Mixing: The Basics
Mixing is joining separate recordings into one whole where you hear everything you need to hear at the moment you need to hear it. The foundation is surprisingly small: balance, panning and equalisation, in that order.
- balance first
- faders only
- 3 scarce resources
Where you run into this
- Production
- Recording
- Live sound
In short
A mix is a series of decisions about proportions. Every track competes with every other for three scarce things: volume, position in the stereo image and position in the frequency spectrum. Mixing is solving that scarcity problem, and everything else is detail.
A static mix that works with faders alone is a better result than a processed mix that never got its balance right.
How it works
Work from large to small: preparation, then balance with nothing but faders, then panning, then equalisation, and only then dynamics and effects. Most mixes that never come together were processed before they were balanced.
Where you run into this
- A mix that gets better when every plugin is bypassed
- Two parts that both need to be louder, which means one needs to move
- A rough mix that already sounded right
In practice
Watch loudness bias. Louder is perceived as better, so any comparison between two versions has to be volume-matched or the louder one wins regardless of quality. That single habit prevents a large share of bad decisions.