15 Ways to Improve Your Mixes
So That They Can Finally Sound PRO
January 26, 2022 by Adrian Milea
Audio Mixing can be hard sometimes...
I know it was for me when I started audio mixing in-the-box, back in 2007.
Luckily there are ways that you can use in order to make your mixes sound professional.
While getting better at audio mixing doesn't happen overnight - there are certain things that you can use today to set yourself for success.
Here's my list of essential tips that you can use starting today in order to improve your mixes.
Even if you think that these strategies might be superficial, or you already heard this discussed, give these strategies another go.
Why?
Because they will help you in improving the quality of your audio mixes.
Before we get into the meat of this article, if you want to improve your mixes and masters in less than 10 minute, download your cheat sheet below:
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#1 Get Better at Music Production
If you’re a producer and want your mixes to sound professional - the first thing you can do is to get better at music production.
When I started producing music in-the-box my tendency was to fill every hole in the mix with different instruments and ideas.
While this is cool for getting as many cool ideas as possible out of your system, you need to stop at some point and make some compromises.
Remember this:
A professional sounding mix starts before touching a single fader!
What do I mean by this?
First, you need an idea for a song, then you need to compose a melody.
If you want to include some lyrics - there’s the Songwriting stage which works hand in hand with the Music Production stage.
In case you want to include original vocals and live instrumental parts - you’ll have to take care of the Recording stage - and all these steps happen before you get comfortable in front of your Mixing Session.
I talk in detail about these stages plus the Audio Mastering stage in my Music Production Masterclass, where I show how to convert an idea you got on your phone into a polished mastered song.
If you’re interested - definitely check it out.
What I’m saying here is that, there are important steps that you need to take care of before the Audio Mixing stage if you want your mixes to sound professional.
For example, if your project doesn’t breathe at the production stage, there are less chances it will, at the mixing stage, unless you take out some of the tracks during that stage.
While there are tons of tips that you can use to improve your music production - I have one very important for you here:
Avoid making the bass track hit at the same time with the kick, at the production stage!
This way you’ll avoid a lot of conflicts in the low end later, during the audio mixing and mastering stages.
#2 Use Quality Samples at the Production Stage
If you want better sounding mixes - you need to start using better audio samples and virtual instruments.
If your music production sounds thin and weak - you need to review the instruments and the samples you’re using.
This is crucial.
Why?
Because a weak music production can be improved only to some extent at the audio mixing stage.
If you want more information on how the audio samples you use affect your production I have a video that discusses exactly that.
In short, Audio Production and Audio Recording stages are crucial for professional sounding mixes.
#3 Record Better Audio
If you want your mixes to sound professional - you need to start recording better audio tracks.
I’m referring here to both vocal and instrument tracks.
Why?
Because as it is the case with audio mastering - at the mixing stage you need a good audio source.
While there are ways to repair audio, no amount of processing will improve a poorly recorded vocal or instrument.
That’s just a fact.
So, in case you’re recording audio for your sessions, improve your audio recording techniques.
This will help you in getting better sounding mixes.
#4 Set Up Your Listening Environment
No matter what pair of studio monitors you use for mixing music - the room you're mixing in greatly affects how the sound from your monitors travels to your ears.
In order to make your mixes sound professional, you need to judge and make your mixing decisions - based on what you’re hearing.
Therefore, if what you are hearing when you’re listening to your mix - is not accurate - your mixing decisions will also be inaccurate.
This leads to poor audio mixes, frustration and the feeling that your mixes are the worst on the planet.
How do I know this?
I know this because this is exactly how I felt when I started my own in-the-box audio mixing journey, more than a decade ago.
That being said, most music producers don’t have fancy and professional audio mixing studios.
In my case, while we have a studio acoustically treated specifically for audio work - this is not the case with my home studio, which is full of acoustic problems.
The room is small and boomy.
Luckily - there are things that you can use to improve the acoustics of the room you are mixing in, in case it has such acoustic problems.
For example, in case you experience a long echo or reverb in your room, start by bringing some clothes and experiment by placing them in different parts of the room to diminish the echo.
Add some foam on the walls and see if it helps.
