SS Glen: TX: 'space' achieved

[jeffmaher]

I did some work on what you had suggested , Glen....leaving space for the verb to play in.

I did a lot of listening to pop/commercial stuff...and finally figured out, I think, what you were saying...and solved one of my bad prollums with my mixing. 'concept'..to wit:

My mixes were cluttered and mashed.... even with few tracks.

I'd been panning the drum kit pretty wide...cuz I could...across a 90 degree field L to R. [45% either side] Big mistake. I thought it sounded cool. But most of the pro records have the kit very narrow in the center..mebbe a tom series outside at 30% or so off C.

The "verb notches" you told me to be aware of are more like everything outside 10% of center., and 180 degrees L&R I was thinking like eight slices of the pie was what you were talking about. But the ambient space didn't happen when I had primary tracks...especially the kit... scattered all across the field...I COULDN'T HEAR THE VERB! So I would jack it up...and the mix started to sound like mooshy, midrangie crapp.

The thing I'm working on now has the kit very confined. I threw some different verbs on it, and it's...like...SPACE!

And , anyway, thanks for focusing me in on this. And I know this whole thing must be totally obvious to anybody who's been messing with this stuff for a while; but it was a Eureka moment for me.

I appreciate the lesson. Very useful guidance.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

I did some work on what you had suggested , Glen....leaving space for the verb to play in.

I did a lot of listening to pop/commercial stuff...and finally figured out, I think, what you were saying...and solved one of my bad prollums with my mixing. 'concept'..to wit:

My mixes were cluttered and mashed.... even with few tracks.

I'd been panning the drum kit pretty wide...cuz I could...across a 90 degree field L to R. [45% either side] Big mistake. I thought it sounded cool. But most of the pro records have the kit very narrow in the center..mebbe a tom series outside at 30% or so off C.

The "verb notches" you told me to be aware of are more like everything outside 10% of center., and 180 degrees L&R I was thinking like eight slices of the pie was what you were talking about. But the ambient space didn't happen when I had primary tracks...especially the kit... scattered all across the field...I COULDN'T HEAR THE VERB! So I would jack it up...and the mix started to sound like mooshy, midrangie crapp.

The thing I'm working on now has the kit very confined. I threw some different verbs on it, and it's...like...SPACE!

And , anyway, thanks for focusing me in on this. And I know this whole thing must be totally obvious to anybody who's been messing with this stuff for a while; but it was a Eureka moment for me.

I appreciate the lesson. Very useful guidance.

Hey now! It does sound like you got the concept well.

Remember there's no one single way to set up your mix. There's nothing wrong with panning a drum kit acorss a stage; I do it often myself, though usually not quite a full 90°. It often does sound really nice. But like everything else in this universe, it comes with a cost. The cost, as you discovered, is that it leaves a bit less "room" to fit other things.

This same principle applies not only to left/right pan space, but also to "space" in the frequency spectrum, and to loudness/dynamics in time. The trick is to be able to work on that 3-dimensional canvas so that each instrument (or effect like reverb) is given enough room to breathe instead of having to fight with the other instruments.

Thanks for taking the time for the shoutout, jeff; I appreciate it. Glad to hear it helped ya out.

G.