1. Manage expectations with me
Have a conversation with me about the direction of your song, what your expectations are, and if you have any specific “must have” needs as far as processing, or effects. I also highly recommend you send me reference tracks of professionally mixed tracks you would like your tracks to sound similar to. Discuss and agree upon the deliverables that you will be expecting from the project i.e. number and type of mixes, what file format, bit depth, sample rate, and max db peak that you will want for mastering.
Common mix deliverables are:
● Master Mix (The final mix that will go to mastering if you want that separate)
● Vocal Up (Almost the same as the master mix, but with the vocals .5db to 1db louder)
● Backing Track (Everything but the lead vocals)
● Instrumental
● Lead Vox Acapella
● Background Vox Acapella
You may not need or want all of these different mix types, or you may want something not on this list. Let me know at the beginning of the project. This is very important as some things can and cannot be undone, and these deliverables need to be done in a specific order in many cases.
2. Consolidate as many tracks as you can into mono or stereo files
If you have five different tracks for a single guitar take, you may want to bounce (export) those down to a single track in mono, unless there was a specific reason to spread the instrument take across the stereo field. In that case, then you could bounce it as a stereo track, but you may want to supply mono tracks as well, just in case I want/need to change the panning. Make sure that you zero out any panning that you may have applied to tracks before you export the files. Ideally all the files will be mono, and panned center (except for synth, and keys)
3. Name your tracks logically
Before exporting your project as stems, name all the tracks in a way that will help me make sense of the session. Kick, Snare, HH, Tom 1, Floor Tom, Bass, Rhythm Guitar, Lead Guitar, Moog Synth, Lead Vox, Back Vox, are all examples of good track naming. If you have multiple mics of a single take make sure they are clearly identified. Ideally you would have consolidated these down to one track, but if you must pass multiple tracks of a single take make sure each take can be identified. RH1 sm57, RH1 direct, RH1 R121, RH2 sm57, RH2 direct, RH2 R121 would be examples of how to clearly identify two different takes of rhythm guitar with a multi mic setup.
4. Double check track levels
Make sure that none of your individual track levels are clipping. if you print tracks that are too hot with digital clipping, there is very little I will be able to do for you, and most likely I will ask to you to fix it. Louder is better, but too loud is bad.
5. Export tracks/ stems
Export or bounce all your individual tracks as files. I prefer you bounce tracks into .wav format. Print any effects that you are absolutely sure of, or are critical to the sound of the instrument, to the track as you export. Reverb and delay that is not critical to the sound of a particular instrument should be bypassed. As you bounce, you may see an option to “normalize” the tracks. Make sure normalization is off . In almost every brand of recording software, there should be a way to export all the tracks individually all at once rather than bouncing them one at a time. Also, BOUNCE ALL STEMS THE ENTIRE LENGTH OF THE SONG so I do not need to guess where to place the files in the song. DOUBLE CHECK to confirm all files are the same length and actually have sounds in them.