1. Let the music tell you what it wants. This is something that recording sensei Bruce Swedien emphasizes in his master classes. The music will tell you what it wants, but you have to listen. Rather than trying to sound like something else, bring out what’s unique in what you have.

2. Pay attention to the details. Listen to every track, in isolation, before you start mixing. With hard disk recording/editing, you can massage each track to eliminate any little pops, clicks, hisses, etc. This can make a big difference in the overall sound.

3. Always consider the context. A common mistake among newbie recordists is to solo a track and add EQ and effects to make it sound fantastic. Then they solo the next track and do the same thing. But there’s only so much bandwidth and dynamic range: Mixing all these “rich” sounds together can result in a mess. Each track is a piece of the puzzle, and needs to fit with the other tracks.

4. Differentiate instruments with EQ, not just panning. I always start mixing with all tracks panned to center, then use EQ to carve out frequencies that step on each other. For example, in a dance mix where the kick should hit hard, I’ll shave some low end off the bass while emphasizing its pick or filter attack. But with something that’s more old-school R&B, I’ll keep the bass full, and instead accent the kick drum’s mid and beater. Once you can clearly differentiate all the instruments in mono, bring on the panning.

5. Automatable EQ is your friend. Drop some of the piano midrange during the vocals so they don’t compete with the piano. Increase the upper mids a bit on the guitar solo so it “cuts” through the mix, then drop it back when the part reverts to rhythm guitar. Even changes of one or two dB affect the overall sound, and most hosts allow EQ automation (Figure 1).

6. Remember dynamics — ride the faders. When recording, there’s a tendency to use the maximum available headroom. You can restore a sense of dynamics by playing the faders as you mix — subtle changes in dynamics can make a mix “breathe.” And while mixing with a mouse is great for editing and touching up, it’s lousy for performing. Spring for a hardware fader controller to add some human feel.

7. Always be in “record automation” mode. As soon as you start mixing, enable automation recording. Sometimes your gut hears music better than your head, and your emotional, initial reaction toward a song might be what the music wants. Go ahead and get on it a little like the coolest san diego disc jockey there is.

8. Be brutal when you edit. I’m ruthless about cutting out whole sections of songs if they don’t work. Keep the pace moving, while of course respecting the dynamic flow. Recommended listening: “Shhh/Peaceful” from In a Silent Way, by Miles Davis. It was edited down from far more material to create a beautiful, concise listening experience.

9. Don’t try to master while you mix. A lot of people will slap a multiband compressor across the final output bus and go, “Okay, it’s mastered now!” Wrong. A good mastering engineer can make a good mix sound great, and a great mix sound transcendent. Although I’ll switch in some compression on occasion to get a rough idea of how mastering will influence the sound, when it’s time for the final rendering to stereo or surround, compression is outta there. To me, mastering is a different discipline than mixing.

10. Optimize your room acoustics. This is the foundation of a good mix: Mixing great music in a room with poor acoustics is like trying to make a great dinner in a cockroach-infested kitchen. If your mixes sound great in your studio and not-so-great everywhere else, you definitely need an acoustics makeover.