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Basic Mixing I

Mixing or Mix.

Mixing is not only an art by itself as music is, it is called mixing because the word means just what it is about.

Mixing or making a Mix is adjusting all different instruments or individual tracks to sound well together,

composition wise and mix wise. How to start mixing a mix is a simple task when you understand what to do and

what not. Later on we will also discuss the static mix and dynamic mix. According to some common rules, the

Basic Mixing chapters explain common mixing standards as well being informational about sound subjects.

The Starter Mix, Static Mix and Dynamic Mix.

As of a process being broken down into parts, we can divide mixing into three basic steps. When starting a mix,mostly you will have some previously recorded tracks you need to mix furthermore. We will explain to setup all

tracks fast, so you can have a default setup and progress to the static mix. Mostly the starter mix can be setup

in less than 1 hour of working time. The static mix takes a bit longer, about 4 hours or so. The Dynamic mix and

finishing up a mix can take from 4 to 12 hours of working time. Finishing off the mix can take 1 o2 two days or

more depending on creativity, style and experience. It is good to know the total working time in hours finishing a

mix, can be divided into three parts. First the Starter Mix. Then the Static Mix. Then the Dynamic Mix. Starter,

Static and Dynamic mix are the basic three standard parts. Then finishing off. At last part 4 should be just

working until the mix is finished. Before we discuss these subjects, we will start off with some more sound or

audio details.

Overall Loudness while mixing.

The first mistake might be in thinking that how loud this mix will sound is important; a lot of beginners who start

with mixing will actually try to get their mix as loud as they can get it to be. They try to push-up all faders until

they get a desired overall loudness level, don't do that. The master vu-meter does look attractive when it is

showing all green and red lights, you might get confused into thinking that louder is better. Louder is not

meaning better when mixing, as we are in the mixing stage loudness is less important as this is part of the

mastering stage. In the mixing stage we try to have a balance in the three dimensions of mixing, therefore

creating seperation and togetherness (at the same time). Though separation and togetherness might seem

contradicting, every instrument needs to have a place on the stage , together they sound as a mix. So mixing is

more about balancing (adjusting) single tracks to sound well. By a general rule on digital systems we do not like

to pass 0 dB on the master track. Keeping a nice gap between 0 dB and -6 dB can help your mix well withoutdistortion going on. Some like to place a limiter on the master track and so try to mix louder, maybe it works for

them but we do not recommend doing this until you are experienced with a common dry mix under 0 dB. Anyway

if you need your mix to be louder, just raise the volume of your speakers instead. That is a normal way of doing

it. We will explain later on what to do with the master track of your mixer. Also when mixing do not place

anything other on the master fader, so no plugins, reverb, maximizers etc. Just maybe a brikwall limiter on the

master fader with a threhold -0.3 db, or reducing just 1 or 2 dB only when peaks occur. For real beginniner and

not so experienced, we recommend nothing on the master fader and set to 0 dB.

Volume or Level.

As the human ear can detect sounds with a very wide range of amplitudes, sound pressure is often measured asa level on a logarithmic decibel scale in dB. Commonly used are faders from a mixer or a single volume knob of

any stereo audio system. Because volume is commonly known as level, beginning users might overlook the

possibilities. The different volume faders of any mixer count up all levels towards the master fader as a mix.

Summing up levels of tracks towards the master bus. When talking about sound or a note that has been played,


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the frequency and amplitude (level, volume) will allow our ears to record and our brains to understand it's

information. You can guess playing at different frequencies and amplitudes, our hearing will react differently,

allowing loud or soft sound to be understood. Allowing to percieve loud or soft, left, center or right, distance and

envoiroment. Our hearing is a wonderfull natural device.

The Fletcher Muson chart shows different hearing amplitudes for frequencies at certain loudness levels. As you

can see, how loud a note is played is affecting the frequency a bit. As well as with Frequency and Volume

(amplitude, loudness), we can get a sense of direction and distance (depth). Our brains will always try to make

sense as if sounds are naturally reproduced. Music or mixing is mostly unnatural (or less natural), but our

brains understands music better when it is mixer for our natural hearing in a natural way. Mixing to affect our

natural hearing by perceiving natural elements correctly (dry signal, reverberation, effects, summing towards

the master bus). So as well for separating or togetherness, we can refer fist to the volume of a sound,

instrument, track or mix that is playing. As well as Balance or Pan, Volume is an easily overlooked item of a

mix. You might want to fiddle with effects more or keep it to more interesting things, volume is most important.

Actually volume and pan (balance) are the first things that need to be set when starting a mix and throughout

the mixing process. Not only fader, level and panning is important for a mix, composition wise volume or level is

a first tool when you are using the mute button for instance.

Balance or Pan.

On a single speaker system (mono) where Frequency and Volume is applied, we would not have to worry about

pan or balance, so all sound is coming from the center (mono). With a pair of speakers (stereo) it is possible to

pan or balance from left, centre to right. We call this left, centre and right of the Panorama. So we are allowed to

perceive some direction in the panorama from left to right. Just as effective to our hearing, the volume or level,

panning or balance, is mostly overlooked by beginning users. What can be difficult about setting two knobs,

fader and balance? Easy it sounds, but planning what youre doing might avoid a muddy or fuzzy mix later on,

keeping things natural to our hearing. Pan (Panorama) or Balance are both the same. As to where instruments

are placed, Panorama is important it is the first sense of direction. By a common rule Volume Faders and

Balance Knobs are the first things to do, and refer to, when setting up a mix. Beginning users who just setupVolume and Panning without a plan or understanding dimensional mixing are quite often lost and are struggling

to finish off a completed mix.

Dimensional Mixing.

As a concept dimensional mixing has got something to do with 3D (three dimensional). You can understand that

Frequency, Amplitude and Direction, make the listener understand (by hearing with our ears and understanding

by brains) the 3D Spatial Information. When mixing a dry-signal towards a naturally understandable signal, we

need some effects as well as some basic mixer settings to accomplish a natural perception. Setting the Pan to

the left makes the listener believe the sound is coming from the left. Setting the Pan to centre makes the

listener believe the sound is coming from the centre. Setting the Pan to the right makes the listener believe thesound is coming from the right. All very easy to understand. As we focus on frequency we can also do something

about the way the listener will perceive depth. As sounds with a lot of trebles (higher frequencies) are perceived

as close distance, and a more muddy sound (with lesser trebles) is perceived as more distanced (further

backwards). Next our human brain can understand reverberation when for instance we clap our hands inside a


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room. The dry clap sound (transients) from our hands is heard accompanied by reverberation sound coming

from the walls (early reflections). Reverberation, specially the delay between the dry clap and the first

reverberations (reflections), will make our brains believe there is some distance and depth, as we hear first the

transient original signal information of the clap then the reverberations. The more natural the more

understandable. So there are quite some influences on what our hearing believes as being 3D Spatial

Information. Make the listener believe in the mix as being true. Our hearing also likes natural and believable

sounds, sometimes addressed as stage depth. With all controls of a mixer you can influence the way the 3d

spatial information is transmitted to the listener. You can assume that Volume (Fader or Level), Panorama

(Balance or Pan), Frequency (Fundamental Frequency Range) and Reverberation (Reverb or Delay) are tools

you can use to make the listener understand the mix youre trying to transmit. We will discuss dimensional

mixing later on; now let's head to the frequency or frequency range of a sound. We perceive distance, direction,

space ,etc, through clues such as volume, frequency, the difference in time it takes a sound to enter both ears (if

it hits the left ear louder and quicker than the right) and reverberation.

The Frequency Spectrum.

A normal Frequency Spectrum is ranged from 0 Hz to 22000 Hz, actually all normal human hearing will fit in this

range. Each of instruments will play in this frequency range, so the Spectrum will be filled with all sounds from

instruments or tracks the mix is filled with. On a normal two-way speaker system these frequencies will be

presented as Stereo. A speaker for Left hearing and a speaker for Right Hearing. So, on a stereo system there

are two frequency spectrums played (Left Speaker and Right Speaker). Basically the sound coming from both

Left and Right speakers together, makes up for the Stereo Frequency Spectrum as is presented below.

Combined Left and Right (stereo), makes Centre (mono).

