How do I achieve good sounding sparse arrangements

[JustMastering]

Hi!

I think that's a challenge many of us face. Do you collaborate with others on your tracks? Sometimes a second set of ears makes all the difference.

With basic arrangements such as guitar and vocal, the guitar often times has to fill the roll of bass, percussion and other accompaniment, so the player, and style can have a huge influence on the end result.

I hope this helps. Best of luck!

Rob Stewart

[RedWallStudio]

Without hearing what you've done, it's hard to say. It's best to post a mix of what you have been doing so you can get a critique... otherwise we'd be guessing.

If I were to guess though it's usually the source or the room when it comes to sparse mixes. Good singers sound good no matter what else is wrapped around them. A good room also makes a big difference.. but if you don't have a good room, have a dead room that you can add natural sounding effects to later.

[kennybro]

First key is that the performances have to be excellent, and cleanly captured. Nothing to hide behind in a sparse mix. I find that great performances, well recorded tend to almost mix themselves, as the slight adjustments needed to achieve Valhalla become obvious.

[Unclenny]

Originally Posted by kennybro

Noting to hide behind is a sparse mix.

Truth.

My stuff is sparse. I have found that it helps to get stuff on stereo tracks with carefully thought out panning. An acoustic guitar on a stereo track with a bit of delay to give it some real estate may have its reverb send panned a bit differently and the return from a parallel compressor panned creatively as well.

[SmoothVibe]

Originally Posted by Unclenny

Truth.

My stuff is sparse. I have found that it helps to get stuff on stereo tracks with carefully thought out panning. An acoustic guitar on a stereo track with a bit of delay to give it some real estate may have its reverb send panned a bit differently and the return from a parallel compressor panned creatively as well.

Good to see a post from you again Unclenny, your contribution is great!

[gutr2]

What I like to do is listen to really sparse music and learn from it...
What works for me sometimes is to record more and then get rid of stuff, that way you end up with non-overplayed parts.
Practically speaking, you can do melody/harmony lines on instruments instead of chords, have the drums with no cymbals, or use a thin rimshot or a creative noise instead of a big snare on some songs.. turn the drums down to give other stuff more space, don't double track anything, have one guitar part instead of a million and say no to overplaying.
What also helps me is to overdo on the effects as I record, that helps me to play less. Put lots of delay on electric guitars and play fewer notes. Lots of reverb on other stuff so you "feel" the space AS YOU record.. anyway.. just ideas.

[FullCount]

Effects choice, I believe, is a big part of it. The spacial relationship between the elements becomes very important.

[K. Osborne]

1. Great performances. It's very hard to play sparsely, and even harder to play slowly, and make it compelling. I like what was said "nothing to hide behind". 1000000x agree.

2. Great ambience. Lets be honest. Sparse songs that are super dry can be a little strange in certain genres. Be very careful about recording space and mixing fx. In acoustic recordings picking JUST the right bit of room sound or slight delay or whatever can make it sound much much better.

3. Size. The more dense an arrangement is, the smaller every element can be. This is where a lot of people (myself included) get tripped up because we're so used to carving space it's hard to do LESS of that. It's easy to go in and start gating or putting filters on... The more sparse the more room things have to breathe. So much of this applies in the recording process as well... E.g. Backing mics up a bit to get some depth, using room mics, having fantastic sounding instruments is key.

Try recording guitar in mid-side and recording vocals with a nice full sounding mic. Experiment with mono reverbs or small room stereo reverbs. Experiment with VERY subtle use of a chamber or plate verb. Subtlety is key.

[kelvyn]

Listen to bands like 'The xx' who are really good at sparse arrangements. There's an awful lot to learn from those kind of productions.

[PhaseLinear]

As far as i experienced,
Using "many" parts in an arrangement makes the mix crowded and unfocused and they distract each other.
Long chords with more than 4 notes fills the background so much you cant really make decisions on other instruments' contribution to the mix.
As said earlier, the mix of arpeggio lines or spicatto riffs is working better. They also make the song more groovy.

I think the rule "less is more" applies here.

[Scouser]

some of the replies that I was intending to re read have gone ! Where they go ?

[GearAndGuitars]

Originally Posted by Scouser

What does it take to get good sounding arrangements, with just a few elements ?

I am finding that if I try and record just vocals and guitar, I cant get a pro sound, whereas if I ad to it, say I bring in bass, drums etc etc, it starts sounding more like a record ? It's not that I'm hiding bad sonics by building the arrangement, just that the single elements, don't seem to complete the song ?

Why does it seem harder to get sparse arrangements sounding good ?

What genre are you working in?

[Go Nigel Go]

In general I would start with the arrangement. If the arrangement is thin, that's what you will get when you hit record. Assuming you have that all sorted out, the next step is to make sure what instruments you have sound great. Not just good, but as great as they can sound in the room you are using. Again, a thin sounding guitar will give you a thin sound. Same for a weak or nasal voice with little projection. Next choose mics that will capture the sound faithfully. If everything is well recorded, mixing is a snap, just make sure the lead voices get the space they need with a little EQ cut in the right places. Reverb can be useful to thicken things up, but is easy to overdo, and I find I have to work sometimes to avoid using it as a crutch. Spread it wide and low, and it can help give a full sound while allowing you to arrange the dry instruments and voices to position them in the stereo field without sacrificing "fullness". Lastly, keep some hand percussion around to fill in gaps. A well played shaker egg or bongo can often be just the ticket to pull things together and help give some snap to a simple melody. Hope this helps!