Efficient Mixing Workflow Guide Page 2

Efficiently Jump To
➔Concept 1: 🐂💩 BS In= BS Out
◆ Mixing doesn’t FIX a bad production
◆ The Mixing Mindset
◆ No Distractions
◆ Simplify Your Mix

📉🎚Top-Down Mixing
◆ Then Organize Your Session

🎚 Mix With Channel Strips 🎛

➔Concept 2:

🎚 🎚Mix in Mono 🔉 🏎
➔Concept 3:
➔Concept 4:
◆ Concept 5: Mix with Speed in Mind
◆ Build a Blueprint
◆ Begin with the End in mind

💪 Be Bold and Committed to Your Process

◆ How to Start Mixing Faster
➔Concept 6:
◆ Too Many Plugins = Too Many Decisions
◆ The internet wants you to play it safe

🔄
◆ Don’t be afraid to go in the red
➔Concept 7: Have a Dedicated Template
➔Conclusion

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M8i’s Concepts of an Efficient

Mixing Workflow
What this guide is about

Hi, my name is Izzy and I provide professional music services for home studio artists.

Since the age of nine, I knew I wanted to be an asset to the world. Being that music is my first love, I
strived to incorporate my mission with my love of music.

I've spent the last 18 years building and honing my abilities. I have worked with many producers,
artists, and engineers. Mixing is the perfect combination of technical, creative, business, and
interpersonal skills.

That’s me when I visited Patchwerk Studios in Atlanta, Georgia.

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I used these skills to build a grow a wonderful credit list. My projects increased over time, but I
wanted to start spending more time with my family. My wife especially.

So I had to find a healthy compromise.

As I started mixing more projects, I noticed that I had a specific pattern and flow.

This flow took me from spending 5-10 hours mixing down to a mere 1-3 hours total! I learned
that the focus is on the results, not how you got there.

If that time frame sounds like a feat for you right now, then keep reading. This guide will offer you
insights from the pros to finish your music faster and better than ever before.

My end goal is for you to develop the mindset of audio professionals, and create better and faster
mixing workflows.

Whether you’re an artist who records, mixes, and masters your music, a producer who mixes your
tracks, or you’re an audio engineer looking to spend more time gaining satisfied clients, let’s get into
it.

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Concept 1: BS In= BS Out

A great mix always comes from great preparation.

Mixing doesn’t FIX a bad production

That said, always arrange your tracks so everything sounds clear and concise.

Record, perform, and edit your vocals correctly and have great lyrics. Pick the right instruments and
sounds and make sure everything is gain staged so you don't clip.

It's always best to spend more time on production rather than the "fix-it-in-the-mix" mentality.

You’ll want to focus on balancing your tracks when mixing. Remember, garbage in is always garbage
out.

Most big-name engineers won't take some mixes because they know no amount of processing will fix
a crap song. It may take them a lot of time even if they do decide to take it on.

The Mixing Mindset

Understand that the mixing stage is one part of the entire process of creating a song. The mix
engineer is the one who takes the already well-produced tracks and balances them so they sound like
one great song.

You can read more on the stages of music creation so you can learn how to finish your songs
faster.

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No Distractions
When mixing, you need to be doing that, mixing. Unfortunately, you can not answer calls, reply to
messages, or scroll on social media. Any slight distraction distorts your perception of the mix, not to
mention that you end up spending more time mixing.

Simplify Your Mix

Having a session of 100 tracks may make you feel like a top-level engineer, but it’s not the best way
to work on a mix.

First, you more than likely won’t have the screen real estate to look at 100 tracks at once. Second, if
you did, how can you focus on processing that many tracks and still maintain the perception of the
song?

My answer to that last question is to simplify your mix. Mixing is not rocket science. At its core, it’s a
perfect combination of level, width, and depth.

Then Organize Your Session

Organization is a big factor in simplifying your mix. I like to spend a couple of minutes grouping, color
coding, and naming all my tracks. This way I know what tracks I’m processing, and where to locate
them.