This chart is showing a commercial recording, finished song or mix. The x-axis shows the frequency range of the

spectrum 0 Hz to 22 KHz. The Y-Axis is showing level in dB. On digital systems nowdays we go from 0 dB

(loudest) downwards to about -100 db (soft or quit). In this chart (AAMS Analyzer Spectrum Display) you can

see that the lower frequency range 1

KHz. The loudest levels are at about 64 Hz and -35 dB, while the softest levels are about -65 dB and range from

4 KHz to 22 KHz. The difference is 65 dB - 35 dB = 30 dB! As with every -10 dB of level reduction the sound

volume for human hearing will halve (times 0.5). Instruments like bass or base drum (that have more lower

frequencies in their range) are generating way more power (level) than the hihat or higher frequency

instruments. Even though we might perceive a hihat clearly when listening, the hihat by itself produces mainly

higher frequencies and generates way less volume (amplitude, power, level) compared to a basedrum or bass.

This is the way our hearing is working naturally. But however a master Vu-meter of a mix will only display

loudness, youre actually watching the lower frequencies responding. The difference between lows and highs canbe 3 times the sound level. From left to right mainly above > 120 Hz towards 22 KHz are the levels of

frequencies all going downwards. Speakers will show more movement when playing lower frequencies and less

movement when playing higher frequencies. This chart is taken from AAMS Auto Audio Mastering System, this

software package is for mastering audio, but actually can show also spectrum and can give suggestions based on


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source and reference calculations for mixing. This can be handy to investigate sound of finished mixes or tracks,

showing frequencies and levels.

Human Hearing.

Human hearing is perceptive and difficult to explain, it is logarithmic. As lower frequency range sound levels are

measured louder. Higher frequencies measured as soft. They are both heard good (perceived naturally) at their

own levels independent. Not only is human hearing good at understanding frequencies and perceives them

logarithmical, also acoustics from rooms and reverberations play a great deal in understanding direction ofsound. Generally a natural mix will be more understandable to the listener.

The Basic Frequency Rule.

The rule for mixing, that the bottom end or lower frequencies are important, because the bottom end or lower

frequencies are taking so much headroom away and have the loudest effect on the Vu-Meters (dymanic level).

The lower frequencies will fill up a mix and are the main portion to be looked after. The Vu-Meter is mainly

showing you a feel of how the lowest fundamental frequencies are behaving. The Vu-Meter will respond more to

lower frequencies and responds lesser to higher frequencies (3 times lesser). Mainly the mix fundamentals of

loudness are ranging from 0 Hz to about 1 KHz; these will show good on a Vu-Meter. A range from 0 Hz to 4

KHz, will be shown by the VU-Meters as loudness, and is the range where you must pay attention to detail. Ifyou can see the difference in loudness of a basedrum and a hihat you will understand that the hihat (though can

heard good) brings way less power than the basedrum does. A beginners mistake would be mixing the basedrum

and bass loud and then try to add more instruments inside the mix, thus will give you limited headroom inside

your mix (dynamic level). Most common to adjust frequency are EQ or Equalizers, but as we will learn later on,

there are quite a bit more tools to adjust the frequency spectrum. As we did explain before, Volume (Amplitude),

Panorama (Pan or Balance) and Frequency Range (EQ or Compression, limiter, gate) are the main components

of mixing (dimensions). Before we add reverberation, we must get some mix that is dry and uses these

components; we call this a starter mix.

Notes and Frequencies.

To make frequencies more understandable, you can imagine a single instrument playing all sorts of notes,

melodies, in time on a timeline. To have some fee ling where notes are placed in the frequency spectrum and how

to range them, the chart below is showing a keyboard and some instruments and their range of notes (frequency

range) they can normally play. All notes from C1 to C7 on a keyboard have their own main frequency. You can

see Bass, Tuba, Piano, etc, in the lower range and Violin, Piccolo and again piano that can play high notes.

It is important to know about every instruments range, but as you go mixing it is better to know to give an

instrument a place inside the available spectrum. The colored areas are the fundamental frequency ranges. It is


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likely when we need to do something about the quality of each instrument we will look inside their fundamental

frequency range. It is likely when we boost or cut in these areas, we can do something about the instruments

quality of playing. More interesting are the black areas of the chart above, these will represent the frequencies

that are not fundamental. These frequencies are unfundamental frequencies and therefore when saving the mix

for some headroom and get some clearness (separation), we are likely to cut heavily in these area's with EQ.

Most of the hidden mix headroom is taken up in the first bass octave and the second octave (0 Hz - 120 Hz).

Most notes played or sounds from instruments are notes that have a fundamental frequency below < 4 KHz.

And when you really look at the fundamentals of a mix the frequencies 50 Hz to 500 Hz are really filling it, this

is where almost any instrument will play its range and is much crowed therefore. The misery area between 120

Hz to 350 Hz is really crowded and is the second frequency range to look after (1st is 0 Hz - 120 Hz). The

headroom required for the proper mixing of any frequency is inversed proportional to its audibility or overall

level. The lower you go in frequency the more it costs hidden energy of the mix or headroom (dynamic level).

This is why the first two frequency ranges need to be the most efficiently negotiated parts of any mix (the

foundation of the house) and the part most often fiddled by the inexperienced. Decide what instruments will be

inside this range and where they have their fundamental notes played. Keeping what is needed and deleting

what is not needed (reduction) seems better than just making it all louder (boosting). To hear all instruments

inside a mix, you need to separate, use Volume, Panorama, and its Frequency Range. You can get more

clearness by cutting the higher frequencies out of the bass and play a piano on top that has cutted lower

frequencies. By this frequency rule, they do not affect each other and the mix will sound less muddy and more

clear (separation). Both bass and piano have therefore funded their place inside the whole available frequency

spectrum of a mix. You will hear them both together and clean sounding following the fundamental frequency

range rules. Anyway for most playing instruments a nice frequency cut from 0 Hz upward to 120 Hz is not so

uncommon, actually cutting lower frequencies is most common. Apart from Basedrum and Base that really need

their information to be present, we are likely to save some headroom on all other instruments or tracks, by

cutting some of its lower frequency range anywhere up to 120 Hz. The lower mid range misery area between 120

and 350 Hz is the second pillar for the warmth in a song, but potential to be unpleasant went distributed

unevenly. You should pay attention to this range, because almost all instruments will be present over here.

Fundamental Frequencies and their Harmonics.

Now as notes are played you expect their main frequency to sound each time. But also you will hear much more

than just a main fundamental frequency. An instrument is sounding (playing notes), so there is a fundamental

frequency range to be expected to sound, the frequency range of this particular instrument. Also recorded

instruments like vocals contain reverb and delay from the room that has been recorded in and also quite a few

instruments come with body, snare, string sounds as well (even those nasty popping sounds). The whole

frequency range of an instrument is caused by its fundamental frequency and its harmonics and several other

sounds. As we mix we like to talk in frequency ranges we can expect the instrument or track to be playing inside

the frequency range (fundamental frequencies). Therefore we can expect what is important (the frequency range

of the instrument or track) and what is less important (the frequencies that fall outside this range).

Harmonics.

The harmonic of a wave is a component frequency of the signal that is integer multiple of the fundamental

frequency. For example f is the fundamental frequency; two times f is the first harmonic frequency. Three times

f is the third harmonic and so on. The harmonics are all periodic to its fundamental frequency and also lower in

level each time they progress.

.

Harmonics double in frequency, so the first harmonic range will be 440 times 2 = 880 Hz. Harmonics multiple

very fast inside the whole frequency spectrum. You can expect the range 4 KHz to 8 KHz to be filled with

harmonics. If you are looking for some sparkle, the 4 KHz to 8 KHz range is the place to be. Over > 8 KHz

towards 16 KHz expect all fizzle and sizzle (air). The hihat will sound in the range 8 KHz to 16 KHz and this is

where the crispiness of your mix will reside. Also when the harmonics double in frequency, their amplitude or


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volume goes softer. The main fundamental sound will play loud, as de harmonics will decrease in amplitude each

time.

Here are some instruments with their fundamental ranges and harmonic ranges.

In this chart you can see that the highest fundamental frequency (the violin) is 3136 Hz. So as a general rule you

can say all fundamental frequencies somehow stop at < 4 KHz. For most instruments common notes are played

in the lower frequency range < 1 KHz. You can also see that the lowest range of a bassdrum < 50 Hz or bass is

at about < 30 Hz. This means we have an area of frequencies from 0 Hz to 30 Hz that is normally not used by

instruments playing; this area contains mostly rumble and pop noises, and therefore is unwanted. Cutting

heavily with EQ in this area, can take the strain of unwanted power out of your mix, leaving more headroom anda clear mix as result (use the steepest cutoff filter you can find for cutting). Anyway try to think in ranges when

creating a mix inside the whole frequency spectrum. Expect where to place instruments and what you can cut

from them to make some headroom (space) for others. Need more punch? Search in the lower range of the

instrument up to 1 KHz (4 KHz max). Need more crispiness? Search in the higher ranges of the instrument 4

KHz to 12 KHz, where the harmonics are situated. Expecting where things can be done in the spectrum, you can

now decide how to EQ a mix or use some compression, gate, limiter and effects to correct. By cutting out what is

not needed and keeping what is needed is starting a mix. Starting a mix would be getting a clean mix a as whole,

before adding more into it. Effects like adding reverb or delay will be added later on (static mix), lets first focus

on what is recorded and getting that clean and sounding good.

