LEARN MIXING WITH PHIL TAN

LISTENING ENVIRONMENT

Before you can make confident mixing decisions, you need to trust what you’re hearing.

Phil will discuss the importance of your monitoring environment and how your room, speakers and listening position can influence the decisions you make.

THE TOOLS

Understand the role of the essential tools used throughout a mix, including:

• EQ

• Compression

• Reverb

• Delay

• Saturation

• Automation

• Other common processing tools

The focus is not simply on what each processor does, but why and when you would use it.

SESSION SETUP & WORKFLOW

A well-organized session makes it easier to focus on the music.

Phil will walk through practical approaches to:

• Templates

• Routing

• Buses

• Color coding

• Track organization

• Session preparation

• Building an efficient mixing workflow

LEARNING HOW TO LISTEN

Before reaching for a processor, ask:

What am I hearing?
What is working? What is distracting? What feels missing?

What is the song trying to say?
What is the emotion, message or intention behind the record?

What can I do to help communicate that more effectively?

This approach shifts the focus from simply using plugins to making decisions that serve the song.

FUNDAMENTAL MIXING TECHNIQUES

Phil will demonstrate practical techniques used throughout professional mixes, including:

• Parallel processing

• Sidechaining

• Bus processing

• Creating space between elements

• Building depth

• Managing dynamics

• Balancing competing sounds

DISCUSSION & Q&A

The workshop concludes with an open discussion and Q&A with Phil.

Bring your questions about mixing, workflow, listening, plugins, career experience or anything discussed during the session.

TAKE THE SESSION HOME

Everyone attending Part 1 will receive the session material used during the workshop so you can continue working with it afterward.

You’ll be able to open the session, experiment with the techniques discussed and create your own mix.

You’ll also receive supporting cheat sheets and PDF reference material to use while practicing.

After you’ve had time to work with the session material, Part 2 brings everyone back together to hear the results.

We’ll listen to participant mixes as a group, discuss the decisions that were made and identify what is working and what could be improved.

This session is built around:

• Participant mix playback

• Direct feedback

• Comparing different approaches

• Troubleshooting problems

• Critical listening

• Group discussion

• Q&A with Phil

There is rarely only one correct way to mix a record. Hearing how different people approach the same material can be one of the most valuable parts of the process.

Once everyone has worked with the material themselves, Phil will walk through his own artist-approved version of the mix.

You’ll see how he approached the same session from beginning to end and explore the decisions behind the finished record.

The walkthrough may include:

• Session organization

• Balance and level decisions

• EQ and compression choices

• Vocal processing

• Effects

• Routing

• Automation

• Parallel processing

• Problem solving

• Creative decisions

• How the mix developed from rough session to finished version

Rather than simply showing settings, the emphasis is on understanding why each decision was made.

The final session goes deeper into selected mixes from Phil’s career.

Using artist-approved material, Phil will open older sessions that offer interesting lessons in mixing, production and problem solving.

We’ll explore:

• How the sessions were structured

• Key processing decisions

• Techniques used on vocals, drums and instruments

• Challenges within the original recordings

• Creative solutions

• How Phil’s approach has evolved

• Questions from the group

This is an opportunity to look beyond the finished record and see what was actually happening inside the session.