Most of the Dubspot courses involve a fair amount of theory, technical detail and exploration of the DAWs, synthesizers and plug-ins, but the focus of Mixing and Mastering is really about getting hands on with mixing/mastering. Consequently in order to really get something out of the course you really need to have a significant amount of work ready to be mixed and mastered. Even if you plan on having someone else mix/master your tracks, developing your ears and understanding of the possibilities inherent in mixing/mastering will enable you to better communicate with your engineer. This hands on work is what really makes this course worth while and definitely imposes an obligation on you to make sure you have enough work to bring to class.
Today I brought in a minimal electronica cover of Ballad of A Thin Man and we gave it the in depth treatment and a "outside the box" approach. Our instructor Ariel continually gives us a free hand to explore and develop our ears and mix techniques. We got so deep into it we ran out of time and will be finishing it off on Wednesday. One again taking the time to organize and setup returns for our reverb and echo allowed us to work swiftly and focus on the sound.
Level 2 which ends Wednesday has been my favorite part of the course so far, but i am eagerly looking forward to mastering the tracks that have greatly benefited from our group mixing exercises.