The narrower they are, the easier it will be to find a unique place where they'll shine through. Often, stereo instruments fit better if you reduce their width (by panning them toward one side or another). But when combined with a bunch of other tracks in a busy mix, its width might do more harm than good. Think about these concepts when you're making panning decisions.Ī stereo instrument often sounds fantastic on its own, or in a simple arrangement such as a song with acoustic guitar and vocal. The opposite is also true: Instruments that inhabit different frequency ranges will not obscure each other as much when panned together. If you had, say an acoustic rhythm guitar and a keyboard that are both playing chords in the same register, they'd sound a lot more distinct if they were in different positions in the left-right spectrum. If you have two elements that are centered around the same frequency range, it's best to try to pan them apart from each other. Pan tracks in the same frequency range apart It’s helpful to think of your mix as having three dimensions.Ģ.

The vertical dimension, which is governed by frequency, is the least variable and the most difficult to control.

The front-to-back dimension, governed by ambience, volume and brightness is less variable and is trickier to control.

The horizontal plane, which you adjust with your pan pots offers the most variability and is the easiest to control.

Those three dimensions are not equally variable or controllable: Each element will be positioned not only horizontally, but also front to back, and bottom to top. It’s beneficial to envision your mix is as if you're sitting in front of a stage where all the various instruments and vocals are located. We’ll describe various methods for placing elements in the soundstage, and talk about ways to reduce clutter, which is the enemy of a good mix. In this article, we’ll look at some of the techniques you can use for separating elements in a mix. If this is the case, you’ll have to use more than just panning to achieve separation. Accomplishing that can be challenging if your song has more than just a few tracks. One of the prime directives when mixing is to make sure each vocal and instrument track can be clearly heard. By using filtering, EQ and other ways to organize the sound field, you'll get everything to shine through the mix with definition and clarity.

When your track has more than a few instruments, learn to avoid clutter and create space in your mix.

Mixing vocals over instrumentals