Break This Rule to Add Depth to Your Mix

I told you this week I would share some of my favorite mixing techniques to move the needle of your music and today we’re gonna talk about delay and depth.

This simple technique is something that I love doing to create a three-dimensional image from the start

And it starts by “breaking” the rules and using delays as insert

“WHAT! As inserts?!?! Blasphemy, you should never…” some internet troll says as I quietly delete them out of existence.

Mixing isn’t about never doing this or never doing that.

And although I call my flagship mixing system the Mix Finisher FORMULA, trust me that I make room for plenty of experimentation on your part.

It’s a really simple trick, and here’s what you do:

Add a delay on your track that you want to add extra dimension and layer depth to
Make sure it’s 100% dry and only 10-20% wet so that the delay is only subtly mixed into the signal
Find the right note division or millisecond that adds that the depth that you’re looking for
Rinse and repeat with the other instruments, using slightly different delay times to place each track in a different place from front-to-back

I shot a video series a while ago where I did this to three synth tracks in case you want to see it in action.

This is just a tiny part of what delay can do, and in Step By Step Mixing, I go into even more detail on how to create depth, space, and dimension using reverb and delay.

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