How Drugs and Alcohol Really Affect Your Mixing Decisions

Episode 357 of the Mixing Music Podcast tackles a topic most engineers avoid saying out loud: using substances while mixing, recording, or working live sound . Prompted by a Discord listener question, Dee Kei and Lu break down caffeine, weed, alcohol, psychedelics, and harder drugs through a practical lens, not a moral one. They talk about the difference between feeling more creative versus actually making better decisions, why weed and alcohol can change your mindset without improving your output, and how reliance (even on “normal” stuff like caffeine) can expose deeper issues with impulse control . DK also uses Japan as a real-world counterexample to the idea that drugs are required for creativity, and argues that long-term success in music is driven less by “genius” and more by conscientiousness, reliability, and professionalism . They also cover the career side of the issue: high-level sessions require someone to “drive the ship,” labels and managers value efficiency, and substance use on the job can quietly turn you into a liability even if you think you’re fine. Bottom line: if you choose to partake, understand the risks, keep it responsible, and do not let it steal your hearing, your focus, or your reputation.

You can listen to How Drugs and Alcohol Really Affect Your Mixing Decisions online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

How Drugs and Alcohol Really Affect Your Mixing Decisions is an episode from Mixing Music | Music Production, Audio Engineering, & Music Business by @DeeKeiMixes.

This episode is 77:46 long.

This episode was published on Jan 20, 2026.

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