Get the bass-ics right and the rest will follow…

Bass is one of the most important aspects of any track. In some cases it's the driving force, in others it's the foundation, but if it isn't there, your track simply won't measure up in today's musical multiverse.

Drum and percussion tracks are among the most unforgiving ingredients in any mix. While a poorly recorded vocal or lead sound might survive on musical merits, poorly recorded drums are just bad drums, The track relies on them cutting through.

While they are important though, they're not as difficult to master as you might think – the only golden rule is not to pan the kick drum! If you're working with loops, a great way to take control of them is to split the individual elements and place each on its own channel, thus enabling you to change the level and sound of each one individually.

Lead sounds do what they say on the tin. Together with vocals they form the landmarks ot our track's skyline and are meant to stand out and be recognisable – so you should EQ, process and mix them accordingly. Be careful of effects that push them into the background, like chorus or

We humans are talkative creatures and so are attuned to speech. Therefore, if your track features vocals, be prepared for the fact that people will want to hear them, and you need to make sure that they can, so the most important effect for vocals is compression. Compression smooths out dynamic differences inherent in most live vocal performances, allowing vocals to cut through a mix and really make their presence felt.