A few weeks ago, I obtained a copy of MixMeister Fusion. I have used it a few times, but I have a feeling that after more use, I will be able to deliver a more substantive report. For the time being, I’m going to give a little of my background, which will provide some context for my comments, and I will discuss my experience with MixMeister thus far.
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I have been working with music production software since 2001. The fall of that year, I started as an audio production major at Ohio University. Using Pro Tools, our curriculum progressed as one might imagine, going from simple editing exercises to recording songs for bands and doing film scoring projects. I was fortunate to be able to buy my own Pro Tools rig so I was free to pursue projects outside of my class assignments. Towards the end of my stint in college, one of my professors and I had a few discussions about other DAWs (digital audio workstations) and I decided to pick up a copy of Logic 7. Up to this point, I had been using Pro Tools as a less expensive alternative to analog recording and to take advantage of the ease of editing offered by the tools and graphic interface Pro Tools provided. Logic, on the other hand, was my introduction to all things MIDI. I had touched on MIDI, but before getting Logic, I wasn’t that interested. In very short order, Logic sucked me in with its multitude of synths, sequencers and virtual instruments. In short – I’ve been using Pro Tools for eight years and Logic around four. I’m not an expert, but I’m no slouch either. (For the Chevy Chase fans in the house: “Don’t sell yourself short judge – you’re a tremendous slouch”)
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As followers of the Resonant Vibes Blog know, a few months ago I started putting together a top ten list of new releases and a mix to accompany that list. The first few weeks I used Logic and I was happy with the way the mixes turned out. Despite the overall appreciation for the mixes around the office, it was determined that the amount of time it was taking me might not be worth it in the long run. Happily, during the week that would mark my third top ten list, I received my copy of MixMeister Fusion (Fusion denotes one of the versions of MixMeister – more on that later). I was able to get my bearings and get my mix in order in less time than it would have taken me just to do the mix in Logic. I say this not to the detriment of Logic, but to give credit where credit is due, in this case, to MixMeister. Most music production software has a notoriously high learning curve. I use Logic for comparison only because it was what I had been using previous to MixMeister. There is some overlap, but really they are two different products with different intended applications. As my good friend and colleague Eddie B (not to mention the President) would say, “It’s like using a hatchet to do the work of a scalpel”.
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The following is taken verbatim from the MixMeister website. Any points I lose for lack of originality should be offset by points gained for providing a concise description – straight from the horse’s mouth as it were…
MixMeister software isn’t quite like anything else on the market. It’s designed for people who care enough about their music to refine a mix until it’s perfect, rather than throw everything together on the fly and hope that it sounds OK. You won’t be limited by on-screen simulations of turntables or CD players, either — you can “tweak” any part of your mix creation in a timeline instead. When you’ve got the mix just the way you want it, you can play it, burn it to CD, stream it over the Web, or reshape it in real-time for live performances.
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The last portion of the preceding paragraph regarding the use of MixMeister in a live setting is a topic I’ll be tackling in my next blog. I’m going to do more research and talk to some people. From what I can gather, MixMeister is as useful in front of a crowd as it is in the studio or at home, and I want to do justice to that side of the coin. My own experiences… As I mentioned, I’ve been using MixMeister over the past few weeks to put together a mix of my top ten picks from our store. As tracks are being imported into the program, a number of things are happening.
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As you can see in the image above, every time you import a track, MixMeister determines and displays title, artist, BPM, album, time, key, and keycode information. The keycode section takes some of the guess work out of selecting songs that will match up harmonically. It is based on a predetermined code system that groups tracks based on how the keys relate to each other. This can be quite handy and saves trying to remember the theory that most of us wish we knew better.
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The mixer and track section should look familiar to those of you who have worker with any kind of other production software. To the left are knobs to control volume, lows, mids, and highs and right of the mixer section are the graphic representations of the waveforms of your tracks. These levels can also be fine tuned using a draw function, or an external controller can be implemented if you prefer the hands-on feel of a traditional mixer.
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Here’s where things get interesting…
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MixMiester provides a variety of preset mix methods to get you from one track to the next. DIYers will be please to know that the transitions can be completely user specified. Selecting one of the beatmix options will enable the software to make the tracks match up mix flawlessly for you. The first track in subtly sped up or slowed down to match the tempo of the next track. Watching the screen as two tracks mix, a steady change in BPM can be observed (assuming the two tracks have different tempos). I’ve tested MixMiester’s ability to mix tracks with drastically different tempos. A difference of, say, 10 BPM will get some attention, but even in that case, if the tracks mix at well chosen points, you could still get away with it. And really, how often does one jump 10 BPM from one song to the next? The beatmix options range from 8 to 64 beats. I find myself using the 8 beat mixes on house and tech house tracks where I have little room to maneuver getting from one track to the next, and the longer beatmix options for techno and minimal tracks that can be slowly wound together over a longer period of time.
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When a mix is complete, MixMeister offers a host of options for exporting and sharing your mixes. The way these tasks are handled deserve some exploration, and will be covered in my next blog. Speaking of my next blog, it’s time to bid you farewell until then. We’ve covered the basics. Next time, we’ll really dig in.

Tags: MixMeister, Production Software