Pro Tools 7 for Macintosh and Windows: Visual QuickStart Guide

14. Mixing Basics

Mixing is a process of slowly building and shaping multiple tracks of audio into a balanced and coherent presentation. There are no absolute rules in mixing—following your own ears and tastes is essential. There are, however, a few important basics that you need to know if you want to turn a rough mix into an exciting sound production.

This chapter starts with an in-depth look at creating stereo mixes. We’ll describe how stereo imaging is used to simulate a three-dimensional acoustic space and explain how panning, equalization, and spatial effects can create the perception of width, height, and depth in a stereo mix.

We’ll also discuss how audio signal flows through individual channel strips, as well as how to assign track inputs ...