Creating depth and atmosphere

[Cat Gas]

I think I may have posted something like this before.
But anywho, how do you go about creating depth/atmosphere? I try and put a pad in the background but it always sounds a bit raw and out of place. For example right at the start of this: http://soundcloud.com/total-science/total-science-s-p-y-dj-lee-relentless theres that nice soft pad, which gives it a sense of depth.

That's what I struggle with. How would you get a soft pad like that? And other tips for depth etc?

 

[kama]

Well the first thing that strikes me in that piece is that the 'pad' is completely atonal. Not a chord, not a note, but instead sounds like a looped reverb of some random piano hits or something. That gives you a lot of creative freedom to fill up the space. Use a metallic hit streched to bits and lowpassed, crossfade looped and what have you. It doesn't need to be big either.

 

[Wrigzilla]

One thing I like to do is put loads of incidental background noises in the mix - weird chirps, clangs and other unidentifiable noises.

 

[erecsean]

^this works for me too.

 

[logikz]

thats a cool idea, right now im using lots of natural ambiences like the sound of the sea, kids playing in the park or the rain forest combined with pink noise sweeps. its pretty cool, lots of the time people dont know its there, but if you remove it the listener reacts instantly. its something about how these natural sounds affect the brain.

the background bit in that song sounds like the metropolis chord to me. i dig the new TS tracks cos theyre a study in what you can do with software.

 

[kama]

Yeah you can definately hear that in the bass area, they're going for the farty gritty eveloped mid basses now as well. I can't remember them doing it that much in the old days.

 

[dethurah]

I agree about adding various noises low in the mix. It gives that bit of extra detail and depth. It gives the possibility of hearing something new every time you listen to it.