Just a quick tip today – use chorus to make a sound extremely wide without changing the character of the sound. A simple digital chorus is often ideal for this – the one that came bundled with your DAW or a basic freeware plugin should be fine. Use these settings as a starting point: 100% [...]
6+ ways to get bigger bass
by Kim Lajoie on October 31, 2011
This is about basslines, not (necessarily) the frequency range. The bassline is the harmonic foundation of a track. A solid mix often needs a solid bassline. So how do you get there? How do you stop your basslines from sounding weak or flabby? Here are some techniques to consider: EQ. This is the big one. [...]
Alternatives to reverb
by Kim Lajoie on August 14, 2009
Reverb adds two properties to sounds – diffusion and depth. While there are many ways of changing the balance between diffusion and depth, there are times when a more extreme approach is required. Reverb may not be the best solution if a sound needs a lot of diffusion but very little depth, or a lot [...]
Using chorus, phaser or stereo imager
by Kim Lajoie on January 1, 2009
Chorus Choruses create a “doubled” sound by adding a delayed copy of the sound. The delay time is very short (usually less than 40ms) so it blends with the original sound (and doesn’t sound like two different sounds). Flangers are a special case of chorus effects where the delay time is usually less than 15ms. To [...]
How to push sounds to the background
by Kim Lajoie on July 17, 2007
To push sounds further into the background, you don’t need any magic plugins, just an understanding of psychoacoustics: 1) Less bass. Much less bass. Natural sounds that are far away will have very little bass and low mids (unless they’re truly huge sounds in movies), because lower frequencies require much more power to travel. The [...]