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.

Be Sure To Check Out My Profile & Music On MySpace!

Technorati Tags: Mixing, Music production, Templates