I make sure all tracks are labeled, and placed in the order and file/group I’m used to workin with.
Then I gain stage every track shooting for -14 average on my meters. Peaking at no more than -6.
I go through and listen to each track, making notes as needed. This is part of my editing process, I’ll clean up noise and make tweaks if needed.
Then I start pulling up faders for static mix ( no eq, no compression, no effects). I’ll listed a few times through making notes on what needs to cleaned up, what needs to be tamed, and any other issues I might hear.
At this point Adding in HPF, EQ, and compression as needed, I’ll recheck the levels, and listen in context of the mix, to make sure my moves helped, and didn’t hurt the overall mix ( lots of little moves during this part). I also listen to the mix in Mono for a lot of the EQ and compression moves. If you’re getting good instrument separation in Mono your stereo mix will be fine.
Once I get once I get the mix decisions made , like parallel compression, drum slam, etc. busses, and bus etc. I’ll add in FX routing and start bringing that in. I’m still moving back and forth between stereo, and mono.
I use mixing templates with my signal processors usually ready to go , so this doesn’t take as long to accomplish.
After this I start working on my notes, making mute, volume automation, FX automation, panning automation moves as needed.
This is my usual work flow for a full band.
The main mixing process for me is still the same for single instruments though.
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