How to create space in a mix

[Magnus Mollin]

Here is a tip for you. If you have a microphone at home you can simply record the ambiance of the room that you are in That fills out the entire mix.

But keep in mind that you don't want to record if you have any loud noises that will be heard in the recording, like computer fans or something else.

note: i have never tried this myself. But I've heard that this can help a lot!

[hydrogen]

note: i have never tried this myself. But I've heard that this can help a lot!

My favorite advice for creating space and time too.

Its generally thought to use this to help with transitions between cuts on recorded audio. Particularly for film or video.


An another note, Isn't there an article where ricardo talks about this and why he doesn't use reverbs because the space should be created when the track is played in the club?

[Magnus Mollin]

note: i have never tried this myself. But I've heard that this can help a lot!

My favorite advice for creating space and time too.

Its generally thought to use this to help with transitions between cuts on recorded audio. Particularly for film or video.


An another note, Isn't there an article where ricardo talks about this and why he doesn't use reverbs because the space should be created when the track is played in the club?

"Humans are experts in reverbs, it is the one thing we are really experts in; we know if we’re in a kitchen, an elevator, a big hall. Microphone recording lets in this space where the sound was recorded, but with electronic music, it is an effect that is light years behind...It’s impossible to bring into electronic music the space existing in acoustic recording, but we can make field recordings and mix electronic and acoustic music. This is what I try to do constantly.”

Said by Ricardo villalobos. I don't know if this have anything to do with your post? :O

[hydrogen]

I don't know if this have anything to do with your post? :O

yeah that was it. thanks magnus!

[agodi]

Ive recently been experimenting with adding ambient sounds into tracks to create a wider sense of space. I bought and field recorder and have started recording outdoor noises like street scenes and chatter but Ive also been cutting out the non musical parts from tracks that have been recorded with a microphone eg silences, background noises etc.

Heres a quick demo I made to demonstrate this to a friend a couple of weeks ago.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/0x0hrd
The first part is just the loop with nothing added and then after 30secs I add some background noise

[mlexicon]

as an example, something i find that creates "space"

take some hi hats at a specific frequency in a mix and either add another hi hat line at a lower or even higher frequency, and youll quickly hear the "space"

making all your sounds sit in or around the same frequency range wil make it real flat and boring


i think

[coldfuture]

I usually take some out at 315-345hz on anything that spans across those freqs.

I find that area of the mids to cause most of my own tracks to lose definition and space, so I cut them down some.

My suggestion is to try to find that muddy area in your own tracks and sounds.

My bet is that its somewhere between 250-500 for everyone. The midrange gets cluttered because almost all sounds have a heavy amount of content there. I feel that even if the only EQing you do in your entire track is dealing with that midrange buildup, your mix will be quite clean when done.

[miro pajic]

I don't think the 'room' that your track creates is just from reverb.

It might be one of those things that has no real formula. a mysterious thing.

Some producers can create a 'room' without even using any reverb.

ahh

very hard subject to talk about

exactly! it's a sound selection thing, panning, perfect EQing (also M/S), maybe doubling or some parallel compression and as effects some delays, ambiences or rooms / reverbs...

that's the main issues