How to make ambient music

27 essential ambient production tips

By Computer Music ( Computer Music ) published 25 July 08

Tools and techniques for creating atmospheric sounds

Inspired by the likes of Philip Glass and Brian Eno, ambient music is as much about creating mood as it is creating melody.

1. If all the soft sounds and smooth vibes get a little too much, try some juxtaposition. Ambient heroes The Orb are fond of this technique, and whether it’s a squealing guitar, devastating synth hit or ridiculous vocal sample, they’re not afraid to toss something a little unusual into the mix.

3. Second-hand record shops are great places to find sounds. You may even find that your local charity shop has an untapped collection of oddities just waiting to be snapped up by the enterprising samplist. From records featuring nothing but steam engine noises to children’s story albums, there’s an abundance of weirdness out there for the taking.

4. Samples are a constant source of inspiration, but it’s easy to discount one because it doesn’t fit the feel of your track when you first try it. If you’re short on fresh ideas, try running short bursts of a sample through a delay effect. Using this method, it’s possible to come up with some great abstract noises that sound nothing like the original source material.

5. If your tracks are jam-packed full of synthetic-sounding virtual instrument patches and everything’s starting to sound too ‘computery’, consider bringing in some natural sounds or using a few real instrument parts. Even if they’re from ROMplers, it should help take some of the unnatural edge off.

6. Recordings of natural sounds such as rainfall, waves, wind and fire are great for filling out a mix because they’re basically noise, and as such, they have a wide range of frequencies. They shouldn’t be too loud or they’ll overpower the mix, but use them with care and they can be extremely useful.

8. If you’re using long, sustained sounds, such as pads, your mix can lack movement if these elements are too static. By subtly altering tuning, pulse width or filter cutoff over time, you can create more organic sounds that will enhance the mix rather than make it sound lifeless.

«Recordings of natural sounds such as rainfall, waves, wind and fire are great for filling out a mix because they’re basically noise»

9. If you’ve got a sample that you want to play for longer than its duration, you have two basic options: you could timestretch it, which will most likely introduce unwanted audio artifacts, or loop it. Crossfade looping is the best way to get seamless loops, but if this isn’t possible, you can recreate the effect yourself by fading between two audio tracks in your mixer.

10. To make a pad sound particularly evocative, try modulating the filter cutoff with a shallow LFO as well as a big, sweeping envelope. This will give the sound a great deal of movement and works superbly when combined with a delay effect.

13. When deploying your newly-sliced rhythmic samples, it’s not always best to have your sequencer’s snap control active. You might find that pulling samples forwards along the track a little makes them fit in better with the rest of the groove, and having the snap control turned off also makes programming human-sounding rhythms easier.

14. Silky bass guitar tones are a common sound in ambient dub, but if you don’t have a real bass guitar to hand, you’ll have some trouble getting the same smooth sound. Bass ROMplers such as Spectrasonics Trilogy and Bornemark’s Broomstick Bass are your best bets for recreating this kind of thing.

15. Whether you’re composing in stereo or surround, it’s important to use the available panoramic space properly if you want to create a sense of size. If your track has drums, you’ll probably want to pan these around the centre, but with synths and effects you can afford to use the space more creatively, so try panning them around.

16. Most DAWs have simple pan controls that only enable you to pick one position in the stereo panorama. If you’re looking for slightly more control, a stereo imaging plug-in such as mda Image or BetaBugs Moneo can be used to control the position and filter setting of each channel or tweak them as a mid/side pair, respectively.

17. To add a natural stereo panorama to mono samples, you could do a lot worse than give Voxengo Stereo Touch a try. This effect uses a delay algorithm to create a convincing stereo effect that’s guaranteed to revitalise any dodgy old mono sounds you might have lying around.

Reverb

19. It can be tempting to just stick reverb on a few tracks and leave it at that, but that wouldn’t be using this powerful effect to its full potential. Using high damping values, large room sizes and long reverb times will create a big sound that, when combined with judicious EQ, can create a ‘far away’ kind of effect.

