When Is Your Mix Done? by Adam Kagan One of the most common questions I get from young engineers, producers, and mixers is “How do I know when my mix is finished?” Many beginning mixers will spend days on a mix, struggling to figure out when the mix sounds complete. There is a well-known maxim that your work will expand to fill whatever amount of time you have allotted to the task, so if you have no deadline, a job can become an indefinite process. I want to present a strategy for confidently completing a mix and not simply working until you are out of time.
Hopefully, you’ve already read Brad Pack’s article on the steps to creating a pro mix. After you’ve completed those steps and exhausted your mixing ideas it’s time to take a break and have a meal or a good night’s sleep. Then listen back to your mix and make sure your mix is actually complete. Since we often work by ourselves, it is especially important to step away from a mix for some time so that we can come back with fresh ears and give ourselves a sort of “second opinion.”
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