A good mix starts with a stable foundation where all your elements are at a good level before you even start to mix. This is the first part of the scientific aspect of mixing and sets you up to be more creative later, it’s a crucial step.
There are two gain stages to consider before mixing:
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Interface gain
When you start recording, make sure your gain is set correctly for every track your record. Advice varies, but if the level for your track doesn’t clip the input and is around –12 to –18dB in your DAW’s meters then you’re recording around the right level.
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Clip/DAW gain
If you’ve already recorded your tracks, you can always add or remove gain in your DAW in various ways, many DAWs allow you to add “clip gain” where the audio clips have gain applied individually, or there are often gain plugins too.
Tip
Be careful, adding too much gain to very quiet tracks can amplify noise and result in a noisy recording.
Adjust the gain of each track so they’re all roughly the same level, -12 to -18dBFS, before you start your mix.
Aim for here in your meters, we've used Focusrite Control 2, Logic Pro, and Ableton Live for reference but the numbers work in any DAW.
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Focusrite Control 2's input meter. |
Logic Pro's input meter. |
Ableton Live's input meter. |
Panning is essentially placing your sound somewhere between your speakers. Most music is played back in stereo (two speakers) be it on your laptop, TV, or headphones, so your options are left, right, or anywhere between the two.
There are of course other ways to pan, surround sound and spatial audio. However, if you only have one speaker, like a phone or smart speaker, it’ll be in mono and panning won't make a difference.
In terms of stereo mixing, some terms to understand are:
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Pan hard left: The sound will only be heard from the left speaker.
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Pan hard right: The sound will only be heard from the right speaker.
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Pan centre: The sound will be heard equally from both speakers.
Panning helps us create a sense of space, and width to the mix adding interest, but it also separates instruments so you can hear them more clearly.
In modern music, panning is often used to emulate reality, keep the mix wide and balanced, or often both. However, it’s also possible to use panning creatively, like putting the drums all on one side, or having two different guitar parts on each side of the stereo image.
Note
Of all the examples we’ve given it’s important that sounds with low frequencies stay in the middle, kick drums, bass guitars, to keep the mix “phase coherent”. It’s too much to explain here, but essentially panning these can make your mix sound weird, for more information search online for “mixing phase problems”.
In modern mixing, mixes are typically laid out as if you were watching a band perform in front of you, but with some artistic licence to make sure some elements are thicker and both sides are balanced:
Note
Drums are a good example of a single instrument with some artistic license. If you were watching a band the drums are usually a single element in the middle of the stage, but this doesn't sound that impressive in a mixed track.
In mixes however, we often spread a drum kit across the width of the stereo spectrum, as if you were the drummer, or right in front of the kit.
There’s some dispute whether you should pan a drum kit from the drummer or audience’s perspective (but really close), it doesn't matter and comes down to personal preference, mic technique and how you’re trying to make the audience feel.
You may notice a lot of instruments appear multiple times in the panning diagram, for example, the guitars, backing vocals, and the piano.
For guitars and backing vocals, the answer is double tracking. Essentially recording the same part twice.
The trick is getting the takes almost identical. When done well it thickens and smooths the sound and allows you to pan both sides. Don’t be tempted to copy and paste the track, you’ll have the same signal on both sides, which sounds like it’s from the middle but louder.
Tip
You can also double track the lead vocal track and leave both centre panned. It takes a lot of practice to get right, but when you do, it sounds awesome.
For pianos and overheads, we often record them with two microphones, or two output cables for synths, to make the sound stereo. We therefore need to pan one channel right and the other left. The more you pan each channel, the wider the sound becomes.
Of course, you don’t need to put the same instruments on both sides, but most modern mixes do have an element of double tracking and panning.
As we mentioned, some tracks that use panning more creatively work on the approach of putting elements around the stereo field, either permanently or changing throughout, to keep you interested.
A couple of examples include:
The whole Rubber Soul album by The Beatles uses some unusual panning. For example, the opening track Drive My Car puts the drums and bass on the left, the vocals in the middle and the piano, guitar, and cowbell, on the right.
Kendrick Lamar's Not Like Us keeps a modern mix basis with the kick, bass, and lead vocals centred, but they create interest by panning the sampled strings to the right side and a quiet plucked string/piano to the left.
EQ (equalisation) is one of the most powerful tools in mixing. It allows you to shape the tone of individual elements by adjusting the level of its frequencies. With EQ, you can bring clarity to a mix, ensuring instruments sit well together rather than competing for space. Without careful EQ, a mix can quickly become muddy, where sounds mask each other, losing definition.
Generally, in audio, we look at frequencies left to right, low frequencies, mid-frequencies, and high frequencies. It's worth remembering this when you're looking at the diagrams we use to show what EQ controls are doing to the sound and how they relate to the instrument you're EQing.
