The Mixing Engineer's Handbook: 5th Edition

by Bobby Owsinski

Learning the art of mixing has never been easier. For more than two decades, The Mixing Engineer’s Handbook has been the best selling and most respected resource on the art of music mixing for seasoned professionals and enthusiastic beginners alike. Today’s home studio is just as powerful as any commercial studio, but it’s the techniques that the top mixers use that separates their work from what most musicians, songwriters, producers or artists can produce without that knowledge. In this fully updated 5th edition of the Handbook, you’ll find all the proven fundamental and advanced techniques that the pros use to help you take your music to another level. Guaranteed to help you get a great mix regardless of your gear, playback environment or the kind of music you work on, you’ll find your mixing chops getting better with each chapter. Here are just a few things you’ll Brand new additions to the 5th edition The book still contains one of its best-loved features - interviews with some of the music industry’s most successful and celebrated audio mixers from all different music genres. The new edition contains four brand new interviews with some of the industry’s biggest hit makers, along with access to a bonus website with 12 additional interviews not found in the book. Learn the art of mixing from start to finish by using the tips and techniques from the pros, with The Mixing Engineer’s Handbook, 5th Edition . Pick up your copy today by clicking the BUY NOW button on this page.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Reference

397 pages, Paperback

Published March 28, 2022

Reviews

[Erik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been mixing my own music as a(n exceptionally passionate hobbyist) for about the last 15 years; learning from my own haphazard yet empirical stumblings, fellow enthusiasts, and more recently, YouTube. Every bit of learning is good, but some methods are much faster. This book will not mix for you, and it won't tell you what to do, but with its charts, definitions, and simplified explanations of the vast array of tools offered in the mixing realm, it works exactly as labeled: a handbook. Reading it was enjoyable; I found myself annotating it and folding page corners to revisit at later (see, mixing session) times. If you've never mixed before or you've been mixing for years, this offers something for you. For example, the definitions and explanations of jargon will be invaluable for newcomers. Experienced mixers will find the interviews in the end--if nothing else--intriguing to compare their own techniques to. Personally, I love the charts that directly note the frequencies and their impact for various instruments, as well as suggestions for delay times in various musical situations, and compressor settings for a variety of sound profiles. Overall, a great resource to keep in your studio.

[Miguel Lua]

The Mixing Engineer's Handbook is a book created by Bobby Owsinski for the purpose of teaching up-and-coming mixing engineers who are curious about mixing vocal, and instrumental tracks.
A mixing engineer is a job where you take several pieces of music created by an artist. They arrange it and make it sound more complete for the final version to be released. A mixing engineer is also called a mixer and mix engineer (I use the terms “mixer” and “mixing engineer” interchangeably throughout the essay.
The 5th Edition of this handbook, which is the most updated version is divided into three parts, ‘Mixing in Stereo’, ‘Mixing in Surround’, and the last part ‘Interviews’
Mixing in Stereo is the main part of this book in my opinion specifically because it’s the longest, but also if you’re learning to be a mixing engineer this section is what you would want to read to get a core idea for what you’re doing. A good way to think about it is to picture yourself at a burger shop.
You’re pretty hungry and you’re trying to see what you want to order. Well the most logical thing is getting the combo, it has your side of fries, a drink of your choice, and your main thing which is the burger. I say this because that's how these ‘Parts’ feel. ‘Mixing in Surround’ is the shortest part out of all of them, and that’s because there isn’t much to it. It’s simply an extension of your main course, like the burger and fries.
The third part ‘Interviews’ which is the final part is a really easy read because it’s purely just the author interviewing other experienced mixing engineers, which he was already doing in the first and second part, just that it isn’t to the full extent as it is here. Every 10 or so pages it’s a new interviewer with their own opinions on mixing and how they do things differently. See why this would be the ‘drink’ of our book?
While the handbook is very informative and teaches you how to become a mixing engineer, or how to be an even better one, it still is a bit entertaining by having its personality brought out by the tidbits of opinions by other mixers.
I believe this book has helped me understand music better, from a technical standpoint. One thing I enjoyed learning a lot about was all the main effect terms and how to use them properly. For example, one effect is called “Chorus” which I originally thought only made things a lot “bigger” in sound, and made things a bit electronic. To be fair it does do those things, but now I have a much clearer idea of what to do exactly from reading and using what I learn in practice. Another thing would be the history of “Flanger” which had a very confusing and complex method to make the effect sound back in the day, using several tapes, and overall the whole idea is to make a “weird sound”
One quote that stuck with me is on page 40 where the interviewee (Allen Sides) recalls a time when a former mixing engineer told him “If it sounds good, it is good” I think the main point of this book is that even though there are actual rules and history to mixing and mastering. At the end of the day, all of this matters if only it sounds good, even if you play by the book, sometimes that isn’t enough. All of the most popular mixers always had a story where they came across a problem where they needed to go out of the box.
On page 31 out of 233 on my pdf, there are 5 examples of separate conversations from the mixers, talking about how to fix instrument fighting. This term is the idea of several instruments playing at the same time, but if they play at the same or similar frequencies it can sound and feel crowded and, it would be hard to listen. This relates to my thesis because it’s not just feeling so automated with the information created by the author. There are several examples in the book like this where it gives more personality, which keeps the book interesting.
You might ponder while you’re reading this handbook if any of this will actually be useful to you. If you’re reading it to be a better mixing engineer to learn to be one, of course you will and it won’t be such a bore too.
I don’t think people would find this book entertaining aside from the interviews which I think are a bit entertaining. Besides that, it’s very insightful and if you are learning how to mix your own music tracks, or want to work as a Mixing Engineer, then I would recommend this book to you.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good guide for beginners

I think overall it’s a good guide for beginners and others may pick up a few tips here and there from the interview section.

As a detail oriented person, I’d like to edit the book, as there are numerous typographical errors throughout.

[Raykeidrik · Rating 5 out of 5]

An educational find

I really appreciated how much this book has furthered my depth and approach to how I mix my music. I’ve revamped my workflow for the better with my eq and compression. I already sent it to my brother who produces EDM

[Laz the Sailor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well written tutorial on how to mix music from studio recordings. The author is respected in this field, and the explanations and methods are clear. I would have preferred some specific examples, but there are probably licensing issues. There are some interviews with famous mixing engineers and producers, but they tend to be fairly general.

I learned quite a bit from this, and it reinforced what I already knew from my own fitful experiments.

Recommended.

[Felipe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bobby always writes amazing books on this subject. It's a great book about processing, effects and different mixing techniques.

You can use it as a manual for certain things like "what is a compressor?", "how to use an EQ", "how to use a reverb", and more.

I would recommend this and "The Art of Mixing" as a starting point but also as "a ready to go" guide.

[Frederick Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for audio engineers to read and reference!

[No Body · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn’t care for the interviews. Learned a lot from the rest of the book.