Start Your Mix With These 4 Steps - RecordingRevolution.com

Mixing looks fun and glamorous with all the plugins and effects at our disposal.

But did you know that the best mixers in the world have a systematic (and boring) setup process?

In fact, many of the top mixers have their assistants do this FOR them so come mix time they can move fast and have fun.

If you don't have an assistant (hand raised!) then you need to know how to properly start your mix so you your song can sound it's best.

Today I will show you the simple 4 step process I use to start each and every mix!

[pixelsmusic]

4 Steps to Start Your Mix

1. Assign colors to tracks - "visually organize the session"
2.Gain Staging
3.Static Balance of Volume & Pan
4.Allow for plenty of headroom in Master Fader

Thanks for the amazing help Mr. Cochrane!

[lodougherty]

Lol - That "Oh my goodness...." when all those guitars kicked in made me chuckle!

[KoolKatBeatz]

1.organize session sounds/colors
2.gain stage
3.vol balance (fun part)
4. create headroom

been looking for a prep giude, u rock man.

[fretfret]

man. a good drum recording makes ALL the difference in a mix.

[EthanWattsMusic]

I just finished mixing my Easter single. Then I saw this. *Proceeds to stay up all night re mixing* ughh

[positivelydark]

Great video. Very helpful and I will be putting your advice to use in my mix setup.

[martijnvandongen]

Thank you so much. This is really a good starting point. Like you said in the video, it is so tempting to add right away EQs and comps to your tracks but the overall balance is way more important to start mixing! I will going to try this technic right away :)

[ronnie]

thank you so much! I didn't think bout gain clipping

[DrJoshGuitar]

Nice video! I would add an additional step of creating an arrangement track (I'm in Logic but I'm sure you can create arrangement markers in any DAW) so you can look up and easily see where all the parts of the song are.

[lynz]

Yeah! I like to follow the rainbow coloring

Red all drums

Orange all bass

Yellow all keys pads synths

Green guitsrs

blue vocals

purple - sound effects and noise sweeps

Also mixing in another daw or exporting your multitrack into audio to mix it is a better mental separation than mixing in the same session as production

[rsdickson]

I've also notice you cut up the clips for an additional visual element - so you can 'see' the arrangement as well. I like that as well. Thanks so much!

[terrytrudell]

Following along with the record & release series. Brought me hear to figure out what to do with my too hot tracks. This was very helpful!!
The song sounds like Samantha Fish.

[amusicalafro]

definitely helped my song. Never really used an organized process before. Thanks so much

[TransverseAudio]

Great tips! The visuals and location of a workflow are definitely important. These tips can be applied to sound design just as easy. The part where you dove into mixing yourself was pretty cool too.

[pikashow]

How i do the mix bus, sub mix etc and why do you have another master fader ??

[mikilin]

Thank you so much for this tutorial! It's super helpful for someone who aspires to be a sound engineer and is learning how to do basic mixing!

[violeman]

Awesome Info!!
Thanks 4 sharing bud.!!

[HangtheTyants]

Idk if you notice this but there is always a pop somewhere in these videos; this one is at the 17:00 ish mark.

Love your tips, just killing me when listening on headphones or decent level on speakers.

[christophervincent]

Really useful. Wondered if you have ever started a mix in mono to get eq, plugins and volumes right then move to panning?

[skinnyne]

Great tips and man is that a great song!