Unfiltered – The Lee Fields’s Mixing Podcast

This week's a live Q&A straight from the console. Y'all sent in questions and I'm answering with tracks loaded, so when I say something, I'm showing you. Snare processing with other plugins, drum bus routing, delay compensation, OH's bleeding into toms, getting depth without sounding like a brick wall, and lottttts more. Got a question for the next Q&A? Hit me up on Instagram. This episode's brought to you by BlackBox. We don't sell gear, we don't install it. We cut out the noise and tell you the truth. www.teamblackbox.org

Everyone talks about vocals. Everyone argues about drums. But if you want to know why a mix feels powerful, stable, emotional, or expensive, start with the relationship between the bass and guitars. In this episode of Unfiltered, Lee dives into one of the most overlooked parts of mixing: creating space, movement, and impact between the instruments that carry the weight of the song. From frequency management and arrangement choices to tone decisions and mix philosophy, this conversation is less about presets and more about understanding roles. Why do some mixes feel huge while others feel crowded? How much low end is too much? Should guitars fill every gap? What actually makes bass translate across systems? Lee breaks down the thinking behind the decisions, shares practical approaches he's learned over years of mixing, and challenges some of the assumptions engineers often make when building a mix. Whether you're mixing worship, rock, pop, or anything in between, this episode will help you think differently about the instruments doing the heavy lifting. No hype. No shortcuts. Just real mix conversations.

How do you get toms to sound massive without wrecking your mix? When should you gate drums, compress overheads, or use parallel compression? And what makes the API 2500 one of the most respected bus compressors ever built? In Episode 2 of Unfiltered: The Lee Fields Mixing Podcast, Lee continues building a live mix from the ground up, moving beyond kick and snare into toms, overheads, drum bus processing, stereo imaging, and mix glue. Along the way, he shares practical EQ moves, gate settings, attack and release strategies, compression techniques, and real-world decision-making that live sound engineers can immediately apply at FOH. You'll hear Lee walk through: Tom EQ, gating, and reverb techniques Drum panning strategies for live sound Managing cymbal bleed and snare spill Overhead compression using classic hardware emulations Drum bus compression and mix glue Gain staging and routing considerations Parallel compression workflows The history, design, and practical application of the legendary API 2500 compressor Whether you're mixing worship, touring artists, festivals, or corporate events, this episode delivers practical drum-mixing insights, console workflow tips, and the reasoning behind every move. Topics: Live Sound, Front of House Mixing, Drum Mixing, Tom EQ, Drum Gates, Overhead Compression, API 2500, Bus Compression, Audio Engineering, FOH Workflow, Live Production, Worship Audio, Waves LV1, Mixing Techniques, Sound Reinforcement

Welcome to Unfiltered, a new series from BlackBox built for the live audio and mixing community. Hosted by Lee Fields, this season goes deep—methodically unpacking the fundamentals, science, technique, and philosophy behind building a great mix. No fluff. No shortcuts. Just long-form conversation about what actually matters. In this episode, we start at the foundation: Kick and Snare. Two inputs that shape the energy, punch, and personality of nearly every mix—live, broadcast, or studio. From EQ decisions and transient shaping to dynamics, phase relationship, tuning, and how kick and snare work together in the pocket, we’re getting specific about what makes drums feel right. If you care about: Live mixing Drum processing EQ and compression Transient design Mix clarity and punch Building better foundational mixes …this is for you. Jump in. Let’s go down the rabbit hole.