20. When using reverbs, if you want to create a softer, more ethereal effect, use less of the dry signal in the output. You can do this by turning the wet/dry ratio up, or, if you’re using a send effect, by setting it to pre-fader and turning the source channel’s main volume level down.

21. If you’d rather have a brighter, closer effect, then make the reverb’s damping less severe, reduce the room size and turn down the delay time. This works especially well in conjunction with stereo enhancer effects such as the Voxengo Stereo Touch plug-in.

22. Many interesting effects can be created by rendering out reverb and delay tails minus the original dry sound, then applying creative processing to the tail. Filters work particularly well for this kind of thing and, once processed, the new sound can be played back alongside the original version, or replace it altogether.

23. Finally, when programming synth patches, don’t discount the creative potential of your instrument’s reverb section. With a long, lush reverb, even the smallest synth squelches or blips can be turned into pleasingly tonal atmospheric effects. Of course, if your synth effects truly suck, you can always use a separate reverb or delay plug-in instead to create the same effects.

Delay

24. Delay is a pretty common effect in atmospheric music like ambient, but for ambient dub, a full-on feedback delay, such as Ohm Force’s excellent OhmBoyz effect, is just the thing.

25. Dynamic use of feedback delay is useful for creating long, evolving rhythmic effects. By automating the feedback control on a delay plug-in, you can build to a crescendo or create weird rhythmic effects.

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How to Make Ambient Music Soundscapes

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So often, we listen to music as a stimulant. We crave the rhythm, the melody. We want to feel inspired to sing, move, dance. Ambient music shows the unique power of music, the seemingly magical quality, because it exists for the opposite reason. Ambient music soothes and relaxes. It can add a calm feeling to an environment without detracting. It can help a person focus without drawing too much attention to itself.

So much modern technology essentially takes the form of dominion over random natural forces. Our buildings are as temperature-controlled and sound-isolated as possible. Yet, nature is far from silent. If an environment is too controlled, it can feel sterile and almost spooky. Ambient music is often inspired by the most relaxing natural environments. Distant, echoing sounds that remind us we are not alone. Warm, soothing swells that imitate the calm power of a distant ocean or a light breeze. Slowly shifting soundscapes.

If you want to create your own ambient soundscapes, you have your work cut out for you. With the most basic equipment, you have the power to create immersive soundscapes that feel like an entire world.

Listen

The best way to get started is always to surround yourself with great influences. Visual artists do this with moodboards, so why shouldn’t musicians as well? Listen to some of your favorite ambient music, and familiarize yourself with the aesthetics and feelings involved.

I think it’s literally impossible to write an article about ambient music without mentioning Brian Eno’s Ambient 1: Music for Airports. The indulgently discerning Pitchfork named this album as the greatest ambient album of all time, and it’s hard to argue. Eno even invented the term ambient, for this amorphous genre that was often referred to with synonyms such as “atmospheric.”

Ambient music is a fairly diverse genre though. Since the genre is more about the destination, the journey can take many forms. That is to say, ambient music is defined by its goal to create unobtrusive sonic moods. Sometimes this involves traditional melodies, sometimes it’s just sustained chord progressions. And sometimes it could barely even be called music; more of a soundscape, with few traditional notes. That said, as you listen to more, you will notice the threads that run through ambient music. Try Terry Riley’s A Rainbow in Curved Air, The KLF’s Chill Out and one of my personal favorites, 猫 シ Corp. – A1 – Palm Mall.

What Makes Music Ambient

Ambient music tends to have a few elements in common. Rhythms are very light, and don’t usually involve percussion. Percussion makes music feel more rhythmic and driving, so any percussion in ambient music is more often about texture than rhythm. For example, swelling cymbals, wind chimes, and rain sticks.

Ambient music moves, because all music does. But ambient music tends to move much more slowly. The tempos are slow, and ideas are repeated more times before shifting. There is not a focus on “capturing attention” or being “catchy.”

Sonic Texture

Sonic texture is quite crucial in effective ambient music. All music, and indeed all sound, is made up of complex combinations of frequencies. The deeper a person gets into music production, the more they realize that different ranges of frequencies are actually associated with very different emotions and uses, in much the same way that green is a calming color and red is exciting.

