9 Things I Do on Every Mix

By Ian Vargo
12/4/2018
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It would be impossible to tally the number of decisions made during each and
every mix. Every part, performance, and recording is unique, so I approach each
mix as a unique entity. Still, there are elements of my process found in every mix
that I’m hired to complete.

Here they are …

1. Have a Detailed Discussion with the Client

It may not be in person, but establishing some kind of dialog with the client before
opening a session is essential for establishing healthy expectations, feeling out
what they hope to aesthetically achieve, and for getting a vibe of who they are as
an artist. Some artists speak in very abstract terms about their work, and I enjoy
getting into the artist mindset before tackling mixing duties.

Something I always ask for from clients is a set of reference tracks — pieces of
music that inspire them, or at least that serve as aural guide maps for the sonic
journey I’m about to undertake. I encourage artists to detail what they enjoy about
these reference tracks: sonically, emotionally or otherwise.
2. Mix Preparation
In my early days as an assistant engineer, preparing monster Pro Tools
sessions for hours (if not days) on end was the extent of my involvement on most
productions. It wasn’t glamorous, but I’m grateful for all I learned during those
times, as I fully believe operating within a clean and tidy session is essential for
being able to feel comfortable and creative.
Color-coding, ordering and grouping tracks, setting up drum triggers, and routing
the tracks through my personalized multi-buss structure are completed before I
make a single creative decision on a mix.

3. Learn the Chords and Consider the Song in Musical Terms

I became an engineer because it helped me more intimately understand music. I
love microphones, equalizers and the science of sound, but not as much as I love
music. When tasked with the role of mix engineer on a production, it can be easy to
forget that first and foremost, the job is to enhance a piece of music, not to flex
your technical muscles. Because of this, I spend as much time as I can afford
diving into the music — analyzing the chords, melody and structure.

I play piano, bass, guitar and drums, and like to figure out the song on at least the
guitar (the instrument I’m most proficient at playing). This allows me to feel inspired
and as if I’m part of the song, and helps me channel the excitement of the
performer. I take this excitement and attempt to infuse it into my mix.

4. Subtractive EQ
My logic here is simple — I strive to prevent unwanted frequency content from
hitting processing that occurs later in the signal chain.

Low frequencies, especially, have the tendency to make compressors work

overtime, so if you inspected my sessions, you’d notice a good amount of high-
pass filtering on individual tracks. I’m careful to not filter too much low end out of
my individual tracks because no one likes a thin-sounding mix, but I find that most
sources excluding bass, kick drum and certain synths simply don’t benefit the
overall mix if frequencies beneath 80Hz are present. There are always exceptions,
and I’ll sometimes use a subtractive low-shelf rather than a filter, but my goal is to
free up harmonic space for the elements that need it, and I find that this approach
helps me accomplish that.
I’ll generally remove unwanted frequencies before processing
with saturation, compression and time-based effects such as reverb and delay.
Sometimes, however, I’ll leave the undesirable frequencies, or even boost them if I
want compression to react a certain way.
5. Compression & Saturation
I don’t remember the last time I mixed a song and didn’t use compression in one
way or another. Some individual tracks are squashed to bits, some are gently
kissed with compression, some are running through parallel compression, and
some are running through compression specifically for the color and added
harmonic content. Regardless of how I’m using compression, one thing is for sure
— compression is an integral part of my sound, so I use it on every mix. I’m
learning more about it on every production I’m a part of, and I’ve been doing this
for close to 20 years.
I mentioned harmonic content before, and saturation is another tool that I use
liberally to add character to my tracks. For as much as I enjoy the nearly unlimited
track counts and speed of digital audio, I often find it lacking, sonically-speaking. I
use saturation in many different ways, and on each and every mix I’m hired for.

6. Listen & Compare Reference Tracks

When I’m finished with my prep and have made it about halfway through the mix,
I’ll begin toggling between my work and the provided reference tracks to see how
they stack up. I’ll consider small details — for example, if the client loves a
particular vocal reverb, or the way the bass sounds in a track, I’ll analyze the
reference and incorporate those qualities into the mix to the best of my ability. I’ll
also begin comparing big-picture differences such as overall tonality, dynamics and
balance.
I critically listen on my mains, home theatre speakers, in the car and with as many
other playback systems as I can find. I also casually listen while performing day-to-
day activities like washing dishes, walking my dog, or hanging around the house
with my two-year-old daughter (when I say hanging around the house — I actually
mean cleaning up after her.)
I do all this because I want to listen both as a technician and a music fan.
Ultimately, my work will be heard by more consumers going about their day than it
will engineers parked in front of high-quality monitors.

7. Volume Automation & Clip Gain

Clip Gain is great because it takes place before any processing is placed on the
inserts. If I know that I’m going to be compressing a track that was delivered with a
lot of dynamics, let’s say a vocal, I’ll first use clip gain to even it out a bit. I’ll still
leave the dynamic range, but want to avoid the compressor going nuts during loud
passages.

If you notice that your vocal sounds unnatural and squashed with compression in
the choruses, but perfect in the verses, try using clip gain to balance out the track
across the two sections of the song. You can always go back with volume
automation (which controls the volume after processing) to bring back whatever
dynamics were lost with leveling out the track via clip gain.

To give a mix life, vibrancy and movement, I do several passes of volume

automation after much of my equalization, compression and saturation are
complete. I use the aforementioned processing to sculpt the tones and improve
relationships between parts of the arrangement, but the real vision for how
everything works together doesn’t come into focus until I put my hands on some
faders and start playing the song like an instrument.

8. Master Buss Processing

Usually, when I’m approaching the middle-to-end stages of a mix, I begin
to process to the master buss. Whether
it’s equalization, compression, saturation, exciting or limiting — treating your
master buss is simply part of the sound of modern music productions, so don’t shy
away from experimenting.
Sometimes this processing can change how different parts of the mix interact, so
I’ll go back to the original tracks and make adjustments. I also use visual metering
tools to see how my mixes compare to industry standards.
As a production approaches mastering, I want my mix to sound as close to finished
as possible. Some major-label A&R won’t approve mixes unless they’re working at
a competitively loud level, so I’ve gotten used to treating my master buss so that
my mixes sound very close to how they will sound once distributed. If a mastering
engineer wants me to go back and remove anything — I’ll gladly do so.
9. Revise Until the Client Is Completely Satisfied
Crucial to survival in the client-driven service industry that is music production is
making sure that the person or people that are paying you for your work are
completely satisfied.

The revision process will sometimes become tedious, and clients occasionally ask
me to take a mix in a direction that I don’t necessarily agree with, but ultimately —
it’s their art, and their decision to make. I’m happy to oblige as long as they’re
satisfied with the final product.