Zen and the Art of Mixing

by Mixerman

(Technical Reference). In his first book, The Daily Adventures of Mixerman , the author detailed the frustrating and often hilarious goings on during the process of recording a major-label band. Musicians, engineers, and producers laughed and cried at the crazy goings-on they'd never imagined or recognized all too well. Now Mixerman turns his razor-sharp gaze to the art of mixing and gives followers and the uninitiated reason to hope if not for logic and civility in the recording studio then at least for a good sounding record. With a firm commitment to art over technology and to maintaining a grasp of each, Mixerman outlines his own approach to recording success, based on his years mixing records in all genres of music for all kinds of artists, often under trying circumstances. As he states in his introduction to the new volume, "Even if you're not a professional mixer, even if you're a musician trying to mix your own work or a studio owner in a smaller market, you have your own set of pressures to deal with while you're mixing. Regardless of what those pressures are, it's important to identify and recognize them, if for no other reason than so you can learn to completely ignore them." But how? "That's where the Zen comes in."

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

299 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

For most of his career, Mixerman, aka Eric Sarafin, was known as a Gold and Platinum record producer, mixer, and recordist. He has worked with numerous nationally and internationally known acts in multiple genres, including The Pharcyde, Ben Harper, Barenaked Ladies, Lifehouse, Foreigner, Pete Murray, and Spearhead to name a few.

In 2002 Mixerman gained widespread notoriety in the Music Business when he anonymously published online his work titled The Daily Adventures of Mixerman--a cutting satire of the way things were in the early aughts, in an industry carried away with record profits, and a marked disdain for the consumer. The book is often cited by readers as hilarious and entertaining. Mixerman and his Producer Aardvark also created a fully produced audiobook in the style of Firesign theater, complete with music, leitmotifs, character performances by well-known Producers, foley, and sound FX. You can read (and hear) a significant portion of The Daily Adventures of Mixerman online:

Between 2010 and 2014, Mixerman wrote three technical books on Hal Leonard (Zen and the Art of Mixing, Zen and the Art of Producing, Zen and the Art of Recording, which read more like self-help philosophy books than dry and ineffective how-to manuals. Throughout the Zen Series Mixerman addresses the thinking behind effective record-making. He is often praised for his no-holds barred, cut to the chase style, in which he relays the lessons he's learned over the course of his record-making career in a pithy and entertaining manner.

In 2014, Mixerman released digital versions of all three of his Zen and the Art of titles, which include hours of supplemental video instruction and demonstration of various recording, mixing, and producing techniques.

In 2015, Mixerman wrote #Mixerman and the Billionheir Apparent, his second satire of the Music Business, this time through the broader prism of current American politics. Much of #Mixerman and the Billionheir Apparent can be found online.

Both the hardbound book and the audiobook of #Mixerman and the Billionheir Apparent will be available for purchase in July of 2016.

Reviews

[Orçun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sonunda bitti. Sayesinde çok şey öğrendim ve bir çok şeyde kafamı açtı. Ama kitabın ancak %70'ini anlayabilmişimdir diyebilirim. Genelde dışarıda okuduğum için de e-kitap okuyucunun hafızasında olmayan kelimelerin anlamlarına bakmadım. Ona rağmen çoğu şeye bakış açımı değiştirdiğini söyleyebilirim. Kendime sayfalarca not aldım.

[Steven Gaskin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strange read this one. There is plenty of information on mixing techniques you can lift and apply to your projects, but the larger part of the book is concerned with how to be a better mixing engineer, rather than how to mix better. There's a lot of insight into the professional mixing process, and the mixers role in the business, specifically with respect to interactions with clients, which is all good, except that I don't want to be a professional mixing engineer - I just want to learn how to mix my own tracks.

So I finished the book not having learned as much technique as I hoped when I ordered it, but I do now have a different attitude to mixing. A better attitude, I think. Which is why this book is strange; the information is tailored to get professional engineers to be successful professional engineers, and as such, it's targeted at mixers far along in their education and careers, but I can't think of a better time to read this book than when you're starting out with mixing for the first time.

Great writing style too - very conversational and engaging.

Kindle formatting: Finally!!! An eBook that has clearly been formated and proofed to a professional standard. Great layouts and use of images to recreate elaborate fonts from the print version. Was refreshing to see the back cover copy included as well.