Low frequencies are the bass instruments like kick drums and low toms. Mid-frequencies are quite a broad range but include the fundamental notes for vocals, guitars, and pianos/keys/synths. High frequencies include cymbals and violins, but also the “harmonics”, of vocals, guitars etc. that control how bright those instruments are.
What are harmonics?
Each note has one specific frequency, but when you play it, you also hear quieter, higher-pitched frequencies, harmonics. It's these extra frequencies that vary from instrument to instrument and shape the instrument’s unique sound. A C note on a piano and guitar sound very different, and that's because of the harmonics.
In music production, harmonics affect tone and clarity.
Understanding harmonics helps you shape tone and lets you refine your sounds, we've added a handy chart that plots these harmonics and how they affect the sound of each instrument to the section How do I know which frequencies to change?.
To help you understand EQ, we’re going to talk through it with an emulation of the Focusrite Red 2 EQ – the two-channel EQ we made in the 90s, used by countless mix engineers.
if you don’t have the Red Plugin Suite, and you're a Focusrite user, you can install the Red Plugin Suite and get the Red 2 EQ as part of the Hitmaker Expansion bundle of plugins.
This section teaches you how to install the Red Plugin Suite step-by-step.
To install the Red Plugin Suite:
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Go to: id.focusritegroup.com/my-software.
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If you're prompted, log in with your account.
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Click on at the top of the page.
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Scroll down until you see Red Plug-in Suite.
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Click .
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Click .
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Click the button to the right of your code.
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Click the link in your account (or below) to go to the downloads page:
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Click the button to download the Red Plugin Suite installer for your operating system.
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Go to your computer's Downloads folder and run the downloaded file.
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(Windows only) Click if you're asked Do you want to allow this app to make chances to your device?.
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Follow the instructions in the installer to install the Red Plugin Suite.
To activate your plugins:
You need to activate the Red Plugin Suite before you can use it. You need an internet connection to get your activation code (as explained above). However, once you have the code, you won’t need an internet connection to activate the plugins.
In this guide, we've used Ableton Live Lite as the DAW used to open the plugin. However, most of the steps are the same in other DAWs.
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Open Ableton Live Lite (or any DAW) from your applications folder.
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Select a MIDI or Audio track with data on it.
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Go to Plug-Ins in the Browser on the left-hand side of Live.
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Find the Focusrite folder and open either or
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The following Analytics window appears:
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Click either Don't Share or Share with Focusrite– you can always change the analytics later in the Settings page.
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Enter the e-mail address for your Focusrite account. It must be the same email address as your Focusrite account.
Paste the code you copied earlier in this guide into the Activation code field:
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Click .
This activates both the Red 2 EQ and Red 3 Compressor and they're ready to use across all plugin formats and DAWs on your computer.
The key to effective EQ is knowing when to cut and when to boost, and how. Cutting unwanted frequencies is often more effective than boosting—removing problem areas creates space naturally. For example, cutting low-end rumble from non-bass instruments prevents clutter, cutting the guitars where your vocal is saves turning down your guitar, and reducing harshness in vocals or guitars improves smoothness.
You can figure this out through experimentation, but as a guide, this diagram shows common frequency ranges for a lot of instruments.
The lines show roughly each instrument's full frequency range. The blocks show the common areas where EQing the sound makes the most difference, and the words give a description of what you might want to cut or boost to tweak the overall timbre of each instrument.
The Red 2 EQ differs from a lot of standard DAW EQs in that it doesn’t have much of a user interface. It’s designed to be stripped back and let you focus on the overall tone of the sound, rather than getting deep into any visualisation of the sound or having hundreds of bands of EQ control.
EQs work by dividing the audible frequency spectrum into “bands”, ranges of sound you can boost or cut, make wider or thinner, to sculpt the timbre of the instrument you’re EQing.
The Red 2 EQ has six, editable, bands. These roughly line up with the frequency bands in How do I know which frequencies to change?, making the Red 2 EQ very musical in its approach to EQing instruments. Each band has controls specific to that frequency range to give you the smoothest, most musical approach without having to think about what you’re doing and stay in the creative flow.
The high and low pass controls are filters, they filter out unwanted frequencies above or below a certain point:
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High pass (also called low cut) lets frequencies higher than the cutoff point through (pass) the cutoff point is the frequency labelled around the knob.
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Low pass (also called high cut) lets frequencies lower than the cutoff point through (pass) the cutoff point is the frequency labelled around the knob.
The high and low pass controls are often used to “clean up” specific sounds where you know you don't want the full frequency range.
If your mix is too muddy, or you think the bass sounds and kick drum are missing some clarity. Then you can use the high pass to remove all the low rumbly frequencies from instruments like guitars, snare drums, toms, or lead synths. The sound probably won't change too much, but it cleans it up a little.
