Music Production and Mixing Tips for Beginner Producers | Inside The Mix
How do you make your mixes sound professional as a beginner? What’s the real difference between mixing and mastering? And do you actually need expensive gear to produce great music at home?
Inside The Mix is the podcast for beginner and early-career music producers, as well as hobbyist musicians, who want clear, practical answers to the most common questions in music production and mixing music. Each episode breaks down real-world techniques used in audio engineering, helping you improve clarity, balance, and confidence in your mixes — even in a home studio.
You’ll learn how to:
- Make your mixes sound professional as a beginner without overcomplicating your workflow
- Fix common problems like muddy mixes, weak low-end, and poor translation
- Understand the difference between mixing and mastering — and when you really need each
- Build a reliable production process using tools you already own
Hosted by Marc Matthews, Inside The Mix goes beyond generic beginner tutorials. Expect insightful interviews with industry-leading engineers and producers, listener-focused round-table critiques, and practical coaching designed to accelerate your progress. Past guests include Grammy Award-winning professionals such as Dom Morley (Adele) and Mike Exeter (Black Sabbath).
👉 Start with audience favourite:
Episode #175 – What’s the Secret to Mixing Without Muddiness? Achieving Clarity and Dynamics in a Mix
Subscribe, follow, and explore Inside The Mix to grow from beginner to confident producer — one mix at a time.
Episodes
236 episodes
#235: Why Inside The Mix Is Taking a Strategic Pause (And What Producers Can Expect Next)
Creative momentum is built on steady habits—but real breakthroughs often require intentional space. In this episode of Inside The Mix, the show takes a purposeful pause to reassess what truly helps music producers grow. The mission rem...
#234: How to Prevent Over Mixing & Finish Tracks Faster with Lij Shaw
How to prevent overmixing and finish tracks faster is one of the biggest challenges facing independent producers. In this episode of Inside The Mix, Marc Matthews sits down with producer and Recording Studio Rockstars host Lij Shaw to ...
#233: What Is Mastering in Music? A Beginner’s Guide with Ben Holmes
What is mastering in music, and what does mastering a song really mean for independent producers? In this episode of Inside The Mix, host Marc Matthews sits down with mastering engineer Ben Holmes to break down what mastering is, how i...
#232: Fix Muddy Mixes With Arrangement, Not Plugins
Clearer mixes don’t come from buying more plugins, they come from making better decisions. In this episode of Inside The Mix, Marc Matthews sits down with returning guest Tim Benson (Aisle9) to show beginner and intermedi...
#231: Free Synth Plugin Tutorial - Surge XT Strings from Scratch
Free synth plugins can feel overwhelming, especially when you’re staring at an empty patch and just want results. In this episode of Inside The Mix, Marc Matthews walks beginner and intermediate producers through a practical Surge X...
#230: What Is a Null Test? Stop Guessing Your Mix Changes with Eric Mitchell
Null testing is one of the fastest ways to prove what actually changes in a mix. In this episode of Inside The Mix, Marc Matthews sits down with mastering engineer Eric Mitchell to explain what a null test is, how phase cancellation wo...
#229: Finish Songs Faster with These Logic Pro Workflow Tips
Logic Pro workflow tips can dramatically speed up music production, and in this episode of Inside The Mix, Marc Matthews breaks down seven practical Logic Pro tweaks that remove friction and help producers finish more music, fas...
#228: Networking for Beginners: How to Build Real Connections Without Being Awkward
A single Spotify comment sparked a bigger question: Does networking actually help musicians, or are you on your own? In this episode, Marc breaks down networking tips for beginners who want real results without feeling fake, awkward, or salesy....
#227: Your 2025 Music Wins: The Community Highlights Episode
Year-end victory laps are more fun when they belong to all of us. We gathered standout wins from the Inside the Mix community and stitched them into a guided tour of what real progress looks like in music: narrative albums released one single a...
#226: How AI Is Changing Voices, Studios, And The Value Of Human Performance (Face Your Ears Podcast)
A single take can now become a gospel run, a country croon, or even a convincing female lead, and it happens in seconds. Justin and Rich of the Face Your Ears podcast unpack how AI jumped from pitch correction to “auto-sing,” the cost breakthro...
#225: Why Getting It Right At The Source Makes Mixing Easy with Will Purton (Master Your Mix Podcast)
If your mixes keep fighting you, the problem likely started before the DAW ever opened. In this podcast takeover, Mike Indovina (Master Your Mix) digs into a source‑first mindset with London engineer and mixer Will Purton (RAK Studios), unpacki...
