“The minute I stopped mixing my stuff I became my most creative”, says dubstep pioneer Skream
“Nobody changes my art. The mix engineer enhances the art that’s provided to them by a producer or musician.”
Credit: Getty / Pablo Gollardo
British producer and dubstep pioneer Skream has sparked a debate on Twitter – now X – on the role of mixing in electronic music production.
Skream’s initial tweet sparked a discussion on the social media platform, with fans expressing their views on mixing in electronic music production. Some argue that mixing is a separate skill and shouldn’t be considered a prerequisite for artists, while others see mixing as an integral part of the creative process.
The Skreamizm producer and Magnetic Man star started the discussion by mentioning that Fred again.. doesn’t mix his own tracks, emphasising that it’s not a criticism but rather a valid approach to music production.
“That isn’t a bad thing.” Writes Skream. “Artwork once said to me ‘if you had a leak in your roof would you fix it?’ I said no and he said, ‘Exactly’. Don’t ever criticise people for making there [sic] product sound the best it can be.”
In the thread, he also shares his personal experience of letting mix engineers handle his music, which in turn has allowed him to focus more on creativity.
“The minute I stopped mixing my stuff (I was always terrible at the mixdown side of things, just wasn’t my strong point) I became my most creative.
“There’s a huge difference between having someone mix your track and someone ghost-produce it, people need to understand.”
“Nobody changes my art though. The mix engineer just enhances the art that’s provided to them by a producer or musician.”
Not all producers share Skream’s view that mixing should be a separate process to production, however. When MusicTech spoke to Flava D at Glastonbury 2023, she gave our readers the advice that you should “mix as you go” as opposed to “leaving it until the end”.
Skream played a rare surprise dubstep set at the Siren stage at Waterworks festival in London on Saturday.
He also just released Skreamizm Vol. 8, which you can check out via Bandcamp.