Warmth

You can follow this guideline with your ears, or you can use a spectrum analyzer and EQ if you want to get more scientific. Frequencies between 250-500 Hz are known to feel “warm.” They are one of the reasons we associate vinyl records with a warm sound- vinyl is not great for bass, so engineers would boost these low-mids to compensate. A lot of ambient music features sustained warm tones in this range.

Presence

The frequencies around 1500-3000 Hz have a very “present” and “in-your-face” quality. Ambient music frequently cuts in this area, as anything that’s prominent in this range tends to grab attention, and in fact its tiring to listen to for long periods- the opposite of ambient music’s goal.

Shine

A lot of beautiful shimmering textures happen in the 5k-10k Hz range. You can play with this in ambient music. Try bringing it out more in the more “saturated” or “full” moments in the music, and back off in more contemplative moments.

Sizzle

Finally, 10k-20k Hz is a very detailed, textured range. In typical music production, you hear a lot of “sizzle” and percussion and vocal syllables in this range. I recommend dulling this range a bit. It tends to grab attention and add energy.

Reverb

Since ambient music aims to be atmospheric- to create or contribute to an environment- the use of reverb can be highly effective. The rules of reverb are a bit different than other types of music production. In ambient music, you can go heavier and wetter on the reverb, because it’s not so crucial to hear the details of the original sounds. Usually in music, it’s important to avoid too much bass and low-mid presence in reverb tails, because this leads to a muddy mix. In ambient music, this can actually be a virtue. The music moves more slowly, so reverb creates less mud, and low-mid reverb can simply add more warmth and power to your sound.

Play with the psychoacoustic rules of reverb as well. We don’t consciously think about it much, but in daily life we actually hear reverb constantly, and use it to understand what kind of environment we are, how close a sound is, etc. You can play with these perceptions to create an immersive environment. Reverb with a longer tail sounds like a larger and more open space, whereas a shorter tail sounds like a smaller or medium room. Dryer sounds are perceived as closer, wetter as more distant. High-pass sounds to make them sound more distant too. Bass frequencies decay more quickly over open spaces, so distant sounds are mostly mid and high frequencies. Lower frequencies either sound very close or very powerful. Have fun playing with these, and with panning, to create aural collages. The Palm Mall album I linked to above makes great use of this.

Creating electronic music requires very little physical gear these days. We are a long way from the 70s, with Stevie Wonder’s hilariously impractical electronic partner. A laptop, audio interface, MIDI keyboard, and decent set of speakers or headphones is enough to create professional-level music in 2019. Check out the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 and AKAI MPK Mini MkII for an excellent entry-level interface and MIDI keyboard respectively. (As chance would have it, I have also written articles discussing your alternatives for both- read here and here.) A good pair of neutral studio monitors or headphones is absolutely crucial. Imagine trying to work on a painting while wearing smudged glasses. How can you create great music if you can’t hear how it really sounds?

Software

A Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) is essentially a virtual music studio. These programs play the role of tape machine, and as a host for sampled instruments, synthesizers, and audio processing effects. There are dozens of choices these days, but you’re best off just picking one and learning it. Different DAWs shine in different contexts, but broadly speaking, they can mostly do what all the rest can. Popular choices for the electronic-heavy genres such as ambient include Abletonhttps://www.ableton.com/en/ and Fl Studiohttps://www.image-line.com/flstudio/. I also love Reasonhttps://www.propellerheads.com/ which has a unique interface that imitates live synths and rack-mounted effects.

Instrument Libraries

Ambient music tends to favor certain kinds of synth or sampled instruments. Pads, and especially warm pads are extremely popular. “Pads” refers to synths ideal for playing sustained notes and chords, to create textures and to “pad” the sound. They were popular in the 80s and 90s in music production- check out the piano sound of Bruce Hornsby’s The Way It Is, backed up by heavy pad usage. Pads resemble swelling orchestral chords, but usually have a more muted and less textured quality. Warm pads in particular are essentially swelling low-mid frequencies, and can be used as individual notes or to play chords. Many ambient tracks use pads in the forefront of the arrangement.

