mixing: from front or back?

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lascalaboy

New member
When you are starting a mix of a song, should you start with the tracks at the front of the stage (e.g. vox) or at the bakc (e.g kit) ?
 
lascalaboy said:
When you are starting a mix of a song, should you start with the tracks at the front of the stage (e.g. vox) or at the bakc (e.g kit) ?
Click to expand...

Most people seem to start with the rhythm section, drums, bass, then add guitars, keyboards etc, then vocals last.

If you're asking basic questions like this it would be a good idea to read some of the articles on this board concerning the mixing fundamentals.

Good luck with it.
 
For me it depends on the material, but most of the time I'll start with kick & bass (treating it together as if a single instrument), then I'll bring in overheads and snare... then I'll bring in the lead vocal.

After that, then I'll bring in the rest of the kit and then start filling-out the rhythm section (guitars, keyboards, whatever else....)

If the song has a vocal - IME it's much easier to get the vocal in first and placing other tracks around it, rather than filling up the sonic space with everything and trying to fit the vocals in last!
 
excellent.. thanks. THat's what I just did on my second attempt at the mix comp.. drums, bass, vocals guits....

Thanks.
 
I'd recommend 'The Mixing Engineers Handbook' by Bobby Owsinski.

Lots of interviews with top ME's and this question is asked of most of them.
 
lascalaboy said:
When you are starting a mix of a song, should you start with the tracks at the front of the stage (e.g. vox) or at the bakc (e.g kit) ?
Click to expand...

I start with everything. I push up the faders and start mixing. Many times in the middle of a mix after I have done a lot of my EQ and FX, I will pull all the faders down and then push up the drums and vox and then start bringin in the the other elements again. The more you mix, the more you realize how much the sound of a track can be effected by the other tracks. So it can be a little dangerous to start working with one element at a time.
 
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