Where do you start your mixes from?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nola
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Drums, bass first. The reason is because they work the mastering compressor the most. Set the drums so they stay in the green but as high as possible--but nowhere near clipping. Bring up the bass and watch your master output level. At this point I go ahead and set the compressor so that these two just barely make the compressor work.
 
I mix my drums first
then I mute the drums
then I mix the rythm section (guitar, bass, piano, keyboards) to around -6DB as this is foundation of the song IMHO.
then I bring the drums back into the mix
then I start adding the aux percussion, if any
then I add in the flavor (lead vocals, lead guitar, lead strings, horns, etc.)
then I add in BU vocals
pan everything as requried
EQ and effects as I go
keep the master around -3db
90% of my monitoring is between KRK 6's and MAckie CR3, but I also reference through cans, large home hi-fi with 2 x 12 inch woofers, a small bookshelf system with 3 inch drivers, apple ear buds (since thats what 40% of people listed to music on nowadays, and then when I think I have my final, I will dump to MP3 and email it to my wife's PC and listen on her $50 PC speakers in a different acoustic sounding room. All 6 of my reference monitors are connected to my AI, so I can A/B/C/D/E/F the mix at anytime. I personally love having many different monitoring sources to keep the mix honest.
 
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Interesting approach. :)

That is typically similar to what I do except for the mixing of drums, then mute them. That seems odd to me but whatever works for you.

But....

Sorry man, I have a hard time looking at your avatar and taking you seriously. Even if that is a picture of you, I mean no offense, but really?
 
jimmys69 said:
Interesting approach. :)

That is typically similar to what I do except for the mixing of drums, then mute them. That seems odd to me but whatever works for you.

But....

Sorry man, I have a hard time looking at your avatar and taking you seriously. Even if that is a picture of you, I mean no offense, but really?
Click to expand...

I just find it easy to get a good balance of the rhythm section without the drums .... maybe it's because I'm a drummer and I see it from a different view. I dunno ............ and yes that's me in the avatar. A silly picture to show that I never take myself too seriously.
I promise I'm not a goof ball in real life.:guitar:

Also, I pan my hi hat left and my Ride Right .... wrong, I know, but again, being a drummer, I can't listen to drums any other way. Especially through cans, it messes up my brain. When I mix other bands though, I do it properly.
 
Drums
Bass
Guitars
Other Rhythm instruments
Lead Vox
Lead Instruments
Other Vox
Extra Stuff

BUT, I see where people that go to the vox after drums and bass are coming from. I'm going to try this approach tomorrow on a song I am re-mixing anyway and see how it feels.
 
Depends on who's home and the time of day when I start it.
 
raybbj said:
I just find it easy to get a good balance of the rhythm section without the drums .... maybe it's because I'm a drummer and I see it from a different view. I dunno ............ and yes that's me in the avatar. A silly picture to show that I never take myself too seriously.
I promise I'm not a goof ball in real life.:guitar:

Also, I pan my hi hat left and my Ride Right .... wrong, I know, but again, being a drummer, I can't listen to drums any other way. Especially through cans, it messes up my brain. When I mix other bands though, I do it properly.
Click to expand...

I did not mean to poke at your photo. Actually it is kind of nice to hear someone 'not take themselves too seriously'. Props to that.

I bet you are a goofball at times. Welcome to the club man! :)

I do the same with my drum tracks. Just drives me crazy if I have them panned from listener perspective. Record a lefty drummer on occasion and it just feels right. :)
 
The middle varies but I always start with kick and bass first and vocals always come last.

I don't do this for a living, but I do get paid to do it.
 
raybbj said:
Also, I pan my hi hat left and my Ride Right .... wrong, I know, but again, being a drummer, I can't listen to drums any other way. Especially through cans, it messes up my brain. When I mix other bands though, I do it properly.
Click to expand...
I do it too, unless someone asks me not to.
 
Kick and bass first. Then adding in hats and overheads, then slowly bringing in hard panned guitars. Then lead vocals, then the rest of the kit. Lead instruments and background vox last.
 
raybbj said:
Also, I pan my hi hat left and my Ride Right .... wrong, I know, but again, being a drummer, I can't listen to drums any other way. Especially through cans, it messes up my brain. When I mix other bands though, I do it properly.
Click to expand...

Same.
 
jimmys69 said:
We must be drummers...
Click to expand...

eehhh, not really. wouldn't say i can't drum, but also wouldn't refer to myself as one. probably about on par as any bands guitar player would be.

now a bassist? they definitely aren't drummers. :laughings: :eek:
 
I start with drums. Always. I usually record some drums from the internet and use them as a single track(though I would need to do more than that for a finalized quality recording).
 
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