MIXING WITH MARKUS
As a mixing engineer I am a provider for premium service. As such, it is particularly important to me to work as transparently as possible. So that you don’t imagine anything wrong with working with me, I will describe my basic work process here, which will of course be adapted to your needs. The entire process will be communicated to you by me so that you can fully concentrate on your music.
Step 1: Communication
You contact me in the way of your choice. It is important to know who you are, what you wish for and where the journey should go, so communicating with you is very important to me.
Based on your information, wishes and reference songs, a targeted goal is determined, which enables me to make decisions in the mix.
With this goal in mind, I decide out of various options which tools, plugins, outboard devices or effects are required, because music is very individual and must be treated like that.
Step 2: Preview
The individual tracks of your music provide the basis for a good, professional mix. I listen to them, check them for technical problems and put them into a rough mix, i.e. a rough balance without using many effects.
Here I evaluate whether the individual instruments work well together, how the dynamics behave, whether a prioritization of individual tracks is recognizable and how the overall impression of the production is to be evaluated for my ears in my listening situation.
Step 3: Static Mix
The bulk of the mix is done with volume adjustments, fader moves, and panning to get a coherent foundation that fits the music. Equalizers, compressors, gates, limiters, saturation, reverbs, delays, modulation etc. are then used to ensure that every aspect of the music comes into its own and corresponds to your ideas and the genre-typical sound (if that is what you want).
Step 4: Automation
A moving, exciting mix is then created from this rigid mix by automating levels, effects, panning, etc. The focus here is on the emotions generated by the music and whether and how they are in focus. This is by far my favorite part of the mixing process as this is where a lot of creativity I can apply as a mixer.
Based on this mixdown, it is re-evaluated whether your wishes and suggestions are found in the mix and whether problems arise in other listening situations. In addition, the mix is checked against the reference songs you have specified.
Step 5: The Final
At this point you will be sent the first “final” version of the song. This will be checked and evaluated by you. Suggestions for changes, which there are in most cases, you send me collectively, I incorporate them and the song goes back to you. We do this until you are happy and satisfied with the mixing of the song so it can be mastered.