Mixing is what some consider an art. Any form of art has different styles and methods of expression, as does mixing music. Here are 10 tips to help you with your mixing!

1. Use good monitors

Unfortunately, when it comes to monitors, you should buy the best that your budget can afford. The $600 + for a single monitor is a good start, but they can get into the thousands! Instead of buying a pair of monitors for $200, you are better off saving up for a few extra months and investing in something worthwhile. Your ears will thank you. Some people say cheap monitors are a waste of money – I agree.

2. Listen to your mix on different systems

Hearing a mix over and over again can cause ear fatigue, especially at loud volumes on the same monitors. Take a break from your every day monitors, burn your mix to a CD and take it to other systems such as your car, surround sound or even a generic boom box. This will give you a good idea of where your mix needs to be altered.

3. Always observe your mix in mono

You should always observe your mixes in mono before rendering. Doing so helps because many stereo systems for electronic devices such as lap tops and television sets are designed with a mono set up. As we all know, lap top speakers are terrible, and if your mix sounds good on a lap top speaker, you have most likely done a swell job!

4. Use a similar commercial recording to compare your mix with

Although the sound quality of commercial recordings has decayed over the decades, comparing your mix to them can only help you in the long run. Commercial recordings basically display the styles of production that are “hot” at the moment. If your mix sounds similar or even as good as an industry recording, you are well on your way to smooth listening.

5. Use your sequencer’s automation for level adjustments

If your sequencer allows this, use automation to adjust levels during the song playback. This can help with several things in a mix such as making parts of a hook or chorus stand out more than they do in the verse.

6. Compress vocals

Compress your vocals. There isn’t a singer on the earth that doesn’t need vocal compression. Vocal compression can help the main vocals stand out right in the center of a mix.

7. Synchronize effects

Be sure to synchronize all of your effects to the tempo of the track you are working with! Using a delay or echo effect and using the wrong tempo can sound incredibly off beat. Most, if not all, sequencers should have an integrated tempo feature to synchronize all effects to.

8. Save, save, and SAVE!

Many changes are made throughout the editing and mixing process. Any time a substantial change is made in your mix, you should definitely save a separate copy of your mix for future analyzing. You never know, you might listen to a previous render and it might sound a lot better than you thought! Also, computers always crash, it isn’t a question of if, but when your computer will crash. Be sure to save your projects frequently – most of us had to learn that the hard way!

9. The mix is king

Don’t be afraid to sacrifice something that doesn’t fit in with the rest of your project! Often times, one will attempt to force a sound into a mix that doesn’t belong. This will almost always end up in a bad mix and overall track. Sacrifices shall be made!

10. Let your ears guide you

Mixing is all in your head. Subconsciously, our minds tell us what we are used to and what we aren’t used to hearing. I have known people to mix on $25 speakers before and their mixes come out incredible. In a nut shell, you really have to learn how your monitor outputs sound.

You must experiment and try new things when it comes to creating and finalizing your music, but if you didn’t have to do that, no one would create music in the first place!

Peace,

Isso

Some excerpts were taken from Ian Waugh’s “Creating The Perfect Mix” © 2006