Mix Theory - Posted on 2015-08-25 by Tyler Stowe

Chapter 12 was all about mixing. Mixing is the delicate process of taking all the recorded tracks, instruments, effects, and combining them into a single stereo track. It is then sent off for mastering. The main goal is to create a balance between all the elements of the song. Like most things in audio world, there's no right or wrong way to create a mix. That being said, there are some guidelines that most follow that lead to better results. File management, organization and labeling, color-coding tracks, and listening to playback whenever you change something are just a few of them. 

Mixing involves changing the levels, panning, effects processing, EQ, Compression, automation, and bouncing. I started out with a rough mix where I organize, label the songs, put down marker points where verses and choruses start, and adjust volumes while panning instruments on my stereo image canvas. When I finished it was send to my mentor via e-mail.

I came to the studio a few days later where I was told my mix was too quiet to hear. I told my mentor that I did make it especially quiet due to the fact that the levels would change throughout the mixing process. He proposed new ideas and ways of looking at it that really made think. Ways I would never think about. He recommended that I go back and change it before I move on to EQing. At the end, he gave me a full crash course in it which was great.