So I make Riddim Dubstep,I Know how to make synths and stuff but i struggle with sound design,my tracks always sound "Empty" like it's missing something, often has good rhythm but sounds bland. Any suggestions on making songs sound more "Full" and atmospheric? What devices should i use?
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Sometimes an arp or small but quiet chiptunes can fill up a drop. And if all else fails, mess around with some vocal chops. Oh, and offbeat chants on the drums work too. I just use these techniques most often, hope this helps :)
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I don't know anything about riddim specifically, but I can tell you that Dubstep (specifically classic Dubstep) uses lots of effects to create an atmosphere. As far as I know, Dubstep is supposed to sound kind of empty, but you still need some depth. Depth can be done with reverb, delay, stereo widening, etc. The best option is usually to be subtle with the effects, but you can make cool atmospheres by applying certain effects in greater quantities than you normally would. Just make sure to keep it under control, and don't let those effects get things muddy.
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I take back my old comment, it doesn't really hold up as much anymore
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what's mid/side eq?
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dubstep has to be very hard and full, while the shittest of riddim can still sound good. riddim, however, can sound a lot better than dubstep when utilizing different rates like 1/8T and, don't ever forget, ***1/4***, and 1/8. that's really all you need. But yes, riddim can sound full. But usually it's very atmospheric as there is little separating the main synth form its reverb and delay. this also allows a louder relative volume between it and its atmosphere. i think this ties in to what @Jordi Moragues was saying about sparse instrumentation in riddim. also i find that additional mid/side eqing must be done when i widen a sound, just to tame it down. For example, cutting around 300Hz in the side, or cutting around 6kHz in the side. That's just the frequencies i touch most. also Infected Mushroom Widener is good af cuz it still sounds good when summed to mono. i've experienced too many times where i widen a sound and end up fucking the mid/side eq just cuz it sounded too harsh and summed it to mono and it sounded like ass. also how can i make a mid/side eq in audiotool?
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I'm not an expert in Riddim by any means, but it seems to be a genre with a very sparse instrumentation anyway. Which means that each instrument has lots of space in the frequency spectrum. You could use the Heisenberg and go extreme with the sound design for your main sounds (make very full sounds with lots of harmonics and very little filtering) to go with the drums. Also, you can arrange your notes and percussion hits so that the drums and the other instruments have accents at different times, never together, so that there's always something happening. I hope this helps.
make sure a more full and atmospheric drop is really what you want, because you might really just need it to be less shitty. usually the only atmosphere you need, as far as the basses are concerned, is a little comb filtering and reverb. above all you need to make sure your shit is phat. if it sounds like a hunk of ott and distortion, you probably did it right smh.