Stop Stacking Plugins: How to Create Space with Just 3 Reverbs
Most mixes don’t fall apart because of bad plugins.
They fall apart because of unclear decisions.
For years, I mixed the way a lot of producers do: stacking tools, adding processors, hoping clarity would magically appear somewhere down the chain. Sometimes it worked. Most of the time, it didn’t.
The real turning point for me came when I realized this:
Great mixes aren’t about stacking tools — they’re about making bold, clear decisions and knowing when not to touch something.
In this tutorial, I walk through a recent jazz mix and show how I created depth, cohesion, and clarity using only three reverbs across the entire mix — no plugin overload, no guesswork, no clutter.
If you’re experimenting with mixing but feel like your sessions are getting busy instead of better, this approach will change how you think.
🎥 Watch the Full Mixing Breakdown
In the video, I break down a mix of Autumn in New York, starting with the demo and ending with the final mix so you can hear exactly what changed — and what didn’t.
Why Stacking Plugins Creates Busy Mixes
One of the biggest mistakes intermediate mixers make is treating plugins as fixes instead of decisions.
When a mix feels crowded, the instinct is often:
Add another EQ
Add another reverb
Add a delay
Add “something” to make it cut
But the more tools you stack, the harder it becomes to hear why something isn’t working.
In this mix, my goal wasn’t to rebuild the performance.
It was to maximize clarity in an already beautiful arrangement — strings, woodwinds, brass, piano, bass, drums, and a lead vocal — without getting in the way.
That meant shifting the focus from processing… to space.
The 3-Reverb Philosophy (Think Like a Mixer)
Instead of placing reverbs on individual channels, I committed to three shared spaces for the entire mix:
Instrument Room – primarily for strings
Instrument Hall – for horns, woodwinds, and piano
Vocal Hall / Plate – dedicated to the lead vocal
By limiting myself to three clearly defined spaces, every decision became more intentional.
This approach forces you to ask:
Which space does this instrument belong in?
How much does it really need?
Does this reverb support the performance, or distract from it?
Limitation isn’t restrictive — it’s clarifying.
Reverb #1: The Instrument Room (Strings)
The first space is a room reverb designed specifically for strings.
Instead of lightly sprinkling reverb everywhere, I fed the strings confidently into this room at unity gain. The result wasn’t just depth — it added:
Width
Tonal character
A sense of realism
The room effectively became part of the instrument’s sound, almost like an EQ you feel instead of hear.
A subtle stereo widener and gentle filtering helped the reverb sit naturally without washing out the mix.
Reverb #2: The Instrument Hall (Horns & Piano)
The second reverb is a hall shared by:
Brass
Woodwinds
Piano groups
Rather than dialing in reverb based on presets or theory, I adjusted the decay, tone, and pre-delay until it felt right for the performance.
This is where reverbs stop being effects and start behaving like acoustic glue.
When instruments share a space intentionally, they begin to sound like they were recorded together — even if they weren’t.
Reverb #3: The Vocal Hall / Plate
For the lead vocal, I used a plate-style reverb with:
A defined pre-delay
Controlled decay
Minimal parameters
What makes this reverb work isn’t complexity — it’s restraint.
A de-esser tames sibilance inside the reverb return, and light filtering keeps the vocal present without clouding the mix. The result is depth and body without mud.
It feels classic, musical, and perfectly suited to the song.
Why This Works (And Why It’s Faster)
Here’s the real takeaway:
When reverbs are dialed in correctly, they do the job of EQ, separation, and glue — without stacking plugins.
In this mix, reverbs accounted for 60–80% of the perceived depth and cohesion, while individual channels remained surprisingly clean.
That’s not accidental.
That’s what happens when you commit to decisions instead of chasing fixes.
The Bigger Lesson: Less — With Purpose
This approach only works when:
The musicianship is strong
The recordings are solid
The decisions are intentional
If you’re chasing clean, musical mixes, sometimes the best move isn’t more — it’s less, done on purpose.
Think in spaces.
Commit early.
Trust your ears more than your plugin folder.
What to Do Next
If this way of thinking resonates with you:
▶️ Watch the full video above
💬 Leave a comment with your biggest mixing struggle
📩 Explore more tutorials on AlexProMix Learn
🎚️ If you’d rather have a project mixed for you using these same principles, you can explore my professional mixing services.
This isn’t about minimalism for the sake of it.
It’s about mixing like a professional — decisively, confidently, and musically.
— Alex