Recorded Sound.

First and foremost, composition wise and recording wise, all instruments and tracks need to be recorded clean

and clear. Use the best equipment when recording tracks. Even when playing with midi and instruments all

recordings need to be clean, clear and crispy. The recorded sound is important, so recording the best as you can

is a good thing. For mixing the recorded sound can be adjusted to what we like as pleasant hearing. So knowing

where an instrument or track will fit in, will give you an idea what you can do to adjust it. Also giving an idea to

record it. Getting some kind of mix where you hear each instrument play (separation) and still have some

togetherness as a whole mix combines means also composition wise thinking and recording.


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Cutting / Removing is better than Adding / Gaining.

Often throwing in Reverb or Delay (too early) will taste up the sound of instruments and most beginners will

start with adding these kinds of effects. Trying to make more sound that they like. Well just don't! You wont

have to add effects at first; you will have to decide what will stay and what must go. As well as setting up for

some togetherness of all combined tracks, you will need some headroom for later freedom (creative things) toadd into the mix. It is quite easy to fill your mix with mud; this can be done with adding a reverb or two. It is

quite easy to make a booming sound by adding all kinds of effects or just pump up (boost) the EQ. To take away

mud when you have already added it is a hell of a job. So starting with a nice clean mix that has all important

sounds left over (without adding), is way better and gives less change for muddiness. Remember to do more

cutting then boosting or gaining. Manual editting comes as a first task to decide what must be removed and

what can stay.

Leaving some headroom for furthermore mixing purposes. This is quite a task. In most cases EQ or

Equalization can be used to do work with the frequency spectrum (range) as a whole. But on a DAW you can

also delete what is not needed or mute it. You can decide to cut all lower frequencies out of a hihat, just because

you expect they are not useful. Leaving some frequency space (headroom) in the lower frequencies for otherinstruments to play. This kind of cutting (the hihat) in the lower frequency range to leave some lower frequency

space unaffected is the way to make every instrument have their own place inside the whole frequency spectrum

or mix. Using Level (Fader), Balance, EQ and Compression (limiter and gating), these are good tools to start a

basic mix setup. But a good start is meaning better results for later on, when your adding more to the mix to

make it sound better and together. Starting with a clean mix is starting with a clean slate. With EQ for instance

cutting/lowering can be done with a steep bell filter, raising can be done with a wider bell filter.

The Master Fader.

What not to do while mixing is adjusting the master fader each time you need to correct the overall level of your

track, keep the master fader always at 0 dB (Only when youre using the master fader to adjust the mainvolume of your monitor speakers, headphones or output to you listening system, it is allowed to adjust only that

single master fader of your desk while mixing). This means that all other master faders (soundcard, recording

program, sequencer, etc.) must be left in the same 0 dB position while mixing. Also this will go for the direct

Master Fader of summing up the mix and Balance (Mater Pan), keep this always centered. The main reason is

simple; the master fader is not for mixing, leave it alone. When you set the main master bus (summing) fader

below 0 dB you are lowering the overall volume, this might seem plausible but especially with digital systems

you will have problems not hearing distortion while you are pushing the instrument faders upwards. Also by

lowering the master fader you will have less dynamic range, This means that internal mixing can be going over 0

dB (creating internal distortion) but it will not be visible or show on the VU-meter, will not light up the Limit Led,

it will give you no warning that youre going over 0 dB. When a signal goes over 0 dB on a digital system, there

will be distortion of the signal going on (set your DAW for 32 bit float processing). But you will not notice anydistortion going on when this happens internal. If you hear this or not, this is (mostly) not allowed. Try to keep

all master faders and master balance in the same position when mixing, preferred at 0 dB. Also the human ear is

hearing frequencies different at variable volume's (loudness). Listening while playing soft might reveal to your

hearing in a certain way, when you raise the volume it will be slightly different to your hearing. So listening loud

or soft, it is close but differs, by this it is always good when you like it loud, play your mix soft and see what

happens to the sound (disappearing?). It is a good check to see if your mix will stand out as well played loud or

softly. How the human hearing is responding is showed in this chart.


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This chart shows different loudness levels, you can see that the frequency range between 250 Hz to 5 KHz is

quite unaffected by playing loud or soft. But however the 20 Hz to 250 Hz is greatly different in loudness when

played loud or soft. Also the higher frequencies transfer different when played loud or soft. This is the way

human hearing perceives loudness.

Instruments.

Everything that you record on a track is likely to be an instrument. Common instruments are Drums, Bass,

Guitar, Keyboard, Percussion, Vocals, etc. So when talking about instruments we do mean the full range of

available instruments or sounds that are placed each on their own single track.

Instrument Faders.

When you mix, you only adjust the instrument faders to adjust the volumes (levels) of the different instruments

or single recorded tracks (don't touch that master fader). Hopefully you have recorded every instrument

separately like Drums, Bass, Guitar, Keyboard, Vocals, e tc. On single tracks and on your mixer they are

labeled from left to right. Each fader will adjust volume (or the level) of a single instrument or track, as a total

summed up by the master bus fader. It would be wise to start with Drums on the first fader and then Bass. The

rest of the faders can be Guitar, Keyboard, Vocals, e tc, whatever instruments you have recorded.

Separation and Planning, Labeling and placement on a mixer.

Most likely you will start with the Base drum on fader 1 and working upwards with Snare, Claps, Hihat, Toms,Etc, each on their own fader 2,3,4,5,6,etc. So the whole Drums are sitting on the first faders. Then place the

Bass, Guitar, Piano, Keyboard, Organ, Brass, Strings, Background Vocals, Vocals, Etc. on the next faders. You

can use any kind of system. If you have some Send Tracks, place them far right on the mixer, just next to the

master fader. Be sure to label all tracks and set the fader at 0 dB and Pan at Centre for each mixer track. To

Label names and tracks (instruments) of a mixer is keeping it visible. Most digital sequencers allow this naming

of a track on a mixer. Also it is good to work from the loudest instruments (Drums, Bass, Etc) towards softer

instruments. Plan this on your mixer from left to right, faders 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,etc. Most

likely the Basedrum will be the loudest peaking sound, place it first on the right. Maybe you have no drums on

your tracks, just work out what sounds would be mixed and heard the loudest and what would be softer heard.

Making things easier for you to understand, we use labeling the Drums as an example.

Keeping things separated when recording drums is a must. You can do more on drum mixing when Basedrum,

Snare, Claps, Hihats, Toms, etc are, each recorded on their own track (separately). This will mean that you are

using more tracks on the mixer, but are rewarded by flexibility in mixing. Nowdays with digital recording,

sequencing and sampling instruments, the drums often come from a sampling device, drumsynth or recorded


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with multiple microphone setups. As long as your recording technique allows you to separate tracks or

instruments, you will profit from this while mixing. Also for sampled instruments or synthesizers that can output

at several multitracks, it can be rewarding to separate each sound, giving each a single track on the mixer.

Again, spreading and separation works best and is most common mixing technique. Deep sounds spread all

across the panorama is not a good thing, depending on fundamental instruments (bassdrum, snare, bass, main

vocals) must have a center placement. Any variation off-center will be noticeable. Follow the panning laws for

fundamental and unfundamental instruments, fundamental lower frequencies are centered and higher

frequencies more outwards, lower unfundamental instruments more owards center, higher instruments more

outwards. Use a goniometer, correlation meter. Working on Daw's (digital audio workstations) keep

goniometer, correlation meter, level meters and spectrum available as constant checking tools. Maybe even

place a second monitor or even another computer to do this job.

Sound Systems.

As with many questions about sound systems, there is no one right answer. A well designed mono system will

satisfy more people than a poorly designed or implemented two channel sound system. The important thing to

keep in mind is that the best loudspeaker design for any facility is the one that will work effectively within the,

programmatic, architectural and acoustical constraints of the room, and that means (to paraphrase the Rolling

Stones) "You can't always get the system that you want, but you find some times that you get the system that

you need." If the facility design (or budget) won't support an effective stereo playback or reinforcement system,

then it is important that the sound system be designed to be as effective as possible. Preferred is a room with no

acoustics for recording. For monitoring a room with some acoustics (room reverberation). Quality is an

assurance, but however when on a budget at least choose equipment with less or no noise (background noise).

