Creating "warm" synths

[amphibian]

Hey all. This is a pretty general thread, asking for tips and advice and techniques on how to create "warm" "organic" sounds. I realize those words can be rather subjective, and are abstract by nature - but I am of course leading towards sounds created by kryptic minds, matt u.etc. I am NOT asking about basslines - I have a pretty good idea as to how these are made now, but I am having trouble keeping the tonality and organic-ness throughout my higher frequency sounds.

Anyone?

[ComfiStile]

Has anyone ever tried resapmling via speakers -> mic -> DAW?

I'd imagine that could warm it up.

[3za]

my thread
http://www.dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=162300

It's basically just a link to SOS, but then a whip round, by the guys, and girls.

Has anyone ever tried resapmling via speakers -> mic -> DAW?

I'd imagine that could warm it up.

Yeah I have done that, not really a technique i like to use, but others are doing this.

peace.

[-matt-u-]

Hey all. This is a pretty general thread, asking for tips and advice and techniques on how to create "warm" "organic" sounds. I realize those words can be rather subjective, and are abstract by nature - but I am of course leading towards sounds created by kryptic minds, matt u.etc. I am NOT asking about basslines - I have a pretty good idea as to how these are made now, but I am having trouble keeping the tonality and organic-ness throughout my higher frequency sounds.

Anyone?

hi there, i use only few inserts when i'm trying to make my synths warmer, and these are: eq'ing, TAL chorus (it's free and really simple), and in some cases amplitube 3 to make them sound more analogue.

[wub]

TAL chorus (it's free and really simple)

Not used chorus much, weird as the rest of the TAL stuff is pretty much go-to for me right now

[nowaysj]

Honestly asking, why are you trying to achieve warmth?

[jyro]

If your referring to Boards of Canada esq stuff, it sounds to me like alot of their synth has the high end rolled off, 'warming' the sound so to speak

[amphibian]

Honestly asking, why are you trying to achieve warmth?

I've got a tune I'm currently working on called "Splinter", and I've been told by no less than 3 top producers, that the tonality of the high-end synths doesn't match the bass and that I should try "warming" it up. I know what they mean, just not sure how to go about it. Also when they pointed it out something in my head just "clicked" and I understood exactly what they were saying.

[nowaysj]

Do you have any outboard gear? A trip out of the box through a preamp, eq and comp might help out.

Or in the box, saturate pretty heavily, roll off the highs, and make a bump in the mud zone, around 300 - 500 hz. That is generic recipe for warmth. In certain contexts I think warmth is inappropriate, in many contemporary tracks, people spend a lot of effort sucking the warmth out of their tracks for whatever reason, it is just the aesthetic.

Maybe think about going back to the source, which synth are you using? Maybe you can start to generate the warmth there?

Ask those top level producers who think you need warmth, how they would go about warming up the synths? eh?

[MikkiFunk]

Ahhh, good old warmth. Such a very subjective term but something we all secretly love lol. Like 'nowaysj' said, if you have any outboard, try running it through a nice pre, a compressor, or an eq. It has to be a piece of outboard that colours the sound though somewhat, something very 'honest' sounding won't do much.

Even maybe try running it through a guitar pedal, maybe a subtle distortion of overdrive pedal could be a start.

Failing that, try boosting low mids in your EQ, as someone already said, try boosting in the mud range. Careful you don't muddy it up completely though. As has been said before also, try rolling off excessive high frequencies. Maybe even put a low pass filter onto it, bring it down a fair bit, add some resonance to make up for this filtering, the resonance will bring back a lot of body back into the synth. That works really nice on rhodes type sounds, and pads too.

Also try panning and 'artificial double tracking'. Its much like using a chorus effect but you can play about a bit more if you double track them manually, and experiment with how wide you want it to sound. Sooo, create 4 copies of said synth track. Call the first copy 'Left 1', the 2nd 'Left 2', the 3rd 'Right 1', and the 4th 'Right 2'. Before you start panning, the most important thing you need to do, is move each copy a little forward or back, so each one is just slightly out of time with the main track of the synth. In the channel settings there may be a 'delay' function which you can turn up on each channel by varying degrees to achieve the same effect. Personally I prefer to move them manually, as you can actually see how much your moving them by, so you're not just increasing something from '0' to '100'. Then try panning 'Left 1' and 'Right 1' to 10 o'clock, and 2 o'clock, respectively. Again pan 'Left 2' and 'Right 2' to maybe, 8 o'clock and 4 o'clock. As a rule of thumb, I'd say the wider you pan each copy, the more you'll lose the 'thickness' of the sound.

^^ That technique also works great on vocals, particularly 'backing vocals'.

Try layering the chords you've used, so maybe move/ copy the same chords down an octave, or just add the root note in a lower octave to give it some more low end 'warmth'.

Also maybe try detuning one of the oscillators on the synth an octave down, to make it a bit 'fatter'. Again, another very subjective term, but detuning is of course one of the first ways that you would go about trying to achieve a 'thