How to PREPARE your RECORDINGS for MIXING

[@mixdownonline]

What is YOUR process when it comes to preparing your recordings for mixing? Let me know down below :-)

[@audios22]

Since I work mainly in film and media as a composer and sound editor, I like getting an AAF from the editor. Then open that in Protools to do all editing, sound design, dialog editing, SFX and foley. Then I export a an AAF to import to Cubase pro for mixing. I ask the composer to send me BWF stems that match the work print in time code as mono or stereo, un-processed. Import to Cubase, gain stage all tracks and then begin mixing.

[@HenryMittnacht]

Always something to learn: Your labeling system sounds great!

[@mixdownonline]

Thanks!

[@Tindkvist]

Great content as always. This really helps me! When I’m looking for answers in specific areas in music production I always seem to end up in one of your videos? You nail it every time. Thank you for your effort to release these videos! ❤

[@mixdownonline]

Thank you so much!

[@nelsonmoloi3767]

Wow hi Chris you just made my day I always prepare my songs before mixing. your 100% right. thank you so much it means iam on the right track

[@KW-qh1pd]

Glad I found your channel!You’re a really good teacher, keep up the good work and thanks for the videos!!

[@mixdownonline]

Oh, thanks a lot, happy you love this channel!

[@mrrubberfinger]

Chris, your channel is a gold mine. Cheers!

[@TFHWorshipPH]

you've been so helpful in my entire Production, Chris. Much Love from the Philippines!

[@rawkinj6609]

Excellent! The Project Sheet is something I didn't think about and other people seem to forget! Merci bcp! Great channel monsieur!

[@mixdownonline]

My pleasure mon ami!

[@hossamfouda1510]

Thx Chris for the video I do the same method, and this video is confirmed my mixing process that iam on right track 🙂

[@mixdownonline]

Awesome :-)

[@krazzystudio3819]

Thank you Sir for You guidlines.

[@prazrim5460]

Great info thanks.. but what do you do for automation?

[@nelsonmoloi3767]

Hi Chris I always learn a lot from your wonderful chanel ja in my case I always name every instrument acodingly..

[@EricTuba-t5v]

Thanks Chris 👍 . This vedio is so helpful for me . ❤

[@mixdownonline]

Happy to hear that!

[@beryan1000]

Thank you Chris you teach me so much. -- really great

[@mixdownonline]

My pleasure!

[@TravisHY]

Brilliant labeling system, Chris. Thanks for sharing as always!

[@mixdownonline]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@JayYarbroughMusic]

Excellent video, very helpful indeed. Thanks Chris!

[@mixdownonline]

Very welcome!

[@MumsKitchen123]

Nice 👌 for sharing 👍 stay connected stay safe 🙏

[@mixdownonline]

Thanks and sure

[@ruidepaula]

Love it... Nice... Very clear in the message.

[@mixdownonline]

Thank you kindly

[@ShonnMorris]

My process is similar to yours. Sometimes very orderly but at other times I can be chaotic and indecisive. When I do virtual instruments which is all the time, I synch those up and edit the midi notes right away before I do anything else. I track and record everything. Once I like what I have, I reset the mix console and bring all faders down and start leveling and gain stanging as the beginning of the mixing process. I throw on EQs and Compressors as needed on a per track basis. I do reverbs and delays next. I usually automate last because I want to hear how everything sits together with all EQ, Compression, and other plugins active. Then I may go and start automating plugins for artistic effect.

[@mixdownonline]

Thanks for sharing your process, cool stuff!

[@AndreBendigtsen]

First off, your videos are absolute gold! So thank you so much for uploading! :-) To answer your question at the end here though, I tend to do both mixing and editing somewhat side by side. It's a good point with the computer workload, but so far I haven't had any issues unless I use an absolute crap ton of VST-instruments. In that case, I do bounce them do audio. I don't know. It's just how I do it, and what is easier for me I guess. :-)

[@blakebrothers]

Very helpful, thanks Chris!

[@mixdownonline]

Glad it was helpful!

[@jakedemarsh]

Just subbed great Stuff Chris!! 👍

[@nickharris1331]

Interesting, after watching your CPU saving tips video I have taken to bouncing my VST tracks to audio then disabling the VST track (and indeed any other unnecessary or plugin heavy tracks) and then mixing from that point. This way it is quick and easy to re-visit the VST or other plugin heavy tracks if necessary without jumping between projects.

[@mixdownonline]

Great to hear! That's pretty cool!

[@groovietuner]

Awesome video! I'll be pointing some producers here 😂. I like keeping the first part of the names small, for those of us engineers with a hardware control surface with smaller scribble strips (4-6 characters). Love the videos, keep it up!

[@G_handle]

Seriously though: Maybe you could do a follow up, part two, where you show the file / folder structure that you prefer, or is “industry standard”. I’ve read articles in the past but don’t recall a KZbin video that actually shows what to send, what to expect, how to send it (Dropbox?), notes in say TextEdit, etc. Thanks as always Chris!

[@mixdownonline]

Yes, that's a good idea! Will do!

[@mcsweet1966]

I was messing around yesterday with the new Supervision plugins and got something cool. If you activate Direct Rooting summing mode and add a Direct Out to all your tracks to a FX track containing supervision you can have a quick info view on a specific track just by activating that rooting . Don`t forget to deactivated the output of the Supervision FX track so you don`t have sound coming out of it just the info .... Love Cubase 11

[@mixdownonline]

Oh nice! Thanks for sharing this tip, I will have to check this out :-)

[@OurBackwoodsHomestead]

How do you print drum tracks like Kick, snare, & toms after you've replaced each drum track? I use Addictive Drum Trigger plug-in tried to print with plug-in active but when I play it back the replaced drum sound is not there? Great video Chris.

[@yams900]

Awesome ideas ! I’ve just started with Cubase, so no mixing experience...a lot to learn, edit first. Going to watch your video again, and make a flowchart. Thank you for sharing your experiences !

[@mixdownonline]

Welcome aboard and thanks for watching :-)

[@TheSoulsandRevive]

Very informative, thanks.

[@mixdownonline]

Glad it was helpful!

[@markleyland2661]

Thanks Chris, this video came at just the right time and answered a lot of questions I had about seperating recording and mixing. I've watched your mix template video and it got me thinking, does he import them all from a recording template, dry, processed etc, and now I know. Would be interesting to see one of your recording templates if you have one, or maybe you create as you go?

[@planetperson01]

Would you recommend gain staging before exporting for the engineer ? Or what would be "level" on the channel faders?

[@whytewavestudios3039]

Fantastic video again Chris!

[@mixdownonline]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@nzprojects]

Nice. Learned a lot from this channel and my workflow has also improved. Keep it up and thanks for making this videos.👌👍✌

[@mixdownonline]

My pleasure 😊

[@harrison-lloyd2053]

Nice. A lot of useful stuff there man! Recently changed my work flow so will definitely start using some of that. I sometimes get scared bouncing to a mix project. Especially when there is a lot of side chaining going on but I know it’s got to be done

[@YASIR.K]

Thank You

[@mixdownonline]

You're welcome

[@xavkoston16]

Nice video ! But I still have one more question, what about phase correction ? do you correct phase before the editing stage ? Or do you let the mixing enginneer do it himself ?

[@mixdownonline]

I do check phase issues when I'm recording, but if I missed a few things on drums for example, I will fix that up in the mixing stage. Same if I get a mix from a client, I won't mind fixing phase issues when mixing.

[@xavkoston16]

@@mixdownonline Thanks for your answer ! Keep up the good job ;)

[@alainpatry]

This is gold! I think a link to this should be included in your mixing course as a reference! Q: If you captured a live drummer, would you be sending to the mix engineer stems that include all the bleeds? Is it his/her job to remove the bleeds? Or would you take care of that before you send off?

[@mixdownonline]

Good question, let me answer this one on Friday's Q&A video :-)

[@testing3379]

What about the levels consideration, Sir? Thanks.

