Delays & Mixing Without Reverb

[Michael Brauer]

I love mixing with only delays when it’s appropriate.

I can see that I’m going to start getting on people’s nerves here with this answer but, you’re asking me to give you details about something that I don’t think about. I’m not thinking about times or amount of repeats or feedback levels. I just tweak until I like what I’m hearing and of course every song is different so there is no starting point. Anything I give you could sound like total D.S. because it doesn’t apply to your song. That snare delay just happened because I was missing something in the feel so I started adding a delay and that’s what I ended up with. I probably haven’t done that since because nothing else has come along that needed the help.

There is simply no science to mixing. It’s all spontaneous and I rarely remember how I get a sound because it’s unimportant to me in the big picture. The same applies to EQ’ing of tape delays; If it sounds right , I leave it alone, if it sounds better with some midrange, up goes the midrange.

I’m not a technician. I play the desk how someone plays an instrument and I don’t think much about the technique in getting the mix sounding right. I may have great technique but it’s only because I’m good at getting my ideas across. I hope this makes some sense.