What is the best order in mixing tracks?

[cavedog101]

I sometimes use PT, non HD. Whether or not you have a master fader, you're mixing to a master bus. Without an explicit master fader you might not see it, but it's there. I also use Vegas Pro. You can show or hide the master bus, but it's always "there" in function.




For projects where I'm in control of the whole mix process, I bounce/render/export/whatever to the same word length ("bit depth") and sample rate as the project. There's almost never anything on the master bus, during the mix or for the render. Anything that might be done on the master bus can be done in mastering. When I master my own mixes I generally do them in a different place than where I mixed them.

Of course. The two buss is what is assigned to your L/R stereo output be it stems or individual tracks etc etc....

I usually wind up with a master fader with only a small limit to it...As well as all the stems which is where I use my comps and anything else thats 'needed'. These ALL get bussed to a sub-master where I can add something again to kind of polish things if needed, and then all of this is recorded to a stereo track in real time which allows me to basically automate my final mix faders and basically mix like the old days on a console. If its needed.

I only do things that are needed as far as repairs. I wind up with very little EQ, very little time based effects, and only a touch of limiting throughout the tracks. Everything in the arrangement of the instrumentation has been done. All the clutter and summing of sounds that produce smear and mud has been exorcised long before the final mix stage. I am always looking for that special relationship between all the parts in the arrangement.

This works for me with all genres as the meat and potatoes (if you will) has been done at tracking. I'm sure you've heard people talk about the mix almost being done at the end of the tracking.

This is where I try to live.

 

[ashcat_lt]

If it's just a one-off standalone kind of thing, I'll render to CD quality .wav and go with it. When I'm doing separate songs for an album, like I said, I very often will bypass the master bus effects, and then I usually render to 32bit floating point .wav, import those into an album mastering project, and once I've got that where I want it, I render each song to its final format.

 

[miroslav]

If you are analog to tape this is a moot point. I was analog to tape for many years.......sigh

I go from the DAW individual channels out to a console, to tape...and then I'll record that 2-track mix back into the DAW, and at that point I will do some "mastering" to the mix ITB.