People always ask what actually happens between "here are my stems" and "here's the finished song." So I recorded one. Above is a full walkthrough of a real mix coming together from scratch — below is the play-by-play if you'd rather read it.
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Step 1 — Set the stage
Before touching a single fader I get organized: import the stems, label and color-code everything, group the drums, the vocals, the music. Then I gain stage — pull every track down so the whole mix has headroom and nothing's clipping. A tidy session is a faster, better mix.
Step 2 — Build the foundation
The low end goes first: kick and bass, sitting together, owning the bottom without fighting. Get those two locked and the whole record has a floor to stand on. Everything else is built on top of that relationship.
Step 3 — Carve out space
Now the rest of the music comes up — but the goal isn't louder, it's clearer. High-passing what doesn't need lows, nudging EQ so each element has its own pocket, panning things wide so the center stays open for what matters most: the vocal.
Step 4 — The vocal is the song
This is where most of the time goes. Riding the level so every word lands, controlling the dynamics, finding the EQ that makes it cut through on a phone speaker and a club system, then placing it in space with reverb and delay so it feels like it belongs in the track instead of floating on top of it.
Step 5 — Polish and check
Final balance with fresh ears, A/B against a reference, then the listen-everywhere test: phone speaker, earbuds, car, laptop. If it translates on all of them, it's done.
That's the whole arc — foundation, space, vocal, polish. The tools change from song to song, but that order almost never does.