The Final Mix Checklist: 12 Things to Check Before You Bounce

You’ve mixed the song. You think it’s done.

Run through this before the final bounce. These are not obscure technical details — they’re the common problems that get past tired ears during long sessions. Catching them now takes 20 minutes. Not catching them means a revision request.

1. Check in mono

Press the mono button. Does the kick still punch? Does the bass have weight? Does the vocal stay upfront? Does anything disappear?

If the low end significantly drops in mono, you have phase issues below 100Hz — usually from stereo bass content. Fix it before bouncing.

2. Check the low-volume balance

Turn the mix down to barely audible. What can you still hear?

The elements loudest at low volume are the loudest elements in the mix. If it’s the hi-hats or the reverb tails rather than the vocal and kick, those elements need to come down.

3. Check on headphones

Listen to the complete mix on headphones with fresh ears. Write down the first three things that bother you. These are your three remaining problems. Fix them.

4. Remove the limiter from the mix bus

There should be no limiter on the mix bus of the file you send to mastering. None. Remove it now if it’s there. Check that your bounce level peaks between -3 and -6dBFS and has genuine headroom.

5. Check the full intro and outro

Listen to the first and last 20 seconds of the mix carefully. Fades should be smooth. The intro shouldn’t start abruptly. The outro should reach silence cleanly. Some engineers forget about these sections during the session.

6. Check for clicks and pops

Listen for audio glitches — dropout, clicks at edit points, pops from un-faded regions. These are easy to miss in a long session and embarrassing to deliver.

7. Check the vocal level through the full song

Play the mix and listen only to the vocal from beginning to end. Is it consistently present? Does it disappear in the chorus? Does it get buried in specific sections?

A vocal that’s only present in some sections is a balance or automation problem. Fix it.

8. Check the stereo image

Pan the monitoring to each side independently for a moment. Are there obvious imbalances — something clearly louder on the left than the right that shouldn’t be?

Check the stereo image isn’t unintentionally narrow or unintentionally extreme in width.

9. Check every effect return

Solo each reverb and delay return briefly. Listen: are they contributing to the mix or creating clutter? Is there a reverb on an element that you forgot about and that’s longer than intended?

10. Check the lowest frequencies

Reference track on a system that reproduces bass clearly. Does the kick hit? Does the bass line have the weight you intended? Is there sub-bass rumble on something that shouldn’t have it?

11. Listen on a second system

A laptop speaker, earbuds, a phone speaker, or a car stereo. Does the vocal still cut through? Does the low end still have some presence? Does anything sound dramatically different from your studio monitors?

Dramatic differences between your monitors and secondary systems indicate mix decisions that were specific to your monitoring environment.

12. Sleep on it

If time allows, come back the next morning before the final bounce. Fresh ears catch problems that 8 hours of immersion hid completely. This is the most reliable quality control step available to home producers.

Jacob Korn at tailout.de asks clients to work through a checklist before sending. Not because he can’t work with imperfect mixes — but because fixing a mix problem in the mix stage takes 10 minutes. Mastering around a mix problem that can’t be fixed at mastering takes an hour of careful work, and sometimes still requires a revision.

Ready to send your mix? Visit tailout.de — professional mastering with clear, honest feedback on what your mix needs at every stage of the process.