Ever wondered what “Top Down” Mixing is all about? Eli Krantzberg presents an in-depth video tutorial series on the mixing technique "Top Down Mixing" which is growing in popularity. Learn about the general principles used when approaching a mix from a top-down mindset, and how it forces you to focus on the bigger picture of the song and the music, rather than on specific plug-ins used on individual tracks.
In this Top Down Mixing Explained Groove3 tutorial series from our own Eli Krantzberg you will learn all about this interesting and effective process, and why and how you should use it to mix your songs and productions. The individual tracks used in the video series are also included for you to download and follow along with in your DAW.
Eli has chosen to present this series using Pro Tools Ultimate and uses the plug-ins that come with Pro Tools Ultimate from Avid.
Eli starts the course by going over why you should care about Top Down Mixing. He then plays the track you'll be mixing together using this technique, and then goes over the mix track by track, showing you exactly what each track contains, so you get to know the session.
Next up is Building a Static Mix and you'll see how to form the foundation for the Top Down Mix technique, as well as setting up a processing chain with the goal of enhancing the mix as a whole. As you watch you will learn how tape saturation, EQ, multi-band compression, and stereo compression are used to paint the broad strokes and tighten up and glue the entire mix together.
Moving on, Eli shows you how to use reverbs, compressors, exciters, automation, delay and many more processing tools to craft the song into a pro sounding production, using the Top Down Mixing process.
Last but not least, Eli demonstrates how to use a limiter to to bring up the overall mix level to values consistent with streaming services, and runs a final play through of the finished mix.
Top Down Mixing Explained by Eli Krantzberg comes from Groove3 and costs $30.