All About Balance By: DAWsopenat7 No comments

When starting out on a mix the first thing we always want to do is start adding plugins and tweaking settings to achieve that killer sound we have in our heads without any clear direction and structure to our decisions. Speaking from experience, I used to work like this, sometimes achieving great results and others that were worthy of the trash.

We all want to get the best results from our work and we also want it in the shortest amount of time possible – this is where the importance of our mix decisions come in. The most simple and effective way to begin a mix is by listening to all the tracks raw with no plugins and actively listening to what is happening for example – is the snare too far back? Do the guitars need panning hard left and hard right? Does the vocal need to be more upfront? Is the kick drum too loud? The best way to address these questions is by simply moving the faders. Start by pulling everything down to zero and focus for a moment on the foundation of most mixes – the drums. Pan the stereo overheads and room tracks hard left and hard right, this will create space in the centre for the mono sources such as the kick and snare. It’s important to mention there is no right or wrong with panning drums, there are many records out there which vary between the drummer’s perspective (sat behind the kit) and the audience perspective (stood in front of the kit). It’s all down to personal preference, I have used both perspectives but right now I’m working with the drummers perspective.

Next, bring the faders up for the bass and guitars. If you have double tracked guitars, pan them completely out to the left and right to create space in the centre and it will also give an immediate widening effect of the entire mix.

Now bring up any other audio tracks such as piano, synths and any extra audio tracks. Finally, bring up the all important vocal and try to find a sweet spot where it sits just nicely on top of the mix. Remember, we’re not looking for perfection here, we’re just trying to balance all the audio tracks out naturally using only our ears for the guide.

Remember to keep this process simple and trust your instincts. Work with the faders and pan pots as if they were the only tools available. Sometimes limiting ourselves forces us to achieve the best result with what we have and mixing using only the faders and pan pots is certainly a positive example of this. The art of mixing in its simplest form is the balance and space between all the instruments, the tools we choose to use later are there to bring out the best parts of sound sources and make everything more audibly pleasing to the listener.