[@troutstudio]

I paid for a mixing tutorial recently and the track names looked like : tom_dup2_1.08.wav. There were also 9 missing files and no templates of any kind provided. It never was sorted out; but I did get a refund. I don't know how engineers work like this. You set a high standard Chris. Your Cubase mixing course is completely organised; and your communication is timely and professional. If you won a Grammy one day, I really wouldn't be surprised. The final 5%. That's where it's at for me.

[@mixdownonline]

Oh wow, thanks! Glad you love my Mixing Course :-)

[@siggerood]

How did he/you do that at 8:58, syncing/filling all the tracks to the start point? Is there a quick way of doing this in Ableton, other than recording emptyness and then consolidating them?

[@davidhellegouarch1622]

Nice advices thanks! In which project you do the edit part ? In the recording one, using track versions ?

[@mixdownonline]

In the Recording one that I rename Edit Song1...and so forth..

[@markoshun]

Great video, thanks, good info. Question, why do you open a totally new project for mixing? You said to separate recording and mixing, but if I save version 1 as a raw recording and then version 2, etc., as edit, 3 and so on as mix, haven't I already done that? I can go back to reference any step/stage but stay within the same project..? What am I missing? Thanks

[@mixdownonline]

There's nothing wrong in doing it this way. For me, I use my mix template to mix a song so I need to consolidate all my tracks to import them in my mix template. That saves me a lot of time... Also good for archiving your recordings for future use. It keeps my sessions in order and keeps me away from going back in forth from mixing to production sessions, so it' a very good way to commit and move on :-)

[@sub4037]

Hey Chris I was literally thinking about this topic last night, if I have a mono track what happens if some of my inserts are stereo? Thanks for your videos, they help out a lot -Cheers✌️

[@mcsweet1966]

Hey Chris thanks for sharing your experience ! I have been using my old Mackie HR824 for a Long time and I was looking for something better So what are you using and what do you think of the Focal Shape 65 Studio Monitors ?

[@mixdownonline]

Hey Michel, I'm using the Focal SOLO6be and also the Kali Audio IN-8 which sound very good and unexpensive for a 3-way system kzbin.info/www/bejne/h6G3iGSdeNF7jZY

[@lucasmeijers254]

in cubase you can name scheme you batch export proces so cubase puts numbers before your audio track. So you don't have to put numbers in your audio track name.

[@mixdownonline]

Yes, you're right. I actually made a video on this before :-) In my case, though, the way I bounce for the most part is with the "Bounce Selection" feature where the channel name will be taken into account to name the new file.Thanks for your comment!

[@Nathankaye]

Interestingly enough. When I do my own music I tend to neglect bouncing things out separately from the mixing process and I think that I do that because I get into the swing of production and mixing starts happening in the flow of things. But I don’t think it’s a good practice because I think it ends up taking longer to finish the project. Whereas, when I’m producing for other clients’ music I do keep the recording/ production process seperate from the mixing process. Good video. Ps. How did you consolidate the files in CUBASE (8:55) so they all have the same starting and ending points before bouncing out?

[@michaelprovenzano8911]

Do you gain stage before bouncing all your tracks or do you gain stage only while mixing? Or both?

[@m7dbass]

If use a libraries how can use it as mono

[@EmppuJr]

Hi Chris, good advice, in fact I follow almost the same guidelines that you said in the video, only some differences when creating the project for the mix, once I have finished recording and editing I create a new project using the backup tool It is much faster, I remember that in a past video you talked about this. It's really annoying when clients no matter what send all tracks in stereo 🙄 I have a question, when you said bounce files with the same sample rate, etc. you are talking about the tool for bounce? it's posible adjust the sample rate in that tool? Greetings from Spain

[@mixdownonline]

If you use the Bounce Selection feature, that will bounce the audio at the same sample rate as the Project. If you use the Export Mixdown feature, then you can select different sample rates :-)

[@undercrownhiphop9422]

Any reason not to bounce in place each track and just disable the effects while in the production session? This way you have the CPU resources but if you wanted to go back and change a sound design setting if you want. Any reason not to do this?

