| 1st | More often than not I feel the instruments in my music are too simple. Very rarely do I produce a 'befitting' instrument that sounds like something impossible to make with given tools. How do I make more complex and personalized sounds that really brings my works from 'wow' to "OH WOW!"? Should I use more effects on the devices I am using? I just feel there are so many subtle things that are flying over my head. I'd appreciate it if someone who knows their stuff could "shine a blinding light into my eyes" so that the assist is burned into my retinas...and my memory.
| 2nd | I've already taken some advice that I have put into good use but I'm not all that sure if I'm doing it correctly. Another problem is that usually when I try to create a complex instrument using the effects, it turns out to be a messy sounding thing that has no place in the track. The same thing happens sometimes, mostly with the Heisenberg, where I modulate to create a new sound; I create another out of place messy sound. This is the case more often than not. I'm on the edge of whether to use more effects or not. I know the devices well enough to get what I want. However, the problem still stands:
How do I make more complex and interesting instruments efficiently? How can I learn to balance what I want in my music vs what it needs?
Create an account or Login to write a comment.
-
-
:D
-
ohhh you do the bass music thing... wyho fuckin acares make it slapo. if you have a unique song, con fucking grats. if u want "OH WOW!" jsust make it slap. make the mf loud make it wide make it bassy and have a not shitty sound design
-
I knew a guy who played around with piezo discs and a drum modulator...homemade electronic drums to try and create some interesting sounds
-
It's a specific skill. You really have to spend time practicing just creating sounds standalone instead of making music. My first go to for any program or device is to create an entire bank of presets for myself. I've done this with all of the effects and synths in Audiotool for example. What happens is you are forced to explore as many options on the devices as you can to create different results.
I constantly watch videos on synths and synth owners, sometimes you get interesting small sound design ideas that start translating over into any synth you want. For example a good one in Audiotool I like to do is creating a "random" synced automation on the timeline by manually placing random points every 16th note. You are right, most of these things are subtle. You really have to watch videos, work with other artists, or open up people's tracks on audiotool to see what they did.
Stop thinking about being a musician and just think about designing sounds for awhile. It's kind of a lot of work for results no one cares about ( I've probably spend a good 500 hours making sample packs for myself of shitty drums or noises ) but it's how you are going to build up your skill at sound design.
-
My motto is: "get it as good as possible as early as possible". Try to get as close to the sound you want early in the audio chain, right on the synth if you can. Decide the role of the sound in your track (low end? high end? mids? foreground? background/fill?) and design accordingly. Try to abuse the synth to create interesting sounds (unusual routings or parameter combinations). Heisenberg has a randomise function (press "R") that can help. Modulate and automate as many parameters of the sound as necessary to give it movement, so that it doesn't sound "static". Another tip is to layer sounds. Divide your sound in time (attack, sustain) or in frequency (low end, high end) and create separate sounds for each, then layer them. Many of the attention grabbing sounds you hear have been created out of layers. Finally, too many effects will create a muddy mess, like you have experienced. They blur the sound and push it into the background (with perhaps the exception of distortion). You need effects, but try to use as few as possible and as subtly as possible. So, to summarise: 1) Abuse the synth 2) Modulate/automate 3) Layer sounds 4) Use effects sparingly. I hope this helps.
-
Thanks!
-
This video can give you some ideas: (link is only visible to registered users)
-
i wish i could pin this thread so i could keep reminding myself of it! this is epiphany stuff.