Home music production can be a tricky business when you do not know where to start; I have put together a few basic rules to help anyone starting out and looking to achieve a professional music production. These are core rules in mixing and they should be upheld to keep the whole process running as smooth as it possibly can.
Before adding any effects to your track; make notes on ideas you have – Once you have your song recorded and you have waited at least 24hrs, play the track back to yourself and write down what you want it to sound like. This can be quite hard to be disciplined at if you are working on a home music production but all the same you should do it. When listening to it now it should be ‘dead’ effect wise so see what you think would make it good, this could be an idea or a single effect. The effect /s could be added, the idea could be put to someone who knows more and then they could show you how to get what you are looking for.
Never mix and record on the same day – These two things are very far apart when it comes to head space. One of these processes focuses closely and one focuses too, but at a distance. It is as if the music being written is like the core or truth of a story and the mixing process is adding slight things to the story to make it sound more interesting but it is still the same story it ever was. It is necessary to let your ear rest from the recording also as over exposure can damage ears or just make them make poor judgments. There are many excuses/reason you should not mix on the same day of recording; it is the number one rule in mixing that everyone follows. Every professional music production has been through this rule and continues to; this is down to the fact that it is one rule anyone, from anywhere, with any kind of equipment, cannot afford to ignore.
Let your ears rest – Letting your ears have time to rest is very important in mixing. If you do not let your ears rest then you will not be hearing the music and all the elements involved properly. When you do not listen to music properly you end up coming back to a track later and thinking “What???! When I left this track it was sounding amazing.. Now it sounds terrible” This is the curse of home music production. This has happened because you have been mixing to long and if a listen, listened to a track, the same way you had while mixing. They too would think it was amazing but. When the listener listens fresh they will hear specific things. This is what the music producer needs to focus on or, bring to the focus of the listener. This is why people rest before coming back to a mix. For fresh “listeners” ears.