Mixing Simplified — Workflow

Mindset check. Mixing tools check. Now we’re ready to talk about a mixing workflow; A game plan on how to approach the mix from beginning to end.

Mix Sequence Initiate! — Ze Plan

A workflow process will allow you to stay on track while working on a mix. It will allow you to stay in “flow state” aka “the zone” aka creative headspace.

All-too-often I’ve found myself at rock bottom, mindlessly adjusting knobs and getting lost in the sonic seas.

Not for you! Not today. Let me show you the map.

1- Organize Your Session

2- Set Up Routing

3- Balance Levels

4- Process Tracks

5- Automation

6- Effects

7- Finalize

It’s not crucial that you use this exact workflow, so long as you have one. If you have a set process that you use every time you mix, you’ll mix not only faster but better.

A repeatable and predictable workflow allows you to stay engaged with the right, creative side of your brain. Getting rid of the tedious, non-musical tasks early in your workflow will prevent you from having to switch to left-brain thinking.

Let’s take a closer look at all these steps.

1. Organize Session

IMPORTANT: Before starting to mix every track should be properly named, edited and consolidated. This is crucial to keep your files organized and stay focused on your one goal: mixing

The first thing to do is to order all your tracks on the screen. I like to have drums first, bass, guitars, vox, synths or special effects, then my aux returns and master fader.

Then proceed to color-code them. I use red for bass, orange for drums, yellow for percussion, green for guitars, blue for vocals, and purple for synths and effects. I use neutral colors for my aux returns (grey) and master fader (black). Over time, using the same colors for the same types of tracks will allow you to easily identify and locate all your sounds in every session.

Next, group the session into the least amount of tracks as possible. If you can combine multiple tracks into one (such as vocal doubles), get a rough balance and bounce them down into one stereo track. You can also group tracks together to adjust them simultaneously. This is great for snare top and snare bottom tracks, for example. Reducing the track count in your session will help you move faster and avoid repetition.

Plus it’s calming to be organized. Ahhh.

2. Routing

Next, is to set up all your routing. Track inputs and outputs, aux inputs, aux returns, and a master fader. This means you’ll set up an aux track and route all the same types of tracks to their respective aux track. All the drums to a drum aux, all the bass to a bass aux, all the vocals to a vox aux, etc. All these aux tracks then feed to the main mix bus.

Now you can set up all your all you mix effects aux return tracks. There are aux returns tracks that you’ll then load with mix effects various effects. These can be effects such as Vox Delay, Snare Verb, Paral Comp which once set up, you can easily send a signal to.

For example; Let’s say you wanted to add some reverb to your snare. Both the snare top track and snare bottom track. Instead of loading the reverb effect directly on both of those tracks, you can set up a reverb aux return track with the reverb loaded on it. Then you can send whichever amount of both snare tracks independently to the return track and blend it in with the original signals. Pretty nifty.

Once you’ve set up all your favorite mix effects, you can save it as a template. Then, you can import it to all your future sessions. Huge time saver!

3. Balance Levels

With the technical tedium out of the way, you can now focus on the music! Start by listening through the song with a rough mix to get a feel for the song and the artistic vision. Then bring all the faders down and start from fresh. Bring the faders up one by one and get a quick level balance and panning of all the tracks. Listen through the song a few times and do some more balancing as you go.

Try to envision the sound the artist was trying to achieve (it’s good to think like this even if you’re mixing your own song). Make notes of special parts and uniques sounds that should be emphasized. Try to connect with the emotional intent and overall energy of the song.

From this stage, you should have a good idea in your head of how you want the song to sound like. Time to get jazzed and make it happen!

4. Process Tracks

This is where we start to whip out our fancy mixing tools such as EQ, compression, saturation, and anything else that will get the job done.

Start by fixing anything you noted upon your previous listens and any glaring problems. Then start processing the tracks one by one.

Usually, its a good idea to move in the order that the tracks are organized. Drums first, then bass, guitar, etc. As you move through your tracks keep in mind that any adjustment you make will affect the whole mix. This means as you progress you should be listening to how your bass adjustments are effecting your drums sounds, for example. You’ll be jumping back and making adjustments on what you’ve already worked on as you progress through the rest of the tracks.

Also, use the Solo button very sparingly. It’s useful for zeroing in on a specific problem you’re trying to fix, but it’s very easy to get lost in adjusting something by itself out of context of the entire mix. Sometimes how something sounds in Solo won’t sound great by itself until it’s in context with the whole mix and POOF, magic, it sounds amazing.

As your processing, adjusting and tweaking your tracks, start to add in effects as well. Reverbs and delays can add a lot of space and depth to sounds. This will also help you stay creative and keep things exciting as you start to approach the desired result.

5. Automation

Unfortunately, this step is often skipped by a lot of mixers. Automation is a really powerful tool that allows you to breathe life into your mix.

Automation is when you program automatic changes to happen to specific parameters of a track throughout a song. The most common automation is volume levels.

A great example is “riding the fader” of a vocal track. This is when your constantly making micro-adjustments to the volume of a vocal track to match the syllables and energy of the vocal. This is to make sure it always sits on top of the mix. It’s great to “feel” out automation with physical faders (midi controllers) instead of painful mouse-clicking.

Automation is one of the most important tools in mixing. It allows you to keep the listener engaged by bringing energy and excitement to the overall feel of the song.

It’s also an insanely powerful creative tool as you can automate pretty much anything! This is where you can shine a mixing artist and really enhance the “feel” of a song.

6. Effects

Once you’ve completed your automation moves. Take some time to listen for any opportunities to add extra effects or special effects to the song.

This could be something as simple as a filter sweep or a bass drop, or it could be something more crazy and experimental. The key is that it serves the song and doesn’t take away from the experience.

SERVE. THE. SONG! *bass drop*

If you’re an experimental artist in general, you may have already included mixing effects, automation and special effect into your song.

Alex approves his message *high five emoji*

7. Finalize

The final step is to listen, make any final tweaks and proceed to call it finished. Try to remove yourself from the driver’s seat and listen to the song as a fan would.

Set the mood, turn off the screen, sit back and listen.

After focusing on the details of every individual track for so long, it’s time to get a bigger perspective on the mix. How does everything feel together? Does it flow? Does it captivate you for its entirety? Does it make you bob your head? These are the qualities you’re looking for.

As you’re listening back, as tempting as it may be, don’t interrupt playback. If you notice something you want to adjust or tweak, make a note on paper. The focus is to listen to the song as a whole, not in separate parts.

Listen to it on different speaker systems, at different volumes, and move around to different parts of the room. Make any minor change and keep listening until you’re satisfied.

A common practice is to check the mix in your car. Everybody spends a lot of time in their cars and its a location you’ll intuitively know how things should sound.

Sleep on it. Upon waking you’ll probably hear a few more things to tweak. Do a few more passes, then print your mix. Try not to second guess yourself!

Interested in learning more? Click here to download your Mindset Map and discover your next steps in your musical journey.

My name is Alexandre Joyal. I help music creators achieve success with their music by teaching them how to produce themselves and adopt a creative mindset.