Instead of a volume boost, kick on another reverb

I spent a lot of time in bands when I was younger. I was always the keyboard player and drum machine programmer — but I was always in bands with guitar and bass players.

And I envied their stomp boxes! They could completely change their sound, on the fly, with a well-timed tap of their foot.

And, great news, we can do that too! — by automating plugins.

One of my favorite things to do lately is to automate an additional reverb to come in at a key moment in the song. If I’m working on a mix, and I hit an inflection point where I need a lift, i’m as likely these days to automate in a temporary reverb as I am to automate up the volume.

The difference, as I hear it, is that adding volume increases the loudness vertically, whereas automating in an additional reverb increases the loudness horizontally. Adding in the extra reverb takes up more left-right space, which gives the instrument in question more of a sense of authority and presence.

And then automating the reverb back out, when the next focal element comes in — maybe the vocal comes back after an instrumental moment, or whatever — this allows the temporarily-reverbed instrument to thin back out and relax back into the mix, creating a natural space for that new focal element to occupy.

A mix is a series of moments on a journey — jamie