first listen to the song a couple times. then make a rough level and panning mix without muting or soloing.
listen to all the levels and imperfections in the mix. use your ears. it's important to listen to each instrument as if you were soloing it with your mind (so to speak).
take some notes. track down what the noticeable disparities are ie. too harsh, not enough sparkle. this will help you identify the problems with the source audio from a tracking/recordist perspective and help you understand where to move forward in applying more calculated methods in the mixing stage.
once you have determined what mistakes need to be fixed from an editing perspective you can start the level mix.
nothing passed the kick:
this is a method used a lot in mixing, in terms of level. a good level to begin with for the kick drum is about -18db (give or take a decibel). be sure that you are adjusting these levels with regard to proper gain staging. it's important that you have a loaded signal that appears more musical than sterile.
***don't let people tell you colorful preamp are bad preamps. (everything can be a tool).
after you have created an even mix with just the signal level, you can make more room for decisions that will impact the depth of the song. this a more subjective phase (i'm sure we all know).
use subtractive and additive equalization to cut an boost frequencies in the bandpass. more than likely you have used highpass and/or lowpass filters during your initial level mix, as these are specific level disparities that can simply be subdued by a single band filter. how much you choose to filter out of the signal is up to you but in most cases i will almost always HP filter out every channel to 30-40hz mainly because this non musical content and could potentially introduce problems in your mix in the future.
compressors are a great way to lower the overall dynamics of a signal. what exactly does this mean? well, a compressor reduces the level of an audio signal if its amplitude exceeds a certain threshold. the effect can also depend on the ratio. this sets the ratio between the input and output level. for example: a ratio of 3:1 means that for every 3db of input above the threshold level, the output level will increase by only one decibel. the attack parameter sets how long it takes to reach maximum compression once the signal exceeds the threshold. the release parameter sets how long it takes for compression to stop after the signal drops off below the threshold.
compressors are ok for lowering dynamic range but they tend to be more useful for less responsive signal content. because of the faster react time and better signal response i have personally chose to replace subtle compressors with limiters. a limiter is simply a compressor with a ratio passed 10:1.
this information is necessary to understand before making mix decisions on someone else's musical "pride and joy".
there are lots of methods used for almost every occasion; sidechaining, m/s equalization and de-essing are some examples. though, you can bet on almost every mixing situation to be very unpredictable, it is imperative that you have these methods prepared in an effort to "troubleshoot" issues with your mix.
in most cases, the kick drum will be the highest level in a mix (for me) but since it is based on low level monitoring it will be more tolerable while making crucial equalization decisions. the purpose of mixing the signal so low, is to allow the master bus more headroom in an effort to maintain a loud, robust final master. in most cases i have found that at a listening level of about 60db spl, the master bus can peak around -13db thus leaving tons of room for mix choices in the future.
i don't like to solo/mute while mixing because it's not how people listen to music. if you are noticing a strange or "wonky" frequency inconsistency between two instruments (or several), it's time to pull out the parametric eq and sweep through the bandpass to locate the inconsistency. a great method for this is: adjust the "Q" to maximum and (with a bell curve) increase the gain to maximum level locating the harsh/boxy/bassy frequency. it's very simple to locate as it will be the one that makes you want to kill a baby... (that is a technical term btw). then as soon as you have found the "dead baby frequency" you can yank it out. how much you cut out is up to you. you must remember that subtractive eq can destroy your signal just as much as it can help.
i suppose my method is irrelevant because i almost always do different things when i work on music. a lot of songs may be alike but no recording is the same and therefore can never be remedied by the same "brush under the rug" tactic. the most significant "tactic" i can recommend is learning how to compensate for lower and upper aural harmonics. naturally, you and i do not own the same reference monitors so you need to know what you are listening for in terms of disparities. sometimes acoustic treatment can improve your comprehension towards a better "acoustic-compensation tactics".
hope this helps.
