Reply To: Where do you start?

[Robert McClellanParticipant]

For me, every mix calls for something different but I try not to deviate to far from my workflow.

My workflow on a normal session is as follows:
1-Naming tracks if need be, 2-Color coding, 3-Arranging within my session (Starting with track one- Vocals, Back Up Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Drums, all other instruments fit within the middle somewhere) 4-Clean up anything unwanted 5-Rough Mix/Gut Mix, 6-Switch to mono to address any phase issues and do EQ, 7-Switch back out to Stereo and start sweetening things with Reverb, Compression, Delays, oh and lots of Saturation all over the place, make sure that all effects have been level matched along the way 8-Critical listening, I do several stages of just simply listening through the song while taking notes (not touching anything), then after I address the issues I've wrote down I keep doing this until there is nothing left to write down, 9-BOOM! Mix is done!

I made a printout to keep me on track, if you'd like you can download it here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/q0b2yqfquqgfmyo/The%20Path.pdf?dl=0