1. Name every sound you hear (drums, bass, guitar, horns, vocals, claps…)
2. Which sound is the LOUDEST?
3. Which sound is the QUIETEST?
4. Do any sounds come from the LEFT or RIGHT?
Someone made every one of those decisions. That person is the mixing engineer. Today, YOU become the mixing engineer.
Connection to Yesterday: Yesterday’s producers all share one secret weapon — mixing.
Drums = loudest foundation — the backbone of the beat.
Bass = weight and power underneath.
Melody = sits on top, clear but not overpowering.
Adjust with faders — slide each track’s volume until every element has its place.
Think-Pair-Share: Which track in YOUR beat is too loud or too quiet?
Kick drum = always CENTER (the anchor).
Hi-hats = slightly RIGHT.
Melody = slightly LEFT.
This creates WIDTH — your beat fills the whole space between the speakers instead of everything coming from the same spot.
DOK 3: Why keep kick centered but spread hi-hats to the sides?
EQ adjusts frequency — how bright or deep a sound is.
Cut the mud at 200–400 Hz — removes boominess.
Boost brightness on hi-hats — adds sparkle and clarity.
“EQ is surgery — small cuts, not big boosts.”
In Soundtrap: Use the 5-band Visual EQ on any track. Click the track → Effects → Equalizer. Drag the frequency bands to sculpt your sound.
The loudness of each individual track in a mix. Adjusted with faders to ensure no single element overpowers the others.
Placing a sound in the stereo field — left, right, or center. Creates width and space so instruments don’t clash.
Adjusting frequencies — boosting highs for brightness, cutting lows to remove muddiness. Like surgery for sound.
The full left-to-right sound space between two speakers. A wide stereo field makes a mix sound professional and immersive.
Name 3 mixing techniques we learned today. For each, explain what it does in one sentence.
2: 3 techniques + clear explanation • 1: 1–2 techniques or vague • 0: No response
Which mixing technique changed your beat the most? Explain specifically what you adjusted and how it sounded different.
Starter: “The technique that changed my beat the most was ___ because I ___”
3: Technique + specific change + result • 2: Technique + vague change • 1: Name only • 0: None