Once you have set up all the instruments against the soundboard, it's time to play the whole mix. Fix your eyes on the meter and remember that peaks should occur at +3db or less on the analog mixer. Otherwise, slide down the faders in 1db increments until the target is reached. You can be lax on the analog board but on a digital mixer, always peg at 0db.

Mono Check: Playing the mix in mono track highlights the sound of such instruments that tend to disappear from the mix. This occurs due to out-of-phase signals canceling out each other; this is more so with stereo tracks and effects.

No faders above 0db rule: Professional mixers follow the no gain no pain rule. They produce great mix because they can more often cut a signal to reach the required lows but they rarely push the faders to add gain. Once the mixer is calibrated at the beginning of the mix process by applying the test tone (or the loudest sound on the track) and setting the markers to peg at 0db, there is actually no need to change it. Maybe if the vocal seems to crackle at the peaks, you should take a look at the settings again and make necessary readjustments. So, unless it's the preamp's trim knob, think twice about adding gain.

Now that all the little imperfections are taken care of, you are ready to render the masterpiece. It's time to polish and finalize your mix. Train your ears to identify that great piece of art when the different musical elements converge resulting in a celebration of life in the form divine music.

Well, if you thought that is all to mixing, think again. There is scope for improving the mix even as you are preparing to output the song to media. One good practice is to segregate the faders on your soundboard into different groups. For instance, you could make eight groups and assign the vocal tracks to group 1 and 2, band to 3 and 4, drums to 5 and 6, and use 7 and 8 for just effects. This gives you both bandwidth and control over the different groups at the finish line. With this configuration it is easy to give an extra edge to the vocalist or boost to the band when needed.