Mono or Stereo.

Well this question is asked and debated. But for me and many others I like all tracks to be stereo. So I do not

like to record in mono at al. But we can refer to fundamental instruments (Bassdrum, Snare and Vocals) as

panned straight in center and be upfront. So these can be rocerded or have converted original signal in mono,

this will assure the left speaker and right speaker play both exactly equal and make them appear straight in

center where they should be. Most of times I will convert mono tracks to stereo (left right the same) or just

record in stereo even when it's a mono signal. So it's no mono for me, but this can be debated. Although

offcource i respect the fundamental instruments are straight centered all the time. Specially using a computer or

digital systems and recording sequencing software, working in stereo all time will allow you to have all effects in

stereo and channels in stereo. Most digital mixer and effects like delay, reverb, phaser, flanger, etc are working

in stereo and need to sound in stereo anyway. When playing a mono signal some digital systems will not perform

that well, so it is stereo that is creating lesser problems with digital systems. Offcource working in complete

mono will reduce correlation problems, we mix in stereo with 2 speakers. It is better to have all tracks in stereo

even when a recorded bass or guitar is actually recorded in mono. I always convert from mono to stereo or start

by recording in stereo, this is just an advice. As long as the original signal is exactly the same left and right, you

can work with mono signal in stereo mode. Knowing your tracks are all in stereo, you would not have to worry

anymore about mono or stereo tracks at all (and to worry a effect or plugin is not outputting that well). You just

know its Stereo all-time! This can help for setting up and making things easy. A well-recorded mono sound

source on the other hand (recorded mono or stereo both channels), can be placed with relative ease onto the

sound-stage allowing you to much better handle what and how any effects should be applied with regard to your

other neighboring instruments, and their positions and frequencies in the mix. Stereo sounds that sway around

the panorama alike synths, can be hard to handle. Especially when you have a bunch of these swaying

instruments inside your mix. In natural world, it is likely that a dry signal is transmitted as mono, but with

reverberation added and perceived as stereo by both our ears. Also in steady mixing, mono signals work best,

even when they are filling up a stereo track both channels playing the same amount of sound gives a more

steady and natural mix. Remember you can always add an effect to make instruments sway around. So

recording a dry and clean signal is rewarded when later mixing purposes have to be free and creative. If two

mono sound parts are sharing the same frequency range then just try and simply pan them slightly one to the

right, other to the left. A couple of notches either side is usually enough. You mustrecord in stereo, use two

mono channels to capture right and left respectively as mono or as stereo. Test your mix in mono mode as well

as in stereo mode. Use the mono button on the mixing desk to sum the channels together into one mono channel.

This will put all the sounds into the centre. Listen for phasing or any sounds that might disappear, so you can

correct them. Use a correlation meter, goniometer, spectrum analyzer and level meter on the masterbus to have


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checking tools available when needed.

Basic Mixing.

This is going to be hard to explain, but an example will help you get started mixing. For example you have

recorded a Pop, Rock, House or Ballad song. And now you have finished recording it (composition wise and

recordingwise in audio or midi), you will need to mix to make it sound better and more together. At first

separation is needed, cleaning and clearing (single tracks). Second quality and togetherness of a mix is what

your aiming for, mixing it up (groups towards the master bus, summing up). What youre not aiming for isloudness or level, how loud your mix is sounding is of lesser importance then having your mix sound well

together. Togetherness is what youre aiming for. So watching the VU-meter go to maximal levels is not so

important while mixing, pushing all faders upwards all the time will get you nowhere. So forget how loud your

mix is sounding, this is called Mastering and is a whole different subject. Mastering comes after you have

finished mixing. Mixing is what youre looking and that is why it is called mixing, for this means , cleaning,

cutting, separation as well as togetherness.

Mixing steps.

We have three sections to fulfill while mixing from beginning to end. First the Starter Mix, where we setup a mix

and start off working inside dimensions 1 and 2. Then the Static Mix, where we apply dimension 1, 2 andintroduce dimension 3 as a final 3d dimensional mixing stage plan. Finishing of to this part Starter and Static mix

is giving a basic reference static mix for later use, and needs to be worked on until the static mix stands as a

house stands on its foundation. Then finally the Dynamic Mix, where we introduce automated or time lined

events. Make progress in mixing, plan on finishing your projects within a predetermined period of time. This is

the only way to see your development in time. Don't fiddlle around with DAWs function but be concrete,

improve your mixing skills and decision making capabilities, then learn to trust them . Give yourself a limited

amount of time per mix. A static mix should be 80% done after hours of work. The rest is fine tuning and takes

the largest amount of time. Building confidence in rhythmic hearing. Trust your ears for listening for rhythmic

precision and keep it natural. A DAW and its graphic interface allow for seeing all you need, but allow to trust

your ears not the display. When rhythmic timing is needed, your ears will decide something is early or late, or

spot on. Trust your ears. When you are not happy with results, make a copy of your project, remove all insert

and send effects and put all panning to center. Start right from the beginning, redefine your stage plan with a

clear mixing strategy. Re-setting levels, pans, EQ, to zero and start from the beginning, removing all effect or

plugins. Necessary to obtain a good mix lies in intelligently distributing all events in the three spatial

dimensions, width, height and depth.

The Starter Mix.

Basically as we are staying inside dimension 1 and 2. We will explain the dimensions later on, but for a starter

mix we only use Fader, Level, Balance, Pan, EQ, Compression and sometimes some more tools alike Gate,

Limiter. Our main goal is togetherness, but as a contradictive we will explain why we need to separate first. As a

starter mix will start off good, only when we first separate the bad from the good. Rushing towards togethernessis never doing any good, so this comes second in line. To understand what we must do (our goal for starter

mixes) we need to explain the stage and the three dimensions now.

Panning Laws.

Crutial to understading the first dimension of mixing are the panning laws. Frequency ranges or

instruments/events with a low range, are more placed in center. High ranges are more placed outwards to the

left or right. This will mean that Bassdrum, Snare, Bass and Main Vocals (fundamentals) are allways in the

dead center, especially with their low frequency content. All other instruments or events are more placed

outwards (unfundamental), even if they contain lows, when they are not part of Bassdrum, Snare, Bass, or Main

Vocals, they are placed outward to the left or right. Lows more centered and Highs more outwards. Also take inmind that send effects that are placed more in center, will draw outward instruments towards the center. So

placement of a delay or reverb must be considered for what instrument (fundamental or unfundamental) it is

required. The Masking effect, the time and effort of using left/right effects is only correct if the reverb part

becomes too large to convey all the spatial information as a result of the masking effect. The more complex a

mix, the more time and effort is required for placing all events accurately within the three dimensions. Starting


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off with panning in the first dimension. Before mixing start, make a sketch of your panning strategy (stage plan).

Anything that is not bass, bass drum, snare or lead vocals, should not be in the center. Instruments present in

the same or overlaying frequency sectors, should be placed at opposite ends complimenting each other within

the panorama. Well panned and carefully automated panning often creates greater clarity in the mix than the

use of EQ and is much better then unnecessary EQing. If sounding mush, your first step is panning then to

resort to EQ. Be courageous, try extreme panorama settings, and make the center free for the fundamental

instruments. Never control panning trough groups, only by its individual channel. Never control straight panning

or expanding with automation, just small panning and expanding settings for clearing a mix temporarily.

The Stage.

With an orchestra or a live band playing (we are going a little ancient here) there is a always stage to do so.

Back in the old days people could only listen to music when played by real performing players or artists. There

was no means of electricity or even amplified sounds coming from speakers. And furthermore a human is always

hearing natural sounds in life. Anyway listening to music just appeals most when the instruments are staged and

naturally arranged. We as human's are used to listen to music in this fashion for ages and now we have the

common pattern inside our DNA. Human ears like hearing naturally and dislike unnatural hearing. When

playing music we hear Volume, Panorama, Frequency, Distance and Depth. Therefore we talk about the musical

stage. Mixing is the art of making a stage, this is called orchestral placement and sets all players to a defined

space of the stage they are expected to play. For any listener it is more convenient to listen as natural as

possible, so a stage is more appealing for the human brain to recognize and understand. A live concert of an

orchestra might reveal the stage better in this picture below.

No matter what stage is set, what you are trying to accomplish is stage depth. The next chart display's a setup

plan for recording and mixing a whole orchestra. We cal this orchestral placement.

