Is LR balance like panning? I really don’t know a thing about mastering since every time I try to read about it I get so confused (it’s just so technical), so I end up just using bandlab for it. Of course, I still try to balance the volume levels out when I’m mixing but that’s about it. I’m very new to all of this, this jam is the first time I’ll be putting my music out there, so if you have any other tips for beginners, I’d love to learn as much as I can :)
Well, when I refer to "LR balance" it's similar to "panning" but not exactly the same. Yes, it's about positioning the instruments so we have a better stereo effect. But for "LR balance", it's more like "balance the loudness of the left and right channel so they are the same".It's nothing with the stereo field.
For the loudness, I still prefer to make a final check when mastering. During the mixing step, we could try to make them the same but there is no guarantee. We can always make some mistakes and leave one track a bit louder than the other. Setting all 6 tracks in a row and checking them one by one is a lot easier than setting the loudness in each track.