How to Prepare Your Tracks for Mixing

You’ve finished your song. Nice.

Now let’s make sure you’re setting it up to sound as good as it possibly can.

Before you send anything over, take a few minutes to prepare your session properly. This isn’t just about being organized—it directly affects how your final mix will turn out.

A well-prepped session lets me focus entirely on making your track sound incredible. A messy one slows everything down, creates confusion, and can even limit what’s possible in the mix.

If you’re not sure what to send, follow this guide and you’ll be in great shape.

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First—Let’s Clear Something Up

You might think sending a full DAW session (Pro Tools, Logic, etc.) is the best option.

Sometimes it works. Most of the time, it doesn’t.

Different plugin versions, missing files, routing issues, incompatible setups—it can turn into a mess quickly.

The real industry standard is WAV files.
Every professional mix engineer can work with them. No friction, no surprises.

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1. Clean Up Your Session

Before exporting anything, go through your session and remove what doesn’t belong.

• Delete unused or muted tracks

• Get rid of ideas that didn’t make the cut

• Make sure everything in the session is intentional

If it’s in the session, I’m going to assume it matters.

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2. Fix Edits and Transitions

This step gets overlooked all the time—and it shows.

Go through your tracks and check for:

• clicks and pops

• bad edits

• rough cut points

Make sure:

• every clip has a small fade-in and fade-out

• crossfades sound natural

• nothing feels abrupt or broken

A clean mix will expose these issues immediately. Better to fix them now than have them become a problem later.

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3. Export a Rough Mix

Always include a rough mix of your track.

This gives me:

• a sense of your vision and vibe

• a reference for balance and intent

• a way to confirm nothing is missing

If something exists in your rough mix but not in the files you send, that’s a problem we want to catch early.

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4. Organize and Name Everything Clearly

This is a big one.

Your files should be:

• logically grouped (Drums, Bass, Guitars, Vocals, etc.)

• clearly labeled

• easy to understand at a glance

Avoid vague or personal naming like:

• “audio_07_final_v2”

• “weird guitar thing”

Instead, keep it simple:

• Kick

• Snare Top

• Bass DI

• Lead Vox

• BGV Harmony L

The goal is zero guesswork.

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5. Consolidate Your Tracks

Every track should be exported as a continuous file from the same starting point.

That means:

• all tracks start at the same time (usually bar 1)

• all files are the same length

• everything lines up automatically when imported

If you send chopped-up audio, there’s no reliable way to know where things belong.

Consolidating fixes that.

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6. Decide What to Print (and What Not To)

Ask yourself: is this processing part of the sound, or just part of the rough mix?

Keep / print if it’s essential:

• amp sims

• vocal tuning (if intentional)

• creative effects that define the sound

Remove or disable if it’s not:

• EQ used just for rough balance

• compression for leveling

• mix bus processing

If in doubt, you can send both:

• a processed version

• a clean version

That gives flexibility without losing your intent.

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7. Export Settings Matter

Please export your files as:

• WAV format

• Same sample rate and bit depth as your session

• Mono files for mono sources

• Stereo files for stereo sources

No normalization. No conversion. No shortcuts.

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8. Include Important Info

Along with your audio files, include:

• tempo (and tempo changes if applicable)

• time signature changes

• reference tracks (if you have them)

• any notes about creative intent

If your delays or reverbs are tempo-based, this matters more than you think.

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9. Final Delivery

Once everything is ready:

• Organize your files into clearly labeled folders

• Place everything inside a main folder:

  • Artist Name – Song Title – BPM

• Zip the folder

• Send via Dropbox, Google Drive, or preferred method

 

Final Thought

A great mix doesn’t start in the mix.

It starts with how the session is delivered.

If everything is clean, organized, and intentional, I can spend my time doing what you’re actually paying for—making your track sound as good as it possibly can.

If it’s not… that time gets spent fixing problems instead.

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If you’re ever unsure about anything in this process, just ask. I’d rather answer a quick question upfront than run into issues later.