In this chart we present a whole orchestra of instruments. The x-axis is showing Panorama, Pan or Balance (left,

centre and right). The y-axis is showing depth (stage depth). As listeners we do like to hear where instruments

are, some are upfront, some are more in the back of the stage. A mix would be quite boring and unappealing to

the human ears when all sounds seem to come from one direction only (mono). Anyway we as humans can

perceive Volume (level), Direction (Panorama, Pan or Balance), Frequency Spectrum and Depth. These are thethree dimensions of mixing. Taken in account we are using two (or more) speakers. It is quite common to think

in stage depth when mixing. Even when your material is modern funky house music, still thinking in stage depth

might help you mixing a good understandable mix and have some idea where to go and what to accomplish.


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Stage Planning.

So it is better to have some kind of system and planning, before starting a mix. Knowing where to place

instruments or single tracks inside the three dimensions. Basically all parts of dimensions (we explain the

dimensions later on) are easily overcrowded. Therefore we must use a system to give all instruments a place

inside the dimensions, just to un-crowd. Making a rough sketch can simplify and visualize the mix. Therefore

you will have some pre-definition before you actually start mixing. You will know what youre doing and what

you are after (your goal in mixing). We start with a basic approach. We start with the most crucial or

fundamental instruments first.

The Base drum is fundamental, keeps the rhythm and because it is mostly played in the lower frequency range.

The base drum is most fundamental, because it keeps rhythm and second because it's fundamental frequency

range is mainly lower or bottom end based (dynamic high level). All main fundamental instruments are placed

dead centre. The Snare is important for the rhythm, but however does not play as much lower frequencies as the

base drum. The Bass is fundamental because almost all notes play in the fundamental lower frequency range.Vocals must be understood, upfront and are therefore fundamental to the whole mix. As you can see all

important fundamental instruments are planned in the centre inside Dimension 1 (Panorama).

All instruments that are fundamental and are playing lower frequencies must be centered, because two speakers

left and right, will at the same time give more loudness and therefore can play and represent lower frequencies

best (center is coming out evenly on left and right speaker).

The centre position is now a bit crowded by the fundamentals, Basedrum, Snare, Bass and Main Vocals. To give

some more space between each other (separation) dimension 1 (panning) and 2 (frequency spectrum or

frequency range) and dimension 3 (depth) are used to separate them and give some idea what is in front of each

other. Most likely you would like the main vocals to be clear and upfront. Think of it as a stage setup. The bass(or bass player) would stand behind the vocals, on a real stage the bass player might move around a bit, for

modern mixing still dead is centered (because of transmission problems in the lower frequency range or bottom

end, only placed centre, and we ere still busy with the starter or static mix, no automation can be used). As the

drums would be the furthest away backwards on the stage, we place them in the back but still dead centre.

Anyway placing these fundamental instruments in the centre gives definition and clearness to them, without

interfering instruments overlapping. Especially Base drum and Bass must be centered to make the most out of

your speakers. As the spectrum will fill up in the centre because already Base drum, Snare, Bass and Vocals

are filling it up (fundamentals), discard and leave this area alone (off limits) for any other instruments

(unfundamentals) . Other instruments can be placed in dimension 1 (panorama) and panned or balanced more

left or right. This is common in practice for many mixes, but a beginner will hesitate to do this (Panning). Still

think of it that guitars and keyboard on stage are always placed left and right. Simply because else the stagewould be crowed in the centre if all players have their position taken. To imagine where an instrument or player

will be placed is also being a bit creative and then be experienced, adding to what a human perceives as natural

keeping it all understandable for the listener (finding the clear spots). Keep in mind that lower frequencies play

better when played by both speakers (centered) and therefore higher frequencies can be more panned left or

right (outwards). Fundamental instruments with bottom end or lower frequency ranges mustbe more centered,


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while higher frequency range instruments must be panned more outwards. Next we will place the other drum

sounds.

As a decision we place the hihat next to the snare, by panning the hihat a bit to the right. Planning the stage or

dimensions, this is a creative aspect; the hihats are placed right from the snare, but also could be placed left.

This depends on the natural position of the hihat, for setting the stage we could look at real life drum placement

and take this in account while planning the stage, so mostly the hihat is placed more right. Now we have the

right speaker playing more highs then the left because we placed the hihat more right. To counter act and give

the left speaker some more highs we can place an existing shaker to the left. This counteracting gives a nice

balanced feel between left and right, because mostly we like to whole mix to play balanced throughout. Then the

toms are only played scarcely in time (toms are just suddenly played once in a while) so are less important in

planning, still we place them to show where they are. For toms we place hi-tom far out and low-tom far out, in

between the mid-toms. The overheads are placed behind and with some stereo expanding or widening this will

give some room and sounds more natural. The main vocals are upfront. The rear can be used for the

background vocals (choirs) and strings, bongo's, conga's, e tc. Next we place some other instruments and we are

looking at not so crowed places to place them in. Separating more and more.

See that Guitar 1 and Guitar 2 are placed Right and Left (this could also be guitars and keyboards), so they arecompensating for each other and keep a nice balance. Also Synths and Strings are compensating and in balance,

tough with some more distance (we use the strings as counter weight over here). Strings can also be placed back

of the stage with a stereo expander to widen the sound at act as a single sound filler. Remember when you place

an instrument, it is likely to counteract with another instrument on the opposite side. Also taken in mind


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instruments that play in the same frequency range can be used to counteract and balance the stereo field. For

that we can say the Hihat and Shaker are complimenting each other (togetherness), as well as Guitar 1 and

Guitar 2 do. And the Synth with the Strings. So we keep a balance from left, centre and right. Don't be afraid to

place unfundamental instruments more left or more right, keeping them from the already crowded center.

Unbalanced mixes will sound uneven, when the whole outcome of the mix is centered we can hear the setup

(stage plan) better and more naturally. When the left speaker plays louder than the right speaker, it will give

unpleasant (unbalanced) listening. The total balance of your stage planning should be centered. Adjusting the

master balance for this purpose is not recommended. Keep the master balance centered as well as the master

fader at 0 dB, as well as any effects on the master bus, we allways try to correct things inside the mix, not on the

master bus fader. Whenever you have an unbalanced panorama, go back to each instrument or single track and

re-check your stage planning. As stage panning or balancing in the first dimension is one of the first tools for

setting anything else. With the help of dimension 2 (trebles , boosting for close sounds or cutting higher

frequencies for further away sounds) and dimension 3 (reverberation, room, ambience) we can create some kind

of distance and depth. A final mix or mixing plan should refer to all of this. Depending on the musical style and

what you want to accomplish as a final product. Also do not hesitate to use panorama, beginners will be resultant

to do so.

Although this looks a bit crowed when you have all instruments playing at the same time together, it is likely

you will not have all instruments inside the mix anyway or playing all-time together (composition, muting). It

would be quite boring when all instruments where audible throughout the whole mix. We do fill in our stage plan

with all our instruments. We give an indication what is a general setup and a good starting point, planning where

instruments play and giving them a place is defining your mix, a foundation to build your mix on. This planning is

called stage depth because almost any mix has some relations to what the human ear likes to visualize in our

brains. Most likely natural placement is the way to go and is most common. So you can be creative and come up

with any kind of planning or setup. Remember it is likely for instruments that need a bottom end, to stay morecentre (especially the fundamentals). All other instruments that do not need a lower bottom end

(unfundamentals) can be placed more to left or right (apart from the dead centered and upfront main vocals).

Decide what your fundamental instruments are, then setup panorama and depth (distance) accordingly.

3D - Three Dimensional Mixing.

Strangely creating togetherness means separating more than overlapping each other, it means you will have to

separate first. What most beginners do not know about is the masking effect, where two instruments that play in

the same range are masking each other. Try have two guitars in mono mode, then drop one guitars level with -

15 db or more. You cannot hear this guitar anymore do you ? Well now pan this guitar to the left, you can hear it

again, even now its -15 db lower then the other guitar. Basically when playing every instrument just leavingcentered (no panorama) it is getting quite crowed in centre position and is quite boring (and enhances the

masking effect). Masking is so common in mixing, we are in a constant struggle to avoid it. With avoiding

masking, we can have more dynamics, or to say it the other war "we have more room for each intrument to play

and be heared, with less volume level needed, therefore leaving more room for others to be heard. Therefore


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every instrument will get its own place inside the three dimensions. Be low is an example of the three

dimensions.

The Three dimensions.

1. Width (Lelf +Center+Right ), Panorama, Panning, Widening and Expanding.

2. Height, Frequency, Level, EQ, Compression (Gate,mrte,etc).

3. Depth (Front to Back Space), Reverb & Delay, EQing Reverb & Delay.

Dimension 1 - Panorama.

