We’ll use all we have learned so far about mixing to create a rough mix of Angels In Amplifiers song I’m Alright. You can download the project files here.

Remember the steps we’ve talked about so far. Setting the project tempo, setting a mix with faders, adding eq, compression, delay and reverb.

Organization⌗

  • Set your project tempo to 96 bpm so you can see where the recordings line up with your timeline.
  • Order your tracks so they number 1 - 12.
  • Group the tracks based on their type
    • Drums
    • Chords
    • Vocals
  • Give each group a unique color

Build a mix⌗

Tip: to get more fine grained control over parameters press command (control) + drag.

  • Build the mix by turning every fader to -inf dB
  • Set your time selection from the start to end of measure 8. Then set toggle repeat to ON.
  • Bring in each element by order of importance, you decide what this is.
  • As you bring in elements, continue looking at the meters, making sure you aren’t clipping. You want to peak at around -3 to -6 dB.
  • You may need to reduce the levels of the instruments you’ve added in to keep from clipping

Equalization⌗

  • Apply a high pass filter to every instrument with any low frequency content to prevent low frequency build up.
  • Do you hear any instruments masking each other? Try to remove the masking frequency with EQ.
  • Places to check
    • Guitar vs piano
    • kick drum vs bass guitar
    • is anything interfering with the vocal?

Compression⌗

  • Are there any elements that are sticking out of the mix sometimes but not others?
  • Are any elements getting drowned out of the mix at certain points?
  • These are good candidates for compression
  • Good candidates
    • Vocals
    • Drum folder - try 1175
    • Drum overheads - try 1175
    • Bass guitar

Delay⌗

  • Add three delay sends with three different lengths of delays
  • try them on different instruments with different amounts, use your ears.
  • Delays on vocals can make them sound bigger without pushing them back in the mix
  • Delays on chord instruments can sound great as well. Try using rhythmic delays to get an interesting movement to your mix.

Reverb⌗

  • Try reverb on instruments that you want to sound like are coming from the same space.
  • Reverbs can also be used to make an instrument sound large. Be careful, as this can often push the instrument back in the mix.

Toggle bypass⌗

Just to hear what we’ve done we can go to the action list and run “Toggle FX Bypass on All Tracks” to toggle our effects on and off. Did we do more harm than good?