How To BALANCE Instruments In Your Mix

Ever struggle with the faders in your mix? Miami tried to help even the odds by showing a sure method of balancing your tracks step by step
Join the JST Plugin Waitlist: joeysturgistones.com/pages/js...
Download JST Maximizer: joeysturgistones.com/products...
Download Howard Benson Vocals: joeysturgistones.com/products...
0:00 - Intro
1:26 - Balancing Your Drums
2:16 - Spotting The Differences Between Your Mix And The Target Mix
4:02 - Balancing Your Bass
5:32 - Balancing Your Guitars
7:49 - Balancing Your Vocals
10:00 - Recap
10:34 - Outro
Check out our free stuff: joeysturgistones.com/free
Learn how to mix: nailthemix.com
Tags: home recording, audio production, mixing tutorials
#homerecording #audioproduction #mixingtutorials

[@ZombiePenguinStudios]

props on that sub transition lol

[@joeymusic]

It was time to level up lol -Miami

[@tbnbfm8089]

​@@joeymusic what daw is that?

[@prod.lyelye]

Okay but, that sub transition was actually insane!!

[@joeymusic]

Bro, I’m sayinnn -Miami

[@ADayinWhite]

I've been looking for a video explaining balancing levels for over a year! Thank you so much!!!

[@joeymusic]

I knew it was about time! -Miami

[@mcchurch118]

I learned more in this video than I have in a month trying things out on my own 🤘🔥🔥🤘

[@NeekoLionheartMMA]

Okay, this was incredibly helpful. Thank you, Miami!!

[@Hazel1312]

Incredibly useful and incredibly easy to follow. Props, man!

[@cityofscreams]

Another great one! Looking forward to the automation video

[@joeymusic]

Ahh, someone’s been paying attention lol! Coming soon -Miami

[@Schpacky]

Dang Miami! Absolutely killed it as always mang! That sub transition game was beyond epic! I really needed help in this regard and now I have a better idea for my future mixes thanks for sharing! For the future I would to see you talk about something like track spacer and how you would use it on reaper to side chain properly I'm still having issues with its routing. lol much love Man!!

[@joeymusic]

I’m so down to do an episode about that! Trackspacer is a genius plugin tbh and worth an episode -Miami

[@benjaminrussell08]

Thank you for all you guys do at jst, I've learned so much!! BTW I would love to know where to get some merch haha loving the shirt!

[@joeymusic]

If there are enough requests, I’m sure we would do a run of these -Miami

[@doomdriverband]

Great stuff, Miami! Your vids have helped me immensely.

[@joeymusic]

Thanks for watching! What would you like to see next? -Miami

[@doomdriverband]

@@joeymusic Cool! Maybe a video on how to get a clean, clear sounding mix, but in a very 'general sense', if you haven't already. 😎 i.e. not getting to specific with certain plug-ins.

[@AVDRE]

The script for this video is great! Good job

[@joeymusic]

Thanks so much for noticing haha. Really went all out here -Miami

[@s54b32i]

Thanx for another great video.

[@joeymusic]

Anytime Lara! Glad you enjoyed it -Miami

[@correametal]

Thank you soooooooooooooo much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Finally, a video on the most important aspect of mixing and that I have not seen anyone cover. All videos I always see are about just the new plugin that came out and tips and tricks using plugins to achieve a certain sound, but, no one except for you now had taken the time to make a video on this most important topic. This is the foundation of everything, and with this done everything else falls into place and makes all the other "sweetening" aspects much easier. My total respect for you guys making this video and keep up with the excellent content and products!!!

[@joeymusic]

I’m so glad that we could help, Jose! We will keep dropping tools to help with your audio journey also -Miami

[@jcborges96]

Chewyyyyy!!!!

[@correametal]

@@jcborges96 hey how are you doing???

[@jcborges96]

@@correametal pretty good, hope you too my friend!

[@alexandre7634]

💯 balance is the only thing we all share lol. Videos on eq, effects, compression, "what do you have on your mixbus" are cool and inspiring but it's really personnal. You can eq a million different ways, at the end, it all comes down to balance

[@Pietreszcz]

Omg THAT TRANSITIOONNNNN

[@Kyle_Noonan]

Bless, Miami. Bless.

