Top-down mixing 101: How to bring a musical approach to mixing

Top-down mixing can help you save time and bring a more colorful approach to your mixing techniques. Follow along as creative producer Charles Hoffman shares the pros and cons of top-down mixing, important tips for getting your mix to sound better, and a general chain of processing that can help you implement top-down mixing in your sessions.
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00:00 - Intro
00:13 - What is top-down mixing
01:24 - Top-don mixing overview
03:15 - Step 1: Color box
05:50 - Step 2: Rebalance your mix with EQ
07:40 - Step 3: Glue your mix with compression
09:51 - Step 4: Limiting
12:09 - Top-down mixing vs mastering
13:34 - Final thoughts
#iZotope #mixing #proaudio
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[@iZotopeOfficial]

Learn more about top-down mixing here: www.izotope.com/en/learn/top-down-mixing.html?

[@critical-thought]

I typically fix track issues before hitting the 2-bus with some processing. Then back and forth between tracks and 2-bus. It works for me, and helps me balance the mix for a better result. To everyone their own.

[@Jess-P]

Nice one!

[@DerekPower]

With some exceptions, I take what can be stereo bus/2-bus processing and move it over to the mastering stage where I apply that chain to the individual clips, which are in of themselves a mixdown of that particular track. I can "audition" or "experiment" during the mixing stage. I also use a limiter when I'm in "work-in-progress mode" as I mix very conservatively and would like some idea of how the mix will sound at increased volume gain.

[@DerekPower]

@vongwynbleidd The individual clips are the stereo mixdowns of each album track.

[@johnjhonny646]

I know a lot of top mix engineers are doing top-down mixes. They have a mix mastering chain that has been modified and tuned over many years and tuned to work on any music. Without a good mix bus chain, top-down mixes will give poor results.

[@GetSongsDone]

That and rough source tracks...

[@brianmac8260]

Watched up until the so-called music dropped.

[@thejacevekexperience]

Yea. I never do this. It's a great way to wind up polishing a 💩. Especially when you are talking about large scale projects 100 trx wide or more. For me that stereo bus is the last 3-7% of a mix.

[@thejacevekexperience]

That said i do turn in a temporary master chain throughout the process because there are problems that only reveal themselves when the limiter comes on. And those harsher resonant frequencies collide

[@GetSongsDone]

Why are people still recommending this?

[@GetSongsDone]

@vongwynbleidd it only works if the tracks you receive sound good from the start.