[Patrick H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Skip the gear section unless you have tens of thousands to spend.

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent guide to becoming a better mixer. Highly recommended for anyone across the spectrum of skill/ambition, from those wanting to become professional mix engineers to those recording and producing their own material at home.

This book covered a significant amount of knowledge that it's taken me the better part of the last 10 years to learn, so if you're at the early stages of your journey in recording music, this will rapidly help accelerate your understanding. The key points tend to be about the focusing of attention (yours as the mixer, and how you manipulate that of the listener), how to effectively communicate with and manage the expectations of various stakeholders, and why one should be open to use any and all tools and techniques available, rather than just the newest and flashiest.

While the author does use male and female pronouns throughout, I couldn't help but feel that the writing could have just as easily been made completely gender neutral. This was especially reflected in his attitude, which is clearly that of an Ageing Rock Dude™, with references to "band girlfriends" that offer unsolicited opinions on the mix and other irritating/mildly problematic language. Having said that, the conversational tone of writing makes for a breezy read.

[Tucker Lemos · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first thing I should say is that the use of Zen in the title of this book is simply a lie. Buddhism is mentioned in the introduction and perhaps once in the first chapter, and with flagrant lack of respect or knowledge.

However, as a book on mixing, it is complete and useful, as long as you aren't turned off by the author's constant self-congratulatory tone, mixed metaphors, and lack of attention to detail in writing.
I was, but again, I recognize that this book contains a huge amount of useful information, it's just very frustrating to get to.

[Michael Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book takes an approach to mixing that oddly I haven't seen before... Mixerman looks on mixing as an artistic endeavor, not just a technical skill. Imagine treating music as a work of creativity instead of as a bunch of squiggles on a DAW screen! At this writing the book is 12 years old, and technology has advanced a bit since then (it would be interesting to get MM's perspective on his own book in 2022!) but the general approach to mixing is, I believe, still very valid. I think any student of the mixing arts can learn something from this book!

[Axel De Vuyst · Rating 3 out of 5]

A concise read offering insightful guidance designed to help you get into the right mindset for mixing.

[Ivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this - the rating is very much based on right-place right-time however. I’ve just started a journey into mixing my own music, and this has given me enough to think about that I am now listening to music differently which is a big impact of a book. I feel it’s a bit dated now and want to get more up to date info but I can do that.

[Ben Hodson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't think of a better way to present the mindset and methodology of mixing a record. This book is packed full of tips on almost every page about compression, reverb, plan of attack, fixing problems, and delivering radio-quality mixes that move people (emotionally and physically).

The only read it is not 5 stars is because of the second to last chapter in which Mixerman recommends occasional mixing while under the influence of Marijuana. He lost a ton of credibility due to the huge miscalculation of even including this recommendation. But if you can look past that serious misstep, the rest of the book rocks.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a fun read for audiophiles specifically. I found myself agreeing with the author at some points and learning something new at others. The author is obviously well versed in the recording studio and an industry pro, though at times closed minded in his opinions, which can be frustrating to read. Overall, I recommend this to anyone familiar with the industry, perhaps someone who is looking for knowledge scribed in a very conversational way.

[Justin Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good points. More focused on Rock and leaning towards Pop Rock mixing, whereas I was looking for more of a general mixing book for Film, Podcasts, and Music in general.

[Mixerman Mixerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's the book so many of you love, with the relevance you require.

[Wmba Dams · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reread my copy of Zen and the Art of Mixing tonight.

It has some good tips for sure at a high level. It also has a lot of interesting filler that is not necessary if your goal is to mix better not get a vicarious thrill of being a professional mixer.

What is does not have is any real detail, nor a full process, for HOW to do mixing and do it well. The tips are useful, but belong in a magazine article not a book.

A couple of things were, IMHO, just wrong. But they did not directly affect me so I just ignore them. However if you don't know what is true then you might get somewhat misled in places. Let's just say these areas could be called personal preference rather than absolutes, but they were not presented that way.

[Andy Lowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really do love Mixerman's approach to covering this material. My favorite part was at the end of the book where he encourages the reader NOT to take everything he says as truth; rather one should try these things out and draw his own conclusions. If you do decide to go a different direction, be able to back up your thinking. That's what matters.

