One of the most overlooked, yet important, aspects of mixing and mastering is the stereo image of your mix. Panning can be used to literally add another dimension to your music, space.
Panning can also help everything to sit well into your mix, reducing the need for as much EQ. Unfortunately, a lot of resources for mixing and mastering focus mostly on EQ and compression at the expense of panning. So, we thought we’d share some basic tips on using panning to create a stereo image in your mix.
Get The Mix Balanced First
Before you start creating your stereo image, you want to have at least a general balance in your mix with how you’d like it to sound. You don’t have to have it perfect, but it will help a lot for deciding how best to pan. And once you’ve got your panning set, you’ll likely want to make some tweaks to the EQ and reverb again.
Lead Vocals In The Center
Listeners are used to having lead vocals in the center. This is probably thanks to the lead singer usually performing center stage in live shows. It’s also best to have the lead vocals even across both channels so that they can be heard clearly no matter where the listener sits in the stereo image.
Bass In The Center
Low frequency instruments like bass, kick drum and synths typically carry the energy of the track. Because of this it’s best to let them be evenly distributed across both stereo channels. If you absolutely need to put a bass instrument toward one channel, then you can always pan the mids of the sound, while leaving the bass in the center. This will create the illusion of space while keeping the bass balanced.
Use Mono Reverb
This is a general rule of thumb when it comes to working with multiple tracks. Using mono reverb on each part of your mix can help you get a cleaner, less muddy mix. Of course, there are exceptions to this, but recording in mono and using mono reverb can help you maintain focus for each instrument in the mix.
Though often an afterthought, panning has the power to really add depth, space and realism to your mix. A well-crafted stereo image can greatly enhance the listening experience. We hope you'll use these tips to give more focus to the stereo imaging in your mixing and mastering.
So, Why A Membership?
Let’s face it — trying to create professional mixes without the correct knowledge, tools, services, and network is like playing a concert with a broken instrument to an audience of no one.
That’s where the Sage Audio membership comes in — the membership gives you everything you need to create professional mixes consistently.
The membership is the secret to your success — it’s the difference between the 1,929,999,999 of poor-sounding mixes and the .00000002% of mixes that make people say 'WOW!"
There are 7 unique value-points included in your Sage Audio membership.
Let’s go over each one so you can decide if the membership is right for you.
1. Sage Audio University
- SAU Flagship Mixing Course: 23-video in-depth mixing course that reveals the little-known secrets of mixing and matches the needs of the new music industry.
- SAU Flagship Mastering Course: 19-video in-depth modern mastering course that dives into every nuance of making professional-sounding masters.
- SAU Pre-Mastering Course: Concise pre-mastering course that details the latest industry standards for preparing your mixes for mastering.
- SAU is designed for every experience level, ranging from budding mixing engineers to advanced engineers. The techniques and concepts taught can be applied to any DAW to create industry-leading mixes without expensive software or plugins - and free plugin alternatives are suggested throughout each course.
- Each SAU course includes Start-to-Finish session walkthrough lessons for multiple genres so you can follow along with your preferred genre.
- SAU Certification Document, which can be downloaded and showcased on your website and social channels.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
2. Private 1-on-1 Mentorship
- The Sage Audio private 1-on-1 Mentorship gives you direct access to us for advanced mixing feedback, in-depth discussions, and customized guidance that's tailored to your specific needs.
- Unlimited private access to us for advanced mixing feedback, where we provide detailed suggestions for improvement.
- Unlimited private access to us for in-depth discussions to help you improve every aspect of your mixes and masters.
- Customized guidance that’s tailored specifically to your needs.
- Fast communication so you can improve your skills quickly.
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3. Unlimited Mixing Feedback
- Unlimited professional mixing feedback directly from us so you can consistently improve your skills and create professional mixes.
- Mixing feedback is invaluable, and the Sage Audio membership gives you continual direct access to us for real-world feedback so you can improve every aspect of each of your mixes while you're in the process of mixing.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
4. 50 Free Mastered Songs Per Year
- 50 free mastered songs per year with your own dedicated professional mastering engineer so you can get all your mixes sounding like professional songs.
- You get your own dedicated Sage Audio mastering engineer to create custom masters that are specific to you and sound exactly how you want.
- Unlimited revisions with your dedicated mastering engineer. As a standard of our service, we are not happy until you are happy with the sound of your masters.
- All masters are delivered as commercial, industry-standard high-resolution 24-bit HD WAV masters so they will sound clean and clear on every platform.
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5. Community
- The Sage Audio community is a tight-knit community of passionate audio engineers who can provide you with additional real-world mixing feedback, meaningful discussions, networking, collaborations, and more.
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6. 70+ GB of Curated Sage Audio Downloadable Content
- 36 multitrack sessions spanning multiple genres for mixing practice.
- 57 un-mastered mixes spanning multiple genres for mastering practice.
- 62 Recommended Free Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 39 Recommended Paid Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 71 Sage Audio custom plugin presets to improve your mixes and masters.
- Sage Audio Membership Badge to showcase on your website, social channels, and portfolio.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
7. 800+ Video Catalog
- Access 700+ in-depth Sage Audio mixing and mastering videos - curated and organized into categories so you can easily take a deep dive into all aspects of audio engineering with thousands of hours of concise, expertly crafted Sage Audio videos to continually improve your skills at your own pace.
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