How to mix instruments recorded at different places?

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Hi there,

I find wet libraries generally easier to use than dry ones, but somewhere heard that instruments recorded at two different locations wouldn't blend well (because the reverb from both instruments is "unnatural", I guess). I haven't heard many jarring examples of improper reverb/room blending myself, but it apparently happens.

It seems limiting to buy/use instruments only recorded at one location, so could anyone give any advice on how to make them sound well together?

Thanks in advance!

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All recorded music is illusion - the composer and record producer's job is to make a successful illusion based on the story of the work (as opposed to some technical formula). First thing is to ask if the average music listener (not people on KVR) can tell the difference. Mostly no they can't. They don't even actually care so long as it makes them feel good.

Let's say one violin was recorded in a small room and the other was recorded in a huge hall. The two sounds might struggle to feel like they belong together in the mind of the listener as they don't share a sense of common space.

You can turn off any reverbs in the synth engine and apply one reverb to both. Same amounts or even a verb on the submix of the two if thee lines are of equal weight. If one line is a lead and other support then a less/more approach is the common thing to do so one sound appears forward and the other back.

While dry sounds don't sound nice, (Propellerheads Orkester anyone), they are versatile once you know how to work em up. However, nothing sounds as grand as a brass or string section with a grand room printed in but they can become a noose if you wanted them not to sound exactly like that.

With sounds with an imprinted verb space you can gate or otherwise reduce the reverb tails on one sound and compress the other to build the sense of balance between fiddle and room. You might even submix them and apply another reverb, possibly even with some saturation/compression combo (commonly called Tape) to glue them all together.

Another thing you can do is mix in another instrument layer to a room-heavy sample. I like using a dryer synth sound as then you can bring out certain characteristics in the overall instrument to make it more your sound than just another person playing Action String presets.

I hope that helps
:-)

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Thank you for your help, Benedict! So the advice seems to be (a) don't worry too much if composing for listeners who probably can't tell the difference, (b) getting more experience with dry sounds because of their versatility and (c) sometimes using a single reverb on multiple instruments to join them together.

I'll try to keep that advice in mind for when an appropriate situation arises; thanks again for the advice!

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Fairly well. Obviously, I'd condense it to what I already condensed it to already ;-)

So long as you obey the rule about focusing on the story and creating that illusion in the listener then you can't go too far wrong and can even break every other rule (stacked diminished seconds in Horror movies).

:-)

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