Preset F**ker

Mixing Templates vs. Creative Laziness: Don't Be a Preset Fker

In my pond, there once was a guy known as "the Gordon Ramsay of recording” or, as I liked to call him - Preset Fker. He was by all accounts talented, if not an unpleasant human to work with. My issue was Preset F*cker’s stuff all sounded the same, basically because he always used the same settings on EVERYTHING. At that time, this was heresy as it was before the time when well-known engineers became plugin pimps, and now...fast forward to today, kids are ALL about the presets and mix templates. Is it a bad thing?

The Philosophy of Hybrid Audio Mix Templates

Let’s think about it for a second. If I was mixing a record on an analog console, and the drums had been tracked at the same place at the same time, I could probably leave my drum faders and channel strips more or less alone, right? That’s kind of a giant preset.

The British recording mentality is traditionally more about sonic uniqueness, which is why UK indie music sounds so distinct, but it can also be a curse to productivity. I routinely mixed full albums without even copying the session settings from track to track, trying to treat each song as its own distinct piece of art. This is exactly how I developed my consistency. The analog outboard gear on my mixes rarely even got adjusted because I was always hitting the inputs at the same gain-staged level. So... was that technically a preset?! Maybe!

Balancing Studio Workflow Productivity with Engineering Chops

So here we are in the land of digital presets and DAW templates, which is undeniably a boon to studio workflow productivity, but not so good for helping you get your engineering chops together if you always do the exact same thing. So what can you do?

Personally, I like to play creative games to break out of the box. Let’s say it’s a 70’s style track. I’ll deliberately limit myself to the kind of hardware processors that would be available during that specific era. I'll build a pretend vintage studio in my head, and then replicate it directly in the DAW.

The past few weeks I have been doing exactly that—plugin-wise, each channel has a Neve line amp & console EQ console emulation (specifically the Acustica Navy 2) and a tape machine simulator (UAD Oxide). See, they couldn’t even afford a Studer tape machine at my imaginary studio—those punks.

Why You Should Limit Your DAW Plugin Insert Chain

Rather than randomly loading plugins onto your sessions from the 5,000 available options in your plugin drop-down menu, LIMIT yourself. When I get multitracks and session files from people with six heavy plugins stacked on a single insert chain, I know instantly we’re dealing with someone who probably didn’t come up in a commercial recording studio environment.

Setting Up a Classic SSL Mix Bus Chain

On the master mix bus, of course there’s an SSL G-Master Bus Compressor... because that’s what there would ALWAYS be on a professional console, or an Alan Smart C2 clone, followed by the fanciest outboard EQ hardware or plugin you can find.

Why is there an EQ on the master bus? Because the VCA compressor makes your mix lose a bit of top-end brightness. If you were working on a physical solid-state logic console, for example, making things brighter at the source or using a top-tier top-end boost was always preferable to adding high frequencies on the individual channel strips, which could end up sounding like daggers. Add a selection of time-based effects on some dedicated Aux returns, and off you go.

And sure, you can save that custom routing setup as a session template. Maybe it, or part of what you learned from the process, will work super well for that specific musical style.

How to Build a Creative DAW Mixing Template:

• Commit to a Console Architecture: Choose one dedicated console emulation workflow for your tracks (such as an SSL setup, Neve setup, API setup, or EMI TG series) to enforce a cohesive analog harmonic coloration across the multitrack.

  
  

• Enforce Plugin Limits: Cap your individual channel inserts at 2 or 3 plugins maximum. Force yourself to fix tracking issues with basic gain staging, subtractive EQ, and proper compressor thresholds rather than stacking processing layers.

  
  

• Establish a Standard Mix Bus Chain: Set up an SSL style VCA compressor and a high-end stereo EQ on your master channel. Learn how to mix into the compressor consistently by watching your input meters.

  
  

• Pre-Configure Time-Based Aux FX: Set up 5 to 6 dedicated auxiliary return tracks with your go-to reverbs, delays, and saturation options to keep your creative momentum moving during active mixing.

  
  

One of the absolute joys of modern digital audio production is that you can completely emulate these previously unattainable, crazy-expensive hardware environments seamlessly—and they all sound vastly different and inspire completely different creative results. You can then build those lessons directly into your daily workflows. Give it a try, and let me know how it worked out for you. Don’t be a Preset Fker. Use the workflow efficiency, sure... but stretch your creative horizons to make better records on the way.

Raising Your Recording to a Commercial Standard

The bottom line? Your gear path doesn't make a hit record—your mixing decisions do. If you're ready to stop fighting the technicalities in the box and want a seasoned industry ear to bring your tracks to a radio-ready standard, check out my Online Mixing & Mastering Services.