Organization is vital in getting a great mix. Especially now that the track count is higher than ever before.
Keep in mind… There are many many ways to organize a session. This is what works for me.
Working on Pop sessions daily I get sent sessions with 40, 50, 60, or more tracks!
Very easy to forget where each snare is or which of the 10 layers of harmonies you have to sift through is out of key.
Organization is a must!
In the hopes of having a kick ass recording engineer he would have labeled everything for you, if not, you are probably used to seeing the tracks labeled as “Audio.” If that is the case you will need to go through sound by sound and label.
No you do not have to but I highly recommend it especially when dealing with larger sessions it is a good habit to pick up.
If the recording engineer did label everything, thank them for that.
Here is where the fun begins.
To start things off you will need to move everything where it needs to go in proper groups; drums all together, guitars all together, synths, vocals, and so on. Easy yes? Well you’re not done yet.
After that is done the session is still unorganized?!
You should then put the snares together in your drums group. kicks together, hats together, percussion, etc… You will continue the same process with each group, i.e. Separate your lead vocals and put them together in their group so they are not mixed with other vocals like harmonies or backgrounds..
This takes a lot of practice and patience to get used to but in the end it is worth it to take the time to Organize it will help your mixes to move a lot faster.