And make no mistake, a completely dry recording in mono can sound great if mixed by someone who knows what s/he’s doing. If you’re new to music recording it’s deceptively easy to think about a mix as simply multiple sound sources playing back at the same time. Think outside the box, and learn by doing. But don’t let me or anyone else tell you how to mix your music. Be open to new ideas and learn as much as you can from others. There’s more than one way to skin a cat, as the old saying goes. Most of the stuff I talk about here is the result of my own experimentation and knowledge gleaned from articles by other people.Īlso, always remember that if it sounds right, it is right. So don’t take anything stated in here as universal truths because I’m not an authority on the subject. When reading this guide it’s good to keep in mind that I am not an audio engineer, I’m just a musician with an interest in recording technologies. In other words, this should be considered intermediate stuff. If there is interest I might write up a beginner’s guide to reverb explaining all the fundamentals, but my main concern right now is getting into the juicy details and providing some tips for people who need ’em right now.

Comments like “what is a reverb?” or “what DAW should I use?” will be politely ignored. If you’re not clear on what something means, google it. For example I will just assume that the reader is familiar with basic concepts like send effects and EQ and what different reverb parameters do. I will be taking some things for granted here. It should be considered a bunch of tips for getting you on the right track. It’s not a definitive how-to and it doesn’t have step-by-step instructions. For that reason I figured I should post some guidelines on how to approach this aspect of working with a virtual orchestra. Two of the most common issues I’ve heard is 1) people having little or no idea how to position orchestral sections within a mix, and 2) people underestimating the importance of reverb.

Having been a music director for a couple of open source game projects I’ve reviewed many tracks made by people who are new to virtual orchestration.

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