# Balance and clarity of sounds
**URL:** https://community.mwtm.com/t/balance-and-clarity-of-sounds/1391
**Category:** Tom Elmhirst mixing Travis Scott
**Created:** [November 17, 2023, 12:58am UTC](https://community.mwtm.com/t/balance-and-clarity-of-sounds/1391 "2023-11-17T00:58:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Sidney\_Morton-Wight](https://community.mwtm.com/u/Sidney_Morton-Wight)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2023, 12:58am UTC](https://community.mwtm.com/t/balance-and-clarity-of-sounds/1391/1 "2023-11-17T00:58:30Z")
Hi Tom, love your work and am wondering how you get everything clear and clean but still somehow glued together?
Thanks heaps for any help, Sid
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Elmhirst](https://community.mwtm.com/u/Tom_Elmhirst)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2024, 12:40am UTC](https://community.mwtm.com/t/balance-and-clarity-of-sounds/1391/2 "2024-07-08T00:40:08Z")
hey Sid
there is no quick answer to this…been at this mixing thing for 20 plus years and experience is everything. i mix a wide cross section of genres,
they all inform each other but after all those thousands of hours uou get better at it!
not much of a surprise there but it does take time
i am a fan of saturation so that’s gonna help with the glue factor
but if everything is saturated in a mix there’s no clarity or it can all get mushy real quick
if select parts are distorted or effected but the drums are bone dry you get contrast which then adds depth to a mix in a 3d way if you like. parts arent fighting each other when not battling for the middle ground.the opposite is also true. distort the drums and keep the vocal in your face.
hope that helps
best
tom
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### Author:  [@Sidney\_Morton-Wight](https://community.mwtm.com/u/Sidney_Morton-Wight)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2024, 12:11pm UTC](https://community.mwtm.com/t/balance-and-clarity-of-sounds/1391/3 "2024-07-08T12:11:57Z")
Thanks heaps Tom, makes perfect sense, really appreciate the reply
Thanks, Sid