Balance is a mix is vital. But how should we as mix engineers begin this process? I have personally tried many different approaches, but the one that works for me is go for the part of the song that should be loudest and with the most instrumentation. Then take away from the tracks, going backwards. This way of creating balance is referenced by Mike Senior in “Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio” (Senior, 2019, p.133).
Mike suggests starting with the most important instrument first (like Mike Clink, Jack Douglas, Andy Johns, Tom Lord-Alge, Alan Parsons, and Tony Visconti) (Senior, 2019, p.135). This contrasts with some mix engineers (Bob Clearmountain, Chris Lord-Alge, Jack Joseph Puig and Cenzo Townshend) (ibid. p.135) that work across the entire track at the same time. The reason to start out with the main instruments first is that it can make creating a balance easier, in smaller stages. It also makes sure that there is room for all your instruments as you mix.
Two examples that show how this type of mixing can work at the extreme are quoted by Senior as “White Flag” by Dido (Armstrong, 2009) and “Umbrella” by Rihanna (Rihanna, 2009). These two tracks both pick out the main instruments (which includes voice) and then remove frequencies from other instruments to keep room for the main instruments. In the case of “White Flag” Senor writes, “the acoustic guitars are pretty much reduced to a sprinkling of rhythmic pick noise,” and for “Umbrella”, the synths have had so much taken away that they are almost “illusions” (ibid. p.136).
The benefits of working to create balance this way is that we are not going to over-process the original recordings. And for mixing as the main aim is to resolve instrumentation conflicts, this approach will lead to clearer, cleaner, and more balanced mixes.
References:
Armstrong, D. (2009) Dido – White Flag (official video), YouTube. Dido. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-fWDrZSiZs (Accessed: March 30, 2023).
Rihanna (2009) Rihanna – Umbrella (orange version) (Official Music Video) ft. Jay-Z, YouTube. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvBfHwUxHIk (Accessed: March 30, 2023).
Senior, M. (2019) “Chapter 8: Building the Raw Balance,” in Mixing secrets for the small studio. New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 133–139.