David Gibson’s ‘the art of mixing’ discusses the concept of visual representation, and the ways in which this can improve your mix. I’ve come across this concept a couple of times before and it’s explained and used slightly differently in each incarnation. The way I see the concept being used most commonly (and quite similarly to Gibson’s) goes as follows:
Imagine a 3D space, left to right is panning across the spectrum, up and down is the frequency range something inhabits, and depth is prominence in the mix, altered usually through volume, reverb (FX) or EQ. I find this concept extremely useful, as I imagined that each instrument within this space was solid, and two things couldn’t be in the same place. for example, this means that if two things take up the same frequency range, then one would either have to be moved across the room (panned) or sent further back (volume or reverb to remove focus). This idea was incredibly useful to me as it helped me visualise each instrument sticking to its own space within the mix.
While analysing the song I realised something I had never noticed before, the bass guitar is panned all the way to the left. The mix however still sounds incredibly full and balanced, and I realised this was because almost every other element of the song was In the other ear. The kick, snare and lead vocal occupy the centre, while a low backing vocal takes up a lot of the low range on the right. The guitar is extremely thin and trebley, as is common place in post punk, and the toms were panned across the spectrum. I thought while listening that the low tom actually had the least amount of low end to it, really only compromising of the sound of the initial hit, which makes sense when considering it was on the same side as the all encompassing bass. A janky noise guitar part sat slightly above the vocal, frequency wise, but was drowned in reverb and pulled back slightly in the mix, keeping the focus on the main vocal.
overall I find this technique very helpful in combatting muddy and cluttered mixes, making sure every element has it’s own space and the focus is where it should be at all times.