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How To Mix Music (Part 3): Stereo Image

& Mixing Tips
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ow To Mix Music is our essential guide to becoming a music

H mixing professional. In this series I explain and teach you

musicians, producers, and aspiring mixing engineers how to
mix music. I share our years of experience and insight on mixing and
mastering, our best mixing tips, mastering tricks and music production
strategies. Covering the necessary preparations, tools, underlying physics
and insider tips and tricks to achieve the perfect mix and master.

The first episode (/essential-guide-becoming-music-mixing-

mastering-professional-fundamentals/) covers setting yourself up to
 become a great engineer. We discussed monitoring, DAWs and plugins,
composition, and stem preparing.

The second episode (/essential-guide-becoming-music-mixing-

professional-part-2-signal-flow-plugins/) covers organising your
mixer, setting up your signal flow, and understanding the essential plugins
(EQ, compressor, reverb, and delay).

In this third part we will cover how to improve your stereo image and make
your mix sound wider. Also, we cover how to use the essential plugins to mix
kicks and snares, the backbone of a song.


 Stereo Image & Mixing Tips


 Stereo image

Whenever I help people with their mixing, I always tell them to imagine they
are mixing in a space. In this space you have three dimensions: stereo image,
frequency spectrum, and depth.

If you are unfamiliar with this principle concept, please click the big orange
button above and download the complete PDF for free. In these seven slides
you will learn how this mixing space works, and how it helped me and many
other engineers, musicians and producers to achieve better mixing results.

Stereo image is the difference between left and right, and mid and side. The
center of the mixing space is also known as mid. Left and right are also
known as sides.








(https://heroic.academy/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/How-To-Mix-Music-
Mixing-Tips-Stereo-Image.png)

A few years back I could not understand why my mixes sounded so narrow in
comparison to the reference tracks that I was listening to from my idols. I
was using stereo-wideners and big reverbs hoping to get a wide and
big-sounding mix, but instead it sounded messy and actually not that wide at
all.

It was only after the realization of a very simple concept that I finally
understood how a stereo image actually works.
 This simple concept is that people listen to music in stereo. Two ears: one
left and one right. Two speakers: one left and one right. Two earbuds: one left
and one right.

If the left speaker emits a sound louder than the right speaker, this sound
appears to come from the left, and vice versa. If both speakers emit a sound
at the same volume, this sound appears to come from the center.

Stereo is the difference between left and right. To create a wide

sounding mix, you need to establish differences between what sounds come
from the center of the space, what sounds come from left, and what sounds

come from right.


Panning

 The easiest way to achieve this is by panning.


With the panning knob you can move a sound horizontally in the mixing
space. Turn the knob to the left and the sound will appear from the left. Turn
the knob to the right and the sound will appear from the right. Easy.

With this knowledge you can place different elements of a song at different
places in the mixing space. By doing this correctly, your mix will sound much
wider as you are now creating differences between left and right.

How to place all different elements of a song correctly in the mixing space, we
will discuss further in this article and in future episodes.

Pro Tip: Make sure that elements with low frequencies say, all frequencies
below 100Hz are placed in the center of the mixing space. By keeping the
sides of your mixing space clear from low frequencies, you prevent your mix
from sounding muddy.
 CHEATSHEET: QUICKLY IMPROVE YO UR KICK AND SNARE

Did I give you The Mastering Framework yet? It teaches the 4 dimensions of
your mixing space, and how to use it to create a beautiful mix. If I havent,
make sure to grab the free download here:

Mixing different elements of a song (part 1)

So far in this series we have covered:

the basic equipment and tools you need to be able to mix music;

tweaks in song composition for a better mix;

the understanding of the mixing space with frequency spectrum, stereo


image and depth;
 how to organize your mixer;
and how the essential plugins work (EQ, compressor, reverb, delay), and
how you should line these up in your signal flow.

In other words, we covered about everything you should know before you
start mixing the actual music elements.