#224: Why Imperfect Recordings Feel More Alive | Abby Griffin on Creative Truth (Recording Studio Rockstars)
What if the best mix isn’t the cleanest, but the truest? In this podcast takeover, Lij Shaw (Recording Studio Rockstars) dives into a standout conversation with engineer, songwriter, and producer-in-the-making Abby Griffin to explore how “being...
#223: How A New York Intern Became A Grammy-Winning Mastering Engineer with Dan Millice (Sound Discussion Podcast)
What does it really take to go from invisible intern to trusted, Grammy-winning mastering engineer? The Sound Discussion Podcast sit down with Dan Millice to unpack the habits, choices, and honest work that shaped his journey, from cleaning bat...
#222: From Vocal Prep to Mastering — 7 Standout Moments of 2025 (Part 2)
What if the fastest way to a better mix is caring more about the human, the song, and the signal path than the plugin chain? We pulled seven moments from our 2025 conversations that changed how we write, record, mix, and master, and stitched th...
#221: Finish Songs Faster, Mix Smarter — 7 Standout Moments of 2025 (Part 1)
Ready to trade plugin FOMO and meter anxiety for moves that actually make your tracks better? Marc pulls seven stand-out moments from a huge year of conversations with producers, engineers and artists to help you finish faster, mix with confide...
#220: The One Thing We’ll Do Differently in 2026 (and Why It Matters)
Stop counting playlist streams and start building momentum where it matters. Marc Matthews and Tim Benson unpack a year of wins and lessons that took monthly listeners from modest to meaningful, and the theme is simple. When you optimise for sa...
#219: How Wave Observer Reveals What Softube Saturation Knob Really Does
Ever twist a saturation knob and wonder if you’re hearing compression, distortion, or something in between? In this episode of Inside The Mix, Marc Matthews puts that question to the test with a clean, scientific setup, a 440 Hz sine w...
#218: What Would A Better Music Production Podcast Look Like To You?
Tired of guessing what kind of podcast content actually helps you make better music and grow as a producer or artist? In this special listener-driven episode of Inside The Mix, host Marc Matthews flips the script — and puts you in char...
#217: How to Use Reference Tracks to Finish Songs FASTER
Staring at a blank DAW is exhausting; staring at a mapped-out arrangement from a reference track is energising. Marc walks through a clear, repeatable reference track arrangement blueprint workflow that turns a single reference track into a ful...
#216: I Tried Top-Down Mixing — Here’s What Actually Happened
What if a better‑translating mix starts before you touch a single channel plugin? I put top‑down mixing under the microscope and share a candid, first‑hand evaluation: what worked, what didn’t, and how a few smart moves on the mix bus reshaped ...
#215: How to Mix a Wall of Sound That Still Breathes with DRUMxWAVE and Brian Skeel
What does a true wall of sound feel like when the vocal still breathes? We sit down with vocalist‑producer Jay Cali (DRUMxWAVE) and mixer‑producer Brian Skeel to unpack the craft behind Severed, big drums, widescreen synths, supportive guitars,...
#214: The Best FREE Plugins Every Producer Should Use
Free plugins often get overlooked in the endless pursuit of premium software, but professional producers know that some of the most powerful tools cost absolutely nothing. In this illuminating conversation, Marc Matthews and Tim Benson (Aisle9)...
#213: Finish Tracks Faster - Workflow Hacks Every Producer Needs (feat. John Kunkel)
Have you ever felt stuck in an endless cycle of tweaking, adjusting, and second-guessing your music production decisions? Producer John Kunkel (aka John Grand) reveals the counterintuitive truth that many of us miss: working smarter, not harder...
#212: Streamlining Music Collaboration - How Mixup Changed My Feedback Workflow
Frustrated by endless email chains, confusing file links, and clients commenting on the wrong version of a mix? In this episode of Inside the Mix, Marc Matthews explores how Mixup.audio is transforming the mix revision process for prod...
#211: Creating Authentic Remote Vocal Collaborations When Miles Apart (feat. INDIGO)
Ever wondered how singers record vocals remotely and make them sound professional? In this episode of Inside The Mix, Marc Matthews is joined by New Zealand synthwave vocalist INDIGO to explore the art of remote vocal collaboration and...