Mixing A Song - A How-To-Guide - THE CURIOUS MIXER

5/8/2020 Mixing A Song: A How-To-Guide - THE CURIOUS MIXER
Mixing A Song: A How-To-

Guide
Wr i t t e n b y C i a n M c I n t y re
M a rc h 8 , 2 0 2 0

Audio Engineering

A common misconception is that mixing a song is primarily done to enhance tone
and cohesiveness, therefore making it more interesting. Sure, that’s a worthy goal.
However, ‘interesting’ is a wholly SUBJECTIVE term. It should be clear from the
start that the primary goal of mixing is OBJECTIVE. Primarily, mixing is rational and
methodical.
Before we dive into mixing, you need to understand the complete steps required for
making a song from scratch. You can learn about that from my article linked here,
https://www.thecuriousmixer.com/mixing-a-song-a-how-to-guide/ 1/21
Home Music Production for Beginners. However, if you already know those steps
then by all means continue.
The primary goals of mixing a song are to:
1. Give each track a dynamically stable volume

2. Find the appropriate volume level for each track
3. Give each track it’s own space in the mix
I won’t be going deeply into anything else in this article. That’s because they are
secondary goals of mixing. The secondary goals of mixing are subjective and can
only be treated as such. The key to succesfully mixing a song is an tried and true
method. The first thing to do after recording your song is to take a break for a few
days. After that, you’ll dive right into panning in stereo.
Panning First
Set the DAW output to stereo (left and right speaker). When you pan, you’ll want to
have an even distribution.. If you go 50% right with one track, then go 50% left with
another similar track. Panning is dependent on genre and taste. I advise against
hard panning (100% panning). Sometimes a hard-panned track will be cut off in
mono (single output).
Single output is the preffered method while mixing. Therefore, pan your tracks
before anything else and then put the song into mono for mixing. Adjusting a track’s
panning levels will change it’s overall volume in mono. Once you have panned in
stereo first, then balanced in mono, once your signal goes back to stereo it will
sound fantastic. Well, that’s assuming you mixed the tracks correctly.
The steps I’ll be covering in this guide are preparation, balance, compression,
equalization, and reverb/delay. Note, that reverb and delay target secondary mixing
goals. I also want to point out that the order in which compression and EQ are
exectued creates differences in the final resultts. Generally, using compresson first
produces a clearer, cleaner sound, while using eq first results in a warmer tone.
However, if you want more detail about this, check out the article linked here,
Compression Or EQ First: A Logical Approach.
Preparing For Mixing A Song
You need to remember that the music industry had been around for hundreds of
years. It’s also a huge machine with thousands of workers. Chances are, you’re
working alone and haven’t been doing this for a long time. Therefore, if you want
success you’ll need to replicate the methods of the music indistry. What I’m saying
is that it’s in your interest to follow greatness first if your expect to achieve it.
In general, the mix engineer doesn’t partake in mix preparation. The assistant does
this part and then hands it off to the mix engineer when the song is actually ready to
be mixed. Moreover, ofter the recording engineer will do a very rough balance of
the song before ever sending it to the mix engineer. You obviously can’t do this
because, as a home music producer, you’re wearing all the hats.
Therefore, you should separate preparation into its own individual process. What
does this entail? It entails spot-checks on the recording, timing, tuning, and sound
adjustments. These need to be done before any mixing can be accomplished. That
way, mixing can be just that – mixing. So let’s talk about what you’ll need to do
specifically.
Spot Checking
First, you need to make sure that your song has a good structure. For a better
understanding of song structure check out my article linked here, Song Structure
For Beginners.
Here are the types of questions you’ll need to ask yourself during this stage:
Does my song build emotionally, or is it overly repetitive?

