Making the Most of Your Mixer
EMX5016CF Owner’s Manual 15
Mixer Basics
Making Better Mixes

Approaching the Mix—Where Do You Start?

Mixing is easy, right? Just move the faders around until it sounds right? Well, you can do it that way, but a more
systematic approach that is suited to the material you’re mixing will produce much better results, and faster.
There are no rules, and you’ll probably end up developing a system that works best for you. But the key is to
develop a system rather than working haphazardly. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Faders Down

It might sound overly simple, but it is usually a good idea to start with all channel faders off—all the way down.
It’s also possible to start with all faders at their nominal settings, but it’s too easy to lose perspective with this
approach. Start with all faders down, then bring them up one by one to fill out the mix. But which channel
should you start with?

Example1: Vocal Ballad Backed by Piano Trio

What are you mixing? Is it a song in which the vocals are the most
important element?
If so you might want to build the mix around the vocals. This means
bringing the vocal channel up to nominal first (if your level setup
procedure has been done properly this will be a good starting point),
and then adding the other instruments.
What you add next will depend on the type of material you are
working with and your approach to it. If the vocals are backed by a
piano trio and the song is a ballad, for example, you might want to
bring in the piano next and get the vocal/piano relationship just right,
then bring in the bass and drums to support the overall sound.

Example2: Funky R&B Groove

The approach will be totally different if you’re mixing a funky R&B
number that centers on the groove. In this case most engineers will
start with the drums, and then add the bass. The relationship between
the drums and bass is extremely important to achieve the “drive” or
groove the music rides on. Pay particular attention to how the bass
works with the kick (bass drum).
They should almost sound like a single instrument—with the kick
supplying the punch and the bass supplying the pitch. Once again,
there are no rules, but these are concepts that have been proven to
work well.