The thread title says it all. I thought about making it a poll, but I suppose it's more of a free-response.

I usually mix a) the one whose arrangement sounds the best right away or b) the one that's the most basic. This is assuming that the client doesn't put in a request.

If there's a 'hit' (i.e.: song with most obvious appeal/pop potential), I'll usually do it second or third, but never first.

i tackle the hardest/longest songs first or the one with the most tracks unless the client requests otherwise.

Not the answer you were looking for perhaps but I like to save a simple track to do last.

Most important song - I like to do - somewhere in the middle, so I can learn from any 'problems' encontered on earlier mixes...

I usually start with the easiest one, the straightfoward one to get an early picture of how the band will sound!

starting with an up-beat, light n' easy on the track sheet seems to work these days...It takes about one or two songs for the studio staff to find the remote for the spatializer,



I dream of the day when I mix in the woods far, far, away!!!

It changes every project for me...
i just go to the song i feel like doing...
sometimes it is the basic arrangment one... sometimes it is the epic!
If i dont feel like doing any... i will start on an easy one to make me feel good about getting a good sound easily! ha

my new way of keeping track what I mixed - start alphabetically (sp?)

in the old days the one that worked with not too many gadgets in there.


Jo

I start with the one I like the least then work my balls off to get it to the point where I like it. Then work to get every other song better than it [hey, it was the song I didn't like in the first place]

i mix them all at once. i set up basic starting points for all the songs and then flip between them all tweaking as i go... i set up a sequence [from the band or my own] for the album and then will play through the album in order and tweak further from there, when i can listen to the whole album all the way through and not reach to tweak... its done. or when their money runs out.

I'll usually either mix alphabetically (if I'm mixing ITB) or if I'm mixing through the console, I'll mix the track that seems to work best as a template for the other tracks. That way, I have fewer things to patch/re-patch/unpatch as the day goes on.

I just do a bounce to disc at the end of the tracking session. You mean it needs more than that?

-R

Whatever the so called "hit" is.

I base all of the other mixes off this one.

More like mastering a record.

Sometimes I start with the 'easiest' songs so I can get quickly into the vibe of the artist then do the 'harderst' one after it.

I usually start with the first keeper on Tape 1.

I assume we're talking about a record that is pretty consistent from one song to the next. (Same players etc.)

Most pop songs don't have those common threads. So it doesn't really matter.

But if I'm doing a rock record I'll pick the one that most represents the record. But at the same time I like it to be the simplest also.

This way I can concentrate on the main elements that will be in all the songs rather than getting lost in that one song. Although at some point you need to concentrate on that song.

But I like to set some standards on that first song.