There is no particular best order of mixing tracks, and it mostly boils down to personal taste.
That's me. 'Faders up, 'Round and round on the big stuff. Then somewhere half way through the most of that I'll branch off focusing on combos of things ('what/how are these 'guys doing together?) and more and more single items, and automation.I usually just bring up all the faders and then start fixing whatever sticks out at me first. I suppose that's usually either drums or vocals first just because in the things I record, those generally require the biggest interventions, and they need to be right for anything else to make sense. I really just jump around willy-nilly until I can't find anything else to mess with, though.
I usually start with the drums, but only because it is a single instrument with multiple mics, so to be able to treat it like a single instrument it needs to be roughly mixed. It will get worked on again later when the mix comes together.
Bass next, then the guitars, keys etc. Then I treat the band as a single instrument while I sort out the vocals for tone and levels, etc.
Then I listen to the mix as a whole and adjust it all again, and again, making sure everything can be heard, especially the vocals, then look for any problems with mix clarity.
Finally does the mix now sound any good? If not roll around it all again. I constantly adjust things while the mix is playing on loop, sometimes things I do are undone again if they don't work.
And don't forget to change the volume, listen soft, listen loud, does it still sound good at all volumes? Multiple monitors if you have them.
And take breaks, leave the mix for half hour and leave the room, coffee, food, freash air, then come back, what does the first play after a break sound like?
Hope this helps, it's hard to explain mixing, to me its almost meditation I get so connected to it.
Alan.
Drums....Bass...Lead Vox.....These are the fundamental of the song...usually. I will work on these until I don't 'need' anything else to get the point of the song and the arrangement across.
I will then make my stems for these and this is where I will bring everything else. I will not change the balance of the the first three ever after this point. If adding something tends to decrease the effect of anything then that thing gets worked on till it fits without changing the original three.
It's really surprising how calm this makes the master buss. Yet it still has impact and headroom.
Mixing drums, bass and lead vox, getting them stable, then leaving them untouched thereafter is not an unreasonable approach. I don't think I would personally "not change the balance of the the first three ever after this point", but it would be illuminating to work to that rule.
I take the point that others have noted, i.e. the introduction into a mix of instrument B can change how instrument A sounds in the mix (and then again with instrument C), so there is a bit of juggling to make them all play nicely together.
However, I note also that altering the foundation of a building to accommodate changes to what happens on top is not good construction practice. And I regard drums, bass and lead vocal as the foundations of a song.
The benefit of working on those three elements then leaving them alone is that it can prevent 'instrument creep', i.e. you add in instruments B and C, but now you can't hear A, so you push A up. But now you can't hear B, so up it goes. But C disappears . . . and on and on until everything is way too loud and you end up with a mess.
And you can leave the foundation untouched if you know and understand how subsequent additions will effect the overall sound. It is a practice not unknown to the like of George Martin. They had to do exactly this through the limitations of four-track recording.
There is no particular best order of mixing tracks, and it mostly boils down to personal taste.
However, I do have a preferred order.
1 I get the drums sorted first.
2 I then bring up the bass so that drums and bass sound happy together
3 Lead vocals is next. All going well, the song should sound great with just these three elements.
4 Other instruments come next in no particular order.
5 Finally, backing vocals get added.