The 5 Stages of a Mix: Levels, Panning, Depth and Space Mini-Course

This course is for home producers and bedroom mixers who keep finishing tracks that sound flat, muddy or crowded. You have the plugins. You probably have decent monitors. What you don't have is an order of operations, so you end up reaching for EQ when the problem is level, or adding reverb when the problem is panning. In seven short lessons you'll learn the five stages of a mix in the order that works: levels, panning, EQ and compression, effects, and automation. Then you go round again until it's finished. You'll learn how to choose which instrument leads each part of the song, and how to build front-to-back depth with level, EQ and reverb instead of making everything equally loud. You'll learn front row, back row mixing with a VCA, and why your mix can sound muddy when it's quiet and great when it's loud. Each lesson ends with a try-this task you can do on your own session straight away, in any DAW. By the end you'll have a repeatable workflow you can bring to every mix. You'll know what to fix first, when to stop, and how to make a track feel focused, wide and deep on any speakers. Streaky has spent 30 years as a sound engineer, working with artists including Ed Sheeran, Skepta, Groove Armada, Kasabian and Sigala. He shares daily mixing and mastering tips on Instagram, and this course pulls his most useful ideas into one clear process. It is practical and plain-spoken, and it is built around what actually changes how a mix sounds.