Yes, You Can Mix With Limited Processing And Kevin Killen Shows You How

Kevin Killen is a great engineer with a host of big time credits (U2, Elvis Costello and Peter Gabriel, for instance) and he’s been much in demand as a mixer for a long time. When I wrote the first edition of The Mixing Engineer’s Handbook, Kevin was one of the mixers I most wanted to interview, and that interview is one of the best in the book.

Kevin has also been a guest on my Inner Circle Podcast, appearing on Episode 294, where we spoke about working with Peter Gabriel, getting arrangement tips from Burt Bacharach, working on David Bowie’s last album, his unique mixing template, and much more. He’s also worked on a variety of Broadway cast albums and movie soundtracks.

In the video below, Kevin explains how he mixes in the box, and how he applies his processing mostly to subgroups rather than individual tracks, as well as the way he adds effects. As you’ll see, it’s a streamlined workflow that’s clean and fast, since it keeps your head in the mix and not worrying about plugins.

So many times we get caught up in the tech of mixing rather than following the music where it leads you, so simple is always better.