How do you approach mixing?

I use automated fades on the DAW, I'm not using faders on a console at the moment.



I would agree, starting with faders down is the best. Bringing up tracks one at a time as they come so the song starts quiet and strong is a great approach.



Keeping metering in check. There has been numerous threads here on the subject.



Someone please correct me since I may be wrong about this. I've heard Engineers saying that staying below as low as -29 dbm is acceptable. And peaking stay under -6 dbm, no more.



I got thrown out by an engineer buddy of mine who kept telling me to push it to 0dbm. Its a bad idea.



Remember that when your working with 24 bit float:



Less is More.



More harmonics at the mixdown and better control for your Mastering Engineer.



Consult your Mastering Engineer for details of how to best obtain the mix you desire.

Mixing is alot of eq carving and compression. Apply eq correctly and everything should be tight and crisp

Sorry. Gotta call BS on this one. This statement is highly dependent on what type of music you are recording and what your end product goal is.



Most well mastered commercial recordings will have some eq and compression utilized but the whole idea of "carving" is not apropos to all music.

Protip: this guy has done nothing but spam his link.

I mix on analog consoles, so its almost always a fresh start for me.



I start with no time based FX (delay reverb) on the mix. Then I push up all the faders and do my panning, get relative balances and then start doing corrective EQ to deal with anything that is fighting the over all mix.



I really like to have all the faders up at first so I can see how things are working together, rather than pushing up one element at a time.

RonanChrisMurphy wrote: I mix on analog consoles, so its almost always a fresh start for me.



I start with no time based FX (delay reverb) on the mix. Then I push up all the faders and do my panning, get relative balances and then start doing corrective EQ to deal with anything that is fighting the over all mix.



I really like to have all the faders up at first so I can see how things are working together, rather than pushing up one element at a time.

+1 8-)



Gimme a broomstick mix 1st run through.



To start with anything other than faders up is like buying a mail order bride on a blind date and giving up a blank check.

Yep. By the time all the overdubs are tracked and you've been listening to the headphone mixes with nothing on em for quite a while the first mixdown move is usually everything on and up with nothing attached.



Usually by then I know what I want the song to do.

I usually start with panning. It's like placing band members to their correct spots. It's like me as a director understanding the places where everyone needs to go.



Like rehearsing everybody, I let them play together first. By that time, I try to listen to who leads the song. Is it the saxophone? The violin? The piano? The electric guitar? The drums?



Once I find my center piece, that's when I begin lowering the volumes of other faders, looking for the other instruments that would deliver the right sound for the song!

Organization, routing, general levels and panning, subtractive equalization, compression, (possible multiband compression) ,either dynamic equalization or equalization, effects, (dynamics, level, frequency density, spatial location of effects). Spatial location using early reflections. Expansion if needed. Bus treatment if needed. Automation. Mastering...

My initial approach is to always listen first... to figure out what I don't need to do to the song. ;)



With all of the modern processors and technology that has become so accessible to so many people, I think that sometimes it's easy to forget that we are mixing music, and not math.



IMHO of course.