Essential Plugins and Workflows for Re-Recording Mixers Part 3: Ambiences Make It All Work
Making the Mix a Living Breathing Thing
Ambiences play a critical role in re-recording mixing. They provide depth, realism, and emotional context to a scene. Well-crafted ambiences can tie together dialogue, music and sound effects into a cohesive mix. In my experience, television series, documentaries, and even narrative films often benefit from restraint in sound effects. Sound effects have their place, of course, and too many sound effects can distract from dialogue or clash with music, detracting from the overall narrative. Instead, high-quality stereo or surround ambiences can be incredibly effective in quieter moments, drawing the audience in and enhancing the emotional impact of a scene.
Step 1: Layering Ambiences for Depth
After you’ve locked in your dialogue and music, as covered in Parts 1 and 2, and before moving into SFX editing, I suggest focusing on layering high-quality ambiences. This is especially important for transitions and scenes that offer opportunities for world-building—helping establish time, place, and context.
Start by determining your foundational ambiences and why they matter. For example, on the documentary The Shot List, which follows wildlife photographers capturing grizzly bears in Alaska, I found a collection of authentic Alaskan ambiences on Soundly. These sounds—the wind, rain, and natural elements—were crucial to conveying the vastness and depth of the wilderness.
On another documentary, In The Dark, set in a small Florida town, I needed ambiences that reflected both indoor and outdoor locations unique to that region. These sounds helped create seamless transitions and grounded the story in its specific environment. I’ll share a breakdown of how I layered ambiences for this film.
All of my Ambience (AMB) tracks are grouped and sent to an AUX bus and assigned a VCA track.
Foreground: Close-up sounds like footsteps, rustling papers, keyboard clicks, or fluorescent lights. These usually live on my “Nat Sound” tracks. I try to use as much on-location sound as possible, running a light pass of RX Vocal De-Noise to clean things up without losing quality. If I’m recreating a natural sound from a stereo library—like a footstep or on-screen movement—I’ll often mono it up for extra realism.
Midground: Think nearby traffic or birdsong. For this film, I leaned into the ever-present hum of cicadas and insects—so deeply embedded in the consciousness of Florida.
Background: Distant city hums or wind noise. I love using sounds labeled “Modern Wind” or “Distant River” for that background ambience. It’s the world’s static layer, the bed everything else sits on. Set low, it’s a vital tool for transitions and works beautifully in both interior and exterior scenes.
Step 2: Using Plugins for Texture and Space
Some essential plugins for shaping ambiences:
Reverb Plugins: Use tools like Waves TrueVerb or FabFilter Pro-R-2 to simulate realistic spaces. I would suggest only putting a touch of Reverb on Ambience layers. Consider using a send and shaping your reverb with an EQ.
EQ: Carve out low-end rumble or harsh frequencies with subtractive EQ (e.g., FabFilter Pro-Q4).
Stereo Imagers: You could experiment with widening stereo fields with plugins like Waves S1, but make sure not to over-widen to avoid phase issues.
If you’re getting creative with your ambiences, such as with a narrative or commercial project, experiment with ambiences that have more of an emotional or stylistic feeling versus being hyper-realistic. Sometimes crafting my own ambiences using granular synthesis or taking pre-existing sample library sounds and using spectral editing to edit specific frequencies gives me unique, custom textures.
Step 3: Recording and Capturing Ambiences
If you’re going fully custom and have access to locations, or want to re-create locations that were filmed, you could definitely consider recording your own ambiences. Some quick tips on this:
Make sure to use stereo or binaural microphones with correct gain staging and a recorder with a decent pre-amp.
Experiment with mic placement—point away from the source to capture reflections and diffuse sounds.
Re-amp ambiences by playing sounds through speakers in unique spaces and re-recording them (e.g., hallways, warehouses).
Step 4: Mixing Techniques
Volume Automation: Blend ambiences dynamically to match scene transitions or emotional beats. Focus on blending the ambience layers together first, ensuring that there isn’t too much noise created. It’s better to have one clear sounding ambience then multiple layers that become muddy. Then focus on automating the Ambience VCA with the Dialogue and Music VCAs in your overall mix.
Panning: Place elements in the stereo or surround field to match on-screen locations or create immersion.
Mono Compatibility: Ensure low-end elements are mono-compatible to avoid phase issues on smaller playback systems.
The Secret Ingredient: Ambience
Ambiences are what make all the sound elements—dialogue, music, and effects—work together seamlessly. When carefully selected and layered, they create a rich sense of space and emotion that pulls the audience deeper into the story, often in subtle but powerful ways.
Experiment with layering, plugins, and your own recordings to discover unique approaches for each project. Every mix is an opportunity to build a distinct sonic world, so trust your instincts and keep exploring!
In Part 4, I’ll take a deep dive into the creative art of editing and layering hard and creative sound effects, exploring advanced techniques to enhance your mix’s depth, impact, and character. You’ll learn how to thoughtfully sculpt and integrate effects that not only support the story but also add unique personality and emotional weight to your soundscape. Stay tuned for insights that will help you elevate your mixes to the next level!