You can also add bass traps if you’re experiencing boominess when listening to mastered music.
There are also drapes that could help you acoustically in case there’s a window near your listening position.
So, use whatever you can to make your room silent.
You don’t need to make it sound dead, but at least a decent place where you can mix.
#5 Set Up Your Studio Monitors Correctly
Usually when people complain that their monitors are not good for audio mixing - avoid to first take a look at where they put their monitors, or the room where they are listening to those monitors…
… also, how they set up the monitors relative to their listening position.
This is why, if you want to make your mixes sound professional, it is crucial to take care of the room you’re mixing in first, and after, set up the monitors correctly.
Image: How to Setup Studio Monitors
How to set up studio monitors correctly?
We already talked about improving the acoustics of a room, if you want to mix in it.
In the case of monitor placement there’s a really simple formula that you can start and experiment with.
Let’s say that this is your room with your monitors.
The first thing you need to do, unless you have a studio desk where you can also put your monitors - use a pair of monitor stands.
Avoid placing the stands along with monitors near the front wall, or the wall that you’re facing when audio mixing.
This will avoid creating extra acoustic problems.
How much space do you need between the wall and your studio monitors?
I would say you need at least 3 feet or 1 meter.
Next, place your chair in the position you will be mixing.
Then measure the distance between your listening position or your head, when sitting on the chair - and a monitor.
This distance should be the same exact distance between you and the other monitor - but also the distance between the 2 monitors, exactly like an equilateral triangle.
And by the way, ideally the two monitors should have the same distance from the front wall, but also from the lateral ones.
In case your listening position is near your back wall, or the one behind - you might experience boominess, and more low information when listening to music.
This is why it is important to set up your studio monitors correctly in the room that you have.
Also, some monitors have different profiles - providing you with some switches that you can use to improve the sound that gets to your ears.
In case you want to use such profiles, be sure to listen to good mastered music, so that you can have a reference.
I also highly recommend you to use pads between your stands and the monitors, to avoid unwanted resonance.
It is important to set your studio monitors at your ears level to get the most from them.
You want to avoid placing monitors on monitors - to avoid resonance.
Another tip I have for you here is:
The more problematic room you have - the nearer your listening position relative to your studio monitors should be!
This way you avoid more acoustic problems and get to listen to the unaltered sound of your mix or master.
#6 Do One Thing At a Time
If you are a music producer and you produced the song you’re about to mix - from the very first note - I have some old news for you…
You need to set your mindset straight!
You finished the music production stage, it’s done!
Now it’s time to make this awesome production of yours - even more awesome, by mixing it.
In general, we tend to think that we can do so many things - by multitasking.
As an example, when you’re composing, or even producing, you start adding layers of instruments, with different compressors and EQs, and other things that should be done or taken care of at the audio mixing stage…
Why do you do that?
Because you think that what you’re doing - will shorten your path to the best sounding mix ever.
Unfortunately, this is not the case…
As human beings we are physically limited…
This is why most of us perform better when we’re doing only one thing at a time.
So, if you’re producing - produce!
If you’re mixing - mix!
But why is this important?
When you’re doing one thing at a time you are improving your productivity and focus!
There’s no phone, or social media app to bother you…
It’s only you, your DAW and the song you’re about to mix.
That’s it!
If you want more information on why doing one thing at a time is the way to go - not only when you want to produce, or mix music, but in life in general - check out the book: The One Thing, by Gary Keller.
#7 Take Out All the Effects from Your Tracks
When you’re producing, usually different instruments have different effects, like reverbs, delays, and so on.
And they are awesome, and make your instruments sound big and powerful.
The problem is that different virtual instruments like, Spire, Massive, Sylenth1, and so on, have different sounding reverbs, delays, choruses, and so on.
And that is a great recipe for poor sounding mixes.
Why?
Because lots of virtual instrument effects are poor quality effects.
This is why there are very good reverbs on the market like the VSS4 HD Native from TC Electronic, for example.
I made an in-depth review of it, so go check it out in case you want to inject some awesomeness into your mixes.
However, most of the time the stock reverbs you have in your DAW will do a better job for making your mix sound as a whole.
