Workshop on spectral mixing - Fall 2025
James O'Callaghan
Following two successful and animated sessions earlier this year, I'm offering a third and new-and-improved edition of my workshop on spectral mixing.
I thought I would share here in case anyone was interested personally, or perhaps to forward on to their students.
This workshop is aimed at anyone who wants to improve their audio mixing skills in electroacoustics, acoustic recordings, electronic dance music, or sound design. I will provide hands-on example sessions in each of these genres and offer opportunities for participants to share work and receive individual feedback.
I'm looking for up to 10 participants to join the session, starting in 2 weeks on October 5th! We'll meet weekly for 5 sessions at 2PM EST (11AM PST, 8PM CET, etc.)
Sign up here:
Beginning with audio cleanup, moving through equalization and filters, temporal and dynamics processing, and other tools, the workshop aims to illustrate how to create spectrally balanced and lively mixes. It is designed for people with at least a basic knowledge of a DAW (digital audio workstation).
I will be demonstrating concepts and offering the example sessions in REAPER. The concepts taught in the course, however, are meant to be ‘software-neutral’ — I also have significant experience in ProTools, Logic, and Cubase and will be happy to give feedback to participants working in their DAW of choice.
By the end of the workshop, participants should have a good sense of how to clean up their sounds, how to balance sounds across the frequency spectrum to achieve clarity, how it is important to treat spatial and temporal processing differently across the spectrum, as well as how to create greater richness and fullness in their mixes through spectral and dynamics processing. We will be looking especially at EQ as our main tool, but also devote time to compression, spatialization, distortion, reverb, delay-based effects, and granulation. Topics will include gain-staging when applying effects, the relationship between spectrum and human hearing and acoustics, and comparisons between mixing and acoustic ecology.
Participants may bring their current projects for individual feedback on their mixes, and I will also provide text documentation, including my electroacoustic technical documentation booklet that I used in my former teaching at McGill University and private instruction.
The cost for the course is $400 CAD, 250€ or $280 USD, and I will offer a sliding scale for motivated participants in economic precariousness.
The language of instruction will be in English, but participants are welcome to pose questions and receive feedback in French.
James