Other popular sampled instruments include piano and electric pianos, acoustic guitar, chimes, world instruments like pan flutes and thumb pianos, and mellow synths. Most DAWs come with their own proprietary instrument libraries, but they are usually limited. It may be worthwhile to invest in a third-party library that specializes in ambient sounds, such as Soundiron Holy Ambiences, Ambient Soundware, or BigFishAudio’s Ambient White. Supplement your soundscapes with sounds from free sound effect libraries such as Freesound. You can find ambient sounds like running water, wind, light traffic, rain, and other white noise to loop in the background.

Reverb VSTs

There are countless reverb VSTs available. I personally use Voxengo’s OldSkoolVerb regularly. This is one of the greatest free VSTs in general. It’s not great for drums and percussion, but that won’t be an issue with ambient music. It’s simple to make your sounds drier or wetter, to change the perceived size of the space and reverb tail length.

Writing Ambient Music

It’s easy to teach gear and overarching production principles. It’s harder to teach someone how to write original music. Particularly because people understand music in different ways- some people learn piano and like to see sheet music, some learn music by feeling or by chords and patterns. When it comes to writing original ambient music, your starting point depends on your music theory level.

If you are a true novice, try learning some major chords. Use your DAWs piano roll to draw in a progression of 2-4 sustained major chords that repeats. Play around until you find a sequence of chords you like. There are no right answers in music- if it sounds good, it is good. Try repeating the chord progression 4-8 times, and gradually weave other instruments and sound effects on top. If you balance your sounds properly, this will be on its way to a complete ambient song!

Another option, if you’re not sure what you are doing, is to pick up a book of easy piano sheet music, or of lead sheets. Try copying some of the melodies or chord progressions, but play them on ambient instruments with a much slower tempo. This could also give you a starting point to create an ambient soundscape.
Generally, when you write ambient music, arrangement is important. Some ambient music has melodies, and some doesn’t. But when melodies do come, they tend to be slow, repetitive, and rhythmically simple. Don’t use too much movement in your arrangement at once. Keep things simple, light, and airy.

Conclusion

Pitchfork described Brian Eno’s goal as “creating music that could color the air to suit certain moods—the sonic equivalent of perfume, or air freshener.” Ambient music acts very differently from other genres, and is possibly the least obtrusive or flamboyant genre of all. The music exists not to create a new feeling, but to nurture natural feelings, to enhance an environment without detracting from it. Really, when it comes to creating ambient music, it’s a deceptively delicate craft. Effective ambient music must be balanced, modest, yet secretly powerful. There’s no substitute for the time spent perfecting the music. To immerse yourself in great ambient music, to imitate what you like, and to deeply listen to your own creations. Have fun, and feel the joy of the music!

Robert is a freelance audio engineer and the lead writer for Range of Sounds. Robert has had a lifelong obsession with dissecting and understanding music and is a self-taught composer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer, and recording engineer.

Understanding Atmosphere in Ambient Music and How to Create It

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When talking about music, “atmospheric” can be somewhat of an ambiguous term. Some people use it to describe the lush, sonic landscapes created by artists like Brian Eno and Jon Hopkins. Others may say that music by post-rock bands like Mogwai, or Hans Zimmer’s soundtrack for Interstellar have a lot of atmosphere.

In this tutorial, we’re going to focus on creating atmosphere in ambient music, but these techniques can be applied to any genre of music.

What is ambient music?

Ambient music is a style of gentle, largely electronic instrumental music with no persistent beat, used to create or enhance a mood or atmosphere. All music with atmosphere and ambience share one thing in common: the sounds help create a sense of space for the listener with tools like sound design, panning techniques, reverb, and more.

A great example of how ambient music uses a variety of sounds and mixing techniques to bring the listener into the atsmosphere of a sonic space is «Piano Aqueiu» by Stars of the Lid.

