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Lucifa wrote:spooky skellingtons

atmosphere is the sum of the entirety of the track's parts. don't just chuck in metallic hits with long delays like those dungeon tracks used to, adds nothing besides making the track draaaggg.

repetition, tension, progression then resolve gives atmosphere, and thats more through song writing than any individual element.

Interesting. I recently had come to a similar conclusion after listening to/analyzing a lot of different music styles and genres, in hopes to help me get out of a rut I've been in production-wise.

I've even found the mixdown to be helpful towards guiding the atmosphere, so to speak. If in the mixdown I emphasize the drums, for example, then naturally the rhythm shows more. If there is something conflicting, like a lead with a meldoy that doesn't complement the rhythm, then it creates more noticeable clash in the composition, at least this is my experience of it.

But, mixdowns are not what makes the atmosphere. Composition is key, I'm learning more and more. I'm actually finding mixdowns more smooth if I take the composition seriously, and let that guide the decisions I make in the mixdown.

Problem with mixdowns is that there's a difference between a technical and atmospheric perspective.

Brighter and higher fidelity sound 'better', yet may actually take something away from the track. for instance burial's tracks would feel a lot different if he'd retained all the high frequencies.

fine line between muddy + incoherent and crystalline + lifeless imo.

Timestretching, reverb, delay, panning, and reversing are key soundscape elements, among others

You have a point there. I think I missed the point I was trying to make, because I ramble too much.

Thing is, if you have a folk band, and you give mix it down like you would a dnb tune, then it'll sound like shit,
drums would be too loud, the bass would force you to cut out the nice subharmonics of the guitars and other instruments, and the vocals wouldn't feel the same.
It's all about the music. The composition, choice of sounds, instruments, effects, whatever. I'm just saying you don't want to kill the atmosphere by mixing it down in conflict of the atmosphere originally set by the music.

But, enough talk about mixdowns.