restring electric guitarFor a full band mix, restringing your electric guitar probably won’t, by itself, much affect the overall sound of your recording. Especially if the guitar’s a little crunchy. Ditto for changing the snare drum head. Or tweaking the piano’s tuning.

But taken together, small changes like these add up, and can really bring a mix to life.

Here are some of the small things you can do before hitting record to see big improvements at mix time:

  • Tune everything: Guitars, piano, drums
  • Change guitar strings
  • Change drum heads
  • Turn off fans, lights, and monitors while you record
  • Clean and polish cymbals
  • Make sure no inputs are clipping
  • Put fresh batteries in effects pedals
  • Use balanced drum sticks
  • Put cat outside.

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