How to create ambient music

There are many approaches to creating spatial ambience in music. Let’s look at some of the most common technical tricks for creating dense, sonic atmospheres in ambient music and beyond.

1. Define the space

Let’s start with defining the type of ambience you wish to create. There are any number of approaches for creating, or even just thinking about, atmosphere in music. It helps to have a good idea of what flavor of ambience you’re hoping to achieve before you begin. So, ask yourself, what sort of atmosphere do you wish to create?

In order to answer this question, it helps to envision the space you want your track to live in. After all, the purpose of creating ambience in your music is to transport listeners to another place, whether that place be real or imagined. So, close your eyes and visualize where you want your song to exist. Do you picture a grungy warehouse or a lavish concert hall? Maybe your song takes place on the edge of a canyon cliff or deep in outer space. Or, perhaps you envision somewhere more abstract, like inside a fur-lined submarine. You get the idea.

Beginning to visualize the environment you want your music to live in is the first step to being able to create the right atmosphere for it. Once you have a clear idea of the space your song will exist in, you can let this information guide your decisions when it comes to your sound design and use of mixing effects.

2. Layer sounds to create atmosphere

One of the easiest ways to create atmosphere in music is to simply add a ton of instrument layers. This is where artists like Jon Hopkins really shine. In his track, “Abandon Window,” he intricately layers soft piano over droning beds of distant synths, choir vocals, and foley recordings. Each element contributes a unique texture to the track, but when combined, they work together to build the environment the song lives in. Give it a listen below.

When it comes to choosing which sounds to layer with each other, that’s where you get to flex your creativity. But, it does help to have some good sound sources to pull from in order to get your creative juices flowing.

ABSYNTH 5 from Native Instruments is one of my favorite synthesizers for creating ambient pads, evolving soundscapes, and otherworldly textures. For experienced sound designers, it provides enormous flexibility to be able to craft and modulate really unique sounds. It also comes packed with over 2,000 presets to get you started.

The ETHEREAL EARTH sample library is another great tool I’ve been using in my productions lately to create atmospheric textures. This library comes with KONTAKT 6 and is perfect for creating organic, ambient environments.

Another way to create more texture in your sonic atmospheres is to add in some layers of foley recordings. Whether you find foley samples online or record your own with a portable microphone like Spire Studio, incorporating recordings of everyday sounds can help create a sense of environment and provide a little ear candy for the listener.

To demonstrate the power of layering sounds, I quickly created the audio example below using one bass preset from ABSYNTH 5, one lead preset from ETHEREAL EARTH, and a foley recording of Pop Rocks candy. Check it out:

Mastering Ambient Music without Drums

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Mastering a mixed production means effectively translating the energy and transients of drums in the world of limited headroom. But what if there are no drums or percussion in the record?

Of course, there are genres that are notable for having minimal or no high-energy transients—ambient music being one of them. In this article, we’ll cover mastering considerations for ambient music devoid of drums or percussion beds.

Note: For the best learning experience, listen to the audio mastering examples below with headphones to catch the nuanced qualities of the master.

What is ambient music?

Ambient Music has evolved into its own influential genre since its inception in the late 1960s alongside the birth of synthesizers. Starting from its humble, experimental beginnings in the UK and Germany with the experimental sounds of bands such as Kraftwerk and the supergroup Harmonia, the sound took on its fully realized form when pioneer electronic musician Brian Eno officially coined the term “ambient music” in the late 70s.

Fast forward to today, and ambient music continues to influence and permeate mainstream culture in ways we never deemed imaginable—from movies, TV, and video games to mainstream music such as rock and EDM. In fact, we can trace the roots of more recent subgenres such as new age music, trance, and trip-hop to the stylistic origins of ambient music.

As its name aptly suggests, ambient music is known for its emphasis on tone, timbre, and vibe over traditional composition techniques and musical structure. There’s greater focus on being immersed in an atmospheric experience produced by the textural layers of sound. There are no limits to what sounds are used, provided it serves the unobtrusive sensory experience of ambient music—as heard in the Harmonia album below.

