Learning to mix music properly is not an easy task. You need to balance the volume of each track. The most important sounds should be at the front of the mix, while the less-important ones should be positioned at the back. The most important sounds typically include lead vocals, bass, kick drums, and lead melody instruments.
Don’t overdo the bass and treble. This is a common mistake. You should keep your levels conservative so that the track can be played in multiple environments. This way, listeners can adjust the levels of different speakers on their end. This is a good way to ensure that your mix will sound good on all devices.
A mix can be built in two basic ways – top-down and bottom-up. In either case, you start by listening to each track separately and adjusting their levels accordingly. Using temporary muting of tracks can also help you in building the mix. Using a limiter is like using a compressor, but it limits the audio level.
Panning can also be used to create space in the mix. Ideally, the drums and bass should be in the center, while the melodies should be floating to the left and right. There are other options for panning as well, including binaural panning (which is particularly interesting for VR enthusiasts). Finally, a plugin called Saturator can add character to the sound.