[@joeymusic]

Aye Kyle! How’ve you been my dude -Miami

[@robertsimpson5801]

Man, I am seriously loving the JST Maximizer demos. I am waiting for a sale to grab it! 💵

[@joeymusic]

It’s on sale today

[@Spajeightysauce]

Transition Game! 🤘🤘🤘

[@joeymusic]

Definitely elite this episode -Miami

[@danmenez]

YES!

[@joeymusic]

Hope you enjoy the rest of the series as well! -Miami

[@EXPLICITBG]

Is this an actual song we can listen to somewhere? It sounds cool!

[@LeifEkbergh]

Kick pattern is almost Take On Me

[@matiaspenaloza8793]

Man opit literally issss hahahaha

[@davidvickersbombstorestudi5466]

Hi Miami. May I ask what meter type you are using in this video? Peak? RMS? Digital VU? Or something else? Thank you very much for the brilliant content. Keep up the good work.

[@timothydillard4192]

F****** love maximizer

[@joeymusic]

We knew you would! -Miami

[@austinlogancadence6750]

Do you generally set the harmonies -6db below the lead vocals?

[@JaredNash13]

Hey Miami! Great video. This question is unrelated to the video, When it comes to Bass tones using JW BG Bass, do you find your crossover frequency before feeding your signal into it? I’ve done each method separately but not both. I didn’t know if JW Bass did this automatically (getting rid of the middy mids), or if we need to do that processing ourselves. As always, thanks!

[@joeymusic]

It handles that for you! I don’t split when using it -Miami

[@gh0ul.nin9]

i love that i heard the drum jokes in the beginning literally as i’m setting up my new electric drums lol also, do you think you could do a video on mixing electric drums one day¿ if not, totally understandable

[@joeymusic]

100% would love to do that -Miami

[@gh0ul.nin9]

@@joeymusic this is why i keep coming back here you're the best, man

[@darlyngton_nyc]

Could you do a video on panning parts of a drum set?

[@joeymusic]

Yeah I’m down to do an in depth one on just this -Miami

[@theAshesofDecember1]

I feel like learning to achieve inner balance (for my mixes) from Miami is going to lead me to walking the world like Kane from king fu.

[@joeymusic]

Haha too funny -Miami

[@theAshesofDecember1]

@@joeymusic I’m always hearing conflicting opinions on panning in mixes. I hear a lot of recommendations for CLR mixing though this video advocated for using more of the pan space (which seems more natural in my mind) to allow things like leads to have their own room. Could you do a video on the pros and cons, or when one may be more appropriate than the other based on genre or style?

[@RekusoXYZ]

When doing vocal doublers, do you just do one double track -9db? I've heard about doing a hard left double and a hard right double. What's the positives and negatives of that?

[@martinezdecap]

Hi! When clipping individual tracks, is it best to clip it before the processing of effects or clip each track at the end of its effect chain??

[@guinganfg]

Nice content, as usual my friend! I have a question.. Before pulling up the faders (or doing with faders at zero, then bringing them down), do you do some kind of gain staging on the individual tracks? I mean, leaving all tracks and busses with the “same” volume, and then doing the balance with the faders? I’ve heard that having all tracks between -12 to -6, is a great starting point to level the gain of each track, then pulling all faders down and bringing each one to the mix as you did.. I know there are many ways to do it, sometimes youtube confuses us more than give us a solution! LOL! Cheers from Brazil! 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻

[@joeymusic]

Tbh, this never really matters to me. But -12 is a great starting point. As long as you’re mixing into busses and limiters you eventually just end up with 5 or 6 faders anyways -Miami

[@metalfather8139]

Hey man im wondering abt your defuser you made behind your monitors and screen...how thick are those pieces? And does it work well? Or more for visual? Thankyou

[@StoriesOfSolitude]

Perfectly balanced, as all things should be

[@joeymusic]

Glad you agree, my friend! -Miami

[@metatron333ascension]

this is exactly how i mix. get drums and bass locked in first. then bring in guitars. then vocals. the only thing i didnt do was mix the vocals against themselves. this came at the right time for me. i look forward to getting the JST maximizer soon. are there any information on the JST EQ though? all the features etc?

