"But Mixerman! How could you say this? A song being good or bad is completely subjective!"

Well, not completely. There ARE certain proven elements to a great song. But I'm not going to go into that right now. This step is about the listener. If the listener hates the song, the mix is irelevant. A mix can only bring a song to its fullest potential.

"Yeah, but forget about the song, what about the mix? Isn't it a great mix?" Sorry, the two go hand in hand. The mix is not separate from the song. The mix is the presentation of the song. If the listener hates the melody or the lyrics, what's the mix have to do with that?

Remember, a mix can only bring a song to it's fullest potential. So if you mixed a song, and didn't bring it to its fullest potential, it could be the mix that f**ked things up.

I'll give you a case and point. Millie Vanilli's big hit. Forget about the name of it... "Nahw-nahw, nahw-nahw". Can you hear it in your head? You know the guitar or synth that starts that song off? That's the hook of that song, and it's loud as hell in the mix. Out of balance loud (that's good though). Now what if some mixer decided to make that guitar subtle? Most people that like that song (and there were allot of people that liked that song, whether you're one of them or not), would think it sucked. And I seriously doubt it would have been a hit.

That's a faily simple example, but it's easy to overlook the obvious in a mix. Stay vigilant, and always be thinking about the song, and trying to find the elements of the production that serve the song while you're mixing. And if the song is great, and you're mix is great, it could be magical.

Mixerman