When you sit down to mix a song, you may find yourself bursting with excitement about delivering the best mix ever that you immediately begin dropping in plugins and tweaking like a crazy person. A little compression here, a little EQ there. You’re just going for it! But what if I told you that there was one crucial step in the mixing process that you can only do once and never get back to if you skip it? Would you be interested?
Via Stephen Dann Flickr
Hearing A Song For The First Time
I was listening to Grammy winning mixer Dave Pensado over at Pensado’s Place and he said something that struck me as very wise. In describing his process for mixing and how he starts, he dropped this insightful nugget of gold:
There’s only one time to hear a song the first time, and I like to catalogue my first impressions because I trust them. So I’ll begin the process by pulling out pen and paper and noting down the weaknesses and strengths of a song. – Dave Pensado, Mixer (Christina Aguilera, Destiny’s Child, Justin Timberlake)
What a geniuous thought. If you are a mixer and are given a song to mix, you only get one true first impression. You have only one shot at hearing a song like the eventual listeners will hear it, fresh. How profoundly helpful your first impression will be if you write it down. It can and should be your clue as to where to start working and what to feature in that mix.
Clues For How To Mix
Whatever your gut tells you about the song when you first hear it, that is where you should focus your time and attention. If your first impression is that the drums sound thin and lifeless and it’s distracting you from the vocal, then clue #1 is that you need to spend a good chunk of time on bringing the drums to life.
If at the same time you notice that the piano riff is so tight and it makes you want bob your head to the beat, clue #2 is that you need to feature the heck out of that piano. It moved you instantly as a listener, it will move the intended audience as well. Don’t let that piano part blend in with the rest of the tracks.
What If You Recorded The Track Yourself?
Many of you might be both the mixer and the tracking engineer, especially if it’s your own music we’re talking about. I would submit that this process still applies to you. You want to give yourself some time (at least a day for crying out loud) to separate yourself from the recording process before you start mixing. Go listen to something else, or do something else entirely for some time. Then schedule mixing into your calendar and sit down intently.
Fire open a song, grab a pen and paper, and press play. For those 4 minutes or so, make note of everything you like and don’t like. Be honest with yourself. Don’t defend your poor recording choices with stubbornness. Instead admit that you’ll need to work on some tracks more than others. And at the same time, be sure to highlight what truly are the strengths of that song, the parts that still move you as an engineer who is very close to the project. This is a strong indicator of what others will like as well.
It’s All About Intentionality
In the end, what Dave Pensado is bringing to light is that it’s wise to be intentional about that first listen through. Give yourself a moment to think with focus about the big picture of the mix. What should you focus your time on fixing and what should you focus your remaining time on highlighting. You’ll have a clearer vision for the hours that lay ahead of you and your final mixes will likely reflect that focus.
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My name is Graham Cochrane and I'm the founder of The Recording Revolution, one of the world's most loved audio recording and mixing blogs with over 200,000 readers each month. 
I like this. I’m definitely. going to try this out next time I mix
Your spot on this Graham. I’ve noticed with my own stuff, I tend to do the same thing. Listen to want makes the song move me, is it the drums, a guitar riff, a vocal passage. In the long run (as you and others I’ve read have said) it’s all about the song, what grabs you to want to listen to it over and over again. Thank you for the time and effort you put into you’re tutorials, they are ever so helpful.
You’re welcome Ric!
Great Article. Thank you Graham.
No problem.
Great advice!
Good post, thanks. Time off from a track surely helps to get a bit of that “first listen” perspective back.
What helps me even more (and quicker) is to detach myself from the inner workings of the track, knowing what is what and how it’s built and whatnot.
I find it useful to print the mix and listen to it in the Finder Preview only, that sad bland look immediately removes me from the visual representation of the track within Ableton Live, where I believe I often listen too much with my eyes and/or brain anyway. It’s akin to the “don’t look at the meters” thing I guess.
Also, SoundCloud is great for notetaking on tracks. I simply upload the current mix and add timed comments, makes it easy to keep track of your thoughts, mix versions, and such.
“That sad bland look…” Hahaha. I love it.
(The SoundCloud bit is obviously more suited to the production phase than the mixing)
Another great way to gain a different perspective is to play it to a citical friend or colleague who knows a bit abut musis. Play it for them and sit with them and as soon as you find yourself making excuses for parts you know that’s where your track needs some attention 😉
Pensado’s Place has some great tips & tricks, I just can not stand Dave interrupting everyone & sounding like a total burn out! LOL
And on the last few projects I let a few weeks pass before I started mixing. I found that letting things sit for longer than a few days really lets you hear it fresh again. And I also bite the bullet & go back & record parts that just are NOT working instead of trying to fix them in the mix.
This is a luxury that we have with our own tracks that we don’t with someone else’s….
You hit it on the head with your last line. If mixing your own music, you have the luxury of time. Take advantage of that!
i do that with every new song. very important for big decisions later on.
realy like the credit that you gave dave pensado.
So true all of it Thanks a lot Graham you really helped me out a lot…
Just a quick Graham to thank you for sharing your knowledge and insights.
I started out in the analogue world and making the switch to mixing ITB with a DAW does require a shift in methodology and approach.
Sites such as your own and YouTube channels like Pensado’s Place are creating a new online paradigm enabling us in the audio trenches to improve our engineering and mixing/mastering skills…
I’m slowly sensing a consensus emerging on how best to use evolving DAW/plugin technology and the Recording Revolution is playing a prominent role in this.
Thank you again – Simon
https://www.facebook.com/simon.tittley.5
So encouraged to hear this and glad to help Simon.
im a student in ”music technology & acoustics” college based in greece.im currently working on my graduation project which is the recording and mixing of a jazz-funk album.can i follow these tips too?i mean my ears can’t really hear many things yet,because of the lack of my experience on this sector.i do write down my first thoughts about a song but am i really in position to trust my insticts?
ps this blog is helping a lot young people on this job.keep up the good work guys!
(sorry for my english!)
Yes this can apply to you. But it does take time to train your ears to hear the subtle changes and know what you want to do. Keep mixing and you will only get better.