Mixing sometimes reminds me of that time of year in school when every professor at school thinks it's a good idea to just pile on the projects.

It's like they get together and scheme against the students.

"Hey, how about we make the first two months really easy and then we give all the students assignments at the same time at the end of the year!"

I can almost hear the maniacal laughter from here. Just kidding. Those are just the voices in my head.

It's the same way with large and complex mixing projects.

Oh My God There's Too Many Tracks!

It might start easy enough. The drums start sounding good by themselves. The bass starts grooving with them but one by one it all starts going downhill.

The guitars start clashing with the vocals. The piano gets in the way of the bass and the backing vocals are always either too soft or too loud.

It's exactly like juggling 2 papers, 4 assignments and 3 exams in the same week.

Everything needs your attention, and you've kind of half-started most of it but you don't know how to finish.

Man am I glad I'm not in college anymore.

But what I used to do is I would simplify.

If I know I will only get 2 hours to study for that exam I'll make the studying as simple as possible to retain as much information.

Reading the chapters is inefficient. Reading the summaries at the back and the professor's slides is usually enough. And it takes much less time.

You can do the same thing with a complex mixing session with too many tracks.

Simplify.

For instance:

Pick an EQ you like and use that, don't check every single EQ plug-in on every single instrument. They're all fine.

Group and buss your tracks to simplify your track count. This immediately cuts down on the amount of automation you need to do and it can really help you manage the loudness of those pesky background vocals.

You can get as nit-picky as you want if you have the time. If you don't, knowing how to simplify things to save time can really show off your smooth experience as a mixing engineer.

Simplifying your tracks and using broad strokes EQ on your groups and busses will radically speed up your workflow and help you make your mixes sound better. 

If you feel like your tracks aren't sounding right because something is missing, you may find that you'll get clearer, punchier and fuller mixes if you just learn the right way to EQ. EQ Strategies - Your Ultimate Guide to EQ is the most in-depth guide you can find on the subject. If you can find a guidebook that has more information on EQ than mine, I'll not only refund your money, I'll also buy you the other guide.

Want to check it out?

It's right here: www.EQStrategies.net