Well, let's take this from a perspective the way old Jamaican records were mixed. What do we want to create? We shouldn't have to do too much in the mix, if we recorded everything the way we wanted it to sound at the studio, so we are just doing some tweaking here and there. So, do you remember when I said, visualize the mix in blocks? Well, let's take that as our base for our mix. Yes, songs can be mixed a million different ways but we have to know when it's finished. That age old saying, 'The mix is never finished!' isn't really true. There are lots of tricks to help curb yourself from slaving over a mix. If you hear something you like or don't like, walk over and pull a fader up or down. Another idea is if you are working with a band, repeat the mix and put it at a comfortable volume level, have a conversation with people in the room, about anything you want, something other than the mix at hand. I can find little things here and there that I might have not heard while I was working in the studio the previous night. I can see how it stacks up to the other tunes. When I wake up and go into the car, I will listen to my playlist, when the song comes on, I am normally in driving mode, I will hear it just like any other tune. I will tuck it randomly in a playlist with a few other reggae songs. Something I like to do is, if I am not liking how the mix is going, I will quit for the day and open Itunes. You may find things in the mix that you didn't notice before. This way, you won't get so in depth, and you will be hearing the song in a different situation. It's known that Winston Churchill took naps in the daytime to rest his mind and he had the Nazi's bombing his country for years!ДЄ great tip to get through speed bumps in the mix process is to not 'listen.' What I mean by that is, put the mix on repeat and go read a magazine or newspaper, a subject that you find the most boring. It's true, some engineers take naps to refresh their minds. We want our mix to translate to each source. You may find your mix sounds great only to push it louder later on and everything falls apart.Дљlso, don't listen on just one sound source, try different speakers, headphones and even computer speakers. If you mix too low when playing with the bass, you really won't get the true level of what is really going on.

Remember to mix a bit louder when dealing with the bass.

Mixing a comfortable volume for most of the mix and pushing the volume here and there isn't uncommon, a lot of engineers do this. Make sure you are mixing at a good volume, not too loud, because the louder and longer you mix, the more your ear fatigues. It does happen, the phantom sounds do haunt mix engineers that slave over a mix for long periods! Start with fresh ears, and take frequent breaks every 45 minutes to keep your ears from getting fatigued, and so you don't start hearing things that aren't there. Now that we have our sounds recorded, it's time to move onto the mix.

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