Likewise, you can use the low pass to get rid of unwanted higher harmonics. If your mix is sounding a bit harsh, maybe you should use high pass on guitars to make their frequency range narrower and leave space for airy vocals, or cymbals.
The two controls common to the remaining bands are Gain and Frequency:
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Gain starts in the middle at 0, meaning no effect on the signal and goes both down, cut, or up, boost. It lets you cut or boost the level of that frequency band.
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Frequency allows you to change at what point the centre frequency for that band is. This is useful for tuning the band to the specific instrument. There’s no point having the frequency control set to 100Hz when you’re trying to EQ the low end of a vocal if the low frequency content of the voice doesn’t start until the low frequency content of the voice 200Hz.
The controls for the low shelf and high shelf boost or cut every frequency above or below the point where you set the frequency (or until the High Pass if you're using it). The drawings on the plugin show you how the signal is affected.
The controls for the Low and High mid-bands boost or cut the signal in a rough bell shape.
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Boosting frequencies. |
Cutting frequencies. |
The wider the bell the more frequencies you're affecting, the narrower the bell, the fewer frequencies. You can also control this using the “Q” control.
You'll notice the mid-EQ bands have an extra control. It's called a few things on different EQ models, but you'll commonly see them called: Q, bandwidth, resonance.
It controls the range of frequencies either side of the centre frequency control. On the Red 2 EQ the higher the setting the narrower the band, the lower the setting the wider the band:
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Low, or wide Q, more frequencies cut or boosted |
High, or narrow, Q, less frequencies cut or boosted. |
Generally, you should use narrow Q to cut frequencies and a wide Q when you boost frequencies to avoid resonances. Try it, use a narrow Q and boost that frequency with maximum gain, it sounds quite weird, a wider Q for boosting sounds more natural.
Now you know what the EQ controls do, how would you use them?
When you start to EQ a track, it makes sense to Solo it so you only hear that track, right?
Yes and no.
Soloing a track can be a good way to narrow down issues to a specific track, for example if you're hearing a particularly resonant frequency, or something odd. But when it comes to actually reaching for those EQ controls, do most of your EQ adjustments while you're listening to all the instruments together.
Tip
If a recorded instrument sounds great in the mix, solo it and take note — aim for that sound from the start next time.
For example, a full, wide guitar tone might feel great when jamming but can clutter a mix. Often, the best-mixed guitar tones sound thin and middy in isolation, leaving space for bass, cymbals, and vocals.
Understanding this means next time you mic your amp, you’ll dial in a mix-ready tone and avoid heavy EQ fixes later.
If you EQ everything soloed, your ear might quite like the sound of cranking 1kHz, for example, on everything, or cutting 300Hz to make everything sound less boxy. But when you do this on everything, the sound of the resulting mix will be uneven and probably sound way too resonant at 1kHz and lack warmth.
There are two ways to figure out which frequency to pick using the EQ settings:
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Sweeping – A lot of advice teaches you to “sweep” your EQ, it’s not the best choice, but can be useful when you’re starting out.
We don’t recommend you do this, but to sweep an EQ band, boost or cut the Gain of that band by the largest amount, then “sweep” or move the frequency control up and down. This method allows you to hear very clearly what frequencies are being affected.
However, your brain isn’t the best at distinguishing between different frequencies and sweeping, while useful to get within the right ballpark, can be fatiguing for your ears. Your brain very quickly loses perspective on what frequencies actually sound right.
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Toggling the EQ – your brain is much better at recognising sudden changes, in this method you’re comparing the raw and EQ’d sound. To do this:
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Turn off the EQ.
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Set the settings to where you think they should be frequency, Q and gain.
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Build an idea in your head what you want the track to sound like and enable the EQ.
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If it’s correct, great, If it's not what you were expecting, disable the EQ and try again until you get it right. It can take some practice, but you’ll get there eventually and learn how different EQs settings sound.
Frequency masking is a common issue in mixing where two instruments share the same frequency content no matter how well you balance their levels, they’ll cover each other. To solve this, you can use EQ on one track to remove a range of frequencies.
For example, if you have an electric guitar and a vocal and a lot of the vocal frequencies sit in the same place as the guitar, the guitar can could cover up certain words or parts of the melody. In this case, you could use an EQ on the guitar track to cut out a narrow frequency band where the voice and guitar overlap.
When a guitarist palm mutes in verses and plays open chords in the chorus or a pianist uses a damp pedal in the middle eight, a byproduct of these techniques is a tonal change.
If you have separate tracks for your instruments between sections (or you can learn to use automation in your DAW) try using EQ to create contrast between sections.
If your verse has warm, dark tones, make the chorus brighter by increasing high-mids on key elements. This helps different sections stand out dynamically.
Or if an instrument is too bright during the verse, but you like it in the chorus, use a low-pass filter or high-shelf to taper off the brightness in the verse.
