Mixing Commercial Pop Music
CourseMusic ProductionContemporaryIntermediate
Part ofMusic Production

Mixing Commercial Pop Music

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Duration2h 34m
Modules23
LevelIntermediate
LanguageEnglish

Lesson Plan (2h 34m)

About this course

Goetz Botzenhardt is an award-winning German producer and mixing engineer whose credits include the Pet Shop Boys, Faithless, the Sugababes, Ella Eyre and Utada Hikaru, alongside film and TV work on Steve Jobs and Under the Skin. Over roughly two and a half hours he walks you through his complete hybrid analog/digital workflow for mixing commercial pop.

You get Goetz's Pro Tools stems for the track 'Dare' by Tileyard artist Tiggy and follow him from session prep and a reusable mix template through tightening drums, replacing kick and snare, shaping vocals, and working with EQ, compression, reverb and the mix bus. It applies whether you mix in Pro Tools or any other DAW, and suits everyone from bedroom producers to working engineers.

Who it's for

  • Bedroom producers ready to make mixes sound commercial
  • Intermediate engineers wanting a pro's full workflow
  • Self-taught mixers patching gaps in EQ and compression

What you'll learn

  • Set up a reusable mix template in any DAW
  • Tighten drums and replace kick and snare cleanly
  • Shape vocals to sit forward in a pop mix

What you'll need

  • A DAW you already know, Pro Tools or otherwise
  • Headphones or monitors you trust at low volume
  • A few focused sessions most weeks to practise mixing

Meet the Guru

Goetz Botzenhardt

Goetz Botzenhardt

In the early nineties, Goetz Botzenhardt trained at Swanyard Recording Studios, assisting top producers like Flood, Alan Moulder and Tom Lord-Alge, and cut his teeth recording and mixing the dance and Acid Jazz bands of the 90s - Incognito, Galliano, Soul II Soul and many others.

At Swanyard he met Rollo Armstrong and the two quickly formed a creative partnership, leading to many big dance records and remixes and, soon after, to recording and mixing the first two acclaimed Faithless albums and Dido's multi-platinum 'No Angel'.

Ranging across genres, he recorded and mixed the Sugababes' debut album 'One Touch', including their first hit 'Overload', and has mixed for The Cardigans, Bjork, The Cinematic Orchestra, Craig David, the Pet Shop Boys and Hikaru Utada, one of Japan's most successful artists.

More recently he expanded into film and TV, working extensively with composers Christian Henson, Martin Phipps and Anne Nikitin, and mixing Daniel Pemberton's Golden Globe-nominated score for 'Steve Jobs', directed by Danny Boyle. Away from film he produced Tanita Tikaram's 'Closer to the People', mixed tracks for Sigala, Ella Eyre, Breton, Planet Funk and Tito Jackson, and in 2016 mixed Peabo Bryson's album with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. A full list of his work is on his discography and filmography pages at goetz-botzenhardt.com.

Goetz works from his own studio and mix room, built around an SSL E4044 console, Adam 5.1 surround monitoring, a 48-channel Pro Tools HDX system and choice outboard gear. In his courses he takes you inside that room to show how he mixes across two very different worlds: in Mixing for Film & TV Score, how he balances and shapes orchestral and hybrid scores to serve the picture; and in Mixing Commercial Pop Music, how he builds punchy, radio-ready pop mixes from the multitrack up.

Published with

Tileyard Education

Tileyard Education sits inside Tileyard, the world's largest professional music community at London's Kings Cross. Alongside 200+ resident music businesses and 160 private recording studios, it delivers postgraduate, short-course and bespoke programmes in music production, songwriting and music business — taught by working industry practitioners.
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