Mixing checklist

Save a copy of the session under a new name (Song – Mix v1) and back up its audio files. The recording session stays untouched, and every mix version can be reopened.

A crossfade on every edit, no clicks, count-ins or noise before the first note, and the start and end of every region trimmed. Mastering can’t remove a click buried in a mix.

Vocals tuned, doubles and backing vocals tight with the lead, drums and bass locked together. Fix them now, before any processing brings them out, and keep the human feel where it serves the song.

A clear name for each source (Kick In, Lead Vox…), one color per family, buses for drums, vocals and music, and unused tracks hidden or deleted.

Bounce the rough mix before changing anything: it holds the vibe everyone already got used to. You’ll compare your mix to it at the end.

Two or three released songs in the same genre, routed straight to your outputs so they skip your mix bus processing. Turn them down to your mix’s loudness before comparing: louder always sounds better.

Clip gain or trim each track so it averages around −18 dBFS, with peaks well below 0. Analog-modeled plugins behave as intended, and the mix bus keeps its headroom.

Faders and panning only, before any plugin, until the song already holds up. Start from the most important element, often the lead vocal or the kick, and build everything around it.

Kick, snare, bass and lead vocal in the center; doubles, guitars, keys and backing vocals spread to the sides to keep the center clear.

Decide which one owns the lowest octave: the kick around 50 to 60 Hz and the bass just above, or the other way around. High-pass the tracks that don’t need low end, and use sidechain or EQ so kick and bass don’t mask each other.

Cut resonances, mud around 200 to 500 Hz and harshness before boosting anything. Make each move while listening to the whole mix, not in solo.

Controlling a vocal, adding punch to drums, gluing a bus. Compare with it bypassed at the same level: if you can’t hear what it brings, remove it.

Every word understood, from the first verse to the last chorus, with no sibilant, breath or plosive jumping out. Ride the level phrase by phrase if needed: compression alone rarely gets there.

A few shared spaces, such as a short room, a plate and a delay, put the elements in the same place. Cut the lows and highs of the returns so the space doesn’t muddy the mix.

Vocal rides, mutes, lifts into the choruses, effect throws: each section should feel different. A static mix sounds flat, however good the sounds.

Gentle compression or EQ to glue the mix, added early enough to mix into it. Nothing that squashes the dynamics: that’s mastering’s job.

Take a break, ideally until the next day, and listen at a moderate volume. Tired ears accept too much top end and too much reverb.

Sum the mix to mono: the vocal, snare and bass should stay where they are. If something disappears or sounds hollow, look for phase issues in stereo wideners, doubles and sources recorded with several mics.

Match the levels first, with a loudness meter, then compare the low end, the vocal level, the brightness and the width. You’re looking for problems, not trying to copy a sound.

Phone speaker, earbuds, car, laptop, at low and high volume. Kick and bass should still come through on the phone, and the vocal should stay in front everywhere. Note the fixes and make them all in the studio.

Headphones reveal what speakers hide: clicks, bad edits, hiss, plosives, fades cut short, a part that comes in late.

Back to back, at the same loudness. If the rough mix still has more energy or emotion, find out what got lost before calling the mix done.

Send the mix to the artist and everyone involved, collect their notes with the moment in the song they refer to, and go through each one before the next version.

Peaks between −6 and −3 dBFS, and no clipping on any track or bus. If the mix is too hot, pull the faders or the mix bus input down rather than adding a limiter.

Bypass any limiter or loudness maximizer before bouncing: mastering needs the mix’s real dynamics. If needed, send a limited version alongside, clearly named, as a loudness reference.

WAV or AIFF, in 24-bit or 32-bit float, at the session’s sample rate. No MP3, no normalization and no dither: dither is applied once, at the very end of mastering.

Bounce from just before the first sound to after the last reverb tail has died out. Leave the fades to mastering, unless they’re part of the mix, and say so.

Instrumental, a cappella, a clean version if the song is explicit, and stems if mastering, sync or live shows need them. Bouncing them now takes minutes, far less than reopening the session in six months.

Artist – Song – Mix v3.wav: anyone, including you a year from now, can tell which file is the final mix.

Your references, the release formats (streaming, CD, vinyl), the song order for an EP or album, and anything to keep or fix. A clear brief saves a round of revisions.

Collect every audio file into the session folder, save the session on the final mix and back it up in a second place. Revisions and remixes will start from there.