Mixing Checklist

Hey Friend,

Graham Cochrane here. Thanks for downloading my Mixing Checklist and the multitrack stems to
the song “Southern Road” by The Lack Family.

My hope is that you will import the tracks into your own DAW (mixing software) and follow along
the videos and this checklist to get some practice mixing a song the way I like to mix.

And to that point - this is simply how I LIKE to mix.

It’s not the only way to mix, but one that I’ve found to work very well and give me a great sounding
mix in less time.

Alright, I hope you enjoy the checklist and happy mixing!

Step 1 - Organize Your Session

• Before you do any hard mixing, it helps to clean up the session visually in your software
• Organize your tracks with drums and percussion on the left, then bass instruments, guitars,
synths, keys, and finally vocals.
• If you don’t have one already, add a master fader to the far right of your tracks.
• Also consider color coding your tracks by instrument type so you can tell what they are easier
at a glance (i.e. all drum tracks in red, all vocals in blue)
• Rename any tracks that don’t make sense to you (this is more applicable if you receive
tracks from a client to mix)
 Step 2 - Gain Staging

• Use clip gain to bring down the actual waveform level of any tracks that are too “hot”
• Ideally shoot for a track to peak at 75% of the way up the meter, max!
• Watch your master fader, make sure that it’s not clipping. Ideally it should be peaking at -6db or
less.
• If you are still too hot at the master fader, then pull the clip gain of ALL the tracks down
another 3-6db. Repeat until your mix is peaking no higher than -6db on the master fader.

Step 3 - The Static Mix

• Loop the song and listen to it a few times while you manually adjust the volume faders and pan
pots of each track trying to find a balance.
• Pretend like plugins and effects don’t exist, try to make the song sound amazing with
just level and pan.
• I prefer to pull everything down and then one-by-one bring up tracks to create a balance that
way.
• Consider starting with the kick drum, then bass, then snare drum, then lead vocal, and then fill
in the mix from there.
• When stuck between two volume levels or two pan positions, choose the one that suits
the track best for 85% of the song. You can always automate it later on.

Step 4 - Mix Buss Processing

• Insert an EQ on your mix buss (master fader) and find one or two places you can subtly adjust
to enhance the mix
• Make 1-2db adjustments, nothing more

• Consider a compressor as well, set to a slow attack time and very fast release. Gentle
radio (2:1) and adjust the threshold to see about 1-3db of gain reduction on the loudest peaks.

• Be sure to level match the output of any plugin so you aren’t making your mix louder or quieter
with these adjustments.

• If you have any tape saturation or console emulation plugins consider using them here
to add some warmth and vibe to the whole mix.
 Step 5 - EQ

• Use EQs to remove the bad stuff in your tracks and subtly enhance the good
• High Pass Filters (HPF) on your tracks are a great way to free up space for the low instruments
like bass and kick drum.
• Do an extreme boost and sweep around to find the ugliest frequency on a track and then
pull it down to -3db or -6db.
• Consider narrow cuts and wider boosts to sound more natural.

Step 6 - Compression

• If you have any tracks that are overly dynamic (too loud one moment and too quiet another)
consider using a compressor to even out their volume
• You can also use compressors to create more punch or smack on drums or create more
urgency and excitement on an acoustic guitar or vocal.
• Experiment with faster and slower attack and release times to hear what the compressor is
doing to your audio.
• I like to insert compressors AFTER my EQ plugins on a track, but this is not a hard and
fast rule.

Step 7 - Reverb & Delay

• Consider setting up one reverb and one delay in your mix using a buss or aux track,
rather than putting delay and reverb plugins directly on your tracks.
• Then you can use sends to add reverb to whatever track you like in whatever amount you like

• For reverb, I like Rooms and Plates and also consider EQing out some top and bottom end.
• For delay, I like either a short slap delay or a long, muted quarter note delay. Consider
filtering out top end on the delays so that the echos aren’t as bright and forward as the source
signal.
 Step 8 - Automation & Sweetening

• Once your mix is sounding good with EQ, compression, and ambient effects, it’s time to make
sure the mix sounds interesting and balanced over time, from start to finish
• Use volume automation to keep the lead vocal clear and upfront on every single word
• Use pan automation to create interest and move certain tracks narrow or wide throughout the
song.
• Use mute automation to get rid of a track and then bring it back in again later to create more
drama and contrast
• You can even do volume automation on the whole mix to make the chorus bit louder
than the verse

Bonus Tips

• One of the biggest secrets to getting your mix to sound good anywhere is to listen to
your mix (and make your EQ decisions) in mono. Watch this video to understand why
mono is the secret.
• When you think you’re done, be sure to pull in a reference track (a professional mix) that you
think sounds good and compare it to yours. You’ll want to first pull the volume of the reference
down to match your mix and then compare tone, vocal and kick/snare level, etc.
• If you don’t plan on mastering the mix, make sure to insert a limiter as the final plugin on your
master fader and follow these steps to get a commercially loud mix in 60 seconds.

Conclusion

There you have it!

Each time you need to mix, feel free to pull up this checklist to get a quick refresher of what to do
first, second, third, and beyond.

Happy mixing!

Graham Cochrane
Founder, Recording Revolution