Mixing

Vocals should sit below the drums and above the instruments. Here’s how to think about vocal level in dB and the steps pros use to nail it.

A step-by-step approach to mixing vocals, from gain automation and EQ through compression and effects, so the vocal sits right in the track.

Filters are the first EQ move on most tracks and the easiest one to overdo. What they do, where to put them, and when to leave them alone.

Width on a piano comes from a few specific moves, and one mono check tells you whether any of them actually worked.

A piano covers more of the spectrum than almost anything else you will mix, which is why it fights everything. Here is how to fit it in.

Body, crack and consistency: the three things a snare needs from a mix, and the order to go after them in.

A clean guitar has nowhere to hide, so every decision shows. EQ, compression and the effects that give it somewhere to sit.

High-gain guitars arrive already compressed and already dense. Mixing them is mostly about what you take away.

A DI bass is a clean signal with no character of its own. Here is how to give it some without losing the low end that makes it useful.

Drums almost always want reverb on a send, not an insert. Which drums to send, how much to blend back, and when to leave the kit dry.