Lately I've been trying to achieve warmer and fatter mixes/masters on my electronic tracks. It seems to me this is a major difference between the tracks pro's put out and tracks everyone else puts out. What kind of processing do most people use to accomplish this?
My strategy generally involves a very specific workflow: 1. Arrange basic, sometimes thin sounds 2. Put each element of the track in its place (EQ, Panning/width, front to back with transient shapers and/or gain, sidechain compression, etc.) 3. Glue the "sterile" mix with reverb/delays, Saturation/tape distortion/Saturn/Sausage fattener (possibly on individual tracks or groups), and glue compression on groups (maybe also some lightly on the master), generally in that order. 4. Finish general mastering chain with EQ and limiter.
Still, I feel as though I am missing something as when I am in steps 3 and 4. Often when I go to push the master's level in the mastering stage there is quite a bit of distortion, which is natural, but also is sometimes undesirable for "club" intended tracks. Obviously its about striking a balance, but where do people suspect that balance is in electronic music?
Submitted May 09, 2017 at 10:39AM by jloeb https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/comments/6a5g51/warmth_in_electronic_music/?utm_source=ifttt