This can also explain why ambient music has cemented its place in the world of scoring for film, television, and video games. It effectively heightens a certain mood while supporting the visuals, or at least not detracting from them. One example of ambient music used as an immersive video game score is in the latest “Minecraft” release called the “Nether Update,” expertly composed by award-winning video game composer Lena Raine.

How to achieve heaviness, volume, and intensity when mastering ambient music

One common misconception about ambient music is that it merely serves as calming background music that’s not meant to strongly evoke the senses. On the contrary, ambient music can serve the opposite effect in the right context. Take Lena Raine’s approach to scoring the “Minecraft: Nether Update OST,” for example.

“Minecraft” is a world-famous video game where players can create their own worlds and experiences using in-game building blocks. Usually filled with lush, green landscapes and clear, blue skies, things take a different turn in the “Netherworld” where you’re suddenly surrounded by aggressive monsters, dangerous fortresses, and environmental hazards.

Composer Lena Raine understood the important role ambient music plays to heighten the eerie sense of being in this world. For the song “Rubedo,” she didn’t shy away from crafting an intense, heavy, ominous soundscape to match this dark gameplay.

Lena certainly delivered on this brief, as you’ll hear in the clip below. Before any mastering can be done, it’s important to take the time to really listen to the music. Only then can you make smart, appropriate mastering decisions to optimize its final sound.

Let’s listen to a 30-second audio clip of “Rubedo” before mastering:

Before Mastering

From the brief audio clip of “Rubedo,” you’ll notice that it begins with the delicate sound of an acoustic piano, which then morphs around the three-minute mark and slowly builds up into a dense climax of heavy, wailing synths meant to leave the listener with goosebumps. This ambient soundtrack is proof that you don’t need drums and heavy percussion to fill your music with energy.

When mastering an ambient soundtrack with this amount of dynamic range, the key is approaching it with the intent to not lose this sense of build up. Rather than aim for «loudness» across the whole soundtrack, it’s more impactful to respect the peaks and valleys in ambient music. Keep the acoustic piano soft and gentle. Resist the temptation to compress the dynamics and allow the music to breathe. Restraint is customary in the mastering world, but even more crucial when mastering music that’s as delicate as an ambient soundtrack.

Take your time, and instead, thoughtfully sculpt the EQ so the tonal balance and intent of the music effectively translates across various listening platforms. Do this, and the listener will be rewarded with the sensation of being engulfed by the climax when it arrives.

With this in mind, let’s listen to the same 30-second clip of “Rubedo” after mastering:

After Mastering

To experience the impact of the ambient score in its entirety, listen to the full “Rubedo” track below:

Making quiet moments count when mastering ambient music

To expand on appreciating the peaks and valleys in ambient music, these quieter sections don’t merely play a supporting role for the louder, climactic parts. Quiet moments in ambient music provide a different kind of significance and intensity, much akin to the way listeners pay more attention when someone whispers. These softer sections allow for more layers of emotions and experiences to be explored—from a contemplative silence, to one that imbues a sense of intense urgency.

As the mastering engineer, your task is to ensure that the message or emotions brought by these moments don’t get lost in the process. Your mastering decisions must therefore better represent the music in the world of commercial playback systems. One way of doing this is to pay close attention to removing noise and artifacts that distract from the ambient music during these delicate periods of silence.

A good example of this can be heard in the song “Beneath the Waves” from L.A. Choral Lab’s album entitled Sonic Visions.

“Beneath the Wave” is a good example of crafting an ambient atmosphere purely through the use of the human voice and body. The song “Beneath the Wave” was written by composer Luke Flynn as a tribute to the lives that were lost in Japan during the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit the country in March of 2011.

The beginning of this piece is crucial in establishing the visual imagery of the ocean and its waves, softly hitting the shore. L.A. Choral Lab used a combination of different sounds—like the rubbing of palms and various mouth techniques—to simulate this fully-realized sound of the waves.

Below is a 30-second excerpt of “Beneath the Wave” before mastering. Listen to how these ocean waves creep in very quietly in the beginning of the piece.

