To celebrate the release of the mixing tips chapters in my ever-expanding book, I’m going to look at what we can learn from multiple mixing flaws in Let It Be by the Beatles, and at the end of the video, probably the most important mixing tip of all.

Before you dislike this video and write an angry comment about who the heck I think I am to find flaws in one of the most beloved songs of all time by arguably the best band of all time, it’s not me that pointed these out, it’s the Beatles. More specifically, in 2015 the Beatles released new and improved mixes of several of their hit songs, including Let it be. This project was led by Giles Martin, son and collaborator with Sir George Martin – known as the fifth Beatle, so this is not some random person making a remix.

I’m sure many subtle changes were made – this video points out the most noticable differences between the new 2015 mix, and the latest remastered version before that from 2009:

TIMELINE:

0:00 Intro

0:15 Blasphemy!

1:00 Get ready…

2:00 START HERE

2:01 Stereo width

2:20 Mastering

2:35 Balance

2:55 FX and EQ

3:00 Compression

3:15 Re-balance

3:30 Vocals are #1

3:45 Stereo fixes

3:55 Swap takes

4:05 New effects

4:15 Panning

4:25 Drum bus balance

5:10 Prioritize the vocals…

5:40 Leave on time

6:00 LET IT BE