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Looper's Delight
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Rune, from your post, it isn't entirely clear what you're after: "The music I make misses depth - or the third dimmension - so I use delay and reverbs to make this dimmension - but I am not happy with the sound I get and I dont have enough power to use the pluins like I wishes. " Pointing out what you mean by "depth or the third dimension" would help - as it would if you explain what your recording process is (i.e. live instruments vs. synths, dry room vs. live room etc.). A few ideas that come to mind: 1. "depth" could not be an issue with percieved geometrical space captured in the recordings, but with the dynamic range of the signal. I just downloaded your piece "Swell" from you website and had a look at it: during the main part of the track (about 3.5 minutes into it), you have a peak-to-average ratio of roughly 6.5dB. With "It's Time to Leave", it's still below 10dB. As a rough guideline, for some good-sounding pop/rock/etc. stuff, 14dB are often quoted. By using such a compressed signal, you're basically taking out any percieved depth; it feels like the musicians (or virtual musicians) are standing right around you with their amps fully cranked an driving your hearing into saturation. While this may be the effect you're after in some cases, your wish for "depth" seems to tell me you're not. I believe that I already wrote about that here until my fingers got sore - if you're too lazy to find it, instead look at the articles at www.digido.com for a start. 2. Microphony, if you're using acoustic sources, can make a big difference. Try to experiment with different setups. For an almost surreal impression of space, a pair of spaced omni mikes as the stereo mikes can work wonders, especially in a proper room. Of course, you're ending up with that "hole in the middle" effect - but this hole can then conveniently be filled with some close-distance-microphone signals. E.g. when recording a trapset, put the drummer in a big room, place those spaced omnis far apart at some distance before the kit (or even put PZMs to the walls), then close-mike snare and bass drum (the latter one perhaps at some distance - 1m or so, using a large-diaphragm condenser), and add both close-mic-signals in the center spot. You can also combine different stereo miking techniques (e.g. spaced omnis behind the source, M/S in front of it) and then make the decisions during mixing. 3. Composition and arrangement: This is where it starts. If you're using an acoustic grand (either well-recorded or properly sampled/modeled), this is per se an instrument which has a lot of depth: big dynamic and frequency range, sharp transients together with fairly long sustain phase, and some geometrical spacing as well. So make use of it! Some instruments are unconsciously percieved as being "further behind" than others because of the way they sound - timpani, concert harps and french horns (not close-miked) come to mind - so use them cleverly. This is definitely a thread without end - I would recommend the "Instrumentationslehre" by Hector Berlioz as some further reading: http://www.archive.org/details/treatiseoninstru007485mbp/ 4. Pick out some albums where you like the depth (which again, could be anything, as I'm not entirely sure what you're after - perhaps "Ballad of the Fallen" by Charlie Haden and Carla Bley, or rather "Body and Soul" by Joe Jackson, or even "South of Heaven" by Slayer") and try to find out why they sound deeper. Do they have more dynamics? Do they make sure the high-frequency content doesn't get masked? Using lots of (natural or artifical) reverb? Or some very clever arrangement, alternately setting strings agains winds and then combining them? If you're able to track that down, then you're one step farther towards your goal - simply because you know which direction you have to head to. Yours, Rainer