If you feel like you should be making better progress with your mixes and that the end result should sound much better, I completely understand.
A long time ago, I used to spend a stupid amount of time trying to learn about mixing, figuring out how to use the hottest plugins and wasting my money on adding new plugins to my collection, but you wouldn’t have noticed the slightest bit of difference in the quality of my mixes.
They didn’t sound like they could compete against commercial mixes; the sense of space, width and depth was all off, but most importantly the balance was way out of whack.
So, I decided to change my approach. I continued to educate myself, experiment, push forward and I started to hear the difference.
But the biggest lesson I learned was very simple:
The key to great mixing results and making consistent progress lies within your method. It’s all about getting the fundamentals right and not worrying about what all those fancy plugins do.
What I’m talking about here is balance. Getting a great balanced mix with your faders and panning decisions will produce 80% of the results with 20% of the effort. Sounds pretty crazy, right?
Well, it’s true.
You won’t read a whole lot of articles or see many videos on the importance of getting a beautifully balanced mix with your faders and panning decisions alone.
Why?
It’s not sexy. It doesn’t sell. But it’s the truth.
So, the next time you get frustrated with how your mixes sound or the progress you’re making, take it back to basics and focus on balance.
Putting your faders in the right spot from the start will get you results much faster than any other trick, plugin or piece of advice.
If you don’t believe me, then try it out for yourself. The next time you start a new mix, spend a little bit more time getting the balance of your faders and your panning sounding the way you want and closer to your references.
Getting that balance nailed down early means you’re in a much better position to move quickly through the rest of the stages of your mix.
I promise it’ll make a huge difference to your mixes and what’s more, I’m excited to hear the results you get.
Now, I’d love to know…
What’s the most important thing you do that creates balance in your mixes?
Leave a comment below!
professional sounding mix every time...
Hey Steve! Love your articles and videos about mixing – they’ve taught me a lot. You talk about balance in this article so I wanted to ask you about gain staging. What’s your technique and how does gain staging relate to getting the right balance in a mix?
Thanks Janet! Great to hear that the articles and videos are helping you. Long may your progress continue!
Excellent question – gain staging is really important when it comes to getting the right balance in a mix. If you run your tracks too hot, then no fader adjustment will fix that.
I’ve a lot of detailed training on the way that includes how I go about “setting the stage”, so stay tuned!
Thanks Steve for continuing to hammer on the essentials! It’s starting to sink in!
Awesome!
Mixing in mono.
Nice!
balance instruments at the dynamic top
than, if music is played well
the balance and dynamic will musicaly progress through the rest
Thanks Darko!
For me, Steve, it’s a lot by reference track. It must not influence you in the sound but in the space and how it fills the room. Balance it’s something very subjective. Because if you want to feel the bongos, for example, you have to feel it. It’s your taste, maybe not the taste of others but it is a matter of choice. Anyway at the end your track must sound round. This is clearly just my opinion, but till now it worked 😉 Cheers!
I love this comment, Mattia. Balance and mixing are very much subjective. You can “feel” when something is just plain wrong but the more subtle nuances are all based on your taste. Thanks!
You mean there’s another approach? lol
Haha yes – I’ve seen many!
I know…was just implying I agree with you 😉
Always start with static mix in mono
Interested to know why you do your static mix in mono? Does that not affect your panning?
The static balance is my first approach to mixing a piece of music. All other approaches are just pushing yourself to no gain. Without the levels balanced and the panning stage done you have a mess to work with that has no direction. The sound I set up inn this beginning stage truly is 80% of accomplishing a great sounding mix!!!
Couldn’t have said it better myself!
One of tho choices:
1) record instrument tracks in mono and then balance them untill get the desired result before any kind of panning.
2) if there are already pre-recorded stereo tracks, put them in mono and proceed as above…
Interesting… why do you balance in mono before panning?
The mindset I`m used to is: if I can actually hear everything in mono, then it`s more than likelly that any panning made afterwards will “open wide” the mix to it`s limits (or so I think it will…).
IMPORTANT NOTE: This is my aproach when I`m working in my own music (as I know each and every soud that it contains); in other people`s music, I usually make the balance with all the tracks as they came, but even then I take a listen in mono just to check the result before jumping to the next step…
I like your approach. My only concern about balancing everything in mono and then panning would be the effect that pan law would have on your audio after switching back to stereo. But, from what I can tell, this is exactly the effect you’re looking for. Nice!
Yes, more or less… As I sayd, it`s my approach in my own songs, not songs from other people. Exception: when I`m working in what it`s now called “Electronic Music” (samples blended toguether, midi tracks and so on), I don`t bother so much with that “mono thing” and mix in stereo from the beginning (either I listen in mono afterwards just to chek out the result or not).
All the best!