Is my song unique enough for audience retention?
In today’s fast-paced world your song needs to smack the listener to wake them up,
and then it needs to keep smacking them so they don’t fall back to sleep. Make
sure that your song at least has potential. Also make sure the recording is as good
as possible. It really sucks to move backwards, but don’t be scared to do it if
necessary. It gets harder to step backwards the farther you move forward.
Timing Adjustments
Timing is the heart of music. Remember when I said in my article, Home Music
Recording – The 7 Best Tips, that you should record to a beat? Well for this step
you’ll need to ensure that that beat is well-timed with the meter. I’m by no means
telling you everything should line up perfectly with the bars. To the contrary, I
strongly urge against that unless you want your song to sound robotic.
Instead, use your ears to make sure the audio tracks have a nice, consistent
groove. Use a percentage of quantize on your midi tracks to get them closer to the
meter (but not exactly on them). The goal is for the song to sound natural. Once
you ensure your beat track has a consistent groove you’ll want to use that as the
reference for the rest of your tracks. Just make sure it’s a groove, not a robotic
pulse.
Distraction Removal
The next prep step will be to remove distractions. Distractions are anything that
take away from the listener being able to enjoy what’s good about your music. Are
there any strange clicks in your tracks resulting from punching the record button in
and out during the recording phase? Delete those pieces out.
Did any of your timing adjustments result in unusual silences that throw off the
song? Use cross-fading techniques to mask them. Is there unusually strong
sibillance resulting from the vocals, or any other distracting, recurring vocal noises
that could potentially become bothersome or annoying? Lower the volume on those
specific parts and use a de-esser.
Basically, if there’s something that sticks out that isn’t adding to the song, then find a
way to eliminate it. Ask yourself, “Would I hear something like that on a song if it
was playing on the radio?”. If the answer is no, toss it.
Tuning
This part is fairly obvious. Everything needs to be in tune. Hopefully, if you are at
this stage, almost everything will already be in tune. Why? Because before you
recorded your instruments you tuned them first. If you recorded with untuned
instruments I suggest you go back to the drawing board. Sorry for the bad news.
So, why are we talking about tuning then? Well, if your song has vocals – which in
most cases it will – you’ll probably need to tune your vocals. You can do plenty of
vocal warmups before you record, but unless you’re a hardcore professional you’ll
have some inconsistencies.
To solve this you can use auto tuners or manual tuners. Generally, auto tuners tend
to make a vocal sound robotic without plenty of human adjustment. Maybe that’s
what you’re going for, I don’t know. I prefer to use manual tuning, specifically
Celemony’s Melodyne. Whatever the case, your instruments need to be in tune.
Once you’ve done these steps the editing is complete. You can now remove your
editing hat (after double and triple checking of course!). Now we can move on to the
actual mixing.
Now that your mix preparation is done you can move onto mixing. If you’d like a
more in depth look at song mix preparation, check out the article linked here,
Preparing A Song For Mixing: An In-depth Guide.
Initial Balancing
Ranking The Tracks and Sections

My suggestion would be to take a day before doing any hat switching so you can
emulate having a fresh set of ears. However, at the end of the day, it’s a personal
choice. The initial balancing stage is where you’ll be listening to the song over and
over again to get all of the initial volume levels for each track approximately where
you want them to be.
Don’t take this step lightly, as it will serve as the foundation for everything
else you’ll be doing for the rest of your mix. A good idea will be to set a time limit
for about 30 minutes to an hour. This is where it’s important to have a good
understanding of your song structure.
You’ll probably need to take out a piece of paper and rank each section in order of
energy level (Typically the last section will have the highest energy). Then, once
you have each section ranked in order, you’ll then need to rank each track in order
of importance in those sections.
Generally , it’s a lot harder to decide which track is the most important in a section
than it is to decide the energy levels you want for each section. Consequently, it
can be a good idea to have a bunch of reference tracks of songs you really enjoy
that you can use as a basis for making decisions about levels of importance.
Setting The Faders

Once you’ve given everything a rating, start setting all faders to where you want
them. Begin with the most energetic section and the most important instrument in
that sectiom. Do this in descending order for each instrument and each section.
The reason for doing it in this order is so that you can max out the section that you
want to be maxed out and scale everything back from there. Otherwise, you might
run into a situation where you’ve gone too far in a section, and so you can’t get
enough out of the more energetic one.
Be very careful of three things during this phase. The first is that you don’t want
to have any of your faders pushed all the way up. That’s because it’ll make for
difficult control throughout the rest of the mix process. The second is that you
want to keep your output volume of your highest track below -6dB. This is so
that you can stay well away from clipped signals. The third is that you want all of
your channel faders below your master fader, which is known as gain staging,
and this is done for maximum control resolution.
Note: If you’re having some trouble keeping your fader knobs away from the
max, you can always just insert a gain plugin on a track and raise and lower
it’s volume that way. If fact, it may be beneficial to do this anyway because
then you can keep the fader knob at 0dB for optimal volume control later on.
Finding What Works

