Production Methods

How do you guys mix down songs? From the beat to the final project with vocals. I was wondering how people go about this process, start to finish. Are there techniques used for mixing a sample, drums, bass? Percussion? How much compression, eq, delay, etc? What techniques do you use to mix vocals? Please be as detailed as possible. I can make ill beats and rhyme, but mixing and mastering are my week points. However, I don't want to pay to have my shit mixed if I can get a good mix myself. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks guys.

It's kind of hard to give tips with such a general question. If you're starting from the ground up, I'd recommend cracking open a few books and watching some youtube tutorials on the matter. It's a long process, and if you really wanna get good at it, you'll have to apply the 10000 hour rule to mixing down as well.

I can understand not wanting to pay someone to mix every track, but the results usually speak for themselves. I think it's better to master one thing than try to be a jack of all trades. This coming from someone who is, and wishes he'd put more effort into being great at one thing.

Is there anyone local to you who is trying to focus on mixing or mix engineering you can team up with? Always worth building something with others IMO.

SEMS hit the nail on the head regarding it being a general question. It's in the same vein of asking "how do I know when a girl is hot" which is a matter of preference.

It is important to know or at least have an idea of how you want your sh*t to down. If you spend more time focusing on all the technical aspects of mixing and mastering, it may work against your creative process in my opinion. One thing (I'm more than sure) many people learn is by A/B between other released music that you do like and gauge how your mixes compare with them.