Hey Tony, love your work!
I currently have been admiring a handful of engineers that have a way of making mixes feel deep, wide and 3 dimensional. Where a simple verse with one synth drums and vocals can still feel larger than life and on a chorus when everything comes in, it doesn’t muddy the mix or lose dynamics. I’ve noticed I tend to lean on verbs to create space but things tend to eventually crowd the low mids and get washy. Sometimes I’ll make things nice and airy in a verse then realize my chorus is now too bright with sizzly pads. Would you have any advice on how to navigate creating 3 dimensional mixes while keeping things clean? My best example of yours is M83’s Us And The Rest.
Cheers,
Johnny P
Hey Johnny!
If you’re using a lot of reverb to build space but you’re mix is sounding muddy I’d recommend trying shorter reverb times. I’d also try not having all reverbs be stereo and have some be mono. Sometimes I’ll have a synth or guitar for example that’s panned to 3 o’clock and instead of sending it to a stereo reverb I’ll use a mono reverb and either pan it exactly to 3 o’clock where the instrument is or pan it opposite if I want to widen things. I’ll still have some elements going to stereo reverb/effects but if everything is going to a bunch of stereo reverbs it’s going to start to sound less big or 3 dimensional and more narrow.
In the M83 song you referenced I think may have had several reverbs that were different types (plate, digital 80’s/90’s, spring, etc.), different lengths and all eq’d differently which helps them stack up nicely. If you’re using a bunch of Valhalla reverbs on most tracks you probably won’t get the depth you mentioned. I think it’s good to mix and match if possible. -Tony
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