Below I start explaining step by step how I and my fellow mixing engineers go
about mixing different types of elements of a song.

Please note that every song is unique and each mix should be treated
accordingly. However, below we describe the universal techniques we have
found to be contributing each time to achieve a great sounding mix.

We start by mixing the kick and the snare the backbone of almost any song.
Lets go!
 Mixing Kicks
Placement: Kicks (or kick drums) are most often rich in low frequencies,
therefore it is natural to place the kick in the center of the mixing space.

EQ (cut): While it heavily depends on the sound of the kick that you want to
achieve, kicks are often an important element of a song (especially in most
electronic music) and require their full frequency range. To define its
frequency range we add a high-pass filter (HPF) at around 20Hz to 40Hz,
and a low-pass filter at around 15kHz to 20kHz.







(https://heroic.academy/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/How-To-Mix-Music-
Mixing-Tips-Kick-EQ-Cut.png)

Compression: As kicks are most often rich in low frequencies, we often

compress kicks heavier than other drums. This often makes it easier to
achieve a loud master later on.

We compress kicks by 2dB to 8dB with a ratio around 4:1. For a punchy
 sound, we set the attack time of the compressor right after the attack time of
the kick. This is often somewhere between 10 milliseconds and 25
milliseconds.

As the sub-tails of kicks often differ, you should play around with the release
time of the compressor and find what sounds best. However, do make sure
that the compressor is back to 0dB before the next kick sound occurs.







(https://heroic.academy/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/How-To-Mix-Music-
Mixing-Tips-Kick-Compressor.png)

EQ (boost): Boosting frequencies should be done very delicately, we rarely

boost frequencies more than 3dB.

All kicks sound different and can be in different keys, however often the
following applies: boost around 50Hz to enhance the bass of a kick, and boost
around 100Hz to enhance the punch of a kick.




 (https://heroic.academy/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/How-To-Mix-Music-

Mixing-Tips-Kick-EQ-Boost.png)


Only do this if that specific kick really needs it, and if you decide to boost, try
to do this in the note frequency of the kick.

Reverb: In these parts where I share our insights on mixing different

elements of a song, I talk about reverb as an effect throughout the track in
order to create a sense of space, not as a miscellaneous creative effect.

Also, I will mention reverb of the overall space. With this I mean the reverb
that we have setup as main reverb to create one (large) space in the mix. We
have covered this in part 2 of this series, and I will elaborate further on this in
the coming episodes.

Having that made clear, we rarely add reverb on a kick, we often find this
unnecessary and therefore resulting in a less clear mix.

If we do use reverb on a kick, we send it to the drum reverb bus where we

 setup a reverb of a small room, with a short reverb tail. In some occasions
this might give certain drums more body and a more authentic feel.

CHEATSHEET: QUICKLY IMPROVE YO UR KICK AND SNARE

Mixing Snares
Placement: As snares are often an essential part of the core beat throughout
a song, they feel most natural when placed in the center of the mixing space.

 Sometimes, however with acoustic drum kits it might be fitting to pan the
 snare slightly to the left to resemble the point of view of the drummer. If you
 would aim to resemble a point of view of the audience, you would pan the
 snare slightly to the right.


EQ (cut): Snares often have their lowest tones somewhere between 100Hz
and 400Hz. To cut away unnecessary frequencies and create space for the
kick, we set a high-pass filter (HPF) right before that frequency.

Depending on what sound you are going for, snares generally need their high
frequencies to sound bright in the track. Therefore, we apply a low-pass filter
(LPF) at the very peak of its frequency range, around 20kHz.




 (https://heroic.academy/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/How-To-Mix-Music-

Mixing-Tips-Snare-EQ-Cut.png)


Compression: Depending on what sound we are going for, we compress

snares most often somewhere between 1dB and 6dB with a ratio around 4:1.

The more you compress a snare, the tighter it will sound. The less you
compress a snare, the more it will breathe. Aim for the sweet spot in the
middle.

