After reading Mike Senior’s Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio earlier this month, I created a checklist of ten things to do to prepare a recorded song for mixing. My process has always been a bit too haphazard, so I plan to use this checklist to ensure that I never miss an opportunity to make my music sound better.
- Organize tracks
- Divide timeline
- Listen to tracks
- Identify gems
- Edit out silences
- Do multing as needed
- Adjust timing and tuning
- Camouflage edits
- Comp vocals, lead tracks
- Arrange
As these can be tedious, time-consuming tasks, many top-tier engineers give them to assistants to perform, but that’s not an option for those of us in home studios. If you’re a home studio user, feel free to use this checklist to better prepare your recordings for mixing. For more, be sure to check out Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio.