This is why I’m recommending you - in case you want your mix to sound professional - take out all the effects from the tracks of your mix - and add your own effects.
That being said, you can still use the effects from your instruments, but be aware that this will affect the quality and the space of your mix, to some extent.
#8 Convert MIDI into Audio
If you produced the song you're about to mix - I recommend you convert the MIDI Tracks to Audio Tracks.
And there are 4 main advantages for doing this:
- First, you will focus exclusively on audio tracks and won’t be distracted by the MIDI tracks, which are always very tempting to change.
- By converting MIDI into Audio - you can make the virtual instruments inactive, this way saving more CPU power and RAM for audio mixing processing, that is unless you have a very powerful computer in your studio.
- When you have the audio sample information of a track - you can automate or edit the parts you don’t need.
- You can take care of Gain Staging much easier.
#9 Arrange the Tracks in Your Session
When you’re producing music - there are different scenarios that you can start with.
Maybe you start with a piano idea, and you build from there…
You can also start with a kick, a drum loop or even a bass line…
And then you start building your song, little by little, by adding different tracks.
Until you finish producing the song, your tracks could end up all over the place in your session, unless you arrange them to some extent.
If you want to mix faster you need to know where a certain track is in your session!
This is why I highly recommend you to arrange the tracks in your session so that it can make sense, at least to you - so that you can access them as fast as possible.
In my audio mixing sessions I usually start from the left with the kick track.
Next to the kick track I set the rest of the drums, bass, guitars, piano, strings, leads vocals and effects.
This way I know where a certain track is in the session, both in Edit and Mix windows.
I also recommend you to use colors or to color-code different types of tracks.
You can use a color for the drums for example, one for guitars, another for vocals, and so on…
Optionally, you can also use the same colors on the samples inside tracks like in the Edit window in Pro Tools.
These small adjustments and strategies will definitely help you in finishing your mixes faster.
#10 Use Gain Staging
We have more freedom in the digital domain in terms of music production and processing.
That being said, Gain Staging is overlooked by so many audio producers who want to learn audio mixing.
Still, while this is not a very big deal at the mixing stage, if you want your mixes to sound professional - you need to use Gain Staging in your audio mixing sessions.
Why?
Because there are plugins on the market which emulate real hardware and are built with Gain Staging in mind.
This way, if the audio source is entering too hot into the input of those types of plugins - this could create unwanted distortion, which unattained, could lead to lack of transparency and space, harshness and other unwanted effects in your mixes.
An optimal Gain Staging will lead to optimal processing by those types of plugins, but also it will help you in achieving a better sounding mix.
How can you improve your mixes with Gain Staging?
First, you will need a VU Meter.
There are plenty on the market that you can get for free.
Next, you’ll need to set the levels of the audio tracks in your mix to at about -18 dBs.
This way each track of your mix will have about 18 dBs of headroom, and this is a healthy headroom to have for your mixes.
I have a video which shows exactly how to do this, so check it out in case you need it.
#11 Use Buses
If you have an audio mixing session containing more than 10 tracks, I recommend you to use Buses.
This way you can have more control over your mixing session, by dividing your big audio mixing session into small chunks.
Depending on the mixing session, I usually create buses for:
- Drums
- Bass
- Guitars
- Music - for different instruments
- Vocals
- Effects
...plus a Mix Bus where I send my entire mix.
Rarely, I might use a Mastering Bus in case I want to master the mix inside the mixing session.
By using Buses you have more control over your audio mixing sessions but also, you can apply individual processing on individual buses, in case you need to.
#12 Use Groups
While using buses helps with slicing a big mix into more controllable parts - I also recommend you to group your tracks.
For example, if you have more layers for a kick, or a lead, or electric guitars and so on - you can group them.
After you set the volume relative to each guitar track for example, group them, and in case you need to bring more volume to all the guitars when mixing you can bring all the faders up, or down, keeping the balance between them.
Groups are also very useful when you want to mute a group of tracks.
Just a heads up, if you intend to use Groups while also using Buses, when you bring up or down the volume of Groups, check if those Groups are sent to certain Buses.
If they do, check how the processing on the Bus is affected by the Group volume change.
Why is this important?
