I would have searched for this, but I'm not familiar with the correct term for this... if there is a ready link please post!
Basically, I just watched a video of The Freemasons in the studio mixing "uninvited" and they have many layers, strings, bass, sounds, etc... Somehow, they all go together, and the vocal manages to clearly sit on top of more layers than I can get away with. It also sounds very harmonically full, even on small speakers. I understand that this is the arrangement (is that what you call it?) and the notes that these instruments are playing create space for the vocal somehow, but is there any place where I can better learn how to fill up the harmonic content of my mixes, ie, arrange better while still leaving room for the vocal/main lead? Are there some tricks, or ideas to get me going on this? I'm definitely no beginner, I just want to take my more technical music to the next compositional level to get a fuller sound in ways other than eq + compression....
Hope this makes sense, any help is appreciated!!!
arrangement or instrumentation of dance music?
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- KVRist
- 131 posts since 18 Aug, 2003 from Denver
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- KVRAF
- 26033 posts since 20 Oct, 2007 from gonesville
what I would suggest is to look at how nature spaces things, harmonically. search tern = harmonic series.
if there's a crowded area of frequencies
*a measurement of how often it vibrates; higher = more often*
it may sound like crap in many cases. a bass tone will generate more *overtones* or *harmonics* in the audible range than a higher tone. So, you give it more space to vibrate.
When something has a clash of vibrations, you decide 'how desirable' are these phenomena. So, you learn some procedures, you learn of harmony. That might mean an investigation of the theory of chord progressions and part-writing, or it might mean an investigation of engineering, or both.
if there's a crowded area of frequencies
*a measurement of how often it vibrates; higher = more often*
it may sound like crap in many cases. a bass tone will generate more *overtones* or *harmonics* in the audible range than a higher tone. So, you give it more space to vibrate.
When something has a clash of vibrations, you decide 'how desirable' are these phenomena. So, you learn some procedures, you learn of harmony. That might mean an investigation of the theory of chord progressions and part-writing, or it might mean an investigation of engineering, or both.