KVR Audio

ferez21 · Post by **ferez21** » Sat May 18, 2013 5:34 pm

...that spans over 3 or 4 octaves, its dominant frequencies are changing quite radically over the whole spectrum,
Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Erez

camsr · Post by **camsr** » Sat May 18, 2013 9:17 pm

The problem might be the arrangement is too cluttered? If you must layer it, try a sidechain compressor ducking what's in the way.

Sendy · Post by **Sendy** » Sat May 18, 2013 9:30 pm

Just highpass it, it's usually the fundamentals of the lower notes that get in the way. You can push it further into the back by altering the amp envelope, once the ear hears the attack it can follow the note, so full on organ envelopes are just a waste of dynamic range, set the sustain level as low as you can while still having enough of a spike in the decay to guide the ear.

Also look out for standing resonances caused by filters or other operations, eg a filter a shallow envelope and little to no keytracking.

kritikon · Post by **kritikon** » Tue May 21, 2013 3:32 pm

And decide if your aim is for the arp to be a dominant sound or a background sound. If you want it dominant then rather than trying to carve a niche for it, just make the other sounds a bit weaker (i.e. don't compress the others, don't boost any Eq), and it will stand out anyway. As Sendy mentioned...if you want it more background, take out some of the bass (which is always going to muddy up a mix).

FX - if it's dominant then leave it mostly dry. Dry sounds tend to stand up front more. More reverb & delay will push it out back more. And little things like having an arp with a stereo LFO pan will identify it a bit more without having to Eq it too drastically. Or if your synth does it - pan according to note played. Works very well with arps that are going to be over several octaves.

Mister Natural · Post by **Mister Natural** » Thu May 23, 2013 4:45 am

also would suggest that a little distortion/bit reduction/saturation goes a long way toward making one element jump out of the mix

GratuiTous · Post by **GratuiTous** » Fri May 24, 2013 7:25 pm

robogone · Post by **robogone** » Fri May 24, 2013 7:37 pm

kritikon wrote:And decide if your aim is for the arp to be a dominant sound or a background sound.

That's just what I was about to say - if it covers that kind of range, then perhaps taking out the dynamics and pushing it down in the mix might be the best thing.

Doug1978 · Post by **Doug1978** » Sat Jun 08, 2013 10:43 am

In addition to the good mixing tips, if you still have access to the arrangement tracks, contrast the arp's rhythmic staccato notes with something more gradual or legato whenever the arp is playing.
Alternatively sit a contrasting / complimentary rhythm around it.

How do you "carve" a space in a mix for an arpeggiator...