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Thread |
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maddkid53
Junior Member
United States
90 posts
Joined: Feb, 2013
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 Posted - 2013/12/18 : 20:06:13
They always come out feeling too airy and not stabby enough for my liking.
Does anyone have any suggestions, or the ability to point me towards a solid tutorial?
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Dys7
Advanced Member
United States
1,231 posts
Joined: Nov, 2011
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Posted - 2013/12/18 : 21:19:14
Yeah, I had that problem as well a lot.
One thing you should do is make sure you're changing up the timbre of your layers - don't just have purely supersaws. I have a lot of varied lead sounds combined with a more prominent supersaw to make said super saw sound fuller.
For example - if you have nexus - add in layers like Leads - Hard Mid Booster.
Don't make the non-supersaw layers too prominent, or else it will get confusing and muddy fast.
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The above comment was likely written when I was *literally* 13, so please don't judge me too hard.
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Check out my cheesy fiddlings here:
http://soundcloud.com/dys7dj/
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electrogen
Average Member
United Kingdom
206 posts
Joined: Feb, 2012
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Posted - 2013/12/19 : 12:25:59
Transients
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maddkid53
Junior Member
United States
90 posts
Joined: Feb, 2013
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Posted - 2013/12/19 : 13:15:51
quote:
Originally posted by Dys7:
Yeah, I had that problem as well a lot.
One thing you should do is make sure you're changing up the timbre of your layers - don't just have purely supersaws. I have a lot of varied lead sounds combined with a more prominent supersaw to make said super saw sound fuller.
For example - if you have nexus - add in layers like Leads - Hard Mid Booster.
Don't make the non-supersaw layers too prominent, or else it will get confusing and muddy fast.
Ahh this was helpful, thank you!
quote:
Originally posted by electrogen:
Transients
I'm a noob, what exactly do you mean by that?
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Audio Warfare
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
3,046 posts
Joined: Mar, 2009
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Posted - 2013/12/19 : 13:38:23
quote:
Originally posted by maddkid53:
They always come out feeling too airy and not stabby enough for my liking.
You probably need a nice plucky sound with a quick attack layered in with your "airy" sounds. Something to give it a bit of substance. You could also experiment with leaving a certain layer off of your reverb to bring it to the front of the mix a bit or maybe you're just using too much reverb or too big a reverb in the first place.
Really there is a lot of ways to achieve similar results though and most people do things slightly differently. If you have an example of one of your leads it would be easier to advise.
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Listen to released and forthcoming Audio Warfare/Audio Weaponry tunes here:-
http://soundcloud.com/audio-warfare
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Edited by - Audio Warfare on 2013/12/19 14:27:56 |
Hard2Get
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
12,837 posts
Joined: Jun, 2001
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Posted - 2013/12/19 : 13:45:30
You answered your own question. Make them less airy and more stabby. For this, use the amp envelope. Filter envelope also.
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Edited by - Hard2Get on 2013/12/19 13:45:58 |
maddkid53
Junior Member
United States
90 posts
Joined: Feb, 2013
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Posted - 2013/12/19 : 13:52:18
quote:
Originally posted by Hard2Get:
You answered your own question. Make them less airy and more stabby. For this, use the amp envelope. Filter envelope also.
Well, I'm not really sure to how to do that, is the problem I'm facing.
But I will try using those things, thank you.
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Hard2Get
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
12,837 posts
Joined: Jun, 2001
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Posted - 2013/12/19 : 14:17:50
quote:
Originally posted by maddkid53:
quote:
Originally posted by Hard2Get:
You answered your own question. Make them less airy and more stabby. For this, use the amp envelope. Filter envelope also.
Well, I'm not really sure to how to do that, is the problem I'm facing.
But I will try using those things, thank you.
The decay and sustain parameters control how plucky a sound is. Turn the decay and sustain down to zero. Then increase the decay til you get the correct amount of 'pluck' (listen to the lead line with the kick by itself to get the timing right. Making the sound decay just before the next beat is a good thing to aim for. If you want it to last longer than that then use release). Adjust the sustain to make it sound more natural. A supersaw lead that has full attack and decay will sound airy and won't fit very well with the pulse of the song.
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Edited by - Hard2Get on 2013/12/19 14:19:24 |
maddkid53
Junior Member
United States
90 posts
Joined: Feb, 2013
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Posted - 2013/12/19 : 18:10:28
quote:
Originally posted by Hard2Get:
quote:
Originally posted by maddkid53:
quote:
Originally posted by Hard2Get:
You answered your own question. Make them less airy and more stabby. For this, use the amp envelope. Filter envelope also.
Well, I'm not really sure to how to do that, is the problem I'm facing.
But I will try using those things, thank you.
The decay and sustain parameters control how plucky a sound is. Turn the decay and sustain down to zero. Then increase the decay til you get the correct amount of 'pluck' (listen to the lead line with the kick by itself to get the timing right. Making the sound decay just before the next beat is a good thing to aim for. If you want it to last longer than that then use release). Adjust the sustain to make it sound more natural. A supersaw lead that has full attack and decay will sound airy and won't fit very well with the pulse of the song.
Perfect advice, thank you!
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Hard2Get
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
12,837 posts
Joined: Jun, 2001
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Posted - 2013/12/19 : 18:22:32
Also bear in mind that the envelope speeds of synths is different from one to the next. Not all synths will be good for stuff that requires snappy envelopes or accuracy. Although most software seems to be at least fine.
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Edited by - Hard2Get on 2013/12/19 18:23:19 |
Kopacetic
Starting Member
United States
3 posts
Joined: Feb, 2014
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Posted - 2014/04/08 : 16:48:35
I had the same problem, until I asked the same (sort of) question on Reddit
http://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/comments/22gq0r/adding_character_to_synth_lead/
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maddkid53
Junior Member
United States
90 posts
Joined: Feb, 2013
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Posted - 2014/04/10 : 19:10:45
quote:
Originally posted by Kopacetic:
I had the same problem, until I asked the same (sort of) question on Reddit
http://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/comments/22gq0r/adding_character_to_synth_lead/
Wahey, I posted in that topic! I've learned a lot since I posted here on HHC haha
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brodster
Junior Member
United States
99 posts
Joined: Nov, 2013
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 Posted - 2014/04/10 : 20:07:00
Another trick that helps is panning and widening. Take the oscillators in Sylenth and pan them left and right. It will give the other layers of your leads a lot more room to breathe and sound more fat. Make sure that you detune them so you don't have the same exact sound coming from both speakers, it will just sound louder and it wont work very well when summed to mono.
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Having trouble making a good lead sound
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