How to Mix and Master a Track From Start to Finish
Getting a track from a collection of recordings to something that sounds release-ready involves more steps than most people realise. This guide covers the full process from start to finish, including what to do at each stage, what settings to focus on, and what to check before your track goes to a distributor.
Step 1 - Prepare your stems
Everything that happens in the mix starts with how you export your stems. This has to be done correctly, if not then this will create issues pretty soon into the process.
Export every element of your track as a separate WAV file - kick, snare, bass, lead vocal, backing vocals, guitars, synths, pads and any other individual parts. WAV retains the full audio quality of your recordings. MP3 discards frequencies that are very important to achieving the best mix possible.
A few things that matter at this stage:
All stems must start at 0:00. Even if a part does not come in until the second verse, the file should start at the beginning of the track with silence before it. If stems start at different points the timing relationships between them will be broken in the mix.
Keep levels sensible. If a stem is clipping - peaking above 0dB - reduce its overall level before you export. The goal is not to compress the performance, it is to give the mixing tool an accurate picture of the dynamic range.
Do not over-process before exporting. Heavy compression or EQ on individual tracks before mixing limits what the AI can do with each stem. Export as cleanly as possible.
Label everything clearly. Kick, Snare, Hi-Hat, Bass, Lead Vocal, Backing Vocal. Clear labels make the categorisation step faster and reduce the chance of misfiling.
For a full breakdown of stem preparation across every major DAW, How to Prepare Your Stems for AI Mixing covers every edge case.
Step 2 - Upload and categorise
Once your stems are ready, upload them to Automix and assign each one to the correct instrument category. Using the ‘Detect Instruments’ feature will give you a good starting point.
Categorisation tells the AI what role each element plays in the mix - not just what it sounds like, but what it should be doing. A bass synth categorised as a synth lead will be treated differently to one categorised as bass. Get this right and the AI has an accurate model of your track to work from.
The categories that most people get wrong:
808 bass hits go under Bass - not Drums, regardless of how they were created. They function as the low-end anchor and should be treated as such.
Sub bass layers go under Bass separately - if you have a sub layer beneath a mid-range bass part, export and categorise them separately so each can be processed on its own terms.
Pad and atmospheric elements go under Keys or Synth - not Synth Lead unless they are genuinely playing a lead melodic role.
For a complete categorisation guide across every instrument type, How to Get the Most Out of Automix covers it in full.
Step 3 - Set genre and Importance
Before you generate a preview, two settings shape the result more than anything else.
Genre tells the AI how to approach the fundamental relationships in your mix - the balance between kick and bass, the space given to the vocal, the overall frequency character and loudness approach. Select the genre that most closely matches your track. If it is a hybrid, try the closest match first and listen to the preview before experimenting.
Importance tells the AI which elements are most significant in your track. Set lead vocals, bass and drums to high importance for most productions. Supporting elements - pads, atmospheric layers, secondary melodic parts - should be set to medium. If everything is set to high, nothing is prioritised.
Step 4 - Generate a preview and listen critically
Automix generates a full mix and master preview before you pay anything. Listen to it on as many playback systems as you can - headphones, speakers, phone. Each one will reveal something different.
What to listen for:
Does the vocal sit clearly above everything else?
Is the low end controlled - bass and kick working together rather than fighting?
Does the track feel wide and dimensional or flat and central?
Does anything jump out as too loud or too quiet?
If something feels off, the most common fixes are genre selection and Importance settings - try those before anything else. You can use the Fine-Tune panel to change the levels of instruments within the mix. For specific instrument issues, the instrument series covers each one in detail: vocals, drums and bass.
Step 5 - Download and refine in your DAW
If you are an Automix Pro subscriber, download the full project file and open it in Ableton Live, Bitwig Studio or Fender Studio. Every processing decision the AI made is visible and editable - EQ curves, compression settings, reverb sends, panning and gain.
This is where your creative judgment takes over. The AI has handled the technical foundation. You can now push the decisions that require human ears - lifting a vocal in a specific section, tightening the compression on a snare that feels too loose, automating an element that needs to breathe in a particular moment.
Automix Pro subscribers can also use Automix Desktop (Beta) - the same workflow running entirely offline on your Mac or Windows PC, 2-5x faster, no uploads.
Step 6 - Check the master
Automix handles mastering as part of the same workflow - your mix and master are processed together. Before you download the final result, check the LUFS target is set correctly for your genre and platform.
Spotify normalises to -14 LUFS. Apple Music to -16 LUFS. For most streaming releases -14 LUFS is the right target. Louder genres like hip-hop and electronic can sit closer to -14, quieter or more dynamic genres further away.
For a full breakdown of LUFS targets by platform and genre, What LUFS Should I Master At? covers it clearly.
Step 7 - What comes next
Once you have a master you are happy with, the track is ready for distribution. Before you submit, confirm your metadata is accurate - track title, artist name, genre, explicit content flag, and ISRC code which your distributor generates automatically.
For the full release process including distribution, playlist pitching and what happens once your track goes live, How to Release a Song Independently covers everything from here.