5-Step Setup to a Great Mix

There are as many ways to mix as there are people who mix. But you have to start somewhere—here’s a method that has worked well for me

By Craig Anderton

A mix should be well-balanced over a full range of frequencies, but note that a lot of instruments tend to bunch up around the midrange. One way to maintain clarity is to use EQ to “carve away” parts of one instrument’s range that step on another instrument. For example, if a piano and guitar part conflict, cut the lower mids a bit on the guitar to thin out the sound and emphasize strum/pick noise, while boosting the piano’s lows to give it more “meat.”

As you mix, don’t throw compression on the entire mix (called “bus compression”). Sure, this makes the sound jump out more, and gives higher perceived loudness. But concern yourself with getting the best possible blend of instruments, and save the mastering for later.

Also, mix at low levels. Your ear starts to compress naturally at higher levels, and besides, you won’t mix as well if your ears are fatigued. As you get toward the end of the mixing process, crank it at some point to make sure the mix sounds right at high as well as low levels; but remember that if it sounds great at low levels, it’ll probably sound fantastic when you pour on the volume.

Okay—let’s mix.

Keep your master output close to 0, and reduce gain as needed at the channels themselves.

Step 1: Set the master fader to 0. If you need to reduce overall levels during the mixing process, temporarily group all your channel faders and reduce them rather than lower the master level. This makes best use of your system’s headroom. Also, don’t let signals go right up to 0: Leave a few dB of breathing room. You can always flirt with 0 dB during the mastering process.

If you start with the faders at a relatively low level, you'll have the room to bring them up as the mix progresses.

Step 2: Set all channel panpots to mono, and channel fader levels to some nominal setting, like –10dB. Why mono? Because there’s no quicker way to find out which instruments conflict with each other. As you play the song, start adjusting levels for the best balance.

Step 3: Decide which is the most important element of the song, and work on getting the best sound possible for that track—effects and all. Often, this is vocals, but it might be solo piano in an instrumental. Don’t work on each track in isolation, with the goal of getting the fullest, biggest, most bitchin’ sound for each track: When you combine them, you’ll have a big, muddy mess. Get a truly compelling solo sound first, then make sure that the other tracks support it.

Compressor and EQ settings that work well with my voice when recording with a dynamic mic.

Step 4: Use EQ subtly to give each instrument its own section of the frequency spectrum. Do this while listening to all the tracks (although there will likely be times that you’ll solo two problematic instruments and get those squared away before moving on). You’ll almost certainly need to re-adjust the level faders during this process, because EQ will change a track’s level. Also remember that it’s often better to cut than to boost, as this cedes more space to other instruments.

Step 5: Now start moving those panpots, and go for a full stereo field. If your mix sounded cohesive before you started panning, it will sound even better once each track has its own stereo placement and frequency band. Keep tweaking the stereo placement, EQ, and levels until you have a rich, clean, spacious mix.

Craig Anderton is Editor Emeritus of Harmony Central. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages.