Want a more visual look at how to create space for different instruments in the mix?
Here's a great video on how different elements of a mix take up space in the frequency spectrum.
Before you start the video, here's what's happening:
Each instrument in the song is represented by a different colored circle taking up some space on the graph.
The graph that the video is showing has three parts:
[ml][ul][li indent=0 align=left]Top-to-bottom represents the frequency spectrum. Instrument circles are placed based on what part of the spectrum they're living in.[/li][li indent=0 align=left]Left-to-right represents the panning of the instrument, and how "wide" the instrument sounds in the stereo spectrum.[/li][li indent=0 align=left]Front-to-back represents how loud an instrument is, and how "upfront" in the mix it sounds.[/li][/ul][/ml]This probably sounds more complex than it actually is. Check out the video and you'll see what I mean!
[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w-i0xc51gc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w-i0xc51gc[/url]
Pay special attention when the chorus comes in at 0:50 to see how the mix handles the addition of several new instruments.