PROAUDIOMASTERY

BY MAHAL STUDIO

MIXIIIII
BALANCE
CHEAT
SHEET
YOUR QUICK REFERENCE
TO BALANCE, PAN & EQ
LIKE A PRO
The 3 Balancing
Dimensions of a Mix
A great mix needs to be balanced in all 3 dimensions

1 Amplitude & Tonal Balance

Adjusted using the level faders on
your mixer and EQ. This is the primary
form of balancing, whereby we set
the loudness of each element and
frequency band within the mix relative
to each other.

2 Panning
How close or far Adjusted using the panning
away the mix element knob (left-to-right) on your
is from the listener. mixer channels. This
Usually controlled controls how centered a
using ambience sound is in the stereo field
or how spread out.
effects (reverb &
delay).
3 Depth
 Tonal Balance

LOWS:
HIGHEST ENERGY MIDS:
MODERATE ENERGY HIGHS:
LOWEST ENERGY

Typical distribution of energy among the 3 broad bands of the frequency spectrum

FUNDAMENTAL HARMONICS ◀ LOW ROLL-OFF ▲ BOOST ▼ CUT

◀ ▲ ▲ SNARE
▼ ▲ ▼ 100%

◀ KICK
→

TOMS
RELATIVE VOLUME IN THE MIX

▲ ▼ ▲ ▲
VOCALS
◀ ▲ ▲ BASS
75%

◀ ▲ BACKING VOCALS 50%

◀
STRINGS
◀ ▲
◀ ▲ PIANO / KEYS
25%

CYMBALS / HI-HATS
◀ GUITARS

20Hz 80Hz 250Hz 500Hz 2kHz 4kHz 6kHz 20kHz

Sub Bass Bass Low Mid Mid High Mid Presence Treble / Air

BOOM MUD BOXY HONK TINNY NASAL HARSH SIZZLE SIBILANCE

 The Sound Stage

ck”
push ba FAR Add
pre
to “ sen
nce ce
bie to “
am TOM 2 brin
Add gc
los
er”

CYMBALS/HATS CYMBALS/HATS
SNARE
TOM 1 TOM 3
STRINGS STRINGS

LEAD
VOCALS
BACKING KEYS / KEYS / BACKING
VOCALS SYNTH SYNTH VOCALS

KICK
PERCUSSION PERCUSSION
GUITAR GUITAR

BASS

LEFT RIGHT
NEAR
DEPTH

PANNING

AUDIENCE
A typical sound stage with the most common instruments (swap as per genre)