[@joeymusic]

That video is coming soon, I promise -Miami

[@Justinjale]

Me too, but I guess I'll try putting rhythm and lead guitar in separate busses now that I saw this video. It kinda makes sense anyway

[@lowrater]

JST gives balance to all musicians. The real MVP. - It could be very fun, if JST made some kind of contest.

[@joeymusic]

What would you want to see in the contest? -Miami

[@lowrater]

@@joeymusic Something related to all the guides you guys made, to see how people took it to use. Like 'Mix, balance & glue this track' or 'fix this guitar sound' or 'EQ this vocal to your track', Or.. maybe something like sending songs in to pin-points 3 things to focus on. Or.. let people record their mixing progress and pin point the mistakes. That could be very interesting getting in touch with the subs.

[@TheWicked1999]

Yo miami what's the song you use for the balance example?

[@slavesoul78]

is that lead vocal ttrack that is panned stereo left and right...one single audio and doubled with multiplier? or 2 exact takes? or duplicated?..thanks.

[@sap1ensrecord]

I love u Miami

[@dfnymusic3396]

Do you add this plugins to each track & the drum bus?

[@joeymusic]

Yeah and the mix bus

[@listentostudio]

that transition game is on AAA tier now, Miami, be careful :D

[@joeymusic]

They gonna start copying me 😩 -Miami

[@mosquedadavid]

Miami. How would you maximise your Subs if you limit them? 🥁 💥😆. Serious question now: Do you add reverb and delay to the vocal double or just Fx on the main one and let the double reinforce? 🎤

[@joeymusic]

I promise, this changes EVERY TIME! Like, sometimes it’s a vocal you really want to shine so you put the effects on the double. Other times the vocalist may not be that great so you’re trying to create some washy ambience to make the details of the performance not be as noticeable -Miami

[@atomichaser]

so would ez drummer 3 not need a maximizer on it since its a vst midi thing already?

[@joeymusic]

Yeah I’d use maximizer on that to make it sound more full, clear, and punchy.

[@GTORT]

Bass drum sounded like the main rhythm from A-ha's Take On Me lmaooo

[@joeymusic]

I literally heard the adlibs as I read this -Miami

[@damianneve]

Anyone else notice the kick is stolen from "take on me..." lmfao! 😆 🤣 😂

[@joeymusic]

You ain’t lying, it’s really close lmao -Miami

[@guidopoblete]

come on JST we need a "balanced mix" plugin 😂

[@joeymusic]

Ya never know! -Miami

[@guidopoblete]

@@joeymusic the mixbalancer v1 🤘🏽

[@swampmanbfe]

Shout out to everyone who hears these Fast Track songs while they are sleeping 🥳

[@joeymusic]

One of these days we gotta make a playlist for this -Miami

[@shredlabstudios]

Where'd the rev a go?

[@joeymusic]

To my friend Neil! We got plugins that took the place of that for me -Miami

[@shredlabstudios]

@@joeymusic right on my man. Looking forward to trying maximizer

[@arjunjsatheesh8899]

Balancing Synth pls..

[@joeymusic]

When I do that episode it’s gonna be a big deal, and you’ll see why soon -Miami

[@je36]

mmm, I need to get my guitars louder... Thanks!

[@joeymusic]

Anytime my friend -Miami

[@VincentVegardSvart]

how to balance real keyboards/strings and choirs and where to pan?

[@joeymusic]

Pan to get a wider spectrum - put some elements in their own spots on the panning settings. Allows you to create a virtual space for the elements to work together.

[@michaelclark7456]

As I'm LITERALLY TRYING TO BALANCE ALL THE INSTRUMENTS IN A SONG IM TRYING TO MAKE. Talk about timing.

[@joeymusic]

Hope this helps a ton, Michael! -Miami

[@mosquedadavid]

Miami. How would you maximise your Subs if you limit them? 🥁 💥😆

[@joeymusic]

Yeah, your transition game is crazy today lol -Miami

[@Mattrocity1337]

reference: kick 2:01 snare 2:39 OH 3:15 room 3:35 bass 5:04 guitar 6:06 leads 7:18

[@FFStudioMy]

My unbalanced life makes this even harder to balance the tracks.

[@austinarchuleta1338]

First