Sound Design, Mixing, & Studio TechniquesNeed to know how to make a specific sound? Want to improve your mix? Need advice on micing-up a drum kit? This is the area for you.
Hi so I like Burial's mixes a lot. Wide and there's a great deal of depth and the perfect balance. So I would like to understand what techniques relate to Burial's mixes.
Particularly would such mixes be enabled by:
1) Real world samples that have been recorded using real space.
2) Good quality samples that can be artificially widened.
3) Mixing all the tracks with the right contrasts (and contrast creates separation and thus can create wideness as well)
I think all of those things are part of his overall sound, but when I listen to Burial I hear very conciously EQd/fitlered and possibly even compressed/gated/volume auotmated reverb. I think you could acheive a similar wideness and depth w/o real world samples. Also, number three seems a good goal for any mix. You can't have a bunch of stuff in the same frequency range crammed together at the center of the mix. Unless you just want like a dry, raw old school dance sound. I don't really have a trained enough ear to know, but my gut instinct is that there aren't a lot of widening FXs going on in the early stuff.
If we believe the urban legend at least his first (and second?) album were done in Soundforge. My suspicion has always been that if that is true, I feel like its unlikely the mix we hear on the album was done there.
His style has been pretty widely emulated at this point and there is lots of discussion of it around the internet. You'd probably also have luck looking up tutorials for "post dubstep" and "future garage".
Though I don't think Burial was probably using convolution reverb on his early work, that might be a quick step in the right direction.
*I reference his early work a lot only because I assume he has a lot more tools at his disposal these days.
Particularly I would like to know some tips though into how to get such well layered sound. Does one have to start with good real world samples that have such depth or can that depth be gained also by layering almost any kind of samples, but that there are certain techniques that allow for that space and depth?
I've heard Burial a little and think he was influenced by lots of Trip-hop stuff, a lot of stuff from Edinburgh and that scene (massive attack). I think just listening to more of that would help you to understand this style..
A lot of that depth is from sampling and carefully choosing samples..there's only so much need for effects when the original artist did all of the mixing and mastering beforehand and you're mixing together basically high quality recordings..
A lot of that depth is from sampling and carefully choosing samples..there's only so much need for effects when the original artist did all of the mixing and mastering beforehand and you're mixing together basically high quality recordings..
True. But it can also be an art of itself of finding those really good samples and making original music with them.
I don't think music has to be so subjective though to say that one cannot get to that using other methods. Take for example Richard Devine who seems to be able to come up with wide sounds using almost any kind of sound. So it's achievable using reverbs and pans and stuff.
Particularly I would like to know some tips though into how to get such well layered sound. Does one have to start with good real world samples that have such depth or can that depth be gained also by layering almost any kind of samples, but that there are certain techniques that allow for that space and depth?
I guess my suggestion would be to record some real world samples and give it a shot. I don't think you have to start with real world samples. And I don't think they have to be particularly high quality, Burial ends up sounding fairly lo fi most of the time. I don't think the width and depth have anything to do with the samples. More to do with carefully controlled reverb--use EQ, filtering, compression to control and shape your reverbs, you want them "big" but controlled to avoid mud.
Its unlikely there is a magic formula to sound like Burial.
I don't think the width and depth have anything to do with the samples. More to do with carefully controlled reverb--use EQ, filtering, compression to control and shape your reverbs, you want them "big" but controlled to avoid mud.
Hmm that also. Certainly one might underestimate the power of a really good mix where even basic reverb (e.g. Large Hall algo) can sound huge, if it's just balanced right with other elements (i.e. the reverb has space to sound).
True. But it can also be an art of itself of finding those really good samples and making original music with them.
I don't think music has to be so subjective though to say that one cannot get to that using other methods. Take for example Richard Devine who seems to be able to come up with wide sounds using almost any kind of sound. So it's achievable using reverbs and pans and stuff.
haha i think you've described the technique in this post..you can do it, man
I think he, and others, turn the volume down to -18db rms for the majority of their sounds, that has an effect on how everything sounds.
