I know lots of productions out there that are annoyingly busy. But these producers follow the practice better safe than sorry, which is overall a smart producer move. So, sure you probably lack beautiful stuff to fill your mixes. You can do it in many ways, but I think it pays off to think in terms of contraction and release, not only about your use of musical elements in the mix, but also in terms of all of your engineering moves, your gear etc. It's one thing to to be very well aware of how to create beautiful big clear powerful and loud sounding productions, but teasing the listener with it in a very attractive way is what makes your production glide past everyone else. So, use those jittery digital clocks out there, but have some really pure clock in there too, let the drums slam a little and create density, but let it smash into light crystal clear drumming too. Let the vocals scream a little at times, but make them gentle and sweet when nobody expects that. It can be small things like turning up the volume on specific drum hits and turning down the volume on specific drum hits. It does not have to be licks and effects always, very simple automation moves can do really powerful stuff. Now, in certain genres such as EDM, you can do simple automation moves like moving the lo pass point up and down on various elements. And pan automation. Listeners love it when the stereo image keeps improving throughout the song. I mean just the stereo image you could make into a whole science in terms of production. So, the important thing is to be creative, play with contraction and release and keep finding new ways of excelling at that. That's what is going to give you a signature vibe. Here is a secret. I use software to create contraction. I use hardware to create release. You can do the same and more. It's simple once you get it. BTW. A heavy ITB software based mix is in my world a production with a heavy contraction and no release. If you have no hardware, why not gradually automate off those plugins from your mix. When the phase clears up, it is sweet. A phase issue, can be your best friend. Many think that you need to be very obvious with the wetness on these and sometimes you do, but it is also an art to do it such that it is added or removed at specific playback volumes. That's the real art... When you have a mix that keeps changing depending on how you listen to it and keeps evolving in different ways like this throughout the course of the song, that's what excites the listener. You have to stay focused on the total number of plays you are going for. Be obvious about that. Obviously if you are using several different setups throughout the course of the song and work with these in ways that is absolutely mind blowing, then you'll have lots of plays I can guarantee. You hook them first, then you play with them, then you start teasing them and then you release them beyond their wildest expectations. Now they listen again, but this time they turn up the volume and bam, a whole set of new qualities show up they did not notice on the first play. Now they have already started a repeat play listening behavior. The art is then to make that long term.
So, the bottom line is not to get stuck on exactly what type of excitement to add or remove, but rather to focus on tension/contraction and release.
