Here’s a mixing tip that can not only help you keep a track “in the pocket,” but that can have subtle and interesting textural effects as well.
Procede with your mix, as you normally would. First, get the level of a part sitting basically where you want it in your mix. Then, use your DAW’s automation as usual to automate the volume fader to manage part’s level in the mix.
But not so fast. Before you get all tweaky with the volume automation, is there one particular aspect of your part that is jumping out? For example, are you mixing a guitar solo that sounds just right except for those three highest notes in the solo? Instead of immediately automating the volume fader down on those notes, automate the treble band or filter of an EQ plug-in to reduce the level of high frequencies — experiment with how much you need to cut the highs. You don’t want to dramatically change the timbre of the part, just reduce the presence of those highest notes so they don’t jump out so much.
Want to bring out the presence of bass notes in a guitar or sax line? Try bringing up the treble a bit, just for those notes. You might try adjusting the midrange of a bass guitar line instead of the volume, to make it pop through a bit more.
A side benefit is that you might not only get the notes to sit right in the mix, but also create either a slightly evolving tonal landscape for your parts as well, or, more likely, you’ll actually smooth out the frequency curve for the part by removing overly prominent frequencies or bringing out certain frequencies.
Automating EQ like this isn’t a substitute for automating volume — it’s for subtle presence changes that can help position notes and parts in a mix — but it’s another useful tool to drop in your bag of mixing tricks!