Dana Nielsen - Record Producer, Mixer, Engineer

"Wherever you mixed the last one." That was Rick Rubin's reply to me. And I'll never forget it. The year was 2007.The cell phone was my state-of-the-art BlackBerry.The heads-up from Rick's office was: Rick will be calling you soon from a blocked number. Pick up. About a year earlier, Rick had given me my first major label mixing job: a special stripped-down version of Neil Diamond's album 12 Songs, called 12 Songs: Artist's Cut. My BlackBerry lit up on cue: Blocked Number. Holy crap... To my...

I’ve noticed something interesting over the years: A surprising number of my favorite mixers are also really into photography. And I don’t think that’s an accident. Both are really about the same thing:deciding what deserves focus. Light and shadow.Perspective.Depth.Negative space.Contrast. The more I mix, the more I realize that great records don’t usually feel exciting because everything is huge… …they feel exciting because certain moments are allowed to become huge by comparison. If...

Hey Reader, A lot of you in the Mix Protégé community have been asking for my take on Sonarworks Virtual Monitoring PRO, so I wanted to properly report back after living with it for a bit. The short version: 🎧 Yeah — it’s genuinely useful. What surprised me most wasn’t that it sounded impressive at first. It’s that after using it in different situations, I started to realize my headphones now serve two different purposes instead of one. Normally, I use headphones as a checking tool. I’ll...

Ever had this happen on a mix? Everything sounds super clean and clear while it’s dry. But the moment you add a little room reverb… the mix turns into mud. Drew asked a great question in our Mixing forum: “How do you handle reverb on an acoustic group like the Avett Brothers? Guitar, banjo, fiddle, bass — all recorded separately in different cities. If I keep everything dry it feels a little lifeless. But as soon as I add room reverb… it turns to mud.” One of my session setups in Studio B at...

He didn’t mix the live show.He didn’t hit the record button. But Mix Protégé member Paul Tucci knew something magical happened the night Langhorne Slim played Red Rocks. The band was on fire.The crowd was electric.And Paul eventually got access to the multitracks from that magical night. Langhorne Slim - photo by Cooper Baumgartner So he opened the session and started mixing. And like many live recordings… one thing jumped out immediately. 🎸 The DI Acoustic Guitar Problem The track opens with...

A few days ago, Spotify served me a track that made me stop mid-drive. Beautiful. Mesmerizing. Completely absorbing. And the sickest 5/4 beat! Then it hit me: “Wait… I know this song.” It was Nathaniel Earl’s “happy.” I didn't know it from Spotify. I knew it from our Member Spotlight forum. Back in 2023, Nathaniel shared it as an “almost finished” piece, saying he had: “absolutely no objectivity at this point lol” He asked about low end, clarity, balance — all the usual “is this actually...

When the song “Robot Pizza” appeared in our Member Spotlight forum, I immediately thought... well this is going to be fun! 🤖🍕 Kirk (a children’s book author — which suddenly explains everything) shared his in-progress mix, asking questions I hear all the time: "Is this too loud? Too compressed? Am I smashing this plugin too hard?" At one point he described the mix as feeling “so vulfy!” — worried he’d overused a new plugin, the Vulf Mastering Compressor — which made me laugh… because yeah,...

Hey Reader! 👋 Quick heads-up on an awesome limited-time freebie from the fine folks at Native Instruments & iZotope: It's a STEAL! Regular price: expensive Even if you already have a hardware meter (I still love my trusty TC Electronic Clarity M), you’ll probably find iZotope Insight 2 incredibly useful. My favorite feature? Offline loudness analysis. I use this all the time—select a mix or master in my DAW, hit Analyze, and poof… you get an accurate, detailed readout of LUFS, True Peak, and...

Hey Reader! Quick heads up: I’m hosting a free, super-casual Home Studio Q&A this Friday at 11am Pacific, and I’d love for you to join me. No sales pitch. Just a fun hang with a bunch of music-makers. 👉 RSVP Here If we haven’t connected in a while — hi! I’m Dana, a Grammy-nominated mixer/producer who loves helping home-studio musicians level-up. I’ve worked with artists like Bob Dylan, Justin Bieber, and The Avett Brothers, and I get a TON of questions about how to make great-sounding records...