1. Gain Staging

First off, I will start my mix by gain staging. I will make the gain to -inf for every track and turn it up slowly to the best amount of gain that every instrument should have by checking through the VU meter. This will lead to a 0dB on the VU meter when all instruments are combined and also the vocals. Also, I will pan some instruments to left or right such as the guitars, pianos or drums to leave room for the vocal to sit in the middle therefore they don’t collide with each other.

2. EQ on Drums Required

Next, I will put EQ on drums that requires it, for example, this kick drum needs some boost for its boom which is around 50Hz, and some puch and clarity aroud 3k-7kHz. This makes the kick more powerful.

Mixing Vocals

1. Noise Gate

I will first apply a noise gate for the vocals to remove the unwanted noise, this will make the vocal more clean and more convenient to mix with.

2. Melodyne

Secondly, I will re-tune the vocals using melodyne from finding the key of the song first, making sure that every syllable is on pitch by adjusting it through different parameters such as pitch modulation, shifting, note saparation etc.

3. EQ

I will apply an EQ to the vocals after the pitch shifting process to make vocals sound more clean through boosting the frequencies where sound nice and reducing the frequencies that doesn’t. Also, applying high pass therefore it don’t collide with the bass or kick.

4. Compression

After the EQ, I will apply a compressor to reduce the dynamic range, this will make the dynamic of the vocals more balanced throughout the whole track, and also adds some warmth to the vocal.

5. Multiband Compression

I will also apply a multiband compressor to the vocals as well, this compresses different range of frequencies. This allows me to shape the vocal quickly and provides a more balanced recording.

6. Fresh Air

This is a plugin that I love to use in the vocals, it basically boosts the high mid and the high frequencies to add some particle and clarity to the vocals. This is done through the plugin replicating a vocal and basically adding effects onto the replica of the vocal then combines with the main vocal parallely.

7. Final Compressor

I will apply another compressor to glue everything together such as the plugins that I have applied earlier using this CLA-76.

8. De-esser

Lastlt, I will apply a de-esser which reduces the sibilance in the vocal such as the sharp sounds of ‘s’ and ‘t’. This allow the vocal to be more smooth, and it is more convinced for the listners to listen to.