Pro Tip – Before You Mix Your Song
June 3, 2022
Has this ever happened to you?
You are getting ready to mix a song you’ve been working on for a while and you’re feeling too close to it.
You don’t feel confident with your production and you get worried you’re going to be stuck in the mix.
Here is a trick I use all the time to dispel the ghosts of doubt…
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This is a great tip that I hope not to have to use to often but when I do need to I will. Thanks Chris!!
Haha, yes lets hope you never have to use it.
Great advice!
I am going to start using this technique. In the past, I would have a song that is played on the radio similar to the one I’m mixing and compare the sounds.
Thanks for the video
Good to hear, Marx.
What I do is choose an artist similar to my track and compare it to my mix at a very low volume in cheap speakers (not my expensive studio monitors). I’ll adjust levels so they are very close. I listen for dynamics and what stands out in each. Then a quick listen in mono. This lets me know how close i am.
Good tip, Brent!
I often get a great mix right at the beginning before I get to used to the song, then I screw it up but adding too many plugins! This is a great tip to get over "over mixing" thanks Chris!
I totally hear you, Jason. It is too easy to over polish a mix until it doesn’t mean anything at all. Great to hear you figured that out.
Great tip!!
Here’s an early pre-mix trick I’ve had success with is bouncing a rough and previewing on multiple systems.. road trip.. car; Ipods etc. and against a reference track I love the production on.
Tony
Yup, I always do that one too, Tony. Thanks for sharing.
That was very good advice sir thank you
Glad you found it helpful, Jerry.
Sounds like the way I start every mix!
Cool!
So helpful sire
Thank You 🙌🏾
No worries!
So helpful dude. The minor tip is a huge tip I’ve realized. Starting with minimalism and see if it stands strong on its own
Great to hear, Rick!
I mix at extremely low levels.
Agreed, and then it sounds even better when cranked up. Don’t forget to check it loud too during process though.
What I want to know is why is mixing so important in a song I see that they stress heavily on it everyone has their own opinion on this subject I would love to hear yours
A bit too long of an answer for here, Barry, but the mix is the the actual cooking of the meal, not just the ingredients if that makes sense.
You, Chris, probably remember the days of the ‘Auratone" mix. Today, we use a great array of monitoring from vintage JBL 4412a’s to iLoud MTMs. This array gives us a great mix! (So we think). And then we assign that $hit hot mix into a pair of old Realistic Minimus 0.6 and that really great mix dissolves. Remix on the worst pair you can find and then re-tweak on hifi monitors, compare, tweak, and then, you have a mix. Send your mix to a phone – Dbl check on every monitoring device at hand and learn the word ‘compromise’. And then you’ll have a mix.
Yes, I was raised on NS10s and Auratones. 🙂
Wonderful Share …Thanks!!!
You are very welcome!
Great vid, thank you.
I always try to start with tracks that sound good with guitar or piano and vocal only! If a song, whether it is (blues)rock, alternative or a ballad doesn’t have the appeal you want this way, forget all the recording and mixing.
For sure, Adriaan.
Don’t forget the tightness of the parts. Sometimes the drums last too long after the transient. When starting with the drums try to shorten each drum and ask yourself, Is the bass adding to the groove or smoothing it out. If the bass is MIDI you can shorten the notes to fix the groove. If after you add that fourth instrument you don’t have driving groove with shorter notes it’s time to rearrange the groove. I find that if I"m not excited about the groove that it’s not time to add the vocal yet.
Agreed, Paul. The groove is so important to get right at the beginning.
👻Try not to EQ and Mix on Solo just blend your ears instead of the instruments lol 😉 Pan, Clip and Compression with a hint of Reverb/Delay should spice things up. Add this Tip to everything that was said by the community here and Chris SD.Close your eyes and enjoy🎶⚡️👏
Nice!
Great advice Chris. As a novice mix engineer I use the minimalist technique first. I Also play the mix on every possible source before committing it as my final mix
Thanks Cynthia. Good approach to test on a number of different systems.
Great advise to strip it down and make sure the groove works by itself. I definitely do that and it helps. I also like to A/B just the groove against something similar. This confirms not only the foundation but also the sonics are where you like them.
Perfect!
Very timely as I have 3 songs virtually ready to mix, thanks Chris.
Also I have found the simple advice to ‘produce one day, mix another’ useful, as fresh ears makes such a difference as to how you hear your masterpiece!
Best of luck with those mixes!
Thanks Chris! I thought this was Great! I do something similar.
I usually like to get the drums bass and guitar/or piano down first & I especially like taking things out to see if I actually miss them…are they adding to the mix or are they just distracting.
Another fun thing to do is set up a checkerboard A/B with a Mix of a Reference track that I like (something that is from one of the top current hit makers) against my mix every 4 bars going back and forth to make sure it’s on the same playing field. Thanks for everything Chris your program is opening doors for my music & I’m thrilled about Sync Club!
Great to hear Elza!
Cheers Chris – all good stuff. M
👍
Solid advice. But what happens when you feel the mix is sounding great, and then you play it in your car and it sounds blah? I use some really great sounding JBL’s along with Presonus speakers to listen back and forth in my studio, but it sounds completely different when played in my car. Mind boggling, and mentally deflating. Any suggestions would be helpful, but so far, none have helped….
Deflating is good. It makes you try harder. That said, I would play something else you know well and make sure your car stereo is EQ’d properly first.
Soundproof your listening environment. Your speakers are lying to your ears.
Good advice Chris – some other things that work are:
3.Co-write and make sure you get the other writer(s) involved..
I think the balance is the most important part of the mix. The levels. Also what I’ve found helpful is to mix into the limiter. A brick wall limiter on the master out. It’s been a great starting point for me. I always keep it on throughout the whole mix. Cause that’s where the sound really is. Saves a bunch of uncertainties. Even though there’s many more things to way in on.