Record, Mix, and Release a Song (Part 11): The Static Mix 

It's really amazing how much the harmonies open up when you do just a tad bit of panning. Really amazing mix!! Love this series! keep up the great work

This is exactly how I’ve always worked on a static mix. Looking forward to the automation section.

As a newbie in home recording I find your stuff invaluable. I took special note to the remark about objectivety. I am used as a musician just to jam and there the obectivety plays a very minor part for obvious reasons. I have been quite amazed just how different a song can sound just after a good nights sleep. Sometimes it has changed for better but most often to worse :)

I feel lucky to have the access to your teachings... At the same time I wish U prosperity... Also this music is very nice. Thanks! Peace and Love.

This whole series has been an enormous help. Many thanks for doing it!

yep, that I'm through as well in my recording now. Next steps toward the big success!!!! :-)

Great stuff Mike, made me wanna listen to that song again thanks 🙏

Looking forward to a just *Track-Vocals* mixing

Nice song Mike.

Top class mike. Really enjoyed the last few vids and looking forward to the rest 👍👍👍👍

The vocals sound amazing!!!

And it grows.... Nice to see it!

Thanks Mike, awesome.

lovely content

Working backwards - awesome! Start with the loud to set static mix. Makes sense. Effects & automation can be used to bring quieter parts up later. This way, no clipping issues.

Thanks again Mike.

Thanks Mike. Great tutorial.

You have helped so much man. Forever

Another good session. Thanks Mike.

To the top

Very helpful. Thanks again.

Superb series Mike, I am learning such a lot, keep up the great work, Neville

1:00 The preparation so far has been very useful. We'll mainly use the buses at the end of the console to do the static mix. But the balance within each group of instruments need to be set up first before using one bus to treat the group like a whole part. 2:51 Sub-mixes. Drag all faders down to 0: Shift-select all faders then Ctrl-drag one fader to move them all. 3:34 The drums. Solo the bus/channels of focus. With the faders, use your gut to get what feels right on each drum. He likes to work pretty quickly. You will come back and adjust them later. 9:19 The choir. Start with the faders up on two then blend another in. 10:19 It sounds a little strange that they're both exactly down the middle so he pans one left and one right a little. Pans them all to different degrees. 14:54 Now he can treat it like a whole instrument with the bus. 15:21 Sub-mixes complete. Very important to now take a good break before you start on the static mix, like overnight so you have fresh ears. 16:28 After an overnight rest. You don't have to do it exactly Mike's way. 17:27 He has no FX on them right now. In his experience, getting the balance with faders and panning before adding life with FX works better. 18:18 Think 'What are the most important components of your song?' The important parts shape the way he approaches the static mix - it revolves around the most important part/s. 19:35. He used to start right at the beginning and mix the instruments in the order they played, it was okay but it made him always wrestle to keep the vocal on top of everything. 20:37 A different approach. Bringing the vocal up first and then everything underneath it. And he's starting with the loudest part of the song, building the mix from there. Recommended: Focus first only on a certain part of the song rather than many parts in one session. 21:50 He prefers to do the mix with speakers rather than headphones. 23:01 Turn down all the bus faders. Starting with lead vocal and guitar, then the drum kit, then the bass guitar, then the Cajon, using his gut. 27:01 Vocals getting just a little lost. But it's okay, now the unison vocals. Then organ then piano. 29:04 Bring things down to make the vocal more prominent again. 29:39 Bring in the choir. 31:15 Bringing in other percussion. 32:37 Use your instinct to achieve some kind of balance. 33:01 Bringing in other things which are present in a different part of the song. 34:22 He'll resist the temptation to fix things that now sound out of balance in other parts of the song. He'll deal with it later with automation. 34:46 Bringing in the female vocal. There's still FX to be done on it. 35:29 He'll listen to it in other positions and have a break before listening to check that it feels in balance.

Mike, You earned a sub! :) I am loving what you have been putting up lately. Please continue the great work. Best of luck! I am always focused more on music production and composition and now, your videos are inspiring me to try mixing my songs myself! :)

That was great Mike - you answered my question after your sleep - I was going to ask why you mixed without effects given that they would make such a difference to the sound. Presumably you use the gain controls on the effects to compensate - I am sure all will be revealed shortly!

Great stuff. If I even get this far I will be a million times better than when your series started.

Hi Mike, I noticed, in the first section where you are setting the basic levels for the elements of the drum kit, that you have 4 toms. In the multi-track Cakewalk bundle I only see 3 ? Has a track been left out by mistake or was this added after the bundle was created ?

I've learned so much from your lessons, much thanks. I'm wondering where those room and overhead drum mic tracks came from. Did you create them with sends, delay, etc or are they part of your digital drum package? I haven't seen them in the drum SW I've used.

Hi I have a doubt hope you solve or anyone solve So I have to put effects after gain staging and static mix, will it not affect my mixing or gain staging or I have to put before ?

👍🏾😊👍🏾

need your help, i have recorded a drum track using the step sequencer and it works fine.. Now i am trying to add a guitar part , my guitar is plugged in my sound card, it works all right , but when i play both tracks , problem , both are mixed and play wrong. is there a problem with micing midi and audio ?

What is the difference between Static mixing and gain staging. Im confused coming to this part. Do i do them both or i just do 1 at the beginning of my mixing session.

If I’m using an online beat and I’m doing the vocals do I need to still mix apart from vocal comping and gain staging?

hi,thank you man!how copy automation line in other track in cakewalk? im sorry about my english 🙏❤

If only I could give you 10 "Likes"

Why we do gain staging if we do volume up and down for each channel after by ear? They are not sitting around -18 dbfs now however. Really confused me. :(

Stop giving so many secrets away! Colleges charge a lot of money for this advice /education!