capella tune. So it's a good way to learn mixing overall, enough to where you could probably setup a project studio for mixing In-The-Box (just on computer) and earn something on the side with amateur artists and demos. As far as I know, there's not another online source for the money that gives real world mixing skills from a well known producer who is in the business. Pro mixing skills are usually learned inside a real studio hands on most of the time. On top of that, Kevin is a Christian, so he produces Christian artists around Nashville too.
The two most important things in mixing, except your ears and using a style reference, are your studio setup and your gear.
1. Room Treatment:
It's very important to have a treated room. Every room either builds up or reduces certain frequencies in the audio spectrum. Which frequencies depends on the room shape and size. What happens is that if a room reduces let's say around 100Hz, which is the frequency of bass guitars, you'll naturally hear less bass when mixing, so you will boost that frequency area per your hearing. But when you play your mix on other equipment in a different location, like your car, you will hear that 100Hz boosted too much! Frequencies in the room that get reduced the opposite will occur, you'll be subtracting from that 100Hz area, mix checks elsewhere will sound light in that bass area. Treating the room helps prevent that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp56A6TcL1E
You can get by with building your own sound absorbers using Roxul mineral wool or Dow Corning insulation board, some 1x4 boards, and fabric (see YouTube). Or you can order some (expensive). But the idea is you want absorbers at the first reflection points in the room, and bass traps in every corner (from floor to ceiling is most ideal). And then bass traps on the rear wall.
To find first reflection points, sit in your mix position while someone moves a mirror around the walls (front, sides, and back walls, and ceiling). With your monitors setup, wherever you can see your speakers in that mirror, that's a first reflection point and will need an absorber.
Mix position should be in 1/3 part of room off of front wall. If your ceiling is not soundproofed you'll need a couple absorbers above the mix position also, like a cloud. Ideally, the room should be rectangular, not square. Floor and ceiling should be of different materials, i.e., like a smooth reflective ceiling and carpet on the floor.
The above recommendations are the ideal. You can do less at the start.
2. Gear:
You can learn to mix on pro headphones, and then compare your mixes on other systems, and in your car, and by that learn the strong and weak points on using that pair of 'cans' (nickname for headphones). I use a pair of Beredynamics.
If you're going to be doing a lot of EDM (electronic dance music) or Pop with a lot of synths and beats, etc., you'll need monitors that will reproduce the low end. Most near field monitors will start to cut off the bass around 40Hz and below. So that needs to be kept in mind, but you can still use them if you do mix checks listening on other sound systems, and then learn those monitor's strengths and weaknesses.
Most near field monitors today are amplified, so you don't need a separate amp to power them. For passive monitors you will need a separate amp, a clean one, not a cheap one from Radio Shack.
Sound Card: lot of choices. Seems like outboard audio interfaces are going the way of USB 3.0. So there's plenty of good quality ones out there that are pretty cheap. 24 bit/44.1Hz is the studio standard quality for recording and mixing. Some record and mix at higher rates, mostly in the pro world. If you're serious, don't skimp on the audio interface quality. Audio interfaces included with turn-key computers are still not good enough for professional mixing. They're getting better, but they're still not quite there yet.
An ideal setup would be like an Apogee, Lynx, or Pro Tools HDX, or RME. The RME stuff is very... stable, but sort of on the bottom of the pro market. That with a good DAW (Logic, Cubase, Pro Tools, SONAR, Digital Performer are top of the line DAWs), a fast computer with a quad-core chip, and a lot of RAM (16 to 64Gb), with SSD type drives, and a couple of outboards like an analog EQ and an analog compressor, and your beginning in the professional mixer market.
Hope that helps. Feel free to ask me anything else you need to know.