ABSTRACT
This chapter is an ethnographic reflection of my working practices as a producer, engineer and mixer in the 1990s. In what follows, I suggest that the methods I used then are still useful in the context of modern popular music mixing. To do this, I conceptualize mixing in two different ways, specifically as a ‘top-down’ and a ‘bottom-up’ creative practice. ‘Topdown’ in this concept refers to starting a mix with the lead vocals and then working ‘down’ through the arrangement to the drums. ‘Bottom-up’ mixing refers to the opposite. Bottom-up mixing begins with the drums and ends with the vocals. The latter method, in my experience, has been the traditional routine in rock, pop and dance music genres since the 1970s.
