Jack Russell said:
get the tone...right even before you track it.
Very true, but it's important to note what is meant by "right" in this context.
What sounds best solo isn't always what works best in the mix.
The key is getting it right in tracking
in anticipation for what the mix will need. What this really means, but what very few discuss, is having a sonic image if what the song will sound like in your head
before you even start tracking. mentally select the sounds and the tone before you start tracking- in fact, before you even start setting up. Knowing the tones you need beforehand will simplify the equipment selection and setup process.
That's for those doing the tracking themselves. Not all of us have that luxury, unfortunately. I, for example, at this time do mostlly mixing of tracks the artists themselves lay down and then bring to me to mix. I have neither a say or a hand in the tracking process.
For that, I start the mixing process the same way as the self-trackers usually do, which is what John described; a faders-up test listen. But there the decision process get a little more complicated for me, since that is my first listen to the tracks and the song. There it's determining where the strengths and here the intent of the song lie. It it vocal-oriented? Is it instrument-oriented? Is it hook-oriented? Is it a power anthem, a sappy ballad, or something in-between? What is the style: headbanger shread, zydeco party waltz, or IDull pop? Are the lyrics REM disposables or Dylan poetics? Does it have a sunshine and birds feeling, a doom and gloom feeling, a wine and roses feeling, or a kill them now and sort it out later feeling? Usually there are some degrees of all of the above elements mixed in almost every song in some way, and the task then is to ID where they are and when they are important, and then use that as a blueprint for building the mix. Build arong the dominant elements at that time. Build around the hooks, or maybe around the lyrics, or possibly both equally if you have another "Highway 61 Revisited" on your hands.
Then start building based upon that blueprint. For me typically (but not always) it's build the rhythm section foundation first. Percussion and bass. Leave them as seperate tracks, but be ready to stereo stem them as the rhythm stem later in the mix. Then build upon that with the rhythm and accompaniment instruments (rhythm guitar, heyboards, etc.) Again keep them as seperate tracks, but prepare to stereo stem them as an accompaniment stem later. Then similar with wind and horn, if applicable. Then the same with backup/accompaniment vocals and lead vocals.
I rely heavily on fader automation and soundscape panning in my mixing style (I really do not care for heavy-compression LCR layering myself, easy as that may be.), and this is all done in conjunction with the track building mentioned above, and with the same goals mentioned earlier.
Then it's mixdown time at which I either just mix it down myself, or if I'm prepping to send to a mastering house, I'll do not only the mixdown, but the aforementioned stems, just in case the ME can use them to benefit.
G.