How do you fix a mix with unbalance left and right

Hi,

I have a mix that its spectrum analysis, time domain, and stat looks like below.


I have several instruments that the play solo which is panned to the left as they are placed on the left side of the stage.

Is this problematic? If so, how do you fix this given only the stereo mix?

any help would be greatly appreciated.
CS

If this was a classical orchestra then I would expect some things to be on one side and other things on the other. That’s just natural. If you’re doing a mix of a rock band you can have keyboards on the left and electric guitar on the right for example.

The single most important question is how it sounds. If it sounds good then the difference in energy left versus right isn’t really a problem.

  • How does it sound?

Also, the lower the frequency the less directional it is, meaning that it’s much harder to pinpoint where a low frequency is coming from compared to a high frequency. So there’s often a point where your ears and brain sort of lose track of left/right. The sound is just sort of there. So again it depends.

Thank you very much. Does this also tell something new. I attached the stat and time domain view to the OP.


The pieces has couple of ethinc ( dulcimer, plucked instruments, heart beat paned to the left from the start and on and off different places.) It uses full strings in the loud parts.

About how it sound:

The arrangement is rather complex and lots of elements fighting for space I would say. Something that it bugs me is the heavy reverb (especially in the low end) in the strings where they play staccato chords with quarter note space between them.

Ok, but my point is that nobody is going to buy your music so they can look at a waveform. If you like how it sounds then it’s fine. That’s what I’m saying. There’s nothing to “fix” if it sounds fine.

If you don’t think it sounds fine then fix whatever it is that you don’t like. If the reverb bugs you then either change the preset, the amount of reverb, the amount of instruments feeding it, or put an effect like an EQ on it… just listen and adjust.

Let me put it like this: The amount of times I’ve looked at a visual representation of a song I liked where the mix was at times super-heavy on one side and not the other is still zero. Because I’m not interested in it. I listen to music. Not look. Of course there are times when I don’t like how the panning is done, but I still don’t analyze it, I just move on.

So maybe share the mix instead so people can listen to it and let you know if they feel the “unbalance” is a problem.

I should add that there have been times when I’ve second guessed my own mixing because I was unsure about how balanced it was left/right, highs/lows etc. I often found much later that I was overdoing it and that a lot of the music I like the most isn’t all that “flat”.

I guess I was carried away with visual stuff. In fact, to listen to mix with closed eyes to avoid being distracted by graphics. I just bought new pair of studio monitors with a subwoofer. I will adjust my mix and will share it.

Thank you for your time.