How do mix album?

[greyskull]

I do all my drums first on all songs, then gtrs, then bass, then vocals, then start doing automation on each track. I keep working round all the tracks so I don't get bored and stuck on one thing. I find it leads to a more balanced album too.

I'll use import session data in Pro tools to import same settings once I've got something I'm happy with, then fine tune for each song.

+1

 

[if6was9]

Yeah i work on one song till I'm happy with how it sounds and then import all of the plug ins to the next track. Sometimes if I'm finding it hard to get the first song to sound good I'll move on and start a different tune from scratch and work on that till I'm happy. You end up having to tweak alot between the tracks anyway but its a real time saver.

The last time I recorded myown band we had the sessions all over the place- tons of guitar tracks all done using different gear, no consistencies between songs, it was a complete mess and took forever to sift through and mix. Never again will I track like that

 

[Pedro Teixeira]

I don't have much experience in making albums, but I'm mixing one right now, and what I did was, I mixed one song entirely, it's finished, so save a template, load a template for each other song, and then fine tune things, they will never be exactly the same obviously, there will be needed a lot of automation differences

 

[nwright]

I do all my drums first on all songs, then gtrs, then bass, then vocals, then start doing automation on each track. I keep working round all the tracks so I don't get bored and stuck on one thing. I find it leads to a more balanced album too.

I'll use import session data in Pro tools to import same settings once I've got something I'm happy with, then fine tune for each song.

I usually do this as well.

The only thing I don't do is automation on the front end. Usually once I have the tones where I like them, and somewhat the balance of the mix, I'll find a common ground I like for the whole "sound" of the album. Usually once I'm happy with that, I'll save the mixer/channel settings from one of the songs and then apply those to the rest of the tracks, fine tune for each track's needs (this is where I automate) and then master

 

[GeertSamuel]

I do all my drums first on all songs, then gtrs, then bass, then vocals, then start doing automation on each track. I keep working round all the tracks so I don't get bored and stuck on one thing. I find it leads to a more balanced album too.

I'll use import session data in Pro tools to import same settings once I've got something I'm happy with, then fine tune for each song.

I have seriously never done that... always first made a "template" song then working on..

But this way seems interesting gotta try it...

 

[nwright]

I do all my drums first on all songs, then gtrs, then bass, then vocals, then start doing automation on each track. I keep working round all the tracks so I don't get bored and stuck on one thing. I find it leads to a more balanced album too.

I'll use import session data in Pro tools to import same settings once I've got something I'm happy with, then fine tune for each song.

One question, though... In this scenario, do you then have to automate the other instruments to fit in with the automation done prior to that section? By the end of the mixing, what if the vocals don't jive with the automation you did early in the game on the drums and guitar? Which gets tweaked, the earlier stuff, or do you just automate the vocals to make them fit with the prior work on the other instruments?

 

[AdamWathan]

One question, though... In this scenario, do you then have to automate the other instruments to fit in with the automation done prior to that section? By the end of the mixing, what if the vocals don't jive with the automation you did early in the game on the drums and guitar? Which gets tweaked, the earlier stuff, or do you just automate the vocals to make them fit with the prior work on the other instruments?

Was going to ask the same...

If you just mix the drums then go and mix the drums for all the other songs, then you do guitar for one track and realize "damn I need to eq the toms a bit different to sit better with this new rhythm tone" then you have to go and do that same adjustment individually across every track again instead of just doing everything once and making little adjustments afterwards like most people are doing here... I must be misunderstanding because this method obviously works fine if that's how Andy does things?

 

[greyskull]

Trim automation in pro tools hd is mint