I particularly enjoyed the section about dealing with clients. So many applicable sections to what I've personally dealt with.

I'll definitely be referencing this one in the future.

[Shortjg · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy and interesting read. It is not a “how to” for the home mixer. There are big picture sections on mixing philosophy but the book also deals with advice for the professional mixer. There are sections on the role of the mixer and how to deal with clients. In the end, I learned some things about music, mixing technique and the profession of mixing.

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

While not offering specific direction on how to say add EQ to a bass, the concepts discussed in this book were eye opening and helped give me better understanding of mixing than anything else I have read so far.

[Maxime Rousselle · Rating 4 out of 5]

an interesting book. I will definitely read it again in a few years.

[Reaperscythe · Rating 5 out of 5]

after read, you will be better person (or better audio engineer)

[Arturo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird take on using Izotope Ozone assistant and that mastering will be taken by AI, but really helped to shape my mindset on the mixing process

[Luis Ventura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read for anyone that considers themselves a serious audio engineer. Helps you with the right mindset and approach behind accomplishing great professional studio records.

[Izak Last · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite piece of info is how every move you make changes the mix, both vertically inside of one part, and horizontally across the entire song.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

2010 version: 4 stars.
2022 rewrite: 5 stars.
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This is a great primer on the overall concept of mixing and how to be a better mixer in general, backed up by experience and practical examples. Mixerman is hilarious and incredibly sarcastic (something you'll have to keep in mind), occasionally masking a sort of self-deprecation in east-coast bravado. I laughed out loud more than once reading this, something I never would have expected from a book about mixing.

The only thing that keeps this from being a 5-star read is the chapter on gear - this is from 2010, and Mixerman is a bit cold on digital gear, which is entirely understandable given that digital plugins and DAWs were much weaker in 2010 than they are now (in 2022). He goes into detail on things like analog summing, compression and tape machines, expounding the virtues of analog over digital. Again, while that was all well and good in 2010, digital has come a long way since then. Now, most people do everything "in the box" (on their computer). Good thing Mixerman actually did a 2021 edition of this book where he entirely re-wrote the gear chapter! So, this problem doesn't actually exist anymore.

Other than the gear chapter, though, most of this information won't go out of style. Mixerman goes into the general concepts of mixing, hounding the importance of the song itself, and reminding us all that half of mixing is about dealing with people as much as it is the music. It's a great read, and again, super entertaining.

2010 version: 4 stars (in 2022)
2021 version: 5 stars (in 2022).

[Matthew Buckley · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who's been recording and mixing for roughly 15 years now, I'm clearly late to the party in reading this book. Regardless, it's definitely better late than never. The advice given in this book isn't mandatory, but it's invaluable. It's less about technical mixing technique and while the author does make some specific gear recommendations here and there (well out of most of our budgets), this book is more about mixing philosophy -- from what mindset to begin mixing to how to communicate with the client.

Fortunately, as someone who's been recording and mixing for a while, I had eventually come to a lot of these conclusions on my own, but I certainly would have come to them much quicker had I read this earlier. And even so, this book found a way to bring the important parts into greater focus, instilling confidence in the things that I've been doing right and offering a better direction for the things I may have missed along the way.

There are plenty of aspects to this book that won't apply to everyone, and there are some hard stances that are best taken with a grain of salt. But overall, every mixer -- no matter how old/young or experienced/inexperienced -- would benefit greatly from at least one read-through of this book. It's probably one that I will revisit again in a few years.

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

A necessary read for all in the business but I would argue that this book could benefit the artists the most. They constantly need to make decisions that propel their craft to the best possible outcome. Understanding the mixing process will help their communication, decision making and preparation.

[Anton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant book that cuts through the gear talk (while still including some useful examples) to the core musical, mental, and social issues in a very pragmatic style. Inspiring as hell. Great, very useful concrete artistic advice.

[Pat]

so far so good. Short on step-by-step and long on concept and fell. Just what I need!

[Ratt · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you record and mix your own audio, this book in inspirational. It is a big reminder that great gear does not make for a great mix. Gear is important, but use what you have.

[Giel Montagne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not what I expected, even frustrating at times but nonetheless a good read.

[Sam Braswell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great tips on mixing your tracks. Very insightful.

[Andres · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this guy!