Panorama is mostly achieved by setting Pan or Balance for each instrument on each independent single track.

Basically setting the panning to the left, the sound will play from the left speaker. Setting to the right will play

the sound from the right speaker. Setting it to center will play the sound from both speakers. Think of dimension

1 as Left, Center and Right. Three spectral places in dimension 1, Panorama. When its more crucial to you, you

can also use 5 places for naming panorama when mixing or planning stage depth, 9:00 (Nine O' clock), 10:30

(Ten Thirty), 12:00 (Twelve O'clock), 1:30 (One Thirty), 3:00 (three O' clock). Panorama is most a

underestimated effect in mixing (masking effect). Just because turning a s imple pan or balance knob is easy to

setup. Panorama in fact is a most important design tool (option) and the first start of defining a mix (apart from

the fader level). Use Panning first before setting the fader level, apply the panning law and the relative volume

of a signal changes when it is panned. Even when youre fully on your way with a mix, turning all effects off

(bypass) and listening to the panorama is often used for checking a mix is placed correctly.

There is a mixing solution for deciding what instruments stay centered and what instruments go outside of

center. Instruments that are crutial or fundamental to your mix, like Base drum, Snare, Bass and Vocals are all


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in the centre (fundamentals). Any other instruments (unfundamentals) will be more or less panned left or right.

The most common place for Basedrum and Bass are center because two speakers playing at the same time at

centre position will play lower frequency signals better. Panning or balancing lower fundamental instruments left

or right, is not recommended therefore at all. Even the effects alike delay or stereo delay can move instruments

more left or right in time, so watch out to use these kinds of effects on fundamental instruments. And as

automation is not a part of the staic mix, we do not use it. The main pathway is dead centre, so even when using

a stereo delay, the main information should be dead centered for fundamental instruments. The Snare and

Vocals are just as important, because the snare combines with the basedrum rhythmically and vocals must be

heard clearly always (so we also place them all dead centre upfront). By having the Basedrum, Snare, Bass and

Vocals in the center (fundamentals), there is not much centre panorama and spectral room (Dimension 1 and 2)

left over for other instruments to play in the center. Ror more widening the stereo sound (outside left and

outside right) a Stereo Expander or Widening effect (delay, etc) make the stereo field more than 180 degrees

and will widen the panorama even more, giving some more space inside dimension 1 and more room to spread

the unfundamentals around. Be couragous!

Do take into account that correlation (signals cancelling each other out in mono mode) will be more when you

widen or pan more, so check for mono compatibility. Use a correlation meter to check or goniometer. Maybe

you have to reduce the stereo field to prevent a mono mix from cancelling out instruments. Also Bassdrum andBass can have signals that need to be reduced that fill the spectrum left or right, cutting this will keep them

centered more (in time) and keeps them from swaying around. As a general rule lower frequency range

instruments or tracks are placed at center, while higher frequency range instruments or tracks a panned more

outwards. There are basically two ways op perceiving the dimensions. Fist panning from left to right in front of

you, alike a stage. And second the ambient effect. This is to move any panning sounds right around your body,

rather than just from left-to-right in front of you. Meaning you are in center of the sound, meaning ambient

sound or surround sound. This is apart from the stage planning, the listeners position. We like the listeners

position to be mostly straight in the middle of two speakers, hearing an equal divided sound on both speakes

overall (RMS, Left+Center+Right, LCR spectrums).

Dimension 2 - Frequency Spectrum.

The frequency spectrum or frequency distribution of a single instrument or whole mix is the second dimension.

It is understood that a Bass is a low frequency instrument will sound most in the lower frequency range 30 Hz to

120 Hz (bottom end). The frequency spectrum of a mix is specially crowded in the lower 'misery' range 120 Hz

to 350 Hz (500 Hz) or 2nd bottom end, where almost all instruments play somehow. From 1 KHz to 4 KHz we

find most nasal sounds and tend to find harmonics starting to build up. The 4 KHz to 8 KHz can contain some

crispiness, can sound more clear when boosted, but also unnatural. A hihat will play mostly in the higher

frequency range 8 KHz to 16 KHz (trebles). So giving each instrument a place in the second dimension where it

belongs is important filling up a frequency spectrum. We tend to talk in frequency ranges, so words alike low,

mids or highs are common in the mixing department. Also words alike, bottom end, lows, misery area, trebles,

mids are only indications where to find the main frequency range. The main tools for working with the frequencyspectrum and making the sound of an instrument fit inside a mix are EQ, Compression and Level. Also tools

like gating and limiting can prevent unwanted events to pass. There are two purposes for these tools. First to

affect quality, thus boosting or cutting frequencies that lie inside the frequency range of the instrument. Second

to reduce unwanted frequencies, mostly lie outside the instrumental frequency range, thus cutting what is not


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needed to play. Most intruments alike Bassdrum for its bottom and skin, have two frequency ranges that are

important. The bassdrum must convey its rythmic qualities for instance. A bass instrument plays a note it will

have its own main frequency, its harmonics and instrument sounds around it, alike body and string attack

sounds. This is the frequency range the instrument is playing in, it's main sound. For bass this does mean a lot,

we expect that the range 0 Hz to 30 Hz can be cut, while leaving 30 Hz to 120 Hz (180 Hz) intact (first

fundamental range of the bass). Higher frequencies can be cutout or shelved out. Because this will separate the

bass and give it place (space, headroom) to leave dynamic sound to rest of instruments. By doing this using EQ

on the bass to make the sound more beautiful (quality) and to leave some room for other instruments to play by

cutting out what is not needed (reduction), is leaving headroom and will separate instruments. As you can see we

basically boost or cut when doing quality purposed mixing. And we mostly cut when we are reducing. As a result

we are likely to cut more and are likely to boost less. We tend to cut with a steep EQ filter and to bosst with a

wide EQ filter. The bass has now got a clear pathway from 30 Hz to 120 Hz (180 Hz), maybe the basedrum is in

the bass range (60 - 100 Hz), but we try to keep all other instruments away from the bass range (0 - 120 Hz).

The range 30 to 120 Hz (180 Hz) is mainly for Basedrum and Bass (especially in the center spectrum). As this

frequency spectrum is easily filled up, it is better to cut what is not needed on all other instruments. You might

think it is not necessary to cut the lows out of the hihat, but it is best to know that the hihat will play in the

higher frequency range, to remove all lower range frequencies, you could use a low cut with EQ over here also.

So now you have separated the Bass and the Hihat from each other and have given each a place inside the

whole spectrum (tunneling, seperation). The same will apply for all other instruments that combine the mix, even

effects used. Knowing where the ranges are of each instrument and having planned the panorama and frequency

spectrums will help to understand how separation works when mixing and this is building the basis start of a mix,

the fundation of a house (reference or static mix).

The Spectrum of a finished mix could look like the figure on the left (we have shown this before), you can see a

good loud 30 Hz -120 Hz section, that is the range the Basedrum and Bass play with each other. And the rolldown to 22 KHz. Though sub bass 0 Hz to 30 Hz is still quite loud in this spectrum, still this is quite a bit lower

than the 30-120 Hz range. On the figure on the left you can visualize the range of instruments and their

frequencies, refer to it whenever you need to decide the instrumental frequency range and what to cut out

(reduction) and what to leave intact (quality). We have discussed these subjects before. Dimension 1 and 2 are

most important for creating a starting /static/rerence mix, so do not overlook these dimensions. Return to these

dimensions when your mix is not correctly placed, sounds muddy or fuzzy (masking). The Volume Fader,

Balance or Pan Knobs must be your best friend in mixing and first starting and refering points. Then refer to EQ

or compression as a second measure (gate or limiter also allowed). Knowing where instruments must be placed

according to plan, works out best in dimensions 1 and 2. Dimension 2 frequency spectrum can be also working a

bit inside dimension 3, as we perceive depth when trebles (high frequencies) are loud and upfront, but perceived

backward in depth when trebles are less loud. Use an enhancer to brighten dull sounds to keep them upfront.Always when working with trebles > 8 Khz, be sure to use quality/oversampling EQ and effects.

Separating instruments in dimension 2, frequency range.

EQ can do a good job by cutting out the bottom end of all the instruments that are panned left or right

(unfundamental) and instruments panned dead centre (fundamental). That is why we will discuss some effects

alike EQ now, even though we have an EQ section explained later on. Basically the low bottom cut for basedrum

is a decision you can make when you are combining basedrum and bass together. It is most likely a 0 Hz to 30

Hz cut can be applied to all instruments and tracks, even bassdrum and bass. You can start off using a low

bottom cut around 0 Hz to about 30 Hz, this is most common.