In case there’s only an EQ on the Bus - you’re fine.
However, if there’s a compressor on the Bus which the Group is sent to - there will be a difference in the processing.
The more you’ll bring the Group volume up - the more compression will be applied on the bus.
The more you bring the Group Volume down - the less compression will be applied, if any at all.
So, check the processing on your buses often.
#13 Set Up Blocks of Audio Mixing Time
Before listening to the first sample of the song you’re about to mix, set a countdown timer for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
When the time is up - you need to get up and go drink some water.
Hydration is important, but also your ears’ rest.
Don’t think for a second that if you mix a song for 5 hours straight - it will sound professional.
Most of the time it wont.
Why?
As your eyes, back, hands, and so on - your ears are also getting tired.
Especially if you’re mixing at unhealthy SPL levels.
And when you deal with poor acoustics, wrong monitor and listening positions, lots of unneeded effects - plus tired ears - the chance of getting your mix sound professional is very small.
This is why I recommend you to take care of your ears, not only for audio mixing, or mastering purposes - but also for your wellbeing in general.
Free Download: How to Improve Your Mixes and Masters in less than 10 Minutes...
Without Expensive Plugins or Hardware!!!
#14 Control the SPL/Listening Levels
We tend to think that louder means better!
This is why so many audio plugins companies set their plugins to sound louder when you insert them on your tracks - and that is to make you think that you have just improved that particular track, only by inserting that particular plugin.
However, this is not the case, most of the time.
Same goes with your listening levels.
When you’re mixing or mastering - your listening levels are crucial.
If you’re listening to soft levels - you might not anticipate what your next mixing move should be.
If you’re listening to loud levels for a long period of time - your ears will get tired faster.
You’ll think that your mix sounds great and big, but the next day - you’ll realize that you’ll have to start all over again.
How to avoid this?
Listen to healthy audio levels!
In general the recommended listening levels when mixing are between 75 to 90 dBS SPL.
SPL stands for “Sound Pressure Level.”
How can you measure these levels?
There are on the market so-called SPL meters - which can help with controlling your listening levels.
But there are also different Android and iPhone apps which can help you with that, with more or less accuracy.
I use Genelec’s GLM speaker calibration kit to control my listening levels, and most of the time, I’m listening to about 80-85 dBs SPL.
But why is this so important?
By listening to healthy SPL levels, you protect your ears long term.
You also make the best mixing and mastering decisions at these levels because of the way we interpret different frequencies at different levels.
If you want to learn about this I recommend you to learn more about the Fletcher-Munson Curves.
That being said, you should check your mixes at softer and louder levels, and if you want to take this to the next level, use at least a reference track while doing this.
This way you’ll know what needs to be taken care of further and which should be your next mixing strategies.
#15 Use Reference Tracks
Before listening to the project you’re about to mix, listen (at proper levels) to at least a mastered finished song, that is near as genre and production to your project.
You don't have to listen to your reference track entirely, only for about 30 seconds to 1 minute.
This way you’ll warm up your ears and get them ready for mixing your new project.
Reference Tracks are not useful only at the beginning of your mixing sessions.
You could and should use Reference Tracks during the mixing session but also when you think you finished the mix.
This helps you in keeping your mix on track and it will help you in taking better mixing decisions during the session.
CONCLUSIONS
Audio Mixing is an essential stage in the music production process.
If you put the right strategies in place, before touching a single fader, you will finish your mixing session faster, but you will also improve the quality of your mixes.
If you want to learn audio mixing step-by-step - enrol in the Music Production Masterclass, so that you can finally convert a song you got on your phone, into a professional sounding master, in less than 14 days.
See you on the other side ;)
If you liked this article, give it a like, share it with the ones may need it.
This will help me help as many audio producers as possible!
Until next time, Stay Cool and Make Great Music!
-Adrian Milea
Adrian Milea is the owner of Adoriany Music and co-founder of Adoriany. Since 2000s, Adrian has been producing, mixing and mastering music, while also helping audio producers to upgrade their skills. In 2013, Adrian with his brother Vlad - were part of the finalists of the Academy of Electronic Music. Their music was released by Armada Music, and they were featured in Dj Mag.
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