You run into the same problems every time - and you're not the only one.

You can't fit all the instruments together because you don't know where they sit in the frequency range. 

You clutter up your low-end because the bass constantly clashes with your kick drum. 

You don't know how to separate the guitars from each other so they just sound like a muddy mess.

And most importantly, you can't get that big present vocal sound you hear from your favorite artists. You're fed up with mixing vocals because they never sound professional enough.

Mixing feels like a never-ending balancing act. 

When you focus on the low-mids, your mix sounds muddy.

Whenever you add high-end, your mix sounds harsh.

You don't know how much you should boost or cut frequencies to get the sound you hear in your head. You've tried all sorts of different techniques you've read in blogs or watched on Youtube, but the more you jump from one trick to another, the more contradictory the advice feels. Some people tell you that you should only use subtractive EQ, even though you feel like boosting makes everything sound better.

The problem is, you're scared of damaging your mix because you're never sure whether you're doing the right things to make your mixes clean and present. 

You wish somebody would just tell you where the EQ sweet spots were so you could move on. Instead, they say you should only use this plug-in, or that method, when all you want is real, actionable advice. ​

Even when you know for a fact that you're making your mix sound better, you can't stop EQ'ing because you never know when you're done!

Here's the story of when I learned how important EQ was to make better sounding mixes:

I didn't always know how to EQ....I used to really suck at it.

When I first started out, I had no idea how to use an EQ to make clearer mixes. EQ was like a foreign programming language that only cool engineers understood.

But me? My kick drum kept clashing with my bass guitar. My guitars masked the vocals and my entire drum sound always sounded like a harsh, exhausting mess.

If I managed to tame the harshness in my mix, it usually ended up muddy instead.

Way back in 2006, I randomly found myself hired as sound engineer at this small venue called The Old Library. It was a cool spot, but it had a terrible reputation for its sound. It was the venue bands were forced to play if there was absolutely nowhere else to go.

Little did they know that they weren't exactly hiring someone who knew what he was doing.  

I was extremely intimidated by everything surrounding live sound. All these cables all over the place that you were supposed to know how to connect. All these speakers everywhere, both the monitors on the stage and the P.A for the audience that I was supposed to control. Not to mention the blinking lights of the mixing board.

In a word, overwhelming.

However, all of those things paled in comparison to figuring out how to use the simple, four-band EQ on the mixer.

I had no idea how - or where - I should boost or cut frequencies to make the bands sound better. So I used the only method available to me then: Trial and Error.

Learning to EQ by desperately twisting knobs back and forth in a dimly lit venue isn’t the best way to learn to EQ. I could hardly see what I was doing!  

So, because I didn’t have a clue, there was a lot of fumbling around in the dark. Sure, any time I tweaked the EQ, the sound of the mix changed.

Sometimes for the better, but most of the time for the worse.

After a while, I learned that understanding frequencies was like learning the right chord progression for a song, or the right scales to use during a solo. 

Understanding frequencies was like having a cheat sheet for making your mixes sound good.

But it wasn't until I had spent hours behind that mixing board and studied what each frequency sounded like that I finally got it:

EQ is the most important mixing processor for creating separation and balance in your mixes.

EQ helped me transform that music venue from its reputation for having terrible sound to becoming an in-demand spot where all the coolest bands wanted to play.

But I wouldn't have been to able to make those shows sound so great if it wasn't for the EQ. Understanding EQ wasn’t a choice, it was a necessity.​

I learned that EQ can help you in any situation, whether you're doing live sound or recording music in your home studio.

Since then I've learned a lot about EQ'ing my mixes to make them sound cleaner. Now, musicians tell me they love how clearly they can hear each instrument in the mix. 

I've learned how to wipe the mud off the even the busiest mixes, leaving them clean, clear and professional.

Today, my kick drum doesn't clash with the bass guitar anymore. Instead, they work like a well-oiled rhythm machine, keeping the mix clean and thick in the low-end. I know exactly how to EQ the instruments out of the way of the vocal, while keeping everything clean and present.

When you learn how to EQ, the rest of the mix easily falls into place. Once you've learn how to fix the EQ problems, your mixing skills will skyrocket!

That's what happened to me, and that's what I want to help you accomplish as well

All it takes is a little knowledge and a blueprint of where to go.