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The cutoff figure shown above would be a good cut for the most fundamental instruments alike Base drum and

Bass, but really applies for all fundamental or unfundamental instruments or tracks. Cutting from 0 Hz to about

30 Hz (50 Hz) can remove some sub bass range as well as pops, low clicks and lower rumble for every

instrument. Anyway the range 0 Hz to 30 Hz is really sub bass levels, so you actually do not hear much of them

at all and is more of a feeling kind then hearing. If you need sub bass frequencies in you music, you must know

that most speakers do not even play them. When for instance a basdrum is believed by beginners to make more

power and raise the whole 30 - 120 Hz range with EQ, please do not. So you can't hear them in the first place,

even with a big bottom speaker this is not heard much (filling up your headroom without even hearing it

correctly). Even in a club or live event the bassdrum will have effect around 60 - 90 Hz. In general most

household stereo systems do not play bottom end frequencies < 50 Hz or even < 100 Hz at all (depending on the

quality of the system en speakerset). Thinking sub bass (0 - 30 Hz) will enhance your mix by boosting or leaving

unaffected is a beginners mistake. Leaving it intact for instruments that are unfundamental is also mistake. Do

not hesitate to cut the 0 Hz to 30 Hz range of frequencies out of all fundamental or unfundamental instruments.

We now have removed some really low frequencies out of all instruments or tracks with a steep lowcut EQ filter

and therefore removed some unwanted loudness, leaving some precious headroom and will unmuddy your mix

(masking), making your mix more clear (dynamical, rythmical).

The above figure shows a bottom cut and a highs cut, for a more distantly placed instrument.

We need our Bass to play, and not be overcrowded. As well as we need the Basedrum to play, keeping 30 Hz to

about 120 Hz (150 Hz) free for bass drum and bass only. This means we are creating a clear dead centre blast of

lower frequencies (L + R = C power) free for playing only basedrum and bass. Even fundamental instruments

alike snare and vocals will give problems with headroom and are playing somehow inside the base drum and

bass range, cut them all.

A low bottom cut for all other fundamental instruments (snare and main vocals) is shown in the above chart. The

snare and main vocals are playing somehow in the lower end of the frequency spectrum, but do not actually play

in the bottom end range (where bass and base drum are already playing in). So maybe we can do some more

cutting from 0 Hz to 120 Hz (180 Hz). Second, the bottom end 0 Hz to 30 Hz range is filled with mostly rumble,

pops and other unwanted events for the most part. So cutting with an EQ steep filter is quite understandable to

be sure to remove these elements or events. To keep the lower fundamentals bassdrum and bass free in theirown 30 - 120 Hz range.

To avoid overcrowding we can cut out the bottom end of all other unfundamental instruments, leaving more

space (headroom) for the fundamental instruments to shine and separate, avoiding muddiness and overcrowding


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(masking). Don't be afraid to cut more out of a Synth or Guitar, anywhere from 100 Hz to even 250 Hz is quite

understandable. This is where most beginners will hesitate. It is better to do a bottom end cut on all other

instruments, just to un-muddy the lower frequencies and make a clear path for the base drum and bass to play

unaffected. For unfundamental (all other) instruments, you can cut some more or less lower frequencies with a

steep low-cut filter or some good cutting EQ. We can avoid pops, low clicks or rumble out of our mix and keep

the lower frequency range free . If there is any information at all over in the sub bass range, it would be Bass.

Bass is the only instrument that can reach this low. So therefore we don't cutoff the bass , we do cut-off the rest

of all instruments playing. Well normally that is, sometimes a piano can reach this low but really still does not

contain a relevant sub bass range. Do not hesitate to use quite a lot EQ cutoff shelving on all instruments,

better to do more cutting then less.

Apart from Bassdrum and Bass, a good roll off at 120 - 150 Hz is a good starting point, setting higher until you

affect the main frequency range of the instrument. You can always adjust the cutoff frequency range later on for

better results once you have placed it. Unfundamental instruments can be cut anywhere from 0 Hz to 180 Hz,

basically they almost never play the C1 note range (octave). In order to find the lowest note played by an

instrument, listen solo throughout the whole mix. Find the lowest note and its frequency. You can decide where

the cutoff frequency lies, but remember the Basedrum and Bass need room to shine, so their main range is from

30 Hz up to about 120 Hz (180 Hz). Any other instruments that play in this range will crowd it and is better to

avoid (muddyness and masking). So leaving the lower frequencies for Basedrum and Bass will have you

deciding to make cut-off's or roll-off's on all other interfering instruments.

The cutoff figure shown above would be a good cut for the unfundamental instruments like Keyboards, Synths,

Guitars, Organ, Vocals, etc. Depending on the low cut by dynamical intent, depending distance by controlling

highs. By listening to each instrument you can decide where the cutoff frequencies are exactly. This can only be

done if you understand what the frequency range is of the playing instrument and decide what is needed and

what is not needed to heard. Most drums (all drums that are in the drumset) have two main frequency ranges, as

well as most instruments. Remember in our stage planning, we now have to decide how our separation plans

must work out in each different instrument or track. Use more cutoffs on unfundamental instruments. Subs (0 Hz

to 30 Hz) can mostly be removed. The lower frequency range (30 Hz to 120 Hz, 180Hz) is mainly for Base drum

and Bass. The frequency range between 180 Hz to 500 Hz is overcrowded anyway by most instruments playing

over here, you can make a difference over here paying attention and spending time to get it correct sounding.

The loudness that comes from the lower frequency range from 30 Hz to 500 Hz upwards 1000 Hz is basically

generating the most loudness out of your whole mix and will show up on the Vu-Meter. Especially the lower

frequencies of the Basedrum and Bass are fundamental for rythmic content, power, clearness and are

generating the most loudness, keeping them separated by giving them a free frequency range 0 Hz to 120 Hz.

Remember the lower the frequency to more power, you can save headroom (power) by cutting out all unwanted

frequency ranges.

Quality and Reduction.

Basically we for a good starter mix we will try to achieve quality as well as reduction of unwanted events.

Quality involves boosting with EQ (wide) and cutting with EQ (small), likely inside the main range of frequencies

sounding from the instrument playing a range of notes or main frequencies. Quality can be boosted, but

counteracting cuts can avoid boosting (better). Quality relies on how good an instrument is sounding. Reduction

means mostly cutting some lower frequencies (0 Hz to 250 Hz depending on the instrument) and cutting high

trebles for distance. Where the cutoff frequency is placed relies on the instrument and mix decision (stage plan).

But apart from this, it can mean also a cutoff in higher frequencies for instance on bass or base drum just to

separete. By using reduction methods we try to separate instruments and give them each headroom to play

inside the frequency spectrum. Compression alike EQ has quality and reduction features. Compression can

raise transients (quality) or sustain (quality), but can reduce peaks as well (reduction). For reduction a gate

keeps out unwanted events or we can use manual muting. Maybe a limiter can scrape off some peaks (or a peak


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compressor, reduction). Anyway these two purposes (quality and reduction) are the main tools for a starter mix.

Separation.

Making separation and headroom. In dimension 1, as we explained panorama separates instruments and

spreads them from left, center, right. In dimension 2, we can adjust the frequency spectrum. Both combined are

the basics of a good starter mix and can take up to four hours of time to accomplish a mix that is dry and

according to your planned stage and still have some headroom for furthermore mixing purposes. As if youre not

fully trained and experienced, then spend a great deal of time inside dimension 1 and 2. Stepping too fast intodimension 3 might set you up for some troubles you could not fix otherwise. Understanding what is going on

inside each dimension and where to place instruments according to human natural hearing (your stage plan), is

the key to successful mixing. Swapping for instance left and right is off course ok. As long as you understand

that placing a high frequency range instrument (hihat) on the right will affect the total balance of the mix, to

compensate we have added the another high frequency instrument (shaker) to the left. This kind of thinking

goes for the mids and lows also. As long as you counteract your actions, you are doing fine. Counteracting is a

most common many methods of mixing. Again how youre planning of the dimensions will unpack; the final mix

will have to be balanced (meaning the combined sound of your mix must be centered over two speakers). We as

human's dislike when the left speaker plays louder than the right speaker or otherwise. It is artistic rights and

being creative that defies the rules , but still can have a good outcome. Generally fundamental instruments are

centered, and lesser fundamentals are placed more left and more right.

Dimension 3 - Depth.

The Spatial Depth is a more perceptive sound, giving space and room to each instrument, single track or mix.

The most common tools are Reverb and Delay. Reverberation is a common depth (dimension 3) tool. When a

note or sound is played at the first time, the transients are an important factor (from the original sound event).

