Mixing Workflow Tips

Have an End Goal

• Mix Your Track with Your Story Behind

• i.e. Help the Track to be Outstanding by Mixing It “Outstanding” in Terms of Great Ideas and Feeling

• e.g. Certain Bonham Drums have been Recorded in a Big Room at Stairway, this Great Almost Like a Slap Delay Sounding Drums have Shaped Songs Essentially and Wrote History, Now Imagine they Would have been Recorded in a Traditional Small Room Just Like 90% of the Drums, the Story Would Not have been Written

• e.g. Add Reverb Only to Vocals and Keep Guitars etc. Dry which will Make a Mix as the Singer Comes from a Certain Room

Set Basic Levels in Mono

• Will Make a Mix More Balanced, Punchy and Clear

• i.e. Start the Mix by Setting Basic Levels in Mono and Not in Stereo

1. Put a Utility Plugin on the Main Outs and Set it to Mono

2)  Start Mix Setup Levels for Kick and Bass

• if you Go for a Acoustic Song with a Lot of Drum Elements, Start Mix Setup Levels for Drum Elements First and then Join Bass

3) Switch Utility Back to Stereo from Time to Time

EQ Elements in Mono

• Helps Better Detecting Problem Frequencies 

– when You Mix Your Own Song your Ear is so Used to Know the Resonances and Accepts them, but if you Sum to Mono the Resonances and Problem Frequencies Jump Out Better

1)  Put a Utility Plugin on the Main Outs and Set it to Mono

2) Take a Note of the Resonances that May Become Obvious in Mono

3) Start EQ Tracks by Starting with Kick and Bass

4) Switch Utility Back to Stereo from Time to Time

Emulate Analog Signal Chain and Recording Process

• i.e. Emulate the Signal Chain and Recording Process Used in Production of Old Records Such as Motown

– e.g. Color the Mix Creatively

1. Tube Pre Amp

• Motown Often Used an “Altech” Tube Pre Amp

• e.g. Little Radiator is an Emulation of that Tube Pre Amp

2) Console

• i.e. from the Pre Amp the Signal Goes into the Console

• Motown Often Used a Neve Console

– Increase the “Drive” Just a Little Bit

3) Tape Machine 

• i.e. from the Console the Signal is Recorded onto the Tape Machine

• Motown Often Used an “J37” Tape Machine

• Set the BIAS to a Higher Setting, e.g. +5 to Focus the High Frequencies 

– Set the Tape Formula to 811 (Older Style of Tape)

4) Console 

• from the Tape Machine the Signal is Routed Back into the Neve Console

• i.e. Insert a New Neve Console Emulation After the Tape Machine with the Same Settings as the First One

Distortion Instead of Additive EQ

• i.e. Instead Boosting Stuff with EQ, Try with Distortion

– Use a Tool that has Build In “Wet/Dry” Knob to Mix the Processed Signal with the Unprocessed

1) Add a Distortion or Pre Amp etc. Tool 

• Increase Drive to Exaggerate a Bit and then Dial Back a Bit

2) Use the “Wet/Dry” Knob to Set the Overall Effect Strength of the Distortion

– Often Rather Low Amounts are Enough if you Consider to Use Distortion Tools on Many Other Tracks as well

Create Space with Panning

• we are Still Mixing in Mono and Now we Start to Spread the Mix

• i.e. Set Utility Back to Stereo

• Avoid Total Hard Panning if you are Not Sure How to, Go Maximal 50 / 60

1) Keep Kick / Snare / Bass / Vocals in the Middle, i.e. Do Not Pan Them if Not Necessary to Keep them Centered and Punchy

– Keep the Other Drum Kit Elements Such as Overheads etc. in Mono as well for Now (to Treat the Whole Drum as 1 Element)

2) Start to Spread Things Such as Guitars

– e.g. 1 Guitar at -25 and the Other Guitar at +25 

– or to Maximal 50 / 60

3) Continue by Spreading Percussion 

– e.g. 1 Percussion at -15 and the Other Percussion at +15 

• or to Maximal 20, but Avoid Panning Over 20 if Other Elements are Already there

4) Continue by Spreading the Piano

• e.g. More Subtle Change to Either 10 or -10

Working with Busses

• Using Busses / Group Tracks can Help to Fix Problems you Encounter During Mixdowns

• i.e. After the Previous Steps to Form the Basic Mix, you Shape the Group of Sounds to then Shape Individual Elements that Cause Problems After Bussing and Shape the Final Mix

1) Route Similar Group of Elements to a Dedicated Group

• e.g. All Guitars to a Guitars Group etc.

2) Use a EQ and Balance All Guitars Together

• e.g. Cut Out Lows and Tame Resonances 

3) Use a Compressor and Compress All Guitars Together

• e.g. Level Out Transients

4) Send All Drums to a Separate Buss for Parallel Tasks

• i.e. Do it so you can Use the “Send” Control Individually per Track whilst Leaving the Buss at Zero (e.g. Send / Return in Cubase)

• e.g. Use a Compressor with Rather Strong Compression Settings but with Rather Low Amounts of Send

Match EQ / Reference Tracks

• Use Match EQ Techniques for Creative Ideas on Mixing Elements or when you Stuck on Getting the Right Mix Out of a Certain Sound

– e.g. Match the Drum Kit of a Favorite Reference or See Where Your Track Differs Obviously from Being Ready

Check M/S 

• Listen to the Mid and Side Signal Separately to Hear the Track from Another Perspective Again

• Remember Mid is Just the Information that is the Same for the Left and the Right Channel, Side is the Difference between the Left and the Right Channel and Mono is Everything Summed Together

– thus Mid is Quasi a “Cleaner” Mono Signal as it has No Side Information, while “Mono” has Mid and Side Summed, that is Why you Should Check Both 

1) Check Side if Too Much Bass and / or Reverb is there that Causes a Muddy and / or Washed-Out Mix

– i.e. Either Cut Out the Bass Information Out of the Sides and / or Reduce the Reverb Send for the Track that is Responsible for the Washed-Out Mix

2) Check Mid for Build-Ups and Clashing Frequencies

• Often in Low Mids there are Some Build-Ups to Correct, e.g. Remove Low Mid Frequencies that Do Not Need 

• but also Reduce High Frequencies on Elements that Do Not Need it (e.g. Bass, Piano)