The document discusses the six elements of a mix according to author Bob Owsinski: balance, frequency range, panorama, dynamics, dimension, and interest. It provides details on each element, including how to achieve proper balance between elements, place instruments in the stereo field through panning, manage the frequency spectrum, use compression and gating to control dynamics, add ambience through reverb and other effects to provide dimension, and ways to make the mix more interesting through automation, muting, and other techniques.

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The 6 Elements of a Mix Stuart Jones

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The 6 Elements of a Mix
In his book, ‘The Mix Engineers Handbook’, Bob Owsinski describes the 6 elements of a
mix as:
1. Balance - the volume level relationship between musical elements
2. Frequency Range - having all frequencies properly represented
3. Panorama - placing musical elements in the soundfield
4. Dynamics - controlling the volume envelopes of a track or instrument
5. Dimension - adding ambience to a musical element
6. Interest - making the mix special

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1. Balance

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Balance
Level Balance
• If the arrangement has been structured with the final production in mind, the final
mix will be much easier.
• Good balance begins with a good arrangement.
• The arrangement will fit together better if all the instruments sit in their own
frequency range.
• Too many instruments playing at once will make the mixing process much harder.
• Correct recording levels are also important here as one sound might not get a fair
chance in the mix if it has been recorded at a low level.

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2. Panorama

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• Movement of a sound from between the stereo image during a mix can
create an interesting dynamic.
• Possibilities range from short, minuscule moves to wide, sweeping moves
that span the entire stereo spectrum (Gibson: The Art of Mixing)
Panorama

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Lead Vocal
Bass Drum, Snare and Bass Guitar
Lead Guitar
Rhythm Guitar
Drum Kit; Toms & Cymbals
Keyboards
Backing Vocals
Main Reverb
Left RightCentre
Panorama
Stereo Image Balance
Example - Typical Panning

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• Any sound panned to the centre will become louder in mono while those panned
hard left or right become quieter when the stereo mix is collapsed to mono.
• A sound positioned exactly mid-left (or mid right) will not suffer from the
mono/stereo translation problems.
• Therefore, be careful when panning hard left/right.
Panorama
Stereo Image Balance
Example - Typical Panning

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3. Frequency Range
The 10 Octaves of the Musical Spectrum

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20
40
80
160
320
640
1280
2560
5120
10240
20480
Octave 1 : Bottom End. Little Musical content. Some speakers will not play back these frequencies.
Octave 2 : Lower Bass. Low C octave. Bottom of musical pitches.
Octave 3 : Upper Bass. Bass and lower elements of drum kit fundamental here.
Octave 4 : The so-called ‘mud range’. Transition octave between bass and mid range.
Octave 5 : Lower mid range. Body and richness of sound.
Octave 6 : Mid-range. Highest fundamental pitches. Beginning of upper harmonics.
Octave 7 : Upper mid range. Major range of harmonic content.
Octave 8 : Presence. Primary recognition range for voice. Critical musical and vocal range.
Octave 9 : Highs, treble, brightness, sibilance.
Octave 10 : Extreme highs, air, hiss, sizzle. Little musical content.
31
62
125
250
500
1kHz
2kHz
4kHz
8kHz
16kHz
deepbass
rangeofmusicalfundamentals
rangeofmusicalharmonics
(low C - 65)
(middle C - 260)
(high C - 1040)
HF
HMF
LMF
LF

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• Our audible frequency range is 20 Hz to 20 kHz (20 000 Hz)
• The most basic division of the frequency spectrum in mixing jargon entails four bands:
lows, low-mids, high-mids and highs. This division originates from the common four-band
equalisers found on many analog desks.
• Primarily, EQ is used to try to improve the tone, richness, and general subjective appeal of
each of the instruments in their production.
• However, a much more crucial task is to achieve a stable balance across the frequency
spectrum.
• The most common problems with frequency balance involve the extremes. A mix is boomy
if there is an excess of low-frequency content, and thin if there is a deficiency. A mix is dull
if there are not enough highs, and brittle if there are too many.
• low frequencies are usually the hardest to stabilise and it is always worth paying attention
to this range when comparing a mix on different playback systems.
• As a general rule of thumb, we cut if we are trying to make things sound better and boost
when we are trying to make things sound different.
Frequency Range

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4. Dynamics
Compression and Gating

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• Dynamics are controlled by the use of compression, limiting and gating.
• All dynamics processors use a gain-controlling device to alter the dynamics of
the input signal.
• The gain controller (input signal) can also be controlled by a circuit which looks
at the signal and decides how much to reduce its gain. This control circuit is
known generically as the 'side-chain'.
Dynamics

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5. Dimension

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Dimension
Reverb and Effects Guidelines
Bass Drum/Bass Guitar
A good bass sound will cement the mix to the floor. However, the right reverb
might help your mix to 'float'. Keep the reverb time short and filter high
frequencies.
Snare Drum
Depending on what you are doing but, as a rule of thumb, the reverb tail on
one snare hit should finish before the next.
Overheads Overheads act as ambient mics and therefore should require no reverb.
Guitar
The electric guitar is often associated with a spring reverb but it's worth
experimenting with different reverb types and delays.
Organ Use distortion for a lo-fi effect. Use a Leslie or automated pan effect for stereo.
Brass
Slow attack on reverb to allow the natural attack of the instrument to come
through (esp. on Sax)
Vocals
ADT (Artificial Double Tracking) - A common vocal effects that uses a short
delay of around 30-60ms.
Worth experimenting with both reverb and delay. Try a chorus effect on
backing vocals Experimentation is the key.

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6. Interest

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• Automation - Automation or gain riding can make a mix ‘move’ .
• Mute - The most underrated mix tool. If a sound is ‘fighting’ to be hear in the mix,
try muting it or muting another sound in that frequency range.
• Momentum - Build the mix throughout the song.
• Master Fader - Automating the master fader up slightly during chorus’ can make
the chorus sound bigger.
Interest
Making the Mix Special

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Books
• Izhaki, Roey., ‘Mixing Audio Concepts, Practices and Tools’. Elsevier, 2008, US
• Owsinski, Bobby., ‘The Mixing Engineers Handbook’. Mix Books, 1999, US
• Senior, Mike., ‘Mixing Secrets For The Small Studio’. Elsevier, 2011, US
Web
• Ross Snyder interviewed by Howard Sanner about the history of Les Paul's eight track Ampex 300 and Sel-Sync, 11 Mar
2000
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetophon
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multitrack_recording
• http://recordist.com/ampex/docs/histapx/ampchrn.txt
• Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions (First Hardback ed.). EMI. ISBN 978-0600612070
• http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/company.histories/ampex/ampex_history_project.html
• Hearing: An Introduction to Psychological and Physiological Acoustics, Fourth Edition Stanley A. Gelfand
• http://www.stuartjones.org/category/mixing/
• http://www.one-nil.com/Compressors.pdf
References