YouTube is packed with gems, but it’s also packed with half-information — little “pro tips” with zero context. In this video, I break down five mixing mistakes I made early on because I copied what I heard online without understanding why. And it cost me years of thin mixes, phase issues, and over-processed tracks. Mixing isn’t about memorizing rules — it’s about making decisions based on what the song actually needs. I go in on things like overusing high-pass filters (and not realizing I was introducing phase shift), smashing everything with compression even when the samples were already compressed, and notching out every “resonance” until the vocal didn’t even sound like the original anymore. I also talk about the whole “bass must be mono” rule — there’s truth to it, but it’s not universal, and I’ll show you how I like to keep the sub centered while widening an octave up to open space for the kick. Finally, I touch on shiny object syndrome: thinking you need the exact plugins an engineer uses, when you’ve probably already got tools that can get you there. The main takeaway: don’t copy-paste rules. Train your ears, experiment, and make choices that serve the record.