The mix can make or break the presentation of a song. A great song with a bad production and mix, will have a tough challenge making it. But it is not really that hard to create a great sounding mix once you know a few guidelines. Here follows how I prepare for my Pop/R&B mixes.
The first thing I do after I finished my production and recording, is to bounce all my midi instruments into audio files, all starting from bar 1. It is not only just to free resources to use for plugins, but also to prepare my mindset for the mixing phase. Bouncing the files also assures me that my sessions will always sound the same whenever I open it - even years later after having changed or upgraded some of my instruments.
I like to keep my tracks in same order from song to song
. I always start from left with kick drums, snare, clap, hihats, percussion and cymbals and FX. Then it’s bass, guitars, percussive synths, pianos and last pads and strings. The vocals I put on the right side starting with lead, dubs, addlibs and finally bv’s. After all the audio tracks I have my groups, FX returns and last the master fader.
First step is to break the mix down into sections eg. drums, bass, guitars, keys and vocals. Focusing on just a part of the picture gives clarity instead of confusion.
I like to create the following 7 groups for my Pop/R&B mixes: Main Drums, Cymbals & SFX, Bass, Percussive Synths & Keys, Strings and Pads, Lead vocals & addlibs, BV’s.
I also set up a few fx channels, 3 different reverbs, 2-3 different delay/echos, chorus and other modulation. If I need more during mixing I can always add them later.
Once you have your session set up the like this, a good tip is to save the session as a template. Then you don’t have to go through this process every time, but can simply open the template and add all the audio files you bounced.
Look out for my next article where I talk about mixing the drums.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Bouncing the midi tracks down to audio tracks is a good idea. I usually save multiple versions of my project for just in case one version gets corrupted for some reason. Multiple copies or backup copies can save you from having to start over from scratch. Mixing from all “audio tracks” puts less stress on the computer processor. Plus if you need to use these tracks on a different application, the new application should play these just fine. I have a Mac Pro 8core that handles everything very well.
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I’ve never put a mix into a group. What is the purpose of this?
There are several benefits from using groups.
First of all you can treat a group with bus compression and overall EQ. This makes it easier to get the right blend for the overall mix. Also bus compression on the drum group can give you an extra punch that is difficult to achieve otherwise. Finally when you are dealing with a large number of similar type of tracks like 16 or more tracks of backing vocals I find it is much easier to work with a stereo group that 16 individual tracks when it comes to adding effects, EQ and such.
A great little tip you can apply when using groups is parallel processing. Let me give you an example. Send the drum tracks to two groups instead of just one and try add insane amount of processing like tube distortion plugins, extreme compression and such on just one of the groups. Then you can add as much as you want of that heavy sound into you mix on your second group fader, giving you a punchy and big drum sound. An easy way to send to two groups is just using sends for the second group. Make sure that you DAW is set up to automatic compensate for plugin latency to avoid phasing.
Hey Johnny, I’ve been reading your articles and they have been really helpful to me! I’ve just been signed to a smaller label which is really exciting ,but at the same time I don’t feel like I have full control over my music anymore. A producer has been mixing my tracks for me since I’m inexperienced, but I don’t like his final mixes since he’s a hip-hop producer and I make electro/pop. I’ve mainly just been using Waves plugins and adjusting virtual instruments, but I wasn’t bouncing my midi to audio so I couldn’t do much before it would freeze up. I’m really excited to try that and some of your other tips. I was also wondering if you could explain the basics 0f sends and buses. Do I send everything to buses and add the plugins and effects to the buses? And when I send something to a bus do I have the bus as the only output? I would greatly appreciate if you could help me understand that better and any other advice you have to give! I have two of my most resent tracks on the link I provided, I’d Love some feedback! -Connor