While it’s important to understand the importance of initial balancing, you need to
recognize that you can’t get a perfect balance at this stage. For many tracks, you’ll
feel the need to turn them up at some points and down at others.
If you can’t find a stable balance that doesn’t mean you are doing something wrong.
It means that your ears are tuned in and you’re ready to move onto the next step.
You should recognize the step 3 (Compression) will not be necessary if you’re able
to get a balanced fader off the bat. One of the biggest mistakes you can make
while mixing a song is to put plugins where they aren’t needed. Plugins are
sacrificial. You kill a little bit of energy to obtain more stability. If a track
doesn’t require more stability, then why are you killing it’s energy?
Now that you have a good initial balance you can move on to stabilizing your
volume dynamics. Having a rough balance will help you find the tracks that need the
most stabilization. For a more in depth look into getting a good rough song balance,
check out the article linked here, Properly Balancing A Mix For Beginners.
Mixing A Song With

Compression
What It Does
Compression is often misunderstood by the home music producer. I think part of
the reason is that there are so many knobs on a compressor, and another part is
that there are so many different theories behind how to use them. I’m going to tell
you now what the fundamental purpose of a compressor is, and also what you are
trying to achieve when you use one.
Remember when we were setting the initial balance? The reason it’s called INITIAL
balance is because you’re not going to get all tracks to be the same volume
throughout the entire song. There’s going to be places on some tracks where the
volume is right, and then at other times too low, and then at others too high. You’ll
constantly want to adjust the track’s fader throughout the song.
Controls
What a compressor does is it makes those volume adjustments automatically. You
set the ‘THRESHOLD’ knob to the point above which you want the volume to be
compressed. Then you set the ‘COMPRESSION RATIO’ to decide how much you
want to crush the exceeding volume level. When you do this, you’re making it so
that the volume of the whole track is consistent throughout the mix at a given fader
level. You can then use the gain knob to adjust the output level to match the inout
level. You are actually ‘compressing’ the volume like a spring to make it tighter in
the mix. Go figure.
Think about the vocals you hear on the radio – every word is directly in your face.
Nothing is quieter and nothing is louder. There are no wavers. That is compression
done by those who have mastered it.
Truthfully, you can find so many other knobs on a compressor. Therefore, there’s
obviously a lot more you can learn. In other words, there is a lot more you can
confuse yourself about. However, it’s important to understand how to implement the
fundamentals first. Details of compression will be discussed in a future post. Just
like in anything, master the basics first.
Compression Summary
In summary, compress the dynamic volume of your unstable track using the
threshold and compression ratio knobs, and then adjust the gain so that your input
is the same as your output. This will give your track volume consistency.
There is something to be said for using serial compressors on a track, but that will
also be a subject for my post about compressors. This method is used more for
reducing the load on any specific compressor than anything else. Don’t worry about
that for now. Too much information at once is just confusing.
Note: When you use a maximum compression ratio you are completely
cutting off all signal that exceeds the THRESHOLD setting. This is known as a
limiter, and the same task can be accomplished using a limiter plugin.
Conversely, you can cut off low level signals using a Gate plugin. Gates follow
similar principles to compressors.
For a more in depth look into using compression for balancing track volume
dynamics check out the article linked here, Mixing With Compression – A Beginner’s
Guide.
Mixing A Song With

Equalization (EQ)
What It Does
The purpose of an equalizer plugin is also often misunderstood. In retrospect, this
is probably because changes in frequency give the user a huge ability to adjust the
tone of a track. However, again, this is not the primary role of EQing.
Each track in your mix needs to have it’s own place. That means it’s not competing
with other tracks at the same frequency. The human mind can only concentrate on
one instrument at a given frequency at a time. EQ is automates volume like
compression. However, EQ automates volume based on frequency.
EQing is another step to mixing a song where you’ll really need to understand the
importance of each track in each section. Being conscious of this order will allow
you to more purposefully scale back on the volume of instrument frequencies that
conflict with another, more important instrument’s frequencies.
If you find that another instrument is so low on the totem pole that you can’t even
give it it’s own prominent frequency, then maybe you need to just take it out of the
song completely. Indeed, clutter is not something you want in your mix. Remove
clutter thoroughly and keep your song simple.
Controls
Frequency alterations can be done using the different kind of shelves ,filters, and
peaks available to you in an EQ plugin. If you’ve ever used an EQ plugin you
probably have an idea of what I mean. They give you different ways to alter
volumes of the track at differenct frequencies.
In general, you’ll want to cut off the lowest frequencies of all instruments (The ones
you can’t even usually hear) via high pass filters, and also you’ll want to use
frequency cuts way more than you use frequency boosts.
EQ will be covered in detail at a later time. The point of this article is to teach you
the steps to mixing a song and why you will be doing them. The important thing to
understand about EQ is that you’re using it to carve out specific frequency
regions for your tracks. Think of it like sculpting.
For a more in depth look at using equalization to give tracks their own space in the
mix, check out the article linked here, Mixing With EQ – A Beginner’s Guide.
Mixing A Song With Reverb

