Please be aware, this is how I do my mixdowns. Different people do things different. This might be not the best way to do it, but this is my approach on how to do this since it works best for me. Also, I am for sure not the master for mixdowns, since I am still kind of a beginner (Producing since around 2 years)
My intention for doing this guide was to help out the beginners. You will might find a better way to do a step and thats totally fine. But stick with this if you really don't know how to master this challenge. Feedback and tipps on improvement are very welcomed.
Btw, This has nothing to do with mastering. Mastering should be done in a different studio under differnent conditions by a different person.
Now lets get it started!
The first Day
The Setting up - requirements on your environment & project
1. TIME
Make sure you have time to do this. Don't ask me how long this takes, this can differ from person to person and from track to track. But also keep in mind that you need more than just one day. I'll explain this later why. But for the first day you will need a couple of hours, so don't start in the evening or get yourself a coffee mashine. You will benefit from a time where you don't get interrupted or distracted.
2. FINISHED?
Be sure that you have the feeling that your track is finished, a mixdown only should be made in a state, when you don't want to change this and that. Be sure that the track you're about to mix satisfies you (because you will be listening to it a million times) and that there are only things you want to change which belong in the mixing process (like detail-work sound design-like; arrengement should be 100% done).
3. ALLOCATION
Put every sound (Really, every) in a mixer channel. Maybe you will end up using 100 mixer channels but so what (as long as your CPU doesn't strike)
What I do often, is like putting all vocals in one channel, or all samples which really don't need any work anymore in one channel just to safe time.
4. NAMING
Having all sounds connected to the mixer, name them. When you click on a channel, you have to instantly know which sound you just clicked on. It helps for keeping it neat.
Also, colours are helping too. (Red for synths, Blue for kicks etc...)
Your mixer might end up looking like this:
Spoiler
For the bloody beginners: Make sure you use ASIO4ALL. It reduces latency, it acquittes your CPU and you have a better sound (There are a few tuts regaring ASIO, check them out). Your volume in your room should be loud enough to hear your quietest sound, but not so loud that your ears get tired easy. Do not chose a volume your neighbour can hear. Try different volumes and find something you can live with, but better too quiet than too loud.
This is a point you get to automatically, after you've done this a few times.
Don't use headphones, use your stereo!
5. THE MASTER CHANNEL
two very iportant things:
1. Never ever touch the master volume fader.
2. Kill everything on the master bus. No limiter, no compressor, no EQ or any other plugin which changes your sound.
BUT: it helps having a few plug-ins on the master to visualize the sound.
Also you will benefit from a second PC-Monitor like I have, on the left I got my sequencer window and on the right my mixer aswell as my plug-ins to visualize the sound. My second monitor often looks like this:
Spoiler
NOTE: this is a screenshot of a project where I finished the mixdown already, like I said, don't have anything on the master bus except plug-ins like dB meters or analyzers.
Think about what you want to archieve volume-wise. -3dB? -6db? The following steps won't have a effect on your mixdown when you choose a different volume to end with, but always keep your end-volume in mind.
When you want to have your track mastered professionally, get infos which level the master-guy wants. If not, the choice is completely up to you, common are levels like -3 or -6, and I recommend -6dB for a "premaster", -3dB when you don't have a real use for it and you only want to upload it to youtube or whatever.
Now you can start.
The Mixdown - The first run
1. MUTE
Kill every channel (for FL users: by clicking the little green dot above the volume fader and the panning knob).
2. THE KICK
unmute the channel / channels you got your kick going on. Only those channels. Listen to your kick. Are you really satisfied? If not, put an EQ/comp or anything on it to spice it up, until you are satisfied with it. I don't talk about this here in detail cause it doesn't belong to this topic.
Then, put your volume fader of the kick channel / channels down. And here you got the problem you will spend most of your time with, cause you never know how far you have to put it down.
I can only speak for my kick here and this might not be equivalent to your kick.
My experience is the following:
I want to archieve a -6dB mix, so I have my solo kick around -9-10dB.
Important: there are kicks out there which have a really loud punch. Check a spectrum analyzer, the sub bass should be the loudest thing in your kick. When you got the peaks standing out, look for tutorials for fixing it.
Remember, -6dB is the value your loudest part of the track. So when you got your kick at -9dB, you add your synth, crashes, sweeps and so on, you will end up at any value, but most likely not at -6dB. But atleast around that value.
Again remember, a dB meter is worth gold here.
When you decide this step is finished for now, it really has to be finished for now. Don't touch you kick again for the first run, cause your kick will be your guide through the mixdown, cause it will be your loudest sound. Everything else will be adjusted by comparing it to your kick.
3. THE PERCS
You got a snare going on with the kick? unmute it. Do not look at your dB meter. Listen closely and turn the volume down slowly until you got a volume where your snare fits your kick volume-wise (Not oustanding but hearable). Mute your kick so you have your snare solo.
Then, and this is important, add an EQ. Make a lowcut at around 100-150hz, so the bass of the snare doesn't affect the bass of your kick, because you want to have your kick clean in the lows. Also spice up the snare if needed. unmute the kick again. Sounds good? keep it! Doesn't sound good? Go over with the Eq again, add a compressor or whatever to make it sound good.
Repeat this step with every percussion you got which runs with your kick. Every Perc will get a lowcut.
