Ignore Solo

Want to spend less time and shed less tears over mixing? Ignore the solo tracks button!

The listener will never hear your tracks in solo, so they will not care if it sounds good or bad in solo. Before I got into mixing, I was talking to an audio engineer about this. He was telling me about how he would get his drums to sound super good in solo. When he would un-solo them, they would sound terrible in the track. I had no idea what he was talking about. I thought, "if they sound good in solo, how could they not sound good when they're with everything else?"

I soon realized when I started mixing that it was mostly true. I’d get paranoid about making it sound good in solo, but it would end up making my drums, guitar, or whatever sound bad anyways when I turned solo off. Don't think that there is a right or wrong way with mixing, it's all about how it sits with your mix.

So don’t worry if something is good in solo or not. If it works with the rest of the track, GREAT! Your listener will never hear your tracks in solo. I am going to repeat that for added emphasis; your listener will never hear you tracks in solo. This is amazingly advantageous for you. Maybe your snare sounds disgustingly harsh and weak in solo. However, if it works with your rooms, overheads, and just sounds great overall, that is all that matters. Your listener isn't going to comment on the way you treated your close mic'd snare. Chances are 98% of people don't even know that a “close mic’d snare” exists!

As always, do whatever fits the mix!