Never Mix Without a List

Introduction

How many times have you found yourself working on a mix — spending days or even weeks on it — making loads of moves, changing loads of stuff, but somehow not really making it sound any better?

And worst of all, not getting to the point where you feel like the mix is done.

That’s the problem we’re going to solve today.

With this simple practice to build into your workflow, you can stay laser-focused, stop going down rabbit holes, get your mix done faster, and — crucially — know when it’s done.

And all you need is a pen and a piece of paper.

Never mix without a list

Never mix without a list.

And when I say ‘list’, I mean a list of the things that actually need doing on that mix.

“Turn the hi-hat down a bit.”


“Make the guitars less muddy.”


“Bring out the percussion line in the pre-chorus.”

That kind of stuff. That’s your list.

If you don’t have that list, you’ll just launch straight in, start messing with the bass, hear something else that’s bugging you, start messing with that, forget about the first thing — and before you know it, you’ve spent a ton of time, changed a ton of stuff, made the track sound different, but not actually any better.

You’ll be forever tweaking and never finishing because you’ve got no measure of when it’s done.

What to do instead

Before you even start mixing, play the track through a couple of times. As you listen, notice the things that need fixing and write them down.

That’s the key step: write it down.

Most DAWs have a built-in notepad. Cubase has one. Logic has one. If your DAW doesn’t, just use a document or write it down with pen and paper.

Then, once you’ve got your list, work through it one thing at a time. It doesn’t even matter what order you do things in. Just pick something off the list, do it, and cross it off.

Don't get distracted

There’s one important thing to note:

As you work through the list, you might notice something that needs doing that you didn’t notice when you wrote out the list.

When that happens, don’t immediately start working on the new thing. Just add it to the list, then carry on with the task you’re already on.

When you finish one thing, go to the next thing on the list. Keep doing that until the list is empty.

And when the list is empty, the mix is done.

It’s that simple.