The Importance of a “Sound Picture” In Your Head During Mixing

One of my favorite books on mixing is The Art of Mixing.

It’s all very visual and it shows you how different styles are mixed with the use of a three-dimensional room diagram. All the instruments in the mix are then represented in this room as circles of varying sizes to show their importance and place in the mix.

The diagrams really help because they help you visualize a mix in a 3D space.

Check out the video below to see it in action.

3D Mixing

It’s essentially like this, the further towards the back wall you put an instrument, the further away you make it sound with effects or reverb. The larger the circles the louder the instrument.

And of course, where you put the instruments from left to right dictate your panning decisions.

It’s also a great exercise when you’re mixing your songs.

Take all the instruments in the tracks and start putting them down on paper in a fake 3D environment. It helps you visualize your mix before you start working on the faders, using EQ or compression. It makes you tally up all the elements of a mix and lets you make decisions about where to put them in the mix.

All before you even start your DAW.

Watch It

A reader actually emailed me and told me you could watch the video on Youtube so I’m embedding it below for your viewing pleasure.

It’s really quirky and weird but super funny and awesome as well!

Next time you’re mixing think about how you would place all the instruments in the 3D spectrum like thi.

Try it out.

Let me know what you think.

Actually, Mixing Strategies has a different approach to mixing but one that’s just as effective in giving you some really great ideas to make your mix sound better than ever.

Make it help your mixes sound better

www.audio-issues.com/strategies

image by: jbdenham

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