How to Make a Mixing Template in FL Studio (and Any DAW)

“In the fields of observation, chance favors only the prepared mind.”

You open FL Studio with a melody in your head. Twenty minutes later you’re still routing channels to the mixer, coloring tracks and loading the same EQ for the fifth time, and the melody is gone.

Max, the founder of Mix Elite, puts it simply: “Very often your creative mind is limited by how fast your hands can actually control your DAW.” A template fixes that once. Below is how to build your own setup in FL Studio, step by step, with screenshots from Mix Elite’s videos, plus the same idea in Logic Pro and Pro Tools.

What is a mixing template?

A mixing template is a project file you start every song from. Instead of an empty mixer, it opens with the routing, groups and effects you use in almost every track already in place. People also call it a mix template or a DAW template (DAW stands for digital audio workstation, the program you make music in). The idea works the same in FL Studio, Logic Pro, Pro Tools or any other DAW.

A good template usually holds:

• Every sound routed to its own mixer track, ready to mix.
• Group tracks, also called buses, for drums, bass, music and vocals.
• A reverb and a delay on their own send tracks.
• Your usual first plugins, like an EQ, already loaded.
• Names and colors, so you can find any sound in a second.
• An empty master track. More on that in step 5.

Don’t confuse it with a mixer preset. A mixer preset saves the effects on one mixer track, while a template saves the whole project. A production template goes one step further and adds instruments, sounds and drum patterns, so you can start writing straight away.

Why use a mixing template?

A mixing template speeds up your workflow because the setup work is already done when you open a new project. Routing, coloring and loading effects happen once, not on every song, so you start mixing while the idea is still fresh, from the same solid place every time.

Speed is the obvious reason, but it isn’t the only one. In his video on the mixing mistakes he sees most often, Max explains that pro artists always start from a template. His has linked, color-coded groups, so any random sample he drags in is connected to the mixer right away. He calls it a real hack in FL Studio in particular, because FL doesn’t do this heavy setup work for you. Skip it, and the project gets messier and harder to work on with every minute.

A template also helps you finish. Pros often reuse whole projects and only swap the instruments, harmonies and melodies, while the background effects and the drums stay the same. If that feels like cheating, Max has a simple answer: “Your goal is to finish your music. You’re not Taylor Swift yet, okay?”

What a template saves you:

• Time. Routing and coloring happen once, not on every song.
• Focus. You go straight to the music while the idea is still fresh.
• Consistency. Every mix starts from the same solid place.
• Decisions. No choosing a reverb from scratch at midnight.

What buses and send effects should a beginner’s mixing template have?

Start with four group buses, one each for drums, bass, music and vocals, plus two send tracks: a reverb and a delay, each set to 100% wet. That covers almost every song. Add an FX bus for risers and crashes, and a sidechain bus so the kick can duck the bass, once you need them.

• Drum bus: kick, snare or clap, hats and percussion, so one fader moves the whole kit.
• Bass bus: the bass, the 808 and any bass layers. Compress the bus once instead of every layer.
• Music bus: chords, leads, pads and arps.
• Vocal bus: the lead vocal, doubles and backing vocals.
• Reverb send: one reverb that many sounds share, which puts them in the same space.
• Delay send: a delay any track can feed a little or a lot.

Two reverb sends are a good upgrade. In the video above, the width comes first, from a reverb with the smallest size and the shortest decay, which widens a sound without muddying the mix. Then a second reverb with a huge size adds depth. Whichever reverbs you load, raise each one’s low cut to at least 700 to 800 Hz, the rule from the same video, so the reverb stays out of your low end.

Some templates also include a parallel compression send for drums, sometimes called a drum crush bus. It holds a hard-working compressor that you blend in under the clean drums. Treat it as an extra, not a must.

How to build a mixing template from scratch in FL Studio

Start from an empty project, give every sound its own mixer track, group them into buses, add a reverb and a delay send, load neutral go-to plugins and leave the master empty. Then save it with File > Save as template and make it your default, so every new song opens ready to mix.

Set aside about 30 minutes. Build it once and save it. Then improve it a little whenever you catch yourself doing the same job twice.

Step 1: Start from an empty project

Open File > New from template (2) and choose Empty (3). Don’t build on the plain New project (1), because FL Studio’s default template puts a limiter on the master. Max is firm about this: “I cannot count the amount of times I’ve seen beginner producers wonder why their songs sound off just because there was a limiter applied at all times on the master.”

The same menu holds Save as template (4), which you’ll use in step 6, and the template list ends with Change default template (5).

Step 2: Route, name and color every sound

Load one placeholder channel for each sound you use in almost every song: kick, clap or snare, hats, percussion, bass, chords, lead, pad and vocal. An empty sampler is fine. You’ll drop the real sounds onto these channels later. Then send them all to the mixer in one go:

1. In the Channel Rack, hold the left mouse button and drag over the small selector boxes to the right of the channel names. That selects them all.
2. Press Ctrl + L, or open the Channel options menu and choose Assign selected to free mixer tracks.
3. Every channel now shows its mixer track number (1), and the mixer tracks take the channel names and colors.

Color by group: the basses in one color (2), the music in another (3) and the drums in a third. Color-code everything, because a messy project is no fun to produce in. In the Mixer, switch the view to large at the top so the names are easy to read. Hold Shift and scroll to change the order, and press F2 to rename the selected track.

Step 3: Build group tracks for drums, bass and music

A group track (or bus) lets you process several sounds as one. Take three bass layers: instead of putting a compressor on each, group them and compress the group once. That saves time and CPU. Here’s how to build one:

1. Find an empty mixer track. Hold Shift and scroll to move it next to the sounds you want to group.
2. Select those sounds by holding Ctrl and dragging across them.
3. Still holding Ctrl, click the small arrow at the bottom of the empty track. The layers (1) now play only through the group (2), and only the group goes on to the master.
4. Rename it (for example, Bass Group) and give it a slightly darker shade of the same color. Alt + click the group to solo everything in it.

