I don't have much experience in mixing so I would like to know what is your technique. What kind of plugins, effect chain, and processes do you use ? What is your aim in mixing? To sound clean, loud, crispy etc.? Thanks !

Go to sites that you can learn from. This is a good starting point. Recording Revolution
https://www.youtube.com/w...lnItfm6eI5fcJAlYX7lt4b
 
Pensado's Place is great too. But be careful not to let yourself be talked into a buying binge. You already have most of what you need. You don't need "the next greatest compressor" to fix all your problems if you know how a compressor works 

Recordingrevolu...-staging-part-1-of-3

and get some good mix books to study..
 
http://www.amazon.com/Mixing-Engineers-Handbook-Bobby-Owsinski/dp/128542087X/ref=pd_sim_b_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=1EHTDAD6DG57WGW0K169
 
http://www.amazon.com/Mixing-Secrets-Small-Studio-Senior/dp/0240815807/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=11H1Y3758TDFQ84TWA8G
 
http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Audio-The-Art-Science/dp/0240808371/ref=pd_sim_b_6?ie=UTF8&refRID=1CTZEXPFXRKNW3EDEMVF
 
 
any of these will cut your learning curve quite a lot...
 
another favorite of mine:
 
http://www.amazon.com/Zen...Mixerman/dp/1423491505

It depends on the material. It's almost always different, in that different effects, eq's, reverbs, delays, compressors, etc, and all their different settings will be used according to the material at hand.
 
As for the basic mixing method I use, it almost always starts after all tracks are recorded, and any editing, comping or last takes are done. Then I switch to console view, and pull all the faders to nil. Starting with the kick drum, I'll eq it to taste and volume, leaving a good -12 db for headroom that I may need later. Bass guitar is next, followed by vocals. Those 3 elements are critical in that they must all work together nicely, or I'll end up "chasing" the mix and just end up back where I started anyways.
Once that's done, rhythm guitars, keys, etc are brought up and panned to a sensible soundstage. Same with backing vocals. Once everything is balanced and playing nicely together, it's really about critical listening to find if an element needs something like delay, reverb, eq adjustment, etc. Most of time, less is more, especially when it comes to reverb. A lot of beginners get waaayy too carried away with reverb, especially on vocals. If you can obviously hear reverb, it's probably over done.
 
I'm not sure if this helps you, or you were just looking for a conversation on other users methods. There are guys here that are much better at this stuff than I am, but this is what works for me. In case you haven't heard this or learned it yet, here is the best advice I ever got when it comes to recording. Glitter won't make a turd beautiful, it just makes a shiny turd. In other words, you won't get a good sounding mix if the recorded tracks suck. If all the tracks are well performed and recorded at proper levels, the mixing is the easy part.
 
Randy

That mixing bobby owinski book is good I learned a lot from that. Thing is you will find that even though you read things on mixing you dont really know about them or know when to apply them unless you actually try stuff out and make decisions on a track yourself.
 
Something I read in his book was to first "establish the groove of a song" and then "bring out the hook in the song", this in itself is why I think we should mix. This will determine how the song is to be balanced, which line has prominence in the track, which parts need to be tucked away as background filler etc
 
I would suggest mixing a song once the song is written, so often I mix as I go and end up destroying my perception on how the song should sound overall. Write it first, then sit back down with fresh ears decide what the song needs to give it impact in the right places and to sound balanced.
 
Hard to give a right answer on the question though mate. Read up on it and tweak those knobs till your ears bleed!
 
Cian
 

Chris,
 
Read books on the topic to learn and understand the principles behind what you are doing, and why you do it. Watch videos, for the same reasons.  Hit the web sites and learn, study, understand.
 
If your goal is to mix well, not only do you need the knowledge, but you need some halfway decent gear. You don't necessarily need the best gear, just as long as it's not the bottom on the pile.
 
BUT.... the most important thing is to actually mix music. Any music, all music, constantly. Use the songs forum here as your sounding board. Mix a tune and post it. There are some really good folks here with good ears and a wealth of knowledge. They will comment in detail and let you know what they hear. Trust them. I dare say, the folks here have been instrumental in helping me get to where I am today with mixing.
 
My approach to mixing is simple. I start my mixing for the final mix when I start to record the very first track.... in other words, start with the end in mind. Record solid tracks. I use very few plugs in the tracks. Of course, this will vary depending on the song itself. Generally, I have one or two plugs in the master bin, mostly compression, EQ and some reverb. Those 3 are my mainstays. I work with the "less is more" mantra in my mind. Don't add something just because you can, add something only if it's needed AND it improves the song or the track in a substantial way.
 
You only get better when you mix lots of songs. Look around, because there are websites that have songs in raw track form. You can download the waves and mix them as you feel..... this is great practice if you are not writing and composing lots of things in your studio.
 
So, mix and post, listen to the comments, adjust course, ....... repeat.
 
Drop in on some of the websites of the folks here and listen to their work. We have some extremely talented musicians and recording engineers on this site.
 
 

I just scramble everything together or throw it all in the blender.  I have used a short cut by just shaking everything in a capped glass.
 
Just kidding.... I kid.
 
Kind regards,
 
Living Room Rocker

Start by going here:
 
http://www.cambridge-mt.com/ms-mtk.htm
 
This is a huge resource of free multitrack sessions. Download some and start practicing.
There are preview mp3 files you can click on first to audition the music before downloading the actual multitrack sessions. There are a range of styles too.
 
One of the first basic rules of mixing is start with the best sounding tracks you can. It makes it all so much easier.  Some of these multi sessions will contain great sounding raw tracks.  Get a feel for those as well and you will get some idea as to what to aim for in your own future tracking.

Smooth is what I'm after these days.  That starts with tracking - good room, good mic and placement, high quality input hardware.  If you capture it right, mixing is easy and a joy since you aren't fighting the individual instruments.  You can spend time on ear candy and such.
 
as for the OPs questions about technical questions - it depends upon the style.  But if you capture good sound, you are mostly using subtractive EQ to carve out a little room for each of the instruments.  You can separate the instruments using that and panning. 
 
One thing I've been doing on my own stuff is getting the guitarist tracking several different versions of the rhythm.  I generally keep two "lines" of rhythm guitar panned hard.  Since I don't always have the guitar playing straight through all the time on each side, the guitar rhythm buss can wobble.  Rather than go in panning, I'll set a buss reverb and short delay to fill out the stereo spectrum.  The first hit may be in the Left speaker, but quickly fills out to the Right.  I find I use this trick a lot, and it does provide an identifiable sound.  It doesn't work on every style, obviously, but for many of my own songs it has become a staple.  That is an example of just one of many things you can do to develop your own methodologies.  everyone starting out wants a magic formula.  And it does help to know some "classic" set ups for EQ and comp and relative levels - which I guess the OP is asking about.  But those are the easy things to figure out and find.  Most every issue of the mags out covers some aspect of standard operating procedure and set ups.  Read the books and mags every month and you'll quickly find them. But it takes experience to know which ones won't work before you start mixing on this particular song.  And to  discover which ones your ears like and which you continue to use so you can develop a personal style.
 
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