The transients make our brain understand what sound is played and for recognizing the instrument. This we will

call the dry signal. From the dry signal a room will present reverberation after some time in milliseconds, mostly

the early reflections will make our hearing understand distance and placement. The pre-delay of first

reverberations/early refclection is making our brain understand depth or distance. Mostly when pre-delay and

reverberation is naturally understandable to our brains, we perceive depth, because a Reverb (and Delay in a

lesser fashion) will muddy up the mix (masking), careful attention must be applied over here. With Reverb or

Delay it is common to cut the lower bottom frequencies because this will clear up the mix and wipe away some

muddiness (separates the reverb from the fundamentals alike Base drum and Bass). Also when you apply the

rules of Dimension 1 and 2 correctly, the panorama and spectrum of each instrument will create a place or stage

for each instrument. For that we can cutoff or raise the trebles of the reverb to be closed upfront or more

distanced. Now that reverberation is making our brain believe there is some distance, dimension 3 is a fact.

Separation is the key to successful mixing, balancing unfundamental instruments more left or right and not over

pumping the frequency spectrum as a whole. Basically the lower frequency range of a mix is the place where all

instruments will play their main ranges, so filling this with Reverb or Delay will only add to muddiness or add

unclear (fuzzy) sounds and enhance the masking effect. Especially Base drum and Bass are instruments you

want to hear straightforward, so must be separated at all time from the rest by controlling all lower frequencies

that play in their range (use an ambient, drum booth, small room). Instead depth can be interesting when applied

on clear and dry starter mixes, making them sound more natural and less fabricated. Also Reverb and Delay

are not the only factors for depth. Instruments will not play all the time; it would be boring to hear them all

throughout the whole mix. It is likely you have some kind of composition going on and the timed events of

instruments can create more depth also. The level (volume or amplitude) of the played note will create depth by

itself. As we perceive louder sounds as closer and softer sounds as further away. Also we perceive close sounds

when the higher frequencies are more present, the further away in the background the less high frequencies can

be heard (dimension 2). These are good starting points to address when mixing (in dimensions 1 and 2) before

adding any delay or reverb (in dimension 3). Therefore when you need background vocals to be heard as if they

have some distance, you can roll off some higher frequencies in dimension two first, before you add some delay

or reverb to make some kind of depth or distance inside dimension 3. Even when adding delay or reverb, you

can decide by rolling off (or cutting) some high frequencies from the effect output or input what the distance or

depth they will be perceived as. A good parameter to set depth or distance is the pre-delay of any delay or

reverb (or any effect). Reverb can only do a good job when it's a really good quality and setup correctly. Mostly

for fundamental instruments alike Bassdrum, Bass, Vocals we can use an ambient room or drumbooth reverb

type, these will have more early reflections and have less reverb tail, therefore less fuzzy and more upfront. On


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the vocals use no trebles cutoff for keeping upfront of the stage. Bassdrum and Bass inheritly have lesser

trebles so they automaticly faal behind the vocals with an ambient small room drumbooth reverb. For

unfundamental instruments that are placed at the back of the stage we can use way more reverb, alike a hall or

large room, and cutoff their trebles more to set distance. For achieving our stage plan to be true, we can prepare

the dry signal and/or adjust the reverb accordingly. Delay can do a good job, but with percussive instruments

(Drums, Percussion) the rythmics can be influenced, timing the delay to the beat or notes can be of importance.

Especially a stereo delay with its movements can avoid masking. So for drums and percussive elements we try

to stay in tempo and setting almost no pre-delay. For Vocals delay can give more depth and placement inside a

mix, without moving backwards and keeping them upfront. Reverb is a good tool for creating depth, but can be

processor hungry for digital systems. A good reverb does not get muddy fast and stays inside the mix and does

not have to be loud to be perceived as depth. Depth is the last dimension, so working first our starter mix in

dimension 1 (panorama) and dimension 2 (frequency range) before working on dimension 3 (depth) is

recommended. The static mix contains dimensions 1,2 and 3. Use a brighter reverb ambient small room or drum

booth for upfront sounds and a duller larger reverb for distanced sounds. A short pre-delay or no pre-delay can

help prevent the reverb from pushing the sound back into the mix. Give the reverb a wide spread for upfront

sounds. Use narrow panned or even mono reverbs for distanced sounds with longer reverb times.

The three dimensions together make up any static reference mix.

For Stereo Mixing the three dimensions are Panorama (1), Frequency Spectrum (2) and Depth (3). Basically

Panorama is controlled by Pan or Balance mostly and sometimes using a stereo expander or widener. The

Frequency Spectrum is controlled by amplitude, level, volume, EQ (Compression, limiter, gate) of the sound.

Depth is perceptive and can be controlled by High Frequencies (trebles), delay (pre-delay), Reverberation or

Reverb. There are quite some other effects that generate some kind of reverberation or can be perceived as

depth or distance to human hearing, we will not discuss them all. A sense of direction for each individual

instrument can be found in all dimensions. Also the three dimensions can influence each other, by rolling of

some highs for instance in the frequency spectrum (dimension 2) of a single instrument, track or group, you can

affect depth (dimension 3). Coexistence and placing instruments inside the three dimensions can be a fiddly job

and maybe you would like to rush this. Pre-planning is a better idea. Also we cannot use a lot of reverbs on

processor hungry systems, so we choose a few and use them on groups mostly. Offcourse mixing is creative.

Bypassing the dimensions without some thoughts and planning and throwing in effects and mixing uncared, will

soon give muddy unclear fuzzy results (masking, correlation, etc). Maybe you have ended up in this situation

before? Then it is time to get some understanding about the three dimensions, quality, reduction, overcrowding,

making headroom, masking, separation and togetherness. Re-start with a clean slate setting all levels to 0 db

and panning to center, remove all plugins, re-start with the dry mono mix.

The chart above shows how the three dimensions can be adjusted using common mixing tools. For summing up,


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dimension 1 is controlled by the Panorama (Pan or Balance and maybe some widening/expanding), dimension 2

is controlled by the Frequency Spectrum (EQ, Compression, mutes, gates and limiters), dimension 3 is

controlled by dimensions 1 and 2 as well as using reverberation/early reflection effects (Reverb, Delay, Etc).

Making use of the 3D visualization or 2D stage visualization can help improve your mixing skills. Some like to

write down a plan (stage plan) or some just like to remember and visualize in their head (the experienced). The

eas iest dimension is dimension 1, setting pan and we hear left, center or right (but easily underestimated). Next

dimension 2 is more complicated, because we are working inside the frequency spectrum of each instrument to

create a whole spectrum for the mix. Composition wise muting, level, amplitude, transients and balance are good

tools to start with then reverting to EQ. Compression can be a hassle to master, mostly when we hear

compression, we know we have gone too far. Rather use a more even amout of compress ion, when compress ing

only peaks very hard we achieve pumping. Dimension 3 is all about quality reverberation and needs skill and

very good ears, as well as understanding how human hearing reacts. As we can say the difficulty of mixing

progresses with the dimensions in place, so we start with dimension 1 and progress towards dimension 3. When

we need to adjust an event, we first resort to dimension 1 and progress towards dimension 2 and 3. Hunting for

quality and reduction (boost wide, cut small). Changing an event or instrument in one dimension means a change

in the other dimensions also. So careful planning and preparation is a must, it is better to know what youre

doing while mixing. Knowing what you want out of a mix beforehand can make mixing easy and keep you from

struggling towards the end. Understanding the three dimensions is crutial and do not hesitate to apply, it is a

common way of mixing and very much accepted generally. At least to our natural hearing ears, to keep it all

acceptable to our brains, we apply the natural rules and laws mostly.

3D Mixing.

Mixing, as if the listener is listening to a stage is common practice, it seems more natural. The more natural a

mix sounds, the more natural the human brain can receive the 3D Spatial Information. Unnatural placement can

make a listener feel unpleasant, so only use this when you need it. Most likely Basedrum, Snare, Bass and

Main Vocals are more centered and fundamental. And all other instruments are placed more outward of the

centre field, more left or more right. Lower frequency unfundamental instruments are more or less centered, as

unfundamental instruments playing a higher frequency range are more placed outwards. The main vocals are

up-front and drums more in the back. Sometimes a choir would stand behind the drummer even further

backwards. Just experiment with a mix and play with the dimensions, make some different plans to where you

are placing the instruments.

Experimenting with 3D Mixing.

Do some mix setups and learn from the differences, learn from your mistakes and remember when having

progression to keep notice of what you did correctly. A good start of a mix can take hours to ac

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