Start Your Mix The Smart Way

The great thing about mixing music is that everyone seems to approach it differently. Some people start with all the faders up. Others focus in on one instrument at a time. Some mix in a specific order each time, others allow the song to dictate the flow.

If you’re just getting into mixing, or are feeling stuck in your mixes, then allow me to show you the smart way to get started. It’s not the ONLY way, but it sure can help!

Via Steven Depolo Flickr

Start Mixing The Most Important Section Of The Song First

I’ve found it very helpful to start my mixes with the most important part of the song first. You know, the section where a song is at full throttle, the pay off part. This could be a big bridge or perhaps the final rocking chorus. It doesn’t matter where in the song it is, only that it is the biggest dynamic of the song.

The reason for this is twofold: it gives the most attention to the biggest part of the song while simultaneously making mixing faster as you work backwards from there. Let’s say the final chorus is the most epic part of the song. If you start your mix there, crafting all of those instruments together, allowing every part to shine, then when it comes time to move on to previous choruses or verses, you can easily “come down” from that big dynamic by removing parts or simplifying the mix. Compare that with making a rocking verse one, only to find you need to “add more oomph” to the following parts. Give your time and attention to the most important section of the song and work backwards from there.
 

Start Mixing The Most Important Instrument First

So you’ve found the most important section of your song, looped it in your edit window, and are ready to tackle it, but then what? Simply start mixing the most important instrument first. Now what do I mean? All of the tracks and instruments add to the song (hopefully) so they are all important to final mix. But you want to start with the instrument that is not only going to be prominent in the mix, but is important sonically.

Whether you feel the drums to be of most importance, or a grand piano to be the centerpiece, start there. Use your EQ, compression, and everything else to make that instrument shine and then start adding tracks to it. You’ll then compare those tracks to your first track, adjusting their EQ and compression to prevent masking of the most important track. If for example your song was a piano pop tune, then it might be great to start with the piano, making it sound full, warm, and dynamic. Then layer in the drums, bass, acoustic guitar, and maybe finish with the vocals. Each time you add an instrument you are making sure it fits with the one(s) that came before it. Make sense?

Now you may be thinking that the vocals are the most important “instrument” in a mix, and I would agree that 99% of the time they are the most important musically, but not necessarily sonically. Vocals carry the lyrics and meaning behind the song as well as the memorable melody. Super important. But, vocals aren’t very complex sonically and can fit in with other instruments easier than say fitting in a drum set. If, however, you have a very vocal driven track with layers of vocals all dominating the feel of the song, then perhaps start there and bring in the band to back them up.

Starting Your Mix This Way Also Saves CPU Power

A funny thing happens when you start mixing the most important section of the song and the most important instrument first: you end up saving CPU power. How is this possible? Well typically at the beginning of a mix we feel more liberal in our plugin choices. We have plenty of CPU power available so we use our best sounding (and many times most CPU intensive) plugins early on in the mix. If you wait to mix the important instruments last, you may not have enough horsepower to wield those plugins anymore. But if you start with them, then by the time you get to the egg shaker and triangle parts in your mix, you can throw a high pass filter up there and not need much more than that!