Mixing Template & Organization

Transcription

1 Tim van Doorne // heroic.academy Mixing Template & Organization Step-by-step checklists Thanks for reading the article and downloading these checklists - get ready to become more productive in your mixing workflow! Below are two checklists that help you save time, be more efficient, and spend less brain power on moving through your project. Allow yourself to focus on the things that matter most: improving your sound. The first checklist will help you create your own mixing template, the second checklist will help you organize your project like a pro. 1

2 Build Your Mixing Template A step-by-step checklist 1. Hide DAW components. Give yourself a clear overview of your project and utilize your monitor space. We often only need the following components when mixing: Input Output Track name Track number Track color Plugins Sends / buses Automation Panning Volume / fader Mute Solo Freeze Everything else can be hidden from your view. 2. Create & name buses: Delay (optional) Drum Reverb (optional) Snare Reverb (optional) Vocal Reverb (optional) Main Reverb Side Chain 3. Routing. Rout the output of the Delay and Reverb buses to the Side Chain bus. Make sure that the output of the Side Chain bus is routed to the main output. 4. Add plugins. Add EQ plugins to all Delay and Reverb buses Add a delay plugin to the Delay bus Add reverb plugins to the Reverb buses Add a compressor to the Side Chain bus, and bypass it (for now). 5. Set plugin settings. If you already have preferences in mind for the plugin settings, set the plugins how you are most likely to use them. 6. Save as template. Look up in your DAW manual how to set this up. Name as Mixing Template 1 (in case you will improve upon this template in the future, you can count up to Mixing Template 2, etc.). 2

3 1. Create new project Organize Your New Project A step-by-step checklist 2. Save project as: [artist name song name (mix) 3. Import stems 4. Save project 5. Name tracks (not the stems themselves, but the tracks in the mixer) Kick 1, kick 2, snare 1, snare 2, snare 3, bass 1, bass 2, etc. Or any other name order that you prefer, as long as it is well organized. 6. Organize the track order. Kicks Snares Claps Hi Hats Crashes Other Drums Bass Synths Instruments Vocals FX Or any other order that you prefer, as long as it is well organized. 7. Organize the track colors. Drums blue Bass & synths red Instruments green Vocals yellow FX grey Or any other color order that you prefer, as long as it is well organized. 8. Check headroom Play the song and make sure there is enough headroom on all tracks and on the master channel. If necessary, select all tracks and turn the fader down until you have around 12dB headroom on the master output 9. Mark sections Play the song and set markers to indicate new passages in the song: 3

4 intro, verse 1, build up 1, chorus 1, break 1, verse 2, build up 2, drop 2, outro, etc. 10. Routing Set the output of all non-drum tracks to the Side Chain bus. Make sure that the output of all drum tracks go the main output. Select all tracks (or if your CPU is not great, do this in batches) and add an EQ, compressor, and another EQ to all tracks. 11. Save project Now you can start mixing! 4

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