Building Your Initial Mix
You push the kick up. Then the bass. Then the guitars.
The vocal suddenly feels too quiet, so you push that up. Now the drums feel small.
Twenty minutes later, everything is louder, but you’re not necessarily any closer to a mix.
Over the years, I’ve developed a simple way of avoiding that.
Before I really start mixing, I establish an initial balance.
The numbers aren’t rules. In fact, my finished mixes almost always end up somewhere different. They’re simply a way of getting everything into a familiar neighborhood before I start making musical decisions.
I’ve also put all of these starting points into a downloadable Initial Mix Cheat Sheet you can keep beside you while you work.
But before I build that balance, there’s one other thing I want to get right.
Gain Stage the Signal Path
Gain staging and balancing a mix are related, but they’re not the same thing.
Before I start moving faders, I use clip gain to get the recorded tracks hitting my processing chains at a sensible level.
As a general reference, I’m looking for an average level somewhere around:
-18 dBFS ≈ 0 VU
I’m not trying to make every peak hit -18 dBFS. Drums and other transient-heavy instruments will obviously peak much higher.
I’m simply making sure I’m not slamming the front end of every plugin before I’ve even started mixing. This becomes particularly useful with analog-modelled plugins, where input level can change how the plugin behaves.
The important distinction is:
Clip gain controls how hard I hit the processing.
Faders control the balance of the mix.
Once the tracks are hitting the processing chains where I want them, I leave the clip gain alone and start building the mix with the faders.
It’s All About the Bass
A lot of engineers start a rock mix with the kick.
I usually start with the bass.
Part of that is simply how I’ve organized my Pro Tools sessions for years. I keep the bass all the way to the left of the track view, right next to the kick and away from the guitars.
So that’s where I start.
I bring the bass up until my premix bus VU meter is reading roughly:
Bass = -7 VU
Then I bring in the kick:
Kick = -7 VU
With both playing together, I’m generally looking for approximately:
Bass + Kick = -4 VU
That gives me the foundation of the mix.
I’m not trying to make the kick louder than the bass or the bass louder than the kick.
I’m trying to establish how much low-frequency energy the record is going to carry.
Once that relationship feels solid, I can build everything else around it.
Bring in the Snare
My next reference point is the snare:
Snare = approximately -10 VU
This particular starting point goes back to something I picked up years ago from engineer Andy Johns. Johns talked about using VU levels around -7 for kick and -10 for snare when establishing his drum balances.
I tried it.
It worked.
And those numbers became part of the way I start mixes.
The rest of my system developed differently. Over time, I started paying attention to where the other instruments tended to land in my own mixes.
Eventually I realized that, despite every mix being different, I kept ending up in roughly the same neighborhoods. So I turned those observations into starting points.
Once that relationship feels solid, I can build everything else around it.
Build the Rest of the Kit
Once the kick and snare are established, I bring in the rest of the drums.
My rough starting points are:
Overheads = around -20 VU
I also watch the snare coming through the overheads. It will often hit somewhere around:
Snare in the overheads = -18 VU
Then:
Room = around -25 VU
Hi-hat = around -25 VU, with peaks around -20
These numbers can move considerably depending on the recording.
Some overheads are essentially cymbal microphones. Others contain the entire drum kit.
Some room tracks are subtle ambience. Others are half the drum sound.
That’s why none of these numbers should be treated as targets. They’re just somewhere to start.
Build the Wall
For distorted rhythm guitars, I usually find myself somewhere around:
Guitars = -10 VU
Again, I’m not trying to finish the guitars at -10. I’m establishing the wall around the rhythm section.
Once I hear the bass, kick, snare and guitars together, I can usually tell very quickly whether the basic architecture of the mix is working.
What About Keyboards?
I treat keyboards somewhat like guitars, but with a much wider range.
A piano carrying the song is completely different from a synth pad that’s only there to create atmosphere. So my keyboard starting range might be anywhere from:
Keys = approximately -10 to -20 VU
A featured piano or organ might sit toward the top of that range. Supporting keyboards can sit considerably lower.
Pads and atmospheric sounds can end up extremely low.
Sometimes they’re not really supposed to be heard at all.
They’re supposed to be felt.
That’s an important distinction. Not every track needs to announce its presence.
Finally, the Vocal
My rough starting point for a lead vocal is:
Vocal = around -7 VU
By now the vocal isn’t being balanced against silence. It’s being placed into an existing record.
The low end has been established. The backbeat exists. The guitars and keyboards have created the harmonic environment.
Now I can decide where the singer belongs inside that picture.
And that’s where the numbers start becoming less important.
My Initial Balance Reference
Here’s the complete starting point:
| Source | Starting Reference |
|---|---|
| Bass | -7 VU |
| Kick | -7 VU |
| Bass + Kick | -4 VU |
| Snare | -10 VU |
| Overheads | ~-20 VU |
| Snare in Overheads | ~-18 VU |
| Room | ~-25 VU |
| Hi-Hat | ~-25 VU / peaks ~-20 |
| Guitars | ~-10 VU |
| Keys | ~-10 to -20 VU |
| Lead Vocal | ~-7 VU |
If you want these numbers beside you while you work, you can download the Initial Mix Cheat Sheet here and keep a copy in your studio.
These Are Starting Points, Not Mix Targets
This may be the most important part of the entire process.
My mixes don’t finish at these numbers.
Sometimes the snare needs to come way forward. Sometimes the guitars need to disappear behind the vocal. Sometimes the bass needs to dominate the record.
Sometimes the overheads become a major part of the drum sound. And sometimes a keyboard gets turned down until you can barely tell it’s there — but the mix falls apart when you mute it.
That’s mixing.
The purpose of an initial balance isn’t to tell you where everything belongs. It’s to get you somewhere useful quickly.
Instead of starting every mix from an infinite number of possibilities, I start from a balance that I’ve learned works for me.
Then I listen.
The Order Matters
There’s another reason I like working this way.
The order in which you build a mix influences the mix you build.
Starting with the bass tells me how much weight the record has. Adding the kick establishes the low-end relationship. The snare establishes the backbeat.
The rest of the drums create the kit around it. The guitars and keyboards create the harmonic environment. Then the vocal finds its place inside the record.
It’s not the only way to build a mix.
It’s simply a repeatable way of getting to the point where the real mixing can begin.
Stop Watching the Meter
Once the initial balance is there, I’m finished with the exercise.
I don’t spend the rest of the mix trying to preserve those numbers.
I start compressing. EQing. Automating.
Adding distortion. Changing ambience. Moving things forward and backward.
And inevitably, the levels change.
That’s the point.
The meter helped me establish the starting line. It doesn’t decide where the record finishes.
Numbers get you started.
Feel finishes the mix.