and Delay
What They Do
After you’re done with compression and equalization, you have achieved your
primary mixing objectives. Every track is constant and has a set place in volume
and frequency throughout the song. You no longer need to adjust the faders. What
you need to consider now is how your tracks mesh together.
Reverb and Delay plugins are used for creating echoes in tracks, and are best
applied using parallel processing. For an in depth look at how to apply these
plugins, check out the article linked here, Mixing With Reverb – A Beginner’s Guide.
The Effects
The difference between reverb and delay is that the patterns of echoes for a reverb
plugin are much more complex than delay. Either way, whatever your taste, these
plugins can be used for making tracks seems farther away or closer, individually or
as a group.
These plugins are advantageous in mixing a song because they can be used to
make every track sound more cohesive with the rest. They will allow you to change
the 3 dimensional perception of your song. This is why it’s better to record in
moderately dead space over a reflective space. A dead space can be enhanced,
whereas reflections in a recording can be nearly impossible to eliminate.
Conclusion
Each of these steps will be covered in greater detail in future posts. What I
have given you here is a blueprint that you must understand if you ever want
to mix a song successfully. Without a methodology and a reason, you’ll never
know what you’re supposed to be doing or when what you’re doing is complete.
It’s important to set deadlines for yourself and to churn out finished work, even if you
aren’t actually publishing your songs. The purpose of deadlines is that sometimes
it’s the only way to determine that your work IS, in fact, finished. Most of the time, art
never truly feels complete to the artist. Finishing a huge body of work is what will
make you great in the long run. Odds are highly against you that you’re going to
make a one hit wonder.
Let me know any questions, comments, or concerns you may have in the comments
or by email. Also, subscribe and follow me on socia media. That way, you can stay
updated on all of the great information I’ll be I’ll be sharing in the future.
I hope I’ve inspired you to go make great music. Until next time. Peace!
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5/8/2020 Mixing A Song: A How-To-Guide - THE CURIOUS MIXER

Mixing A Song: A How-To-

However, ‘interesting’ is a wholly SUBJECTIVE term. It should be clear from the

then by all means continue.

The primary goals of mixing a song are to:

1. Give each track a dynamically stable volume

days. After that, you’ll dive right into panning in stereo.

mono (single output).

Compression Or EQ First: A Logical Approach.

Preparing For Mixing A Song

because, as a home music producer, you’re wearing all the hats.

Does my song build emotionally, or is it overly repetitive?

as possible. It really sucks to move backwards, but don’t be scared to do it if

song? Use cross-fading techniques to mask them. Is there unusually strong

specific parts and use a de-esser.

was playing on the radio?”. If the answer is no, toss it.

have some inconsistencies.

Celemony’s Melodyne. Whatever the case, your instruments need to be in tune.

Preparing A Song For Mixing: An In-depth Guide.

Ranking The Tracks and Sections

you want them to be.

understanding of your song structure.

of importance in those sections.

Setting The Faders

enough out of the more energetic one.

and this is done for maximum control resolution.

Finding What Works

Mixing A Song With

trying to achieve when you use one.

constantly want to adjust the track’s fader throughout the song.

the mix. Go figure.

done by those who have mastered it.

fundamentals first. Details of compression will be discussed in a future post. Just

like in anything, master the basics first.

that for now. Too much information at once is just confusing.

similar principles to compressors.

Mixing A Song With

one instrument at a given frequency at a time. EQ is automates volume like

compression. However, EQ automates volume based on frequency.

conflict with another, more important instrument’s frequencies.

clutter thoroughly and keep your song simple.

peaks available to you in an EQ plugin. If you’ve ever used an EQ plugin you

volumes of the track at differenct frequencies.

frequency cuts way more than you use frequency boosts.

understand about EQ is that you’re using it to carve out specific frequency

regions for your tracks. Think of it like sculpting.

Mixing A Song With Reverb

you need to consider now is how your tracks mesh together.

whereas reflections in a recording can be nearly impossible to eliminate.

to mix a song successfully. Without a methodology and a reason, you’ll never

make a one hit wonder.

You May Also Like…

Apr 20, 2020

Microphone Classifications And Their Uses

Apr 16, 2020

Join The Club!

Your email will never be shared, sold, or used from SPAM.

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