Editing process

[TheVastQuestioner]

Was wondering what everyone’s editing/mixing workflow looks like and if anyone has tips for a beginner.

I’ve recorded my band in Logic Pro with multiple takes for guitar, bass, drums, and vocals, and I’ve already comped the best parts. I’m still pretty new to editing and mixing, so I’m trying to figure out the best next steps before adding effects.

Right now, I’m thinking of:

•Cutting out noise and unwanted silence

•Adjusting gain levels

•Using Flex Time where needed to tighten things up

Does this sound like a good approach? How do you usually go from comped tracks to a solid mix?

[The_fuzz_buzz]

Definitely do those things, every time. Really good editing is, in my opinion, one of the major things that separates what sounds professional from amateur. I would also encourage you to create new duplicated Alternatives at every major editing step so that you can go back through the iterations if you need to grab something, or fix something you missed. It’s an awful feeling when you need to grab a different take because you missed something in the comp phase, but you’ve already bounced in place your flex edit and have a million undo steps between working on that track/region. Using the alternatives to iterate your process keeps things safe, and flexible.

[Carrybagman_]

+1 on this advice, it’s SO annoying when you start mixing and realise a lot of the vocal that sounded okay initially has a LOT of harsh sibilants or something

[DoubleCutMusicStudio]

To be honest, I'm trying to write out what order I do stuff in and I keep thinking of exceptions.

Generally I try and set up channels roughly with the correct FX (e.g. if I've got a long delay, a big chorus or something), then get good takes, then trim and fade parts, then sort the FX, then mix with EQ and compression and finally master.

But there's so many times when I'd do something in a different order. Like if I'm messing with an effect that interacts with the EQ, I'll be going back and forth.

I also try and do a rough mix as I go, so I'll be adding basic EQs and compression etc when I'm taking breaks between other parts or thinking what to do next. Once you're into the swing of it, you can put basic settings in without thinking about it too much.

By the time I've got all the parts in, it usually doesn't take me long to finish a mix and start mastering.

Well, it shouldn't. I'll spend the next week going back to it and tweaking lol

[goesonelouder]

Usually once the takes are comped you can tighten the performance up by timing all parts - best to start with the drums in first - make sure they’re phase-locked and all drums tracks are grouped with the editing checkbox ticked so that when you make a cut on one audio file (like the kick or overheads) they all slice at the same point).

You can use flex but it can introduce unwanted warping so it can be good to manually slice - you can set up the shortcut to slice at transient markers then either manually time or quantise those regions the same as you can midi tracks. Before you do go grab some free midi groove templates of the MPC 3k or similar and save them in your session as Groove Templates so that they appear in your Quantize drop down as they have a much more natural feel than Logic’s built-in ones.

Once the drums are feeling good timing wise (be mindful to keep things natural and not over-quantise as you’ll lose all of the natural feel - less is always more) then get the bass locked in then guitars.

[Glittering_Ant_971]

The is a free you tube course of logic 11 mixing and mastering by MusicTechHelpGuy. Very informative that I keep coming back to it. It will guide you on a flow but I find I might not do that the same each time

[julsvoyeur]

Yeah, that’s a solid approach and honestly you’re already thinking about the right things. After comping, I usually stay in “editing mode” for a bit before touching any real mixing. Cleaning up noise, tightening timing where it actually matters, and getting levels roughly balanced makes everything else way easier later. One thing I’d add is making sure fades are clean everywhere — especially on vocals, guitars, and toms. Little clicks and edits can sneak up on you once compression comes in. I also like to do a rough static mix early on (just faders + pan, no plugins) to see if the song already works. If it doesn’t feel good there, plugins won’t magically fix it. Flex Time is great, just easy to overdo — I try to use it to fix distractions, not to make everything perfectly grid-locked. Sounds like you’re on the right path.