How to Achieve More DEPTH in Your Mixes

Depth. Immersion. Front to back spatial definition. Here's how to get more of it in your tracks.

#mixing #musicproduction #audioengineer #musicproducer

[elixx]

It's a pleasure to listen to you, no frenetic cuts, no rush, just plain and perfectly explained information. This is basically a free seminar! Thank you Justin!

[recordman]

Justin - I love your channel. I'm about to give away one of my most cherished philosophies when it comes to depth. We need to look at this the same way a painter chooses colors - the palate of colors used in paintings to discern distance. Imagine, a painter paints a scene that involves two "stop" signs. We all know what a stop sign looks like - its shape, its color, etc. But, take note, To make one stop sign appear father away from another, it's much more than just painting one smaller than the other. If we were to use the same bright, intense red color, and sharp edges for the distant stop sign as we used for the one nearest, the eye would not be able to make sense of that depth. Artists know that a more distant red must be assigned on canvas as more of a pinkish-orange - a blunted red. Thus, volume dictates the size of the stop sign. "Color" (EQ and reverb) dictate its distance.

[TheJackKnite]

Having the hi-hats too loud was what I always did when I first started producing. I took it back like 10 dbs and then I was like oh woah, now it actually sounds like the songs I listen to

[wouterdesmedt]

Thanks! Another "Oh NOW I get it" moment after watching one of your videos!

[AndrewWorthy]

This was a VERY great breakdown. I’ve known all of this for quite some time, but it feels good to hear someone else reaffirm My understanding. 💪🏾💯💯💯

[ThaRuralJuror]

Awesome video!! When I think of depth I like Bob Rock produced songs like Dr. Feelgood and Enter Sandman. Especially on Feelgood that intro is massive!!

[bedtimeread]

Thanks Justin! The greatest aha moment for me was when I discovered how transients affect depth.. interestingly enough it was at the moment right after I finally understood compression.. amazing how such a little part of a sound can be such a game changer! All the best to ya in the new place!

[charodharris]

I loved how you described this. The picture you painted (no pun intended) really allowed me to understand how I needed to start looking at things. Awesome video!!

[fotgjengeren]

This was so helpful! Never thought about predelay in front to back depth and probably I'm one of these mixers you would criticize on the issue you've discussed here. Since watching now I'm thinking about these things in moving my current mixes forward.

[TaterMatt]

Bob Power talked about depth in his 2017 Mixcon presentation using those three things. Volume, brightness (or darkness), and ambience. Thanks for adding to this important topic.

[AlexDrums]

One other thing to consider with depth is actually panning. The further away you want something to sound, the more narrowly it should be panned.

And to piggy back off your point about ambience making something sound either closer or further away depending on how it's treated, another step you can take is applying an inverse relationship between the panning of a source and its ambience. So a far away source should be panned narrow, but its ambience wide and diffuse. And a close source panned wide with its ambience narrow and dark.

[dusteye]

Contrast is a super effective for context.

[jaybarls]

Really glad you go into pre-delay properly, I think this is often overlooked and gives a very different quality to the reverb and its 'soundstage.' Excellent stuff as always!

[Freaky_mix]

Tanks so much for your help Justin!!

Still hoping for a video on gain staging Tho!

[NiurkaOnline]

Great vídeo. I've bien getting into depht for a while, dealing with reverbs and delays. This video give another perspective. Very usefulll. Thanks Justin

[bvrbvs]

im at the stage of starting to get these concepts... please more on this subject! thanks!

[HongFeiHo]

Thanks for your video - it was very informative and gave me some good ideas - particularly with my high hats jumping out the mix even with the volumes down real low (reduce the transient and mb a low pass filter). One area I wasn't very clear on was localization (4:16), so I'm gonna do a bit more research on that. Hope you have a great new year!

[eraldlesi]

I really enjoy watching your videos mate.
You might be the only one actually I enjoy that doesn’t demonstrate things on the DAW at the same time.

[JulianHartwellMusic]

Great advice and thanks for the tips! I’m taking notes 🤓🙏🏻👍🏻

[jetdeleon]

Hi Justin - I just completed your mixing course and I wanted to personally thank you for helping me not only to dramatically improve my mixes, but for helping me to actually understand how to practice the strategies for getting where you want to go with a mix. I've gone through other courses and without even showing me your screen, I learned more from you than any of the other courses. So thank you big time.