How To Make My Mix Sound Professional: 10 Golden Rules

This is one of the questions we get asked all the time: “Can you tell me how to make my mix sound professional?”

Of course, there is no short answer to this, but you can begin with 10 basic rules. Here at Doctor Mix, we always refer to our 10 golden rules when we’re mixing, or as we call them – The 10 Commandments. When followed properly, these simple instructions will significantly improve your sound. Read the article or watch the video below.

1. Do Your Gain Staging

Always leave enough headroom when recording, and don’t max out the channels when mixing.

2. Do Your Bus Routing

Divide the arrangement into sections (for example, guitars in one section, drums in another, vocals in another, etc.) and create a bus for each section. This makes mixing a lot easier and helps you keep everything under control.

3. Compress in Stages

Generally, compressors don’t like to work too hard, so unless you are specifically aiming for an extremely compressed sound, you should always compress in stages. For example, instead of heavily compressing a track with one compressor, maybe have one compressor on the channel, one on the group bus, and one on the mix bus. This is probably the most important rule if you want to make a mix sound professional.

4. Filter Out Unwanted Frequencies

Often, there are frequencies in a mix that you can’t really hear, but still occupy a lot of headroom. For example, you don’t need the low end on a tambourine, so EQ out all the unneeded low frequencies. This keeps all low-end noise and rumble from polluting the track and leaves more space for the low-end instrument tracks (such as bass and kick drums).

5. Use Gear and/or Plugins to Give Character

There are many hardware and software plugins available, and they should be used not only to correct sounds but also to give character to your mix. It’s this character that will make your mixes sound unique.

6. Sort Out the Low End

Decide which instruments should dominate the low end of the frequency spectrum. If needed, use EQ and/or side-chain compression to make sure any low-end sounds are not fighting for the same space.

7. Do Parallel Compression

For important tracks, make a copy of the channel and compress this copy only. You can then blend this compressed version with the original channel, bringing more focus to a track without reducing its dynamic range too much.

8. Do Your Panning and Spatializing

Every sound should have its own space, so keep the important tracks (kick, snare, vocals, etc.) in the center and pan all the other tracks out of the way by varying amounts.

9. Use Reverbs and Delays for Space

Reverbs and delays can be used to add a sense of depth to a sound when used wisely, but be subtle. If you can barely hear the reverbs, you are probably using them correctly.

10. Don’t Produce a Messy Arrangement in the First Place!

Plan in advance, and don’t use more channels than needed. This helps keep mixing sessions focused and productive and keeps arrangements under control.

Love,
Claudio & The Doctor Mix Team