How do they get such a pristine ,airy crisp sound on these tracks

hollywoodrox

Hi I’m a total newbie working my way through Understanding recording and Logic 
  I like lots of reverb ,chorus ,compression , gated snares etc in stuff Like this .

how would one go about analysing these tracks and how would a newcomer slowly build up this kind of 
pristine sound.   Is it about keeping the instruments  frequencies separated in the mix  so they all have room to breathe  and adding reverb / compression on buses .

im getting ahead of myself ,last night I learned and put into practice arrangement markers (very useful) and markers , recording software instruments (Tal uno ,Juno 6 plugin )  tonight been getting to grips with more recording ,  using groove tracks to synth everything to my 80s drums etc , editing velocities .

anyway , if you could give these tracks that I admire a listen and give me a basic idea  of  analysing recording / mixing  techniques  to get close to such a sound I would be really interested and grateful. 

I would like to compose stuff like this to play guitar over 

https://youtu.be/5pysZ4Ooq7g

https://youtu.be/hTbNo76jhXg

hollywoodrox

https://youtu.be/tRAmTGoSDxI

spark240

I would say a lot of this comes from the original sound source used, maybe tweaked synth patches etc,....this sounds a bit 80,s synth pop to me....have you looked at some sounds packs like UVI vintage ? 

hollywoodrox

Cant really afford to buy any more plugins ,just bought Tal u no x (Juno 6) ,ive got Dexed (dx7) too . I’m guessing I could put fx on a bus like reverb /chorus /compression etc  instead of on each track ,got a tutorial somewhere .  It must be possible to tweak the presets ,eg like how you can add gated reverb to snares etc . Thanks so much for your input anyway ,it’s greatly appreciated

Snap

This is down to the sources and also production techniques.
The mid 80s had this sound all over it. 

Synths - FM as opposed to analogue, Dexed is a perfect example. The stock presets will have this sort of gloss all over them, try looking up some of the piano type patches.

Drums - put a crisp digital reverb on your snare
Kick short tailed reverb, or gated, plenty of high mid eq to get your kick transient standing out.

Guitars - chorus and digital delay, more higher freq eq emphasis.

There will be plenty of tutorial stuff on YT about 80s production techniques.

Each to their own mate, but I am not a fan of this digital glossy sound!! Good luck!

goldtop

Also seems to me that most of the sound sources are quite short and dynamic, with only lead instruments (guitar/synth) having any significant sustain. So other instruments have this 'reverb ambience' instead of sustain/long-release, and I think this creates the space you talk about.

DX and Juno sounds will get you there surely. No need for extra VSTs.

hollywoodrox

Snap said:

This is down to the sources and also production techniques.
The mid 80s had this sound all over it. 

Synths - FM as opposed to analogue, Dexed is a perfect example. The stock presets will have this sort of gloss all over them, try looking up some of the piano type patches.

Drums - put a crisp digital reverb on your snare
Kick short tailed reverb, or gated, plenty of high mid eq to get your kick transient standing out.

Guitars - chorus and digital delay, more higher freq eq emphasis.

There will be plenty of tutorial stuff on YT about 80s production techniques.

Each to their own mate, but I am not a fan of this digital glossy sound!! Good luck!

Thanks Snap ,that’s really helpful appreciate your help , yes have found some lush piano patches in various DX7 syx banks . 

hollywoodrox

goldtop said:

Also seems to me that most of the sound sources are quite short and dynamic, with only lead instruments (guitar/synth) having any significant sustain. So other instruments have this 'reverb ambience' instead of sustain/long-release, and I think this creates the space you talk about.

DX and Juno sounds will get you there surely. No need for extra VSTs.

Thank you goldtop I think you’re on to something there . Being a fully paid up rocker I have always worshipped at the house of sustain especially that of a thick mahogany body , but listening to some smooth jazz type stuff on YouTube this morning  I did notice what you mentioned about the short dynamics on most of the electric piano / bell type sounds   Bass etc . Your input has been really useful  I will try something out later on today . Thank you so much 

andy_k

Bear in mind, every instrument will have a full range sound at source,
You can't hope to have it all sound pristine, if there are clashing eq all over the place.
I use FF Pro Q3, which lets you see the clashing frequencies in it's display, ie kick and bass.
This means, at a pretty early stage you need to decide which parts you want to pop in a mix, and I also like to have Voxengo SPAN on my master output, to see what is going on across the spectrum, have a look for some Dan Worrell vids on how to set it up, it is very useful.
It is a massive subject, but 20-20k soon gets swamped by synths, and the low midrange is notoriously difficult to get under control.
EQ carving is the secret sauce here.

hollywoodrox

andy_k said:

Bear in mind, every instrument will have a full range sound at source,
You can't hope to have it all sound pristine, if there are clashing eq all over the place.
I use FF Pro Q3, which lets you see the clashing frequencies in it's display, ie kick and bass.
This means, at a pretty early stage you need to decide which parts you want to pop in a mix, and I also like to have Voxengo SPAN on my master output, to see what is going on across the spectrum, have a look for some Dan Worrell vids on how to set it up, it is very useful.
It is a massive subject, but 20-20k soon gets swamped by synths, and the low midrange is notoriously difficult to get under control.
EQ carving is the secret sauce here.

Thank you Andy ,I will look up the Dan worrel videos  and Span  and FF pro .
I see what you mean By EQ carving