I have plugins like Altiverb 7 and other convolution reverbs (which are pretty advanced), but I've never been able to move an instrument up higher or below the virtual ''stage;'' only back and forth or left and right horizontally. How do I make an effect where an instrument ''rises'' or ''falls'' dynamically? In other words, how do I pan vertically instead of horizontally?

 

Last edited: Jun 25, 2017

well unless your mixing in 7.1 with hi l and r configuration or 10.1.....
I use an eq/lopass with a gentle slope. Ive read somewhere, dont remeber where exactly, that the highs or lack of will give the sound a perception of height. like less highs at the bottom and more as it rises, maybe even start to roll off a little of the lows as it gets even higher in elevation. if you were doing the audio for a vid and only had stereo, this is how I imagine you would acheive it to fool the listener to hearing what theyre seeing.
But I could be completely wrong about the whole subject too

 

Last edited: Jun 25, 2017

Read this article: http://www.harmonycentral.com/articles/placing-instruments-in-the-stereo-soundfield-a-chart it will help you!!!

 

@subGENRE what do you think is it possible the effect that Ponstory Games looking for can achieved with waves nx stereo or 7:1?

 

Try wavearts panorama http://wavearts.com/products/plugins/panorama/

Physical surround is not required.

 

Boy, it's pretty complicated to make a convincing vertical effect them, huh? I guess this explains why no one has just put a default setting in convolution reverbs yet....

 

Ah, now that's what I'm looking for. I'll check this out. Thanks.

 

You're talking about "Binaural Panning"... front/back, side to side, and top to bottom. Logic Pro X has it built in... most DAWS do not. But there are 3rd party plugins that will accomplish that.

 

What you are looking for is a psycho-acoustic effect researched in the 1970s by a german scientist called Jens Blauert. He did tests with people whom he had sit in between a speaker array with a front, a top speaker obove the head and a speaker behind the head. Then he sent smal bands of noise (3rds) through either one of them and asked people to locate the direction from where the sound was coming : front, back or above the head.

The interestion result was, that certain frequencies/bands were always associated with either front, up or back even if the actual sound source was not located at the assumed direction.
Hence that's why they are called "Blauertsche Bänder" or "Blauert's directional bands". Check the drawing at the bottom of this PDF with the head on it. It's in German because I couldn't find it in English. But you'll get it.

http://www.sengpielaudio.com/DieRichtungswahrnehmungMedianebene.pdf

So basically, the vertical direction is influenced by distinct EQ moves. But the effect in mixing only works well in a binaural setup like in headphones. Not so much in a rgular listening environment.

EDIT:

So, according to Blauert, these are the frequency bands, that determine the direction a sound is coming from in the median plane:

300 Hz: front/presence
3kHz: front/presence, rising
15 kHz: front/presence

600 Hz: slightly above head, diffuse
2 kHz: a bit further above head, diffuse
8 kHz: really above the head (literally), diffuse ;)

1k kHz: behind the head, diffuse
11 kHz: behind the head, diffuse

 

Last edited: Jun 25, 2017

Just like when using eq, think subtractively. Don't raise up high the one, but bring down the many. When the Sergeant asked for a volunteer to man the suicide mission to sneak silently into the enemies camp and poison their water supply, all but Private Mathers took one giant step backwards, together all in unison, together all in hope. Listen to the piano above the voice and guitar. A tiny bit of verb up the center treating the voice, none on the guitar, while the piano is spread out and denser with little or no early reflections. This was just an unmixed demo I did for a poet friend who wrote the words, but it may give example on how to achieve your goal. (For those who think about these things, I used an RE-20 on the vocal and an AT 4051b on my Roy Noble dreadnought acoustic, both going tbrough a Warm Audio Tonebeast. The piano was a Kontakt instrument but I forget which one...RME Babyface. This is just the mp3.)
The Circle Maker (1st Take)

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jun 25, 2017

Don't bother "panning up and down". We don't have 4 ears.
Instead focus on getting a good mix.

You can get into the lovely world of binaural recording and HRTF recording/processing (like I did), but it's better to focus on mix balance, frequency balance, width and depth.
(i.e., binaural mics are still pretty rare in recording studios)

You can look into David Gibson's approach to "height" as in higher frequencies, to get a more balanced (and not so overlapping) mix.

 

Last edited: Jun 25, 2017

I forgot all about that thing. I might have to test it out again. Sounds like it might be cool as a transition/build up type fx with some automation. Right before a drop.

 

Last edited: Jun 25, 2017

Wonderful song

 

VirtualSoundStage, by Parallax Audio, lets you do just that.

http://www.parallax-audio.com/

 

@Rhodes .. Thanks. I flubbed a few of the words, but I just wanted to get it down as a sketch and perhaps record a more full production at a later date. Andrew Shields is the fellow who wrote the poem. He is an American Literature professor at the university here in Basel and has a cool little band called The Human Shields. The moment that I read the poem the music came through as on automatic. I like the song too. With drums and bass it should be killer.

 

@superliquidsunshine
Ah, Basel... it will always stay in my hart as a wonderful place.
Many Years ago I studied at the UNI Freiburg, and Basel was a place where we went very often.
The song sounds like if it were written and played somewhere at the Lake (Titisee-Neustadt)

I`d leave it as it is, it has that "something" in it`s simplicity...

OP: sorry for spamming the thread

 

Yes, Basel has grown on me and has really become "my home town" in the 13 years or so I have now been here. I cheer for FC Basel and dig getting up before the break of dawn for Morganstreich the first day of Fasnacht. Funny you mention it, but I put two and two together on the song at our Wohnwagen on der Neuchatel See. Very perceptive if you! If you are ever around let's have a drink and/ or jam!

 

Thanks for your help, guys.

This is actually my favorite plugin.

 

@superliquidsunshine
Thanks for the invitation... at the moment, I live about 1000 Km from Basel, so, probably it will not happen very soon; but, from experience, I know that life is unpredictable.. You never know what awaits us around the corner.
I`ll send a msg. if the road brings me around.
Cheers mate

 

I'll have to take a look at proximity and see if there's an up/down setting. @5teezo, excellent information!
VirtualSoundStage is an excellent plugin. I didn't like that there's no way to select different rooms. But I could have missed it. But the sound is superlative.