Andrew Scheps is a renowned music producer, mixing engineer, and record engineer. He has worked with numerous well-known artists across various genres, including Red Hot Chili Peppers, Adele, Metallica, Jay-Z, U2, Black Sabbath, and Green Day, among many others.
It’s time I gleefully admit that, having spent many hours under the moonlight trawling the depths of YouTube’s ever-growing dumpster of mixing knowledge, I’ve become a full-fledged devotee of the mixing wisdom of one Andrew Scheps .
I’d like to summarize here just a few of my absolute favorites among Andrew’s tips, which though small in sheer amount, seem to me nonetheless gigantic in terms of the impact they will have on your music production technique , I can assure you!
But first let’s dig a little deeper by finding out about this recording engineer and mixing legend…
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Andrew Scheps’ reputation as a legendary mixing engineer
Scheps has a reputation for his eclectic and versatile approach to music production, and his work often combines elements from different genres to create unique and innovative sounds. He has been involved in the creation of Grammy-winning albums and has received several awards for his contributions to the music industry.
Scheps is also known for his expertise in mixing and has developed a distinct mixing style that emphasizes clarity, depth, and dynamics in the final product. He has contributed to the success of numerous hit records through his skillful mixing techniques.
Andrew Scheps has worked in the music and recording industry for over 30 years, mixing Grammy Award -winning productions for many artists including Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Adele, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Black Sabbath, Ziggy Marley, Green Day, Lady Gaga, Bon Jovi, Lana Del Rey, Linkin Park, and other famous names.
In addition to his work as a producer and engineer, Andrew Scheps is also an educator. He has conducted workshops and masterclasses around the world, sharing his knowledge and experience with aspiring music producers and engineers.
Exploring Andrew Scheps’ Mind-Blowing Mixing Techniques
Let’s start with a piece of advice from Mr. Andrew Scheps that turns out to be maddeningly simple, but criminally overlooked:
1. Hear the entire mix, not the solo instruments
You should only mix in relation to the sound of an entire track , and not in relation to a single instrument or sound in isolation.
I know I’m not the only producer in the world who has spent what seems like hours tweaking various plugin parameters on a single drum or synth sound , fine-tuning everything ad nauseam, only to deactivate the solo button to find out what that said! sound ends up sounding terrible in the context of the entire mix! Has it happened to you too?
2. It’s okay to only use plugins for your mixing technique
This advice was another big eye opener for me when I first heard it coming from Andrew Scheps in a video. Simply put, you don’t need expensive equipment to produce professional-quality mixes .
Of course, fancy studio gear can and has been used to create fantastic-sounding mixes for many decades, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only way to do it!
Hearing that a Grammy- winning engineer had found it perfectly feasible to forego external hardware entirely was something of a revelation to me; and I’m also sure such information will have the same impact on any budding bedroom producer who lacks the funds and time to track down and purchase studio-quality analog gear.
3. Check your mix through different speaker setups
Now this tip from Andrew Scheps isn’t new, but it’s so important that it’s well worth repeating one more time (and as many as it takes): Be sure to check your mixes through listening setups that don’t just include the main speakers or headphones you have in your studio .
Your mix could sound amazing through your nice studio monitors in your acoustically treated room; but if it doesn’t work as effectively over headphones or your car speakers, for example, what chance will you have of resonating with the average listener?
So, of course, work your mixes in your studio space; but if you don’t compare A/B in different or lower-quality listening environments, you won’t really know how it will sound when it reaches your audience’s ears.
4. How your listeners perceive a mix is more important than how it sounds
For me, Andrew Scheps ‘ mixing philosophy is so refreshing as it brings the experience of the listener and consumer to the fore, rather than the desires of the artist , or even his own journey as an audio engineer.
This advice speaks directly to this ideological framework, and is something that is really only understandable while mixing , rather than just reading or thinking about it.
Of course, the way something sounds is intrinsically linked to the way it makes you feel; but the point that Andrew Scheps wants to make here is that there are songs that were badly recorded and produced, with bad equipment, and that are out of balance from an objective and orthodox point of view in terms of mixing technique…
And yet, somehow and against all odds, those tracks are still capable of conjuring great affection from the listener. In other words, the next time you’re mixing a song, you might want to go with questions like “how does the chorus make me feel?” listening to it, instead of “how good does the chorus sound?”
Make the listener your purpose
That being the case, the next time you find yourself doing something simply because you think this is how a professional mixing engineer would do it, try taking a step back and thinking again: Does this actually improve my mix ? Will it make the music more impactful to my listener?
In Summary
The last mixing tip from Andrew Scheps that I’d like to share with you today is pretty much a summary of all the other mixing tips; namely, that when it comes to mixing, or any aspect of music recording and production, the only thing that matters at the end of the day is what comes out of the speakers and/or monitors .
And this means that the actual process of how you mix or create your music means nothing to your listeners ; all they’ll get is a stream of sound, most likely from a digital source, entering their ears and hopefully having some kind of effect on their emotions.
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