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Imagine someone is starting learning mixing or mastering today. What's the one piece of advice you'd give them to help them succeed faster?

I met Peter through our community when he brought a single to me for mastering. Soon after, he asked me to mix and master his whole album, Towards the Light. And I'm so grateful he did. From the first listen, I loved his music. It reminds me of the Beatles: so alive, warm, and full of soul. What stayed with me most was the intention behind every song and lyric. Peter wrote with purpose and heart. He was in France, and I'm in the US, so it usually took us full days to get back to each other, but every exchange was productive and fun. On our Zoom calls, I'd share my screen and walk him through what I was doing and why, and he'd give me thoughtful feedback. He knew when to push back with his artistic vision, and when to trust me, which made working with him so collaborative and fun. Halfway through the project, my wife and I were listening to his song When I'm Gone together. We both teared up and just looked at each other. I took a quick selfie of the two of us, smiling with wet eyes, and sent it to Peter to tell him how much his song had touched us. I'm so glad I did, I think it meant a lot to him. Music was one of many paths in Peter's life. He was an author and an avid traveller. This album still mattered deeply to him, and I feel honored that he let me be part of it. It's rare to become real friends with a client you've never met in person. I'm thankful for the friendship Peter and I built across all those miles. I'll be listening to his music again this week, and I hope you'll give it a listen too. Rest well, Peter. Luke Despain

With the Studio Launch Challenge coming up next week (info here) I thought it would be fun to get an idea of what everyone here is working towards. Answer below!

So this past Monday I had a orientation/mix review call with Joseph, who is fantastic btw! The mix in question was a live, single take performance of an acid house track. The emotion & arc of the piece was awesome, but the kick drum was lacking any body/punch in the actual recording. Sub was there on the 303, but no oomph on the kick. The performance was so good overall, I wanted to see if I could finish it somehow. So I did an overdub of the TR707 kick to a separate track, and mixed the song using what I know (still learning) of the Foundation Method… as best I could with just a stereo file & a kick drum track. I thought it turned out pretty well, which Joseph in turn confirmed. I got a lot closer to a great mix than I would have thought possible given limited options!! That really surprised me. So obviously after that I’ve been thinking of all the tricks one could develop to deal with extreme limitations. Made me curious what yall have done out there to solve similar problems? Ever dealt with nothing but a 2-track mix? Or a very low number of stems? If so what did you do?