Extreme band-pass filtering on a vocal can create a “telephone” effect. Band-pass is using both the high and low pass filters to create a narrowband in the mids that pass.
High-pass filtering a kick drum and slowly bringing back the low-end can create energy before a drop.
A steep midrange cut can make a section sound distant, then “snap” back to full frequency for impact.
Come back later in the series of articles to learn about reverbs, but instead of relying solely on reverb for depth, use EQ. As sounds get further away or closer, their frequency content changes.
Cutting high frequencies on background elements can push them back in the mix.
Boosting air (12kHz+) on lead vocals or instruments to make them feel more present (or if you have a Focusrite interface, use the Air button while tracking).
Use a high-pass filter on reverbs to keep your mix clean.
Over-emphasising a frequency range can create a unique sound — boosting a low-mid frequency on drums for a vintage, boxy feel or adding high-mids for an aggressive, cutting tone.
Cranking high frequencies (with saturation to tame harshness) can add an airy, modern polish.
This section teaches you how to install the Red Plugin Suite step-by-step.
To install the Red Plugin Suite:
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Go to: id.focusritegroup.com/my-software.
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If you're prompted, log in with your account.
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Click on at the top of the page.
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Scroll down until you see Red Plug-in Suite.
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Click .
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Click .
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Click the button to the right of your code.
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Click the link in your account (or below) to go to the downloads page:
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Click the button to download the Red Plugin Suite installer for your operating system.
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Go to your computer's Downloads folder and run the downloaded file.
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(Windows only) Click if you're asked Do you want to allow this app to make chances to your device?.
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Follow the instructions in the installer to install the Red Plugin Suite.
To activate your plugins:
You need to activate the Red Plugin Suite before you can use it. You need an internet connection to get your activation code (as explained above). However, once you have the code, you won’t need an internet connection to activate the plugins.
In this guide, we've used Ableton Live Lite as the DAW used to open the plugin. However, most of the steps are the same in other DAWs.
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Open Ableton Live Lite (or any DAW) from your applications folder.
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Select a MIDI or Audio track with data on it.
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Go to Plug-Ins in the Browser on the left-hand side of Live.
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Find the Focusrite folder and open either or
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The following Analytics window appears:
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Click either Don't Share or Share with Focusrite– you can always change the analytics later in the Settings page.
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Enter the e-mail address for your Focusrite account. It must be the same email address as your Focusrite account.
Paste the code you copied earlier in this guide into the Activation code field:
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Click .
This activates both the Red 2 EQ and Red 3 Compressor and they're ready to use across all plugin formats and DAWs on your computer.
You don’t need any fancy plugins when it comes to balancing, every DAW has the basic function of balancing levels.
This is almost always through a set of faders:
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The faders in Logic Pro. |
The faders in Ableton Live. |
Now it’s time to use the faders. There are a few approaches to using the faders, in any case you want to make sure the main output meter in your DAW never gets to 0dB, it shouldn’t redline or clip. Again, the exact figure varies but try not to make your DAW’s main output meter go above –6dB.
You’ll notice faders in most DAWs go from minus infinity –∞ to +6/10dB and have a default position of 0dB. If the gain’s been set correctly, most of your elements will end up around the same fader position. However, you might make a creative decision to pull faders much lower for elements that you want to be really quiet in the mix.
To start finding your basic balance, we recommend the following approach:
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Listen to the track and find the most important element(s) of the track or inspiring parts, this could be a single vocal or the whole drum kit.
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Set all the faders to –∞ except the track(s) you found.
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Gradually drag up faders around the original part until you feel they blend well together. If you don’t think they go particularly well, mute the new part.
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Do this gradually for all the tracks, and you’ll come to a balance you can fine tweak.
Balancing doesn’t need to take forever; you might only need one or two passes through your track to figure it out.
Tip
Remember, if two tracks seem to be fighting against each other, and you can get them to balance it might be worth considering using EQ to stop frequencies masking, see Stopping_masking for more information.
Once your balance is done, it’s a good idea to go through and double check it.
The first step would be to check your mix at a low level, turn your monitors or headphones quite low and listen for any imbalances.
If something stays loud when everything else is really low, maybe that element is too high. When your headphones or speakers struggle to reproduce most of the track, the loudest elements will stick out.
A good example of this is vocals, as they need to sit snugly into the mix. But, they can often be lost in the mix, or stick out way too much. This is especially true if you're mixing your own vocals, you might try to bury them if you're not comfortable.
When you reduce the level, you don't want key elements to disappear too soon, or stick out for too long.
Go outside the room and listen to the mix. Sure, it’ll be muffled, but everything should sound balanced without anything sticking out. It's a bit like listening at a lower volume, but you also have the affect of the room filtering the sound, so you can hear any EQ issues more easily. If anything sounds overly dull too quickly, or stays bright too long, it might not be EQ'd quite correctly.