#167 - Top Down Mixing - The Easy Way To Fast And Musical Results?

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Episode show notes:

As a follow-up to last week's episode on bus processing, we want to introduce and explore the idea of top-down mixing today.   

Top-down mixing can make your mixing workflow more efficient, intuitive and creative.

It's less destructive and leads to decent results quickly.

It helps you not overthink things, and you'll find yourself mixing with your ears more than reacting to meters and graphics.

It's dangerous if you not done "correctly". 

"Top down mixing is probably the easiest way for beginners to get started, but beginners also will probably really overdo it since they haven't trained their ears for what they SHOULD change, not CAN change. So it's also a great way to fail fast. 😄" -Malcom Owen-Flood

In this week's podcast episode we're gonna explain how we implement top-down mixing it in our own mixing workflows every day and also talk about potential downsides and things to watch out for.
  

There's actually a benefit to combining "bottom-up" and "top-down" approaches in one mix, especially when it comes to balancing. 

How to implement top-down mixing in your mixes

·      Practical examples

·      How to approach a mix from a top-down perspective and how to prioritize elements in the mix

·      Advice on using bus processing and other techniques to shape the overall mix (listen to previous episode)

·      The importance of referencing to make sure that the details are correct, as well. It's easy to overlook things and to be content too early in the process.

·      Do a quick "bottom up" rough mix first to really learn the song and arrangement.

·      Compare your bottom-up and top-down balances. They will likely be different and hearing both will help you get things in the ballpark.

 Now go and try out top-down mixing in your own mixes and experiment with different techniques!

Remember that top-down mixing is just one approach to mixing. It should be used in conjunction with other techniques to achieve the best possible results.

For some people this is their main approach, others can't seem to make it work. 

But almost everyone can benefit from switching perspectives, seeing the big picture again and rebalancing a mix with a different focus and approach.

Let's go!

-Benedikt
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For full show notes go to: https://theselfrecordingband.com/167

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]