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im noticing that a lot of people struggle with giving their tracks a full/polished sound. myself included...

there are a few different things that im just starting to test out, that seem make a huge difference in the overall quality of a mix and help to give things more of a polished sound (assuming there is solid gain structure, eq'ing, compression, good source sounds and sound design, balanced mix, etc). im wondering what type of settings/techniques some other people might be using for things like:

- an aux with HUGE verb, that multiple things are sent to in small amount to give your mix a "wet" background for adding dimension to the track.
(what kind of reverb times? what types of reverb?)

- mix "glue" techniques like using the same compressor or distortion in small amounts across multiple busses or element that will create common harmonics and character throughout the mix.
(doing this on a aux? similar to the reverb aux technique?)

- bass that fills up both the frequency spectrum AND dimensional spectrum as well.
(sending to an aux with a wide stereo imager?)
(doubledtracked guitar approach where you use 2 tracks (that are slightly different) panned hard left and hard right?)

- heavy use of white noise to balance bass heavy sounds in a mix and keep the frequency spectrum full during drops.


after a couple weeks of experimenting with all of the above and seeing various results, im still kind of just taking stabs in the dark and guessing how to do apply these techniques. not all of my guesses have sounded good lol.

maybe someone wants to test out some of these techniques and discuss the results....
or maybe ill just get flamed with alpacas photos for no reason as per typical dsf response to everything

1. A wet background, interesting idea!

2. I i don't see how a common compressor would create similar harmonics, though it would create similar dynamics

3. Let me know how your experimentations go! You've def given me some great food for thought

xrylex wrote:im noticing that a lot of people struggle with giving their tracks a full/polished sound. myself included...

there are a few different things that im just starting to test out, that seem make a huge difference in the overall quality of a mix and help to give things more of a polished sound (assuming there is solid gain structure, eq'ing, compression, good source sounds and sound design, balanced mix, etc). im wondering what type of settings/techniques some other people might be using for things like:

- an aux with HUGE verb, that multiple things are sent to in small amount to give your mix a "wet" background for adding dimension to the track.
(what kind of reverb times? what types of reverb?)

- mix "glue" techniques like using the same compressor or distortion in small amounts across multiple busses or element that will create common harmonics and character throughout the mix.
(doing this on a aux? similar to the reverb aux technique?)

- bass that fills up both the frequency spectrum AND dimensional spectrum as well.
(sending to an aux with a wide stereo imager?)
(doubledtracked guitar approach where you use 2 tracks (that are slightly different) panned hard left and hard right?)

- heavy use of white noise to balance bass heavy sounds in a mix and keep the frequency spectrum full during drops.


after a couple weeks of experimenting with all of the above and seeing various results, im still kind of just taking stabs in the dark and guessing how to do apply these techniques. not all of my guesses have sounded good lol.

maybe someone wants to test out some of these techniques and discuss the results....
or maybe ill just get flamed with alpacas photos for no reason as per typical dsf response to everything

- up to 4.5 secs, usually a hall 'verb, I like to add pre-delay (5-25 ms), eq under around 400hz out, gradual q, 12db or 6db p/octave to keep power in the lows.

- haven't used a distortion send in a while but I often sub group the shit out of everything to add a small amount of limiting/compression, e.g subs, midranges > basses > rhythm section > output 1 - 2.

- try to leave my basses width untouched unless looking for a specific effect (possibly a short delay and some reverb for width in the mix), subs always mono.

- don't use much if any white noise, I like to keep the highs interesting with my percussive elements.

This is what I've found so far, mostly picked up around DSF with some self experimentation on top to see what I like best.

awesome, def gives me some starting points and things to try out.. thnx for the info

ive recently noticed that a cleaver use of the stereo image gives u an edge on people ...

its really a part of that ''polished sound''

that has helped me much lately...

i posted about it.. and NO id ont want it to sound like a plug, as i dont win anything with this forum (or else id be richer then last year for sure considering how much time ive put reading around here )

http://www.dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=193944

widening ur bass is risky... read about phase cancellation, comb filtering and mono compatibility...

for the bass.. if its a really important part of your song... bother using sends and splitting it.. make the lower part mono and the higher part stereo and spread out... best of both worlds

thats an interesting thread ldizzy, def got me thinking in a new direction.

as far as this whole "bass is mono it doesnt need to be wide" view is totally bs. SUB should be mono no question... but most pro dubstep tunes with big basslines as the focus have mid/upper sections that literally fill the entire stereo spectrum.

this thread is along the lines what i was looking for:
http://dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=192059

still a little unclear and how to get that "full" stereo sound in a bassline but sounding like a send with chorus/delay on it is a good way to go... im not real sold on doing the doubletracking/pan 2 tracks hard left/hard right thing... seems a bit restrictive because you would have to wait to you have committed your bassline to audio, then once you take the time to sample delay/track delay one of the 2 tracks, you are pretty much stuck with it.

my main goal is just to make my mix sound cohesive, full, and polished...

still interested to hear if anyone is using whitenoise to fill up/balance the freq spectrum in their tracks...

house heads do... a lot...

and dnb headz use those very hipassed breaks to do it too...

i guess it really is a matter of composing what u digs.. if a bandpassed noise-made riser fits in... then u keep it...

Sounds like you're heading in the right direction, good finds!