Little tip for crashes: those would like to have a lot of reverb which has to be damped too.
4. THE SYNTH
The synth is a sound which really need its time. Unmute it and adjust the volume. This can be tricky cause you have to find a volume where you can hear your synth crystal-clear, but your kick shouldn't be affected at any time. The volume is good when you can mute and unmute the synth again and again while focussing on your kick and the sound and volume of your kick doesn't seem affected.
Then, if needed, add a stereo enhancer. Find a nice place of your synth in the room where it sounds like its coming from everywhere but doesn't lose any power. At this state the synth should exactly sound like you want to have it sound like.
Then, add an EQ. make a drast lowcut at maybe 150-200hz. Find a lowcut where you clearly have no bass at all on your synth but still have the power like it has before the lowcut.
Mine often look like this:
Spoiler
NOTE: This might be a bit too drastic. Make sure it still sounds good
Spoiler
Lowcut every other sounds which are running in your mainparts and adjust the volume. Some sounds may need also quite a time, like screeches or hardsounds. But there will be settings which will exactly generate what you want. Take your time to find those settings.
6. THE BREAK
You should still have sounds left which are still muted. Those only should be playing in your mixing intro, outro or break. It is not very easy to find a good volume for them because you can't really compare them to your kick since your kick isn't runnung when you got those sounds running. Either you unmute one sound and let your track playing till your kick hits and try to compare this way or you find another kind of main sound which will be your guide for those parts. In this case, repeat the steps from step one - the first run.
Remember: Pads often don't need a lowcut since they often care about your sub frequencies in your break, but lowcut them when you got "highcut FX kicks" playing in your break for example or sth else which is important to your sub bass region. Only have one instrument in your sub bass region.
Also Remember: Go on with a stereo enhancer for pads maybe when they need it, a roomy atmosphere for a break never was bad. This can also archieved with reverb by the way. But don't rely to 100% on me here, I am not the best regarding stereo enhancing since, my speaker equipment is really really bad and I don't really have experience with it.
7. THE dB AGAIN
Now you should have unmuted every sound which belongs to your track. Look at your dB meter again. Did you make keeping your loudest part at -6dB?
Tip: The Plug-In SPAN is really nice for this, it has a numeric peak meter. Play your track from start to finish while keeping an eye on the numeric peak meter.
So, did you make it? If yes, you deserve a big applause and you can keep on doing step 8 and skip the second run.
If no, and thats more likely, there are two possibilities:
You are under -6db. If its drastically, like that you are at -8dB or sth., then you do step 8. If its not drastically, skip the second run like you made it.
You are over -6dB. then you should stick to Step 8 and the second run.
8. TAKE A BREAK
You have come really far already. Allow yourself a break. 10minutes atleast are helpful for me... A break without have music playing.
Often this thing here helps you on track:
Spoiler
1. DO THIS ALL OVER AGAIN
When you didn't make it to -6dB (or like I said, -3dB or what you wanted to archieve), repeat every step from "the first run". Tweak your kick volume louder when you where too quiet after the first run, quieter when you were too loud. You already should have quite a feeling for this.
2. FLOW
You will get in a flow, so you won't take as much time as you needed in the first run, also because you don't have to add the lowcut and everything since you tweaked every sound in the first run.
3. AGAIN?
Now check your dB meter again like you did in the first run in step 7. Did you made it? Yes? Congrats. If not, do a third run. Thats why it can become really frustrating and time-consuming.
Repeat it so often until you made it. I once did a mixdown like 7 times.
Remember, when your loudest part is at -6,5dB, everything is fine. But when you are at -5dB, I would repeat those steps, also when I am at -7,5dB. But this is up to you ofc.
The second Day
I assume that you have your mix clean and running on a volume you wanted in the first place.
Relisten to your track. Also listen with headphones this time too, because they will sound different and you will be able to spot things which maybe don't sound nice to you. Are you still satisfied? If not, change those things which bother you.
Its important to do this on a different day because on the first day your ears were getting extremely tired. On the second day they are fresh again and you hear things different.
When you still are satisfied with it, you are almost finished.
The finish
Now there may be two reasons why you did a mixdown.
1. When you want your track get mastered, you are done for now. Send it in, give yourself a self-high-5 cause you god-damn-made it.
2. When you don't want to get this mastered and only want to upload it to soundcloud/Youtube/as a free release or whatever, you still have a few steps to do.
You still have a damn quiet track. Assuming you made your mix at -6dB, you have to increase your volume about 6 dB.
What I always do, and I will for sure get bashed for this, I load up a limiter in the master channel. The ceiling is at +0.5-1dB and I increase the gain right under the ceiling, so the limiter only does gaining. In my case the limiter only works as "gainer" and as visualizer, not as a brickwall.
You can use any plug-in for gaining. But NEVER use your master fader.
Also, when you think you have to spice up certain frequencies, do that with an EQ. (Don't do this when you sent this to a master-guy, cause this is also part of mastering, or fix certain sound by going in their channels.) but not for ridiculous amounts, stay within -1 to +1 dB gaining for a bell.
Also, you can load up presets for EQs which contain a super high freq cut or super low freq cut. You don't need those frequencies. and you will receive a bit room.
This might end up looking like this:
Spoiler
Hope this helps.
Maneki Neko
