Stop Using Solo: A Better Way to Mix

One of the most common mistakes new home studio producers make is constantly hitting the solo button.

It feels logical: isolate a track so you can really hear what’s going on, and listen to what effect the changes you’re making are having.

The problem is, the tracks in your mix won’t be heard by listeners in isolation — they’ll be heard as a whole — all combined together.

So a guitar that sounds huge on its own might sound really overpowering when you hear it in the context of the full mix.

Or a bass that sounds thin when soloed might actually sit perfectly once everything is blended together.

So here’s my approach to using solo:

• Make as many decisions as possible while listening to the full mix
• Only use solo briefly to zone in and check something — identify a problem, confirm something, or hear what something is doing
• Then return to the full mix to make sure your decision is working in context

Your goal isn’t to make individual tracks sound impressive on their own. Your goal is to make the entire song work together. So the way that something sounds in the full mix is always the winning decision.

That small shift can dramatically improve your mixes and address one of the most common causes of disappointing results.

Give it a try and let me know if this works for you.