About Pro Tools Mixing & Mastering

This 5-part series, over 9 hours long with 80+ all-new lessons, takes you from an empty session to a finished, mastered record. We start with the room itself — speakers and acoustics — then move into the mixer: signal flow, inserts, plug-in settings, inserts to sends, and sends to returns. From there we build up real mixing concepts: volume and panning, the mechanics of sound, and EQ — high and low pass filtering, high and low shelf, key controls, and dialed-in EQ moves for kick, snare, and bass, plus EQ tips and tricks.

Next we get into dynamics: an intro to compression, using the DYN 3 compressor/limiter, gating and expanding drums and vocals, de-essing vocals, the BF76 compressor, setting up parallel compression, and working the D-Verb. We cover delays in a mix, the AIR creative process, and automation — plug-in automation and automation planning — along with general mixing tips and how to reference a mix against a song you love so you can check your EQ and balance choices against a target you trust.

The back half covers healthy mixing habits so you don't lose the thread on a long session, how to prep a song for mastering (whether you're sending it out or mastering it yourself), the right way to bounce out of Pro Tools for mastering, and a real DIY mastering chain — limiter, compressor, and EQ — for when a mastering engineer isn't in the budget. By the end of these five lessons your mixes will sound noticeably more finished and radio-ready.