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  • Mixing mixer presets

    Hi,

    I wonder if I can use different mixer presets for different instruments or sections. For example, I might want to start from a Wide Lush preset for strings, and use a Narrow preset for solo horns.

    Would this cause an impression of different, unrelated planes, or would it be a perfectly legit choice, with the focus changing in different sections according to the piece's narrative?

    Paolo


  • Hi Paolo,

    You can apply mixer presets any way you like, always depending on the sound you are after. 

    Keep in mind that those presets are designed as general starting points, so you can alter and automate them as well. 

    Best, 
    Paul


    Paul Kopf Product Manager VSL
  • Thank you, Paul. As I see it seems that changing the mic channel mixing can really move the instruments on the stage, and give them more or less focus (wider: far back into the ensemble; narrower: more to the front of the stage).

    Paolo


  • last edited
    last edited

    @PaoloT said:

    ...less focus (wider: far back into the ensemble; narrower: more to the front of the stage).

    Paolo

    Hi Paolo

    Think of yourself as a listener in front of the orchestra and thus with which angle you see soloists and ensembles (sections of instruments).

    Let us take 3 Trumpets...
    Generally: the further away they are, the narrower the viewing angle becomes. The closer they are, the wider the viewing angle. For example, a listener in row 3 will probably see the strings sitting in front at about 90° (from the left to the right)


    - Tips & Tricks while using Samples of VSL.. see at: https://www.beat-kaufmann.com/vitutorials/ - Tutorial "Mixing an Orchestra": https://www.beat-kaufmann.com/mixing-an-orchestra/
  • Thank you, Beat. So, it's a matter of perspective.

    As a side effect, elaborating on the focus analogy I made above: the width of the panorama on a section is like the lighting in a theatre: a narrow spot on an actor makes him/her emerge from the diffuse, wider lighting of the rest of the scene.

    Paolo


  • Another factor to keep in mind is proximity effect, whatever mir pro calls it, distance something er other, I’m away from my computer at the moment. So moving a section further away creates a narrower stereo width but it also has an effect on the tone due to distance which might seem LESS focused from a tonal perspective, yet bigger in a way even though also more narrow in the stereo field