To enhance the punch of the snare, same as with the kick, you set the attack
time of the compressor right after the attack time of the snare. This is often
somewhere in between 5 milliseconds and 20 milliseconds.

It often sounds great to have a short release time of the compressor on a

snare. We find that the sweet spot is often somewhere in between 20
milliseconds and 100 milliseconds.



 (https://heroic.academy/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/How-To-Mix-Music-
 Mixing-Tips-Snare-Compressor.png)



CHEATSHEET: QUICKLY IMPROVE YO UR KICK AND SNARE

EQ (boost): A great way to give snares more body and a rounder sound, is
by enhance the ringtone with a notch filter. Slowly move the boosted notch
filter through the frequency spectrum to find the ringtone, or identify the
peak with a graphic visualizer.




 (https://heroic.academy/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/How-To-Mix-Music-

Mixing-Tips-Snare-EQ-Boost.png)


Reverb: Snares often come really to life with a bit of reverb. This can be the
earlier mentioned drum reverb, or it might sound great in the general space
reverb.

You could also choose to create a new reverb especially for the snare to create
a specific sound. Some large plate reverbs can sound great, as do large
reverbs without low frequencies.

Having trouble with your kick and snare? Grab my Kick & Snare cheat sheet
for free. Here I outline easy solutions to over 15 problems that occur when
mixing kicks and snares. Make your kicks and snares sound rounder,
brighter and more powerful. Grab my cheat sheet here:

Note Frequencies
All musical notes have a specific frequency. In that regard, assuming the
 musical elements of your song are all in key, each sound will have volume
peaks at these specific frequencies.

If you want to enhance the ringtone of a snare or another element of your

song, but you have difficulties finding the ringtone (the frequency of the note
that the snare is playing) by ear in your equalizer, here is a cheat sheet of all
frequencies (in Hertz) of musical notes.







(https://heroic.academy/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Note-Frequency-
Chart-Heroic-Audio.jpg)

That concludes this episode of Our Essential Guide To Becoming A

Music Mixing Professional series.

I hope you enjoyed this one. If this article was valuable to you and you want
to give other music producers, musicians or aspiring mixing engineers a
nudge in the right direction, feel free to share the link to our blog (/blog).

In the next episode (/how-to-mix-music-part-4-mixing-drums-mixing-

bass/) we continue with how to mix: claps, toms, percussions, hi-hats,
 crashes and bass. More detailed mixing tips, and a step by step approach to
achieving great sounding drums.

Thanks again for reading the articles and sharing the message.

I am Tim van Doorne, its an honour to serve you. Stay motivated to

improve your sound, every single day!



 It is so great to listen to a mix and know exactly what



FREE DOWNLOAD

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 13 Comments Heroic Academy
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Horonitel Studio 6 months ago

This is very useful, Tim, thanks a lot.
I'm going to find a way to assign different drums (coming from one vst) to different mixer
channels now and try it out.
Reply Share

Tim van Doorne > Horonitel Studio 6 months ago

Sounds good! Thanks for reading.
Reply Share

Alpha Being a year ago
 This one was extremely informative, cause I always struggle with kick drums.
 Can't wait for the next one
Thank you

Reply Share

 Tim van Doorne > Alpha Being a year ago
Happy it is helpful to you!
Reply Share

Bastiaan Ruitenbeek a year ago

Great! This helps me out a lot.
Reply Share

Tim van Doorne > Bastiaan Ruitenbeek a year ago

Happy to hear Bastiaan!
Reply Share

Kyle a year ago

I compile & post lists of helpful websites/articles I come across and this series will be great
to include in an upcoming post with links to mixing guides & tips. Great work, sure to help
many people. Keep it up! -Kyle
Reply Share

Tim van Doorne > Kyle a year ago

Thanks Kyle, appreciate that. Make sure to drop a link when your post is up!
Reply Share

Dany Sabbah a year ago

Thanks a lot for the help. When can we expect more tips?
Reply Share
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