The best way to keep a cohesive mix is to group and commit tracks that are alike so you can focus on
the music as a whole.

After I level all my tracks, I like to do this. I group all my lead vocals, background vocals, guitars, and
anything else I can simplify. Then I process the entire mix.

I always try to break my work down to no more than 24 tracks to feel like I’m working on a console. 48
is the most number of channels I will look at if I’m working on full instrumental tracks like pop or rock
songs.

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Helps save CPU too if that’s a big issue.

Concept 2: Top-Down Mixing

The mix bus (your master bus or dedicated aux track) is where all your tracks get routed to. Since I
aim to create a cohesive mix, I like to start here after I’ve set my levels. The moves here are subtle
yet make the biggest difference. You're less likely to over-process tracks this way.

My mix bus only has 3 plugins:

● EQ to cut and roll off buildups and boost to add bottom and clarity. My go-to is usually the
Pultec EQP-1A because of how musical it sounds.
● A dedicated Bus Compressor gives your mix glue. I like to use the SSL Buss Compressor
with a 10-30ms attack, the fastest release, and a 4:1 ratio. I push the threshold back until I get
2db of compression. The result brings the tracks closer to each other, hence the term glue.
● Finally, I add Saturation to add harmonics and warmth. I generally use a tape plugin set to
15ips, which rounds off some of the high-end but creates a vibe and warmth.

Remember that less here is always more.

Concept 3: Mix With Channel Strips

Channel Strips are a mixing engineer’s heaven send. They provide the essential functions of mixing
all in one plugin. This makes them the ultimate powerhouses in creating an efficient workflow.

Learn more about channel strips and why I like them.

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I like to throw a channel strip on every single track. Strips that model expensive analog mixing desks
like the SSL, Neve, and API add harmonics and cohesiveness to your songs when added across all
tracks.

It’s like you’re working from the console. It doesn’t mean you process everything but it at least gives
you the sound of a full console.

Concept 4: Mix in Mono

Reading this, you may go “We’re not living in the 30’s” and you’d be right.

Mixing in mono sounds horrible. That’s the point. Stereo processing can somewhat give you a false
sense of spatial relationship. Mono collapses everything to the center and on top of each other.

When everything is on top of each other, you’re forced to make space for everything so that you can
hear everything. This means you can hear the leveling and relationship between tracks better.

The vocal you thought was upfront in stereo is getting buried by the guitars that you put on the left
and right.

Mixing in mono means you hear frequency buildups better, phasing issues, and can make better
mixing decisions. Make it sound good in mono and it sounds marvelous in stereo.

Concept 5: Mix with Speed in Mind

When I started taking on more clients, I had to start speeding up my process. If I didn’t, I could expect
many “is my mix done, bro?” texts. I forced myself to complete mixes within 2 hours of starting. Doing
so, I cranked out better mixes.

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How is that? By giving yourself a deadline, you create pressure to only focus on the important tasks.

It’s a phenomenon called Parkinson’s law.

If you give yourself no time to mix a song, you’re gonna spend most of your time trying to tweak
things to perfection. Most of your efforts will go unnoticed, I can promise you that.

But, a strange thing happens if you only give yourself 2 hours or less to complete the same mix. It’ll
sound more coherent, big, and more like a record. You’ll get better and faster because you’ll be more
focused on the bigger tasks.

Build a Blueprint
When mixing, you will need to have a plan in mind of what you will like to get out of the song.

These are only gonna be problems that you hear and how you want the result to sound. I like to keep
a small legal pad on my desk to write notes about the song I’m mixing.

Begin with the End in mind

How do you know when a song is finished? If you have trouble with your end sound, feel free to use
reference tracks.

Reference tracks give you a benchmark of what the commercial market is looking for. Use your
favorite music that sounds close to what you’re working on.

