Nick Messitte

Nick Messitte

Learn contributor

Nick Messitte is an award-winning engineer, composer, sound designer, and educator. His credits span a variety of genres and disciplines, from indie rock to post-production sound design. He’s mixed and mastered records for Peach Face, Adjective Animal, Soul Cannon, Super City, Micah E. Wood, Not Charles, Pete Mancini, Leland Sundries, and others. A veteran engineer in the podcast space, Nick has worked on shows and segments for NPR, WHYY, WBURR, OZY Media, ABC, Voyage Media, Criminal Content, and more. If you’d like to connect with Nick about a project or have any questions about the craft of engineering, you can reach him here.

Essential tips for mix bus processing

Essential tips for mix bus processing

Spend any time whatsoever investigating the art of mixing and you’ll likely hear the words “mix bus processing.” First, you’ll be...

6 parallel compression mistakes in mixing

6 parallel compression mistakes in mixing

Parallel compression is a powerful tool. By blending a compressed signal into the dry audio, you can enhance the punch and power of that instrument without...

What is top-down mixing? How to speed up your workflow

What is top-down mixing? How to speed up your workflow

You might have heard about top-down mixing, a technique many professional engineers employ to speed up their workflow and maximize their efficiency. But...

Understanding serial compression: how to use it to control dynamic range

Understanding serial compression: how to use it to control dynamic range

Ever sit there slamming your vocals through one compressor and wondering why it doesn’t sound slick, sophisticated, polished, or professional? Now...

What is distortion in music? When and how to use it

What is distortion in music? When and how to use it

Distortion can be a powerful tool for audio engineers. In the right hands, distortion can add all sorts of flair to a track, fill out thinly recorded signals,...

Learn iZotope Trash in 10 minutes

Learn iZotope Trash in 10 minutes

Trash is back with a modern, multiband twist. Trash was always a deep cut of a plugin – a distortion powerhouse that could unlock so many sonic...

What is an impulse response? How to use convolution reverb on drums, synths, bass, and more

What is an impulse response? How to use convolution reverb on drums, synths, bass, and more

Impulse response: It’s not a concept relating to self-control – not in the world of audio, anyway. An impulse response is a tool that is often...

Principles of equalization: how to EQ your mix

Principles of equalization: how to EQ your mix

EQ is a fundamental tool used by audio engineers to shape the sound of music, voice recordings, and other audio content.  With equalization, you...

Choosing the right EQ for your mix

Choosing the right EQ for your mix

Using EQ in audio mixing enhances clarity and balances the overall sound. It can be difficult to know which EQ is best for different mixing tasks, whether...

Must-know audio file formats in 2023

Must-know audio file formats in 2023

The discipline of music production is awash with confusing file formats. Understanding them is both bewildering and crucial, as different formats have...

Reverb pre-delay explained: how to avoid a muddy reverb sound

Reverb pre-delay explained: how to avoid a muddy reverb sound

Reverbs can be tricky to get right. Many of them have a confusing number of controls, often labeled incongruously. Add the nature of the effect itself to the...

10 of the best reverb plugins in 2023 to give you a spacious sound

10 of the best reverb plugins in 2023 to give you a spacious sound

Reverb is a vital, complex, and often misunderstood tool in the world of audio production. Making matters more confusing, there’s a veritable glut of...