[@nekistayfruity]

What if the Title of the Song is "Audio 1"? 😂😂😂 Good advices like always Chris 💪

[@mixdownonline]

Then you're screwed LOL!

[@nekistayfruity]

@@mixdownonline you won't believe it my last customer sends me a ton of untitled tracks in a zipfolder with a FL Studio file to open it and prepare the vocalstems by my self🤷

[@EduardoGarbay]

Sometimes bouncing takes a lot of time, specially when the project has many tracks and some are stereo others are not, it can take many hours. When doing this, will I always save in the Mixing process?

[@MrDeki72]

Hello Chris, Could you explain how to know which kind of VST instruments are MONO or STEREO? I know for the instruments like Acoustic guitars, Electric guitars, drums and vocals as you said recorded with one microphone are mono, but it always not clear for me what to do with VST instruments? My experience is most of them are STEREO recorded but what to do if I have acoustic guitars, drums and vocals as VST instruments, is it the same situation as you record with one mic. What I want to say, do we need to bounce them as MONO or as STEREO?

[@mixdownonline]

Let me answer your question on Friday's Q&A Video :-)

[@MrDeki72]

@@mixdownonline Ok. Chris. Thank you so much. I'll be there. :-)

[@anthonypowell9151]

Hi Chris, What is your availability and your rate to mix and master a song for me? Tony Powell

[@mixdownonline]

Hey Tony, for the moment, I'm not taking any new clients, my schedule is full with this KZbin channel, my online courses and new music of mine that I'm working on :-)

[@progamervalorant]

Hi sir where is your mixing course ???

[@mixdownonline]

Good news, I'm relaunching my mixing course next week :-) mixdown.online/mix

[@cryptout]

How do you structure your folders when you have all these different sessions?

[@mixdownonline]

One song per session so that means one folder per song. If I'm working on a 10 song album, I will have one main folder for the album that will include 10 folders for the 10 songs. Hope that helps!

[@Ludvig-Pedersen]

How do you bounce MIDI to audio...?

[@mixdownonline]

Yu can use the RENDER IN PLACE option in Cubase or simply by "Soloing" your MIDI VSTi channel and Export it back into your project. I can make a video on this if you want to

[@Ludvig-Pedersen]

@@mixdownonline Thanks! I got the hang of it!

[@jamiegaelcom]

What does "bounce" mean?

[@mixdownonline]

It means Export... To export a selected track(s) with all effects as it is in your DAW.

[@Sesaon3]

Like the naming ID method using a single letter and # Chris otherwise I pretty much follow all the other advice (came from Graham and Joe).

[@mixdownonline]

Cool stuff, both are good friends of mine!

[@indranildasgupta3007]

I have just subscribe your channel,,, plzzz make a video on vocal EQ ,,, specially on "bad frequency dumping" Thnksss in advance,,, love from #INDIA

[@mixdownonline]

Thanks for subscribing t the channel :-) Here is a playlist of a Mix your Vocal video series I made some time ago kzbin.info/aero/PLHfS_0liDLINA3IGXMHEGIgU4BqpuRRHy

[@hanisiblini]

Salut mon ami

[@mixdownonline]

Bonjour!

[@rawkinj6609]

J't'attend! \M/

[@mixdownonline]

Yeah!

[@ivanmijat3944]

My process equals mess🙈

[@mixdownonline]

LOL, That's why I made the video ;-)

[@MrBryanGatwood]

I don't know what 'bouncing' means and at this point I'm afraid to ask.

[@mixdownonline]

Don't be afraid to ask, it can be confusing for some. Bouncing is the general term used for Exporting one or several tracks out of Cubase or other DAW. Hope that helps :)

[@MrBryanGatwood]

​@@mixdownonline Ah! Thank you. Been binge-watching your videos since yesterday and learning a lot! Maybe a silly question, but since you explained using inserts and sends with pre and post fader... Does it make sense to always use it pre-fader? So you can retain your sound regardless of you maybe tweaking the levels later on in the mixing process.

[@vidoemakenoke2424]

video maken oke is mijn youtube