Make one group each for drums, bass, music (chords, leads and pads) and vocals. If you use a lot of risers and crashes, give them an FX group too. When everything is routed, our guide on how to mix a song takes it from there.

Step 4: Add a reverb and a delay send

A send is a mixer track with just one effect on it. Any sound can feed it a little or a lot, so one reverb can glue many sounds together. Here’s how Mix Elite’s free 4.5-hour FL Studio course sets one up:

1. Pick an empty mixer track and name it, for example Reverb.
2. Load Fruity Reeverb 2 and pull its DRY fader all the way down (1). The send should only play the reverb, never a second copy of the dry sound, which would make that sound twice as loud.
3. Raise the WET fader (2) and set the decay. The course uses 2.5 seconds on its vocal reverb.
4. To feed it, select a sound’s mixer track and click the arrow at the bottom of the Reverb track, this time without Ctrl. The sound keeps going where it went before and also sends a copy to the reverb.

Do the same with a delay on its own track, using Fruity Delay 3. One rule matters here. A plain click on the arrow adds a send, while Ctrl + click routes the sound only to that track. Not sure which effect a sound needs? Here’s reverb vs delay in plain words.

Step 5: Load your go-to plugins and keep the master empty

Fill the first slots with the plugins you reach for on almost every song. A simple slot plan is an EQ in slot 1, a compressor in slot 2, and a reverb in slot 3 only if the sound needs it. In a template, that could mean a flat Fruity Parametric EQ 2 on every group, plus a Fruity Limiter in compressor mode on the bass and drum groups.

Add a sidechain group on insert 1, too. The bass group, arps, strings and other background sounds route through it, and one Fruity Limiter in compressor mode ducks them all when the kick hits. Set it up once in your template and every song has it. Our guide to sidechain in FL Studio shows the settings.

Leave the master track (1) alone while you mix, with all ten slots empty (2) and, above all, no limiter at the end. A limiter there reacts to every change you make, so you can’t trust what you hear. Save the limiter for mastering.

Keep all these plugins neutral, too. A template is a starting point, not a finished mix, and EQ settings that suited your last song are probably wrong for the next one.

Step 6: Save it and make it your default

1. Choose File > Save as template and give it a clear name, like Mixing template v1. You can also save the project file straight into Documents > Image-Line > FL Studio > Projects > Templates, FL Studio’s user template folder.
2. Open Options > General settings. In the Miscellaneous section, set Default template to your template.
3. Set Startup project to Default template, so FL Studio opens with it every time.

From then on, every session starts with your routing, groups and effects ready, and you can still pick any other template under File > New from template. The FL Studio manual lists every option in that menu.

Can you turn an old project into a mixing template?

Yes, and it’s the fastest way to start. Open your best finished project, save a copy under a new name, then delete the notes, clips and sounds that belong to that song and keep the mixer: routing, buses, sends and plugins. Save what’s left with File > Save as template.

Check every plugin before you save. Reset any EQ or compressor setting that only suited that one song, because a template should start neutral.

How to use your mixing template on every new song

• Drag new samples straight onto the placeholder channels. They’re already routed, colored and in the right group.
• For a sound you didn’t plan for, press Ctrl + L to give it a mixer track, then Ctrl + click the arrow on its group.
• Reuse what works. If you mixed great drums last week, start the next song from that project and swap the parts that change.
• Keep one template per genre once you make more than one style, like trap and house.
• Save a new version (v2, v3) whenever you improve it, so you can always go back.
• Delete tracks you never use. A template you have to dig through slows you down again.

Every new trick gets faster with a few shortcuts in your hands, so keep our list of FL Studio shortcuts close while you build.

How to make a mixing template in Logic Pro and Pro Tools

Every DAW can do this. Build the session the same way, with routing, groups, sends and an empty master, then choose File > Save As Template. Logic Pro lists it under My Templates when you start a new project, and Pro Tools opens it from the Dashboard with Create From Template.

Logic Pro

In Logic Pro, set up your tracks, colors, group buses and reverb and delay sends, then choose File > Save As Template and give it a name. The template then shows up under My Templates in the Project Chooser whenever you start a new project. Apple’s Logic Pro guide also shows how to sort templates into folders.

Pro Tools

In Pro Tools, build a session with the tracks, plugins and routing you want, choose File > Save As Template, pick a category (or make your own) and save. To start a song from it, open the Dashboard, choose Create and tick Create From Template. Pro Tools templates also keep your input and output (I/O) settings.

Should you download a free mixing template?

You can. Opening one is a good way to see how someone else routes a mix. The catch is that a template only speeds you up if you know what every track and plugin in it is doing. Otherwise you end up mixing around choices you don’t understand.

If you want one to learn from, Mix Elite’s free default template for FL Studio is a good place to start. It’s the one from the video above, with linked, color-coded groups, so any sample you drag in is connected to the mixer right away. It comes with Mix Elite’s free downloads, which you get by signing up with your email.

The surest route is still to build your own with the steps above, or to use the one that comes with a course you’re actually following, so you learn why each part is there. Day 4 of Mix Elite’s 7-Day Music Producer Course includes a Premium Mixing & Production Template, which the course page says saves you hours every time you start a new track, along with a mixing checklist.

Build version one tonight, even if it’s only routing and colors. Your next song will start with music instead of setup, and that’s the whole point. New to FL Studio? Our beginner’s guide to FL Studio explains every window used here.

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