Where do you start a mix?

[if6was9]

This came up in a thread I started on another forum, Where and how do you start a mix?
All the faders up and go from there?
Start with overheads on drums and keep adding till everythings in?
Do you start with Vocals?
Do you do something else?
I read a few interviews in some books and sites and alot of guys start in different places.

Personally I started with drum overheads and work from there adding everything else from there starting with kick, snare toms, then bass then guitar and usually leave vocals till last but tweak everything a little as I go to adjust for anything mad or unusual.
Then again no mixes of mine have been anything to write home about so i'm open to trying totally different ways of working!

It was recommended to me to start with faders up on everything, I've tried that but to be honest there's just wayyy too much going on for me for this be an effiecient way of working, there was too going on with everything at any one time to be able to conecntrate on eqing or comping a single thing.

How do you guys do it?

 

[462studio]

Personally I start with everything off.

And bring up in this order:
Kick
Snare
Overheads
Toms
Bass
Guitar L
Guitar R
Vocals 1
Vocals 2
Vocals 3

This is the generic version of the tracks I would be mixing, and there is usually a good amount of time spent between each step, listening to each instrument and how it interacts to being added to the previous ones that were already up. I might also apply effects, EQ, etc, and go through this process several more times before I'm done with the majority bits.

After that's done, I'll go back and in some spots do any automation that might need to be put in place for tracks that need to be faded in/out or muted and unmuted. I do the mute automation often for backup vocals and occasionally mixing in a second kick drum track into rock mixes during a drum break.

 

[ahjteam]

I developed this kinda bad habit that stayed and I've adapted to my own projects from the time when I worked for 6 months in a pretty fast paced demostudio enviroment, where the a band only had 3 days to do their tracking, mixing and mastering. I usually started doing some mixing already when tracking just to get the feel how things will sound at the end, so basically when I was done with tracking, was already 75% done with the mixing. Just pretty much only finetuning after that.

 

[Splat88]

I used to start with the drums, but lately, I find it easier to start with the guitars and bass. Once I get the guitars and bass the way I want them, it gives me a lot better indicator on how I should EQ the drums. In the past, I have spent a lot of time getting what I thought was a good drum sound soloed, only to bring them into a mix and sound completely out of place.

 

[Baddo]

faders up and then go wherever I feel. usually the drums, but sometimes guitars, and even vocals at times.

 

[Ermz]

Start with the overheads, and then gradually bring in the drums, one by one. I used to start with the direct tracks, but that of course is a very bad move. Anyway I'll generally do a 'rough mix' with the drums and overheads, usually with one rhythm guitar running to give me an idea of the vibe and whether I'm getting it right. I'll then EQ up the drums to sound punchy and tight. Afterward I'll either work on the guitars or bass. I tend to prefer bass, but it's hard as you need both to lock in to really get the mix happening, so either or. After the core of the mix is done, provided it has been done well, the vocals should just slot in without trouble.

 

[Sinister Mephisto]

faders up and then go wherever I feel. usually the drums, but sometimes guitars, and even vocals at times.

Same here. Although probably get the most attention early on.

 

[AudioPhile777]

I try to start with the focal points that most people pay attention to first... namely beat (drums) and vocal.

I try to get an awesome drum sound by starting with the overheads, bringing in the kick and snare, then the toms and whatever else might have been mic'd...

then bring in the vocals and/or bass (depending on my mood and how far along the recording process is)

then move on to guitars, synths, piano... whatever else...

 

[ze kink]

I'm kind of trying to change my old habit, which was almost always:
-Kick
-Snare
-Overheads
-Toms
-Bass
-Guitar
-Vocals (though I've only recorded vocals a couple times in the past, because I didn't have a suitable mic back then)

I mixed everything soloed, and then brought them into the mix in the same order, and I obviously had to re-eq a lot. Everything sounded so different when everything was on. So now lately I've been experimenting different stuff, and the latest was pretty much like this:
-First, I stick a tame compressor in the master bus (I noticed it helps me acchieve the sound I'm after much quicker and with less individual compression)
-Then, I adjust all the levels with everything on
-Then, I make a drum bus with a tame compressor and solo that, and then eq, gate and compress the kick, snare, toms and overheads, in that order. Then, I experiment with the room mic soloed, see how much room and reverb it gives the other drums, and then usually add a small reverb to the snare. Then, I usually re-eq at least the kick and snare.
-Then the bass, turning the drum group on and off to see how they go together.
-Guitars, first soloed to find the frequencies I don't want, then with everything on, trying to find if I need to boost something (usually I find something in the mids or high mids I want more of).
-Re-adjust the levels with everything on, some slight eq tweaks.
-Add the bonus stuff like noises made with a delay pedal which aren't as important as the other stuff.

No vocals in that project, and there's some other stuff going on too, which I can't remember right now. Still need to tweak the reverb in the guitar tracks (it's post-rock, not metal), and need to add something like an expander, because it's just a single take of guitar recorded with two mics (sm57 + condenser), and it sounds crap when it's all in the center.

 

[wishtheend]

Typically in this order - but I usually have to go back and make changes to the previous once I bring in the next group

- Overheads
- Kick
- Snare
- Toms
- Bass
- Guitars
- Vox
- Gtr Solo
- Keys/Others

 

[nwright]

I usually kinda do the mix while tracking thing so levels are somewhat set, but my first focal point in terms of final mix is usually the snare, as it is usually the loudest, fastest transient signal in my mix (plus I tend to focus on killer sounding snares mixes in general, not just my own), and I seem to obsess over the snare sound more so than just about any other part of the mix sometimes.

So:

-snare
-OH
-kick
-toms
*in a sense I think the drums are somewhat of a collective. I start with the snare, but then I bring in the OH's, keeping in mind the effect of the snare in the OH's and vice versa. I find the kick to be a little more autonomous from the OH's, and the toms are somewhere in between (depending on the music and the drummers power and style), so I find it easier to pocket them in with the overal OH sound easier than the snare.
-guitars
-bass
-keys (if there are any)
-vocals
-effects

 

[doclegion]

I start with drums, guitar, bass and EQ to taste when i need to do that..then just start piecing things together

 

[Glenn Fricker]

I mix as I go along during tracking...

 

[Let it burn...]

i start with kick -> bass -> snare -> guitz -> rest of drum -> vox

 

[neverpurify]

I've always wondered how to properly mix one instrument at a time. for instance, if you start with the kick or overheads, how do you know when you have the right volume before moving to the next...

 

[Sloan]

I usually start with the kick and go from there, but i think that comes from a live sound type of thing.