I keep a playlist on my music app of my favorite songs sound-wise in each genre to use for reference.

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How to Start Mixing Faster

I used to do 10-minute speed mixing drills, which I learned from one of my favorite engineers Ken
Lewis. I would start with all faders down and have to complete or get as close to completing a mix in
10 minutes.

When the time was up, I’d bounce it out reset the mix, and do it 6 more times for a total of 1 hr. Each
mix allowed me to hear exactly where I went wrong and what I should focus on.

Concept 6: Be Bold and Committed to Your Process

Speed mixing allows us to make bold decisions when mixing. I set my timer to 10-15 minutes to start
with leveling the mix with my faders and panning to get the sound that I want. This is the part that
people are giving credit to when they listen to a song.

In saying that I do not spend time making fine adjustments by 0.5 or 1db. Everything at this point is
big changes to make everything play nice.

My theory is your mix is 80% done when you get this part right. To sweeten the mix, the final 20%
comes from your processing and automation. So, you want to save time for fine adjustments at the
end.

Too Many Plugins = Too Many Decisions

When using plugins to mix, it's easy to fall into the "which compressor should I use" rabbit hole. It's
hard not to, considering there are too many options today. Too many options with plugins paralyze us
or cause us to have to make too many decisions.

My solution to this? I’ve picked up a couple of my favorite plugins, created a chain, and stuck with it! I
then only use a limited number of plugins for each process.

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For example, I'm only limited to one LA-2A compressor, so I reserve it for my lead vocals.

I have these types of processes set up for all parts of my mix. It doesn’t mean I am bound to them
every mix, but it’s my starting point so I don’t have to waste precious time making too many decisions.

The internet wants you to play it safe

I’ve watched tons of videos online that tell you fail-safe procedures when it comes to mixing.

Things like: When EQ’ing, don’t cut more than 3db or boost more than 6db. When compressing try
not to get past 6db.

I record into preamps, EQs, and compressors. I boost my Eq sometimes by 15dB. Most times I even
like to slam my compressor to 20db gain reduction. Why? Because if that’s what it takes to get the
sound I want, then so be it.

That’s how the pros get results faster and more efficiently.

Don’t be afraid to go in the red

Before I make my next point, let me state that I am a FIRM believer in you using your stock DAW
plugins. They get the job done, and you should focus on getting them to sound how you want before
buying third-party plugins.

But what makes a great engineer is their commitment to being bold and pushing past limits. You have
that same ability now with analog-emulated plugins. Plugins that emulate analog gear work best when
pushed like them.

Who cares if you’re in the red? Make a move, stand on it, and move on. All is not lost if you make a
mistake in your DAW like they want you to believe. Make a copy to go back to. No big deal.

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Concept 7: Have a Dedicated Template

I could’ve summed up everything to this point alone, but I wanted to change your mindset about what
it means to be efficient in mixing.
I will swear by having a mixing template. I don’t use it in the sense that most people have their
templates set up. I do believe that you should approach every song differently.

But, as I stated earlier I have a dedicated set of steps I do and I don’t want to spend time always
setting up my sessions. It takes me away from the mix.

Here’s a picture of my current mixing template. As you can see, I have all my favorite effects, general grouping, and processing I use.

I don’t use everything in here, but it’s all routed to where if I need it, it’s there. I can add it in how I
want and move on.

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This ensures my mixes are clear and concise, and like some famous studios, it starts to give me a
sound specific to me.

Conclusion
We live in an age of music where done fast is better than done perfect.

As an artist, you can look forward to building your catalog.

As a producer, you can focus on selling more quality beats.

As an engineer, you can focus on having an increased number of satisfied clients.

My goal is to provide clarity and simplicity to home music professionals like you. I hope this
encourages you to focus on making more music.

If you would like to learn how to spend more time making more music, check out M8i Academy and
get more helpful tips.

Until then, thanks for reading!

Izzy

MIXEDBY8i.COM/ACADEMY

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