My Audio Editing Checklist Before Mixing (Step by Step)
Editing is the least glamorous part of making a record, and it's also the part that decides how the rest of the session goes. Before mixing a song, every track needs to be organized, cleaned, comped, tuned, and time aligned. Skip that or rush it, and mixing quickly turns into fixing. Do it right, and the mix almost takes care of itself. This is the same pre-mix editing checklist I run before touching a fader on every session, in order, no shortcuts. Credit: This is the list I was trained on from the amazing folks at www.mastering.com.
Audio Editing Checklist: 13 Steps Before You Mix
Organize the session. Name the tracks, color code if that helps. Editing is stressful when nothing has a clear place.
Create a rough volume balance. Doesn't need to be perfect. The real balancing happens once mixing starts.
Clean the tracks. Cut the silence between sections. That's where noise, pops, lip smacks, and bleed from other instruments hide.
Align the phase of the tracks. Any instrument recorded with multiple mics, like a drum kit, needs its phase checked. Phase alignment matters most on multi-mic drum recordings and any layered take.
Group the tracks. If something was stereo miked, don't edit it unless the tracks are grouped together first.
Fix timing issues in the rhythm section. A mix won't sound professional if the performance isn't locked in. Hand edit it or use elastic editing, whichever works.
Replace drum hits with samples, if needed. Optional. If the drums need more punch, drum sample replacement can help.
Comp the vocals. Vocal comping means building the best possible performance by cutting together the strongest takes.
Tune the vocals. No need to tune hard. Just catch the notes that pull attention away from the performance.
Fix timing issues in the vocals. Make sure they sit in the pocket. Hand editing or elastic editing both work here too.
Time align the harmonies to the lead vocal. The tighter they sit together, the better they'll sit in the mix.
Create the fades. Any region that's been cut gets a short fade or crossfade, something like 10ms, at the start and end.
Bounce everything in place. Export the edits as their own audio files. Saves a massive amount of CPU once mixing starts.
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