Before Mastering

For quiet, contemplative, ambient music, especially music that was recorded on location, keep a vigilant ear for any extraneous noise that could distract from the purity of the listening experience. For this recording, there were subtle room noises around the 13-second mark. Although subtle, they certainly distract from the imagery of the ocean waves. RX 9 is a perfect tool for addressing these subtle problem spots.

With these subtle, extraneous noises now under control, listen to the same 30-second clip of “Beneath the Wave” after mastering.

After Mastering

For the full experience, listen to the L.A. Choral Lab’s “Beneath the Wave” in its entirety below:

Additional signal processing tips

As is expected in the nuanced world of mastering, there is no clear-cut, one-size-fits-all approach when mastering for a specific genre. However, understanding the fundamentals of each genre—ambient music in this case—can lead you to more sensible mastering decisions that align better with the genre’s sound. Below are a few helpful tips to get you started with your critical listening journey.

Compression strategies

Given ambient music’s notable downtempo feel and potentially wide, sweeping dynamic range, it would benefit from compression settings that complement these characteristics. When the need calls for a compressor in your signal chain, consider using parallel compression as it effectively adds density to your masters without losing the sense of build-up that’s crucial to the sound of ambient music.

This genre also lends itself to compression that organically latches on in accordance to its downtempo “steady state” quality. A soft knee with a medium-to-slow attack time should be a good starting point.

For more general mastering compression tips, check out this episode of our mastering video series, Are You Listening?

Frequency spectrum and tonal balance

EQ in mastering is essential, as it allows the mastering engineer to effectively enhance and restore clarity to the music without drastically altering the sonic content. But it also helps to remember the artistic intent behind the production, especially if it’s something as regularly unconventional as ambient music. Aim for too much clarity and you may compromise the body and depth in the music. Too many subharmonics and too much low-end build-up may cause the music to not translate as effectively in various playback systems and streaming platforms.

Communicate with your client so you gain a better understanding of their artistic intent, therefore allowing you to make well-informed EQ decisions. You can also use Tonal Balance Control’s genre-specific frequency target curves to reference your overall tonal balance, with the added benefit of letting you monitor your low-end crest factor at the same time.

Conclusion: Let the music breathe

As mentioned in the beginning of this article, mastering considerations often change when dealing with a genre that essentially breaks a lot of “rules” in music production—from the absence of drum tracks and song structure, to the use of unconventional instruments and soundscapes.

As shown in our examples above, a good starting point is to let the music guide you in your mastering decisions. Our task as mastering engineers is not to alter the sound of music past the point that its musical intent is compromised. Arm yourself with the foundations of mastering. Then, as you critically listen to the peaks and valleys of ambient music, thoughtfully apply this knowledge as the need arises. Happy mastering!

7 quick tips for ambient, atmospheric music

Got the basics down? Here’s how to make ambient music that offers a little something extra.

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Synths are done, basic effects are in, and you’ve even manage to sneak in a toe-tapping rhythm? Check. All the building blocks of a great track are there, but if you’re trying to create ambient music that’s more memorable than missable, you might still find yourself missing a certain something. And that something is often what we loosely refer to as ‘atmosphere’ – the intangible X-factor that infuses a particular mood, vibe, or emotional direction into your track, turning it into something greater than a sum of its stems.

Of course, there’s no one formula for writing ambient music, but read on for seven of our best tips and tricks, along with some specially created audio examples. This isn’t a definitive list, but it ought to serve as an inspirational starting point for your own explorations into atmospheric music.

Reverb and delay

Let’s start with the obvious, in that reverb and delay effects should be among your first ports of call when you start making ambient music. Applying a huge reverb with the mix level set towards the dry end of the scale immediately gives sound spatial context and vibe. But don’t just reach for those standard rooms and hall reverbs, find a plug-in built with out-there sound design in mind, such as Blackhole by Eventide. High-feedback echoes are equally evocative. REPLIKA XT for instance offers a comprehensive selection of delay types, with filtering and modulation options expanding the plug-in’s functional remit to take in phasing, chorus, frequency shifting, and more – all good stuff for turning dry synth sounds and samples into atmospheric gold.