We can all collect plugins all day. Add FX, etc. but the most important tip I've learned is that composing is more important (having a great idea that sounds good/is catchy and sticks in your head.)

Once the track is laid out, arranged, the volume isn't annoying to you, etc.... then mixing comes into play (if you don't "mix as you go".)

We all know the SOURCE material coming in, whether that be from a virtual synth, real synth, fake guitar/real guitar, virtual or real piano, drumkit or actual drum set, has to sound good already (can't polish a turd).

What I'm wanting to know before this new year stars, is what is everyone's "check list" when mixing starting from A to B (a finished song), whether in your head, or written down?

What is a method or approach (of course everyone's approach is different and you should go off feeling) but for the sake of argument, what is a checklist everyone should run through that can take a track from amateur to professional if implemented in EVERY mix?

What makes your tracks sound "professional" and do you think your methods work for most mixes?

Mix engineers taught me that every mix is different, and certain ones call for different decisions.

But after interning at a studio, it seems they make the same decisions and use the same processes almost every time to achieve a professional mix.

Subtractive EQ, leveling, panning certain sounds, using busses, sidechaining sounds, using ample compression, saturation, distortion, delay, reverb, and using multiband compressors/limiters for mastering...for example (but in a step by step basis)

I'd love to see what this communities approach is! Happy holidays btw!

 

I dont have a set workflow, even after many years of doing this professionally, but, I know that for me, leveling is the most important part. If tracks work well together with just volume balancing, i often find minimal processing is needed.

Some masking eq's, some light shaping eq's for excitement or help fill in some frequencies, light compression to tame individual elements if needed, bus compression for vibe, glue, punch, etc. Saturators / clippers, MB compressors on busses if needed / genre dependent. Check with a reference or two, double check mono compatibility. Listen on laptop (i often times do 90 percent of a mix on my laptop, just checking on monitors for low end) listen in car, earbuds etc.

 

i've heard alot of producers using panning for years & ping pong delays with filters! if it sounds clean & good in mono! Then it should sound good in stereo. [Tip! make sure you mono the low end
https://nugenaudio.com/monofilter/ ]

 

Last edited: Dec 22, 2023

Automate the shit out of everything (filters, EQ, volume, pans, compression, etc.) between different song sections.

 

IMHO, it's not a matter of methods (or tools) but of practise. No checklist will take an amateur mix to a pro level, only practise will do, a lot of practise.

 

Um, not sure it can be made into a checklist?
1) Listen to the material carefully, try to hear what it's about, what it needs to be finished;
2) ...Do what you heard?
There's probably a thousand little things I may or may not do in any given project, but the idea is that. Try to hear a finished song in a material you're given, and then try to bring that material as close to that song you heard as you can. Even if the amterial is shit, try to find some good in it and concentrate on it, both in your mind and in your actions.

A checklist, then, is applicable to yourself and your skills instead of of any one project.
0) Make sure you actually love music.
You ain't gonna hear a song in the material unless you love music. You ain't gonna know where to move it, what to fix, how to make it better, unless you know *what* makes it better. You need to have a taste in music.
1) Make sure you know what each of your tools does.
Read manuals, experiment in your free time, ask specific questions.
2) Make sure your listening skill is adequately trained.
Change parameters one by one and listen to what it does. Change attack on a compressor and listen. Change release and listen. Boost hi-mids and listen. Cut them and listen. Boost low-mids and listen.
3) Analyze other works first as a listener, than as an engineer.
Love a track? Listen to it again and take notes about how it makes you feel and when. Then listen to it again and try to understand why it makes you feel the way it does.
4) Make sure you avoid things you don't want to have in the mix.
If you don't want it to clip - make sure it doesn't. If you don't want drums to disappear at the chorus - make sure they don't.
5) Ask specific questions if you don't understand something on your own.
Kinda like you did right now - good job!

I recommend giving the Beginner's Guide series on FabFilter's YouTube channel a look. Should set you up nicely with all the basic principles and ear training exercies.

 

I don't really have a checklist.

I usually start with my custom "Producing" template in Cubase (with a set up Mixbus, send FX and Control Room with plugins), and then I fire up my 2-3 favourite VST Instruments and Groove Agent and mess around (checking out presets or fiddle around to make some own or flip through some samples).
Ideas normally come in the creative flow, but sometimes I get inspired by some music I just listened to.
My usual workflow is to start with a melody or chords and then built the track around it.
Depends on the genre and mood.

After all is layed out so far, I start with gainstaging and mixing. And the rest ist just tweaking and final arranging.

Like already said before, sounding "professional" is not only a matter of tools, but how you use them and how much experienced you are with them.
I produced music for many years now and still find myself watching some tutorials to learn something new, as music and the tools for it evolved with time.

 

I don't have a checklist, but I don't even bother starting when I already know that I'm too tired and my ears are too shot to start mixing. Recipe for many regrets the next day.

 

I don't do checklist too much in every mixing and mastering session (I have my own template). If the tonal balance was good, and it feels good on my ears, then its all good.