How do you mix few sounds to make them sound full ?

[bst148]

As the topic says im wondering how would you guys approach mixing a few elements of a song to make them sound really full. Whenever im listening to pop music (not that i like it its just interesting to hear the mixdowns), they have like few sounds thats sound really full wide etc. What would you guys recommend me ?

[vinceasot]

EQ, compression, good mixing, having the right sounds, its just all of the basic things done very well , you need that wall of sound, each piece works together to get it..

and all of the pop songs are mastered for radio specially beforehand i believe

[Marrow Machines]

This is pretty subjective.

quite honestly, to get a full sound requires many considerations that transition into one another.

when i was working exclusively with midi triggering/sequencing (all with in my daw), i was able to get a pretty decent sound.

It wasn't until i rendered my midi information into audio where i realized how much i could alter the actual "sound" of the song rather than just messing with individual elements.

The more i do this thing, the more i realize how important understanding your tools are to actually achieving what you're after.it does take some amount of time in order to throughly study each general function an effect does (eq, compression, chorus, phaser, unison, delay, reverb, echo, distortion) and all the other nuances each plug in has available with respect to the general function.

TL;DR

it takes a lot more than just a general set of "rules" to get a good mix. the answer is such an amalgam of answers given tools and lessons, that it's difficult to get a precise answer with out spending time with some one who can sort it all out for you. That depth can be reached via conversations over the internet, but might be more involved if it's done on a more one on one basis.

[Paco Robles]

Get to know your compressors inside and out.

Also learn to distill the essence of a sound. It sounds a bit vague, but it's true. A sound can only be very full in the context of your specific mix. It musnt't overpower the rest of the instruments. Keep a sense of hierarchy. Nobody ever wants full-sounding open hats, for example. Does this make sense?

[jiggawot]

Yes one can definitely achieve a full sounding mix with just a few elements within a track.. First of all there is nothing wrong with listening to pop music. And it is definitely great to analyze it's mixdown and the song's instrumentation. It's how I got better!!  Anyway one basic way to make something sound full is using chords. I don't mean just holding 3 keys. Just for the sake of demonstrating if you can play every single note from every octave you SHOULD have a full sound. If my track focuses on a lead synth but LACKS fullness when I just hold 1 note, then I'll either create a chord that consists of holding 5-7 notes at the same time then proceed to making a progression out of it... OR focus on sound designing on a lead synth that sounds FULL when I hold 1 note.

Naturally, our ears tells us that something sounds full WHEN a source is producing frequencies that covers the whole Frequency Spectrum.