Each track sounds like if it was in a different enviroment (Help)

[Andrelo]

Hello Everyone, I have been making beats for like 3 months and I use Ableton and Maschine. I Like that stuff that I make with the virtual instruments, loops, Native Instruments plugins etc, but when I put them all together to make one instrumental, it sounds so different, like if every instrument was in a different environment. Since I use Ableton, I usually add some audio effects to each track(Mostly reverb), but that's it..

Can someone tell what is what I need to make a beat sound clean and smooth, getting the feeling that all tracks/instruments are in the same environment?

 

[Wallengard]

Being able to choose the right sounds and mix and match them is (at least for me) something that you never really stop learning how to do. It's gonna come more naturally the more time you spend with it.

In the meantime it could be worth considering that reverb is pretty much adding the sound of different rooms/environments/spaces to your tracks, and if you have a bunch of different reverbs on them you get sounds that are in different spaces.

Adding the same reverb to several tracks of similar type or what ever can make things more cohesive, coming from the same room.

 

[Andrelo]

@so you think is better if I put the efffects(reverb) on the master track instead of putting one audio effect in each instrument track?

 

[Milo Burke]

@so you think is better if I put the efffects(reverb) on the master track instead of putting one audio effect in each instrument track?

No, don't do that either. You don't want the entire song to swim in reverb.

But also, unless you have a good reason, don't put the reverb on the track itself. That muddies it and makes it sound less distinct. No reverb makes an instrument sound like it has no environment, reverb on the instrument itself makes it sound far away in a big room, and reverb on a send from the instrument makes it sound close in a big room. This last one is preferred.


If I were you, I would send all the individual drum tracks to a stereo bus instead of the master. Call that bus "Drums", and have it output to the master.

Then create a second stereo bus and call it "Drum Reverb" or whatever you like. Create a 0dB send from your drum bus to the drum reverb bus. Add a reverb plugin to the drum reverb bus, make it 100% wet, and adjust the volume fader for the drum reverb bus to where it sounds good.

This way, the drums always sound full volume and clear in your mix, and you separately have reverb to make them sound like they are in the same space. Having the same reverb plugin affecting all of the drums makes them sound together, and it also saves on processing power. Win-win.


You can get fancy from there. I often create a stereo bus for longer reverb and a stereo bus for shorter reverb, then send to each as I like. I like my reverbs to be full of mid frequencies, so I usually cut the highs and the lows. If you compress the drum bus, that can glue the drums together (if done right) and make them sound more cohesive. And putting a compressor on the reverb bus can bring out the reverb sound a little too. And, lastly, sometimes snare drums sound better with their own reverb in addition to the other reverbs. A gate can be used to control the sound of the snare-only reverb bus.

 

[Wallengard]

@so you think is better if I put the efffects(reverb) on the master track instead of putting one audio effect in each instrument track?

I wouldn't put it on the master, no. But you could try and put the reverb on a group of similar instruments to put them in a similar "space"

There's absolutely nothing wrong with putting a different reverb on all the tracks, but it might help your current situation to try something like that out!

 

[Kalm]

There's nothing wrong with feeding all your tracks into one space. Imagine a band playing with live drums, synths and electric guitars all in one space. If the tracks happen to have similar reverb characteristics on them, try to find a verb that matches the sonic characteristics that can mesh your instruments together. Now this doesn't mean you put ALL tracks through this reverb, just ones that could make a difference, like the sample, snare, toms maybe hi hats, flutes, horns, that kind of stuff. You want the instruments that'll create the bottom depth of your mix. This reverb shouldn't be excessively loud.
Then use that reverb and create permutations of it for certain group elements. Maybe a small decay for the drums, a longtime decay for the electric guitars or horns. Now you're building spaces within a space. However you don't want the reverb on the master track. As said, no no lol