6 Tips For Faster, Better Mixes

Hearing how A-List mixers can mix in 4 hours while so many other take more than triple the time to get a sub-par version of what these pros can do. How? Here are some tips for getting better at mixing with ways to get out of your own way and make better creative decisions rather than time consuming technical issues.

Create A Template and Presets

We all have tendencies and habits that we subconsciously choose to do. Recognize those habits and use them to your advantage. I know when I just mixing I am going to apply Console emulation at the top each channel and a tape machine at the end of my 2 Mix channel. I’ll even create Aux channels for each track with named IO’s so I can just load in the tracks, route them into the corresponding Aux tracks, and tweak from there. Everything is adjustable this just saves time hunting down plugins I’m going to insert anyway and gets out of my own way.

Record First Impressions and Mixes

Being in the digital age we have so many advantages available to our fingertips. One of those is recording to playlist. I will throw up faders and mix a song as fast as possible to get my first impression. This is great for songs I haven’t help record and produce. I will then record it to listen back track and then later record my mix or mixes to the same track but on different playlist. I’ll A/B them to see what I might of missed of like from my first impressions.

Focus On Phase, Panning, and Levels First

One of the most crucial issues with mixing is the phase issues in relation to each other. Since most plugins these days have a phase switch start flipping things in and out and listening if the channel gets fuller or thinner. This will also help with EQ’ing headaches.

Now start to pan things out. There are some general rules and many swear by LCR (left, right, center), but one of the ways I like to pan is to listen in mono and start to sweep the track left & right until it sound the loudest. This is best done after you’ve done your core instruments - Drums, guitars, bass, vocals. This is really a great technique when you’re fitting in percussion and other effects.

Finally balance the level. This can be hard to judge sometimes and there are a lot of ideas on how to do this effectively. There’s the Pink Noise trick which can give you a nice starting point. I personally like to mix at very low levels and again listening in mono. I feel like I make better decisions this way.

Set A Timer

I try to give myself time limits on each section I’m trying to do. The most important stuff more time and be content with making fast decisions. I’ll often give myself 90 minutes to see what I can do and then 15 min break and so on.

Listen To References

Get your ears in prime listening mode by listening to reference tracks. This can mean full songs of even stems. This will also help you kow what to listen for and set the bar to what you’re trying to achieve.

Know When To Stop

This a pro attribute that CAN be learned. One of the ways is to stop when you’re fresh out of ideas and have done the tasks you know how to achieve a good sound. The time that you use to try to beat the song into submission is when you’ll start to slide down hill. The more time you put into it will give you little reward. This will also be a time where you start to second guess yourself.

These are a handful of ideas to help your mixes get done better and faster. Which one are you going to try next? Did I miss something? Please let me know. We’re all here to learn from each other.