© Amner Hunter Studios | https://amnerhunter.

com
 Mixing Checklist
(Using Free Plugins)

Hello friend!

Amner here. Thanks for downloading my mixing checklist using free vst plugins.

My goal here is that with this guide, you can have a clear path to follow when mixing
a song from beginning to end using free tools that I use and recommend 100% to
work with.

This checklist is HOW I MIX literally. After 8 - 9 years of experience in mixing music I
have developed this system that always works for me, makes me work focused,
efficiently, better, faster and I have more fun in the process which I think is very
important too.

The free plugins in this list might change over the years and have changed over the
course of my experience, but the steps and the system has remained the same
pretty much, with some small changes here and there but the fundamentals and
basic elements are always the same. Systems work! even in music production.

This is not the only way to mix a song, but I’ve found that these strategic points
always make me work very well and give me good sounding mixes in less time.

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

© Amner Hunter Studios | https://amnerhunter.com

 Step 1 - Organize Your Session
Before you import the tracks, set up the sample rate and bit depth of your
project.
Organize your tracks from left to right, top to bottom with drums and
percussion, then bass instruments, guitars, synths, keys, and finally vocals.
Group your tracks into categories in bus tracks or group tracks and color code
these groups with a specific different color different from individual tracks.
If you don’t have one already, add a master fader or track to the far right of
your tracks.
Color coding your tracks by instrument type is also a great idea so you can tell
what they are easier at a glance.
Rename any tracks that don’t make sense to you (this is more applicable if
you receive tracks from a client to mix) and put markers across the structure
and skeleton of the song.

Step 2 - Gain Staging

Gain staging is simply making sure you’re not overloading your mix bus and
clipping your mix in your DAW.
Use clip gain to bring down the waveforms of tracks that are too hot, and
make sure that none of the tracks are peaking their volume meters.
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.

Step 3 - The Static Mix

Loop the loudest part of the song, and listen to it a few times as you adjust the
volume faders and try and get a mix with just volume & panning.
Also decide where the instruments are gonna be in the stereo field.
I pull all the faders down, play the song and start moving the first fader up,
then the next fader, then the next, so on and so forth.
Pretend like plugins and effects don’t exist, try to make the song sound
amazing with just level and pan.
This shouldn't take longer than half an hour.

© Amner Hunter Studios | https://amnerhunter.com

 Step 4 - Mix Bus Processing
Starting with your mix bus will shorten your mixing time by hours. This
process is also called Top Down mixing.
Insert an EQ on your mix bus (master fader) and find one, two or three places
at the most you can subtly adjust to enhance the mix.
You’re looking to open up the highs of the mix and start feeling the low end of
the mix punch and fatten up.
Consider a compressor as well, set to a slow attack time and very fast
release. Gentle ratio and adjust the threshold to see about 1-4db of gain
reduction on the loudest peaks of the song.
Be sure to level match the output of any plugin.
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
Start with subtractive EQ and experiment using it on the groups or buses
before the individual tracks.
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.
I also high pass the kick drum and bass guitar, one around 40Hz and the
other around 60Hz depending which suits best.
An easy way to find stuff to remove from a track with EQ is to boost and
sweep around for the ugliest frequency on a track, and then pull it down by -3
to -6db.
Consider narrow cuts and wider boosts to sound more natural.

Step 6 - Compression
If you have any tracks that are overly dynamic consider using a compressor to
even out their volume.
The main elements that usually need compression would be dynamic
instruments like drums, bass, clean guitars and vocals.
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.
Consider using compression on the group tracks or buses before using them
on individual tracks.

© Amner Hunter Studios | https://amnerhunter.com

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 - FX (Reverb & Delay)

Consider setting up one reverb and one delay in your mix using a bus or aux
track, rather than putting delay and reverb plugins directly on your tracks.
Consider EQing out some top and bottom end in your reverb plugin or insert
with high and low pass filters.
Consider filtering out the top end on the delays so that the echos aren’t as
bright and forward as the source signal.

Step 8 - Automation & Sweetening

With EQ, compression, and effects in your mix - it’s time to check and make
sure your mix is interesting and balanced from start to finish.
Use volume automation to keep the lead vocal clear and upfront on every
single word and phrase.
Use pan automation to create interest and move certain tracks narrow or wide
throughout the song.
At the same time, make sure to automate any instruments doing fills at
transition points of your 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 a
bit louder than the verse.

Bonus Tips

One of the biggest secrets to getting your mix to sound good anywhere is to
listen and check your mix in mono.
Be sure to pull in a reference track (a professional mix) that you think sounds
good and compare it to yours.

© Amner Hunter Studios | https://amnerhunter.com

If you don’t plan on mastering the mix with someone else, make sure to insert
a limiter as the final plugin on your master channel, set the ceiling at -1db and
start to lower the threshold til you get 3-5db of gain reduction.

Free Vst Plugins Recommended

mvMeter 2: To check the levels on your mix and for gain stage, RMS levels,
peaks.

Panipulator: To check your mixes in mono.

TDR Vos Slick EQ: To be used on the master track, groups and buses, it has
very colorful sound and musical eq curves that feel very pleasant to the ear.

© Amner Hunter Studios | https://amnerhunter.com

Voxengo Tube Amp: To add subtle saturation and warmth to the whole mix,
group tracks or individual tracks.

BusterSe: To glue and compress the whole mix in the master channel, to
control dynamics and add punch in group tracks or buses.

© Amner Hunter Studios | https://amnerhunter.com

MEqualizer: To use on the individual tracks for more surgical moves, I use
this plugin to high or low pass, to find resonant frequencies, to shape sounds
adding frequencies, to remove unwanted harsh frequencies.

MCompressor: To compress individual tracks, control dynamics on vocals,

bass, guitars, to tighten up the kick, snare, toms.

© Amner Hunter Studios | https://amnerhunter.com

Valhalla supermassive: To add reverb on snare, toms, vocals, lead guitars
for example, add depth to the full mix or make the drums more live with short
reverbs. Also it can be used as a delay fx.

Baby comeback: To add delay on lead guitars, vocals, clean guitars, good
sounding delay with ping pong option and analog sounding echoes, practical
and simple to use.

Loudmax: To use as the last plugin in the chain on the master channel or mix
bus to make the mix louder and get the levels to commercial standards. The
ISP option allows you to avoid digital distortion when limiting hard. Also can
be used to limit drums, bass, vocals just to control the loudest peaks.

© Amner Hunter Studios | https://amnerhunter.com

 Conclusion

There you go!

Everytime you second guess your mixing process or just want to refresh your ideas
and workflow when mixing a song or if you want to remember which plugins can be
used in the process, feel free to pull up this checklist, you can print it and make
notes. It will always be there for you.

Just as a friendly reminder, every week I upload new free content to my website &
my youtube channel with new free tools and tutorials, so stay in touch and let me
know how I can help you more in your music production journey.

¡Happy mixing!

Amner Hunter
amnerhunterstudios@amnerhunter.com

© Amner Hunter Studios | https://amnerhunter.com