Hi guys,
            I had just finish composing a piece on X2. The instruments are Piano (main instrument, Ivory II), Violins, violas, Cellos, Basses, a flute and a Eng horn (All Dim Pro).

            My question is:

             a) how to pan the instruments?

              b) how to use Breverb on the instruments? Should I use an instant of Breverb for each track on Prochannel or FX bin? Should Basses and Cellos use less reverb? Should I use or not use the reverb from the vst synths?

              c) Send them to an FX bus?

              d) Or apply breverb on both PC and FX bus?

                e) Any tips on effect settings?

Thanks in advance

Choo Shi-Hwei

              

One way you can pan the instrument is to imagine you're the audience, sitting at the center seat, looking up on the stage where your instruments are placed. There would be many possibilities to experiment with panning. Normally I would set the panning from 10 to 2 o'clock range, but that is just me.

As for reverb, you may want to sent all the instrument to a bus and insert just an instant of the reverb effect if the reverb setting is the same.

Again, this is never fixed, for example, I might be mixing  a guitar and it's a little dry, so I may add reverb / delay just a little bit. I may further have these options :
- leave it as it is (other instrument may go to a bus reverb, but not the guitar).
- let the guitar join into the bus reverb.

Experiment and get the sound to your liking.

It really depends on the style of the piece and the vibe you want.

Is this meant to sound like a classical composition? Then I would place the Reverb on the master and set it fairly wet so everything sounds like it is in one room. Alternatively you could put reverb on a bus so you can control the wet/dry for each instrument but still have them in the same "space."

If it's a more modern piece and there is a solo instrument I would put one reverb on the solo instrument and one on a bus (where you send all the other instruments.) This way you get a common backdrop but also let the solo instrument stick out more.

You will probably find one of the Hall presets is a good start- I would customize the length and tone from there.

Peace,

Tunes

Just like to add, for some instruments, such as drum, I would normally not alter much panning, as I would like to mix it the way like I'm playing the drum such as snare on my left, floor tom at the right.

Thank You for reponding!
The Piano is the main instrument and the piece is Modern style and fantasy like. Should I disable the softsynth's reverb. Would Cakewalk's reverb sound better?

The options you have for other reverbs give you more flexibility. If you like the softsynths reverb then keep it. If you want to try other reverbs turn it off. 

Peace,

Tunes

There are no right or wrong ways to do these things. The best way to do it is to use your ears and do what ever it takes to get the sound you want. Each song and each track inside a song will need different things done to it. The same settings for one song will not work in another song.

Breverb is just like any other reverb out there. If you learn the basic functions of each setting in a reverb, you can then use your ears to tell you what needs to be done and at what settings they need to be at

Here is a thing i wrote and it explains every setting and function of a reverb:
http://www.audio-mastering-mixing.com/FAQ___Q_A.html#28

Cj

Thanks everyone for the input. I am looking at Cjays website. Wow! That's impresive.