Where do you like to start your mixdowns?

[Rickson Gracie]

(for alt rock music) Lately Ive been starting with the BASS > DRUMS > TAMB >RHYTHM GUITARS > VOCALS

Is this a popular method or am I breaking the rules somewhere? Its been working pretty well lately.

Where do you like to start?

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

There are no rules... but personally I like to build the foundation with drums and bass... then the vocal.... then bring in the rest of the tracks.

 

[Dom Franco]

1st, Bass and drums hit the meters at about -20db.
Add guitars keys etc and balance mix without lead vocal -5 to 0 db
Add lead vocal with compression added to taste, also reverb delay and other effects. Eq total mix and dip into the red occasionally (Avoid distortion)

*NOTE: Most digital recording setups actually show 0 db at -10 to -5db to build in a little bit of headroom before distortion occurs. Digital distortion sounds really BAD!

TAPE on the other hand will handle much hotter mixes, even +20db at times and the audible distortion will be pleasing to the ear.

DOM

 

[Ronan]

Like Blue bear said "there are no rules" .

My sarting point is simple: push up all the faders and get to work. First thing I will do is get my panning where I think it will end up and then get a rough level adjustment and then I start going in and EQing tracks that seem to be a problem, almost always cutting instead of boosting.

There are of course no rules, but you need to be careful about starting with one element and getting that right and working from there (the only exception would be a vocal in a very vocal centric album) The problem is that you start getting a small number of elements sounding good but you do not really know what they will sound like in context or if there any parts of the mix tha will be a big problem with conflicting frequencies. Further more you may find things like the bass and guitar sound amazing to gether the way they are, but individually do not sound so great. If you go in and "fix" the bass sound you may kill that great releationship to the guitar.

 

[Light]

Vocals and primary instrument come up together first thing, usually vocals and guitar, but it could be vocals and piano. Get these right, and everything else comes from there.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[HWB]

Once again, there are a hundred ways to do it right. I like to mix the instruments first, then bring in the vocals. It doesn't really matter how you do it as long as it turns out the way you want it. The one important rule is, "the only person you have to please is the person paying the bill."

 

[Track Rat]

Can't argue with Light's approach, but I start with drums and bass as these tend to eat headroom. If I can get these in the ball park I can start building a mix from that point and adjust from there. It works for me.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

1st, Bass and drums hit the meters at about -20db.
Add guitars keys etc and balance mix without lead vocal -5 to 0 db
Add lead vocal with compression added to taste, also reverb delay and other effects. Eq total mix and dip into the red occasionally (Avoid distortion)

*NOTE: Most digital recording setups actually show 0 db at -10 to -5db to build in a little bit of headroom before distortion occurs. Digital distortion sounds really BAD!

TAPE on the other hand will handle much hotter mixes, even +20db at times and the audible distortion will be pleasing to the ear.

DOM

I think I have to disagree with ALL of this, if only because you're generating more confusion by spouting meter numbers without defining whether you're talking VU, or peak, or dBFS metering -- they are all completely different scales and the values are not interchangeable.

Digital meters are numbered in dBFS (decibels, Full-Scale) and are usually calibrated such that 0dB on a peak meter = -15dBFS, and sometimes -12dBFS.

 

[Track Rat]

Also perceived loudness and a meter reading don't always agree with each other. You have to use your ears along with the meters. They're only there to help keep you out of trouble.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

Also perceived loudness and a meter reading don't always agree with each other. You have to use your ears along with the meters. They're only there to help keep you out of trouble.

Excellent point......!

 

[ryanlikestorock]

I tend to work with more hardcore/metal type albums where the vocals are to be thought of more like a trumpet than the lead instrument. So, I mix DRUMS > BASS > GUITARS > VOCALS > EXTRAS

 

[geet73]

I've always done the drums first. Drums > Bass > Guitars > Something else > Vocals.

 

[giles117]

As BB said there are no rules. I generally pull up a new track all faders and carve out a beginning listening vibe to feel the song.

Then I pick a starting place based on what I am hearing. Might be the Lead vocal, Might be a lead instrument, Might be the Drums. It all depends on what the Track is saying to me.

 

[pipelineaudio]

"Where do you like to start?"

Either at home playing Gloom or Motocross Madness 2
or on top of a mini ramp somewhere

thisll be somewhere after the recording process. The mix willbegin by me going over what I thought when I first heard the band, to what I think of the tracks as they sit in the recorded files folder

99% of the sound of the mix will be done before I get back to the studio. For the last 1%, and for the 99% of the time remaining will be me fixing crappy singers' crappy singing notes, crappy drummers' flim flam fills, rubber wrist guitars, and the occaisional enhancment of those rare correctly played parts

 

[Cloneboy Studio]

I usually mix in a similar fashion to how I track in the first place. I always start on the drums--with the overheads. Once the overheads sound good by themselves I bring in the kick and snare tracks to help buffer the OH sound, then slowly get everything else in there a bit.

Then I pull up the bass, trying to get it working with the drums in a musical fashion that emphasizes the groove. Once I've laid the foundation I move on to the vocals, and then the harmonic instruments.

Remember: the bass and drums determine the 'feel' and 'power' of most songs--and the vocal is what sells the song. Everything else is just ornamentation.