Have you ever sat down to mix a song and you began by inserting plugins and tweaking knobs randomly? I know I sure have. Why do we do this sometimes as mixers? What do we think we’re actually accomplishing by jumping in at full speed? All we’re doing is simply changing the sound. Big deal. Even my 3 year old can do that.
Via DWRose Flickr
Start By Listening
Before you start throwing plugins around aimlessly in a mix, start by listening to the tracks a few times. Close your eyes if you like. Identify in your mind the strengths and weaknesses of the song. How do the drums sound? Flat? Punchy? Muddy? What do the vocals sound like? Dynamic? Consistent? What does the mid range sound like? Harsh? Mellow?
If you’re really smart you might pull out a pen and some paper and begin writing down your first impressions of the tracks (even if you recorded them), because as Grammy winning engineer Dave Pensado says, “There’s only one time to hear a song for the first time.” These initial notes on the strengths and weakness of the track will in essence tell you what to do in the mix.
Clean Up The Mess
Once you’ve listened to the mix a bit and thought about what is lacking and what it’s doing well, it’s a good time to follow those notes to the problem areas first. I like to do corrective mixing first. And by this I generally mean subtractive EQ. I begin pulling out what is either hurting the mix or what’s covering up the good stuff.
Sometimes this one step alone will make your mix come together very quickly. Chiseling away at the ugly in your tracks can reveal a musical masterpiece lying just below the surface. Why jack up your mix with random plugins and blind tweaking when you can start with something as simple as intentional subtractive EQ?
Enhance What’s Left
After you’ve tightened up your mix with some junk clearing EQ, it’s a great time to enhance what’s left. You can do this with compression, saturation plugins, delays, reverbs, and even automation. This is the creative part of mixing where anything is fair game as long as it makes the song compelling and engaging to the listener.
This part of the mixing phase looks different for every mixer and every mix. But be careful not to become aimless here either. Stop and pull out your notes from your initial listen through. Remind yourself of what parts of the track you had identified as it’s strengths. Then highlight these in any way you deem necessary. This is what you liked as a listener, so it’s probable that the average listener will be drawn to those parts as well. Feature them.
Plan To Win
The big idea here is that I don’t want you to mix in chaos and without purpose. You want great mixes? Make a plan. You must plan in order to win at this thing. Have some direction. Draw up a blueprint. Outline what the mix needs and then use the tools available to execute that game plan. Otherwise you won’t know if you’re helping or hurting things and you likely won’t know when the mix is finished.
If you ever get flustered and overwhelmed, simply stop, take a deep breath, and think. You’ll go a lot further this way.
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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. 
Thanks Graham, that by itself was very helpful.
spot on! always!
Some good stuff man. But its so hard to NOT jump in and start smashing the crud out of every track. lol Must retain perspective and give the song what IT needs.
Great advice! Take it slow! Record, clean up, LISTEN IN MONO (often), balance.. all before putting on make up. That’s last. You’re helping me, Graham. God bless you.
Over time I’ve found myself doing less and less on the mixing portion. I used to just, as you said, jump in at full speed. Now I usually end up leaving a lot of things untouched unless I’m going for a really effects-ridden style of production.
Part of this might have to do with the fact I’ve gotten better at getting good recordings from the start.
I recently spent hours mixing a song and sent it to a couple of professionals for their opinion. Both of them told me almost the same things that needed correction. I used Izotope Ozone on the master fader so the first thing I did was remove it. I couldn’t believe how much better it sounded when I did this. I thought I was improving the mix with this and some other plug-ins but was doing the opposite. Lesson learned: don’t use plug-ins unless you know how to use them properly.
Thanks Graham for all your help.
wow thats right on, i’ve learned that sometimes thats all 1 track needs is 2 cuts and most of the time no boost, just those muddy sounds and maybe that hiss that hides, & try to listen to what sounds like somewhat of a wissle in the say “guitar” track pull them out & im good, when i try only to boost, i find myself re-doing that track later, and i hate that, this is great info, great stuff i cant say enough good things about you graham
I always approach mixing with one main concept in mind… “The song has to breathe and live.”… the “loudness” or “Squash” {if that’s what your looking for} should come from mastering… not necessarily mixing… they are two different worlds. Graham… you rock!!! Thanks for all your guidance! Christian Peace…
Thanks this was extremely helpful and insightful I enjoy you sharing your wisdom and helping us become better producers!!! You are a blessing thanks!
hi, my dime in the can: it’s important to have a plan so that you can track next time what you did right and what you did wrong. this helps you find your approach and method when facing a new mix.
You give out such brilliant stuff in your free section, I am intrigued what lies there in your paid-products kitty. But as of now my pockets are null otherwise I would have bought some of your dvds
No problem. If you ever get some money to burn, pick up some of my tutorials 🙂
I hate it when people try to make me think… 🙂
I’m so mean
Yes, sir. Keep it up!