Mixing Basics

Recording for Musicians

Syosset High School

The Volume Fader
Setting Levels

• What is most important?

• Vocal

• Snare

• Kick

• Bass

• It will depend on genre, style, and what sounds good to you

Panning
Pan knob

• Indicates location in the stereo field

• Hard pan – sound is only coming out of one speaker

• Most important sounds are usually panned in the center

• When stereo first became widely available, mixing engineers experimented greatly with
locations of instruments/sounds in the stereo field
• Space Oddity – David Bowie

• Come Together – The Beatles

Setting Levels cont.

• Set levels and panning for drums

• Approaches to panning drums

• Drummer perspective

• Audience perspective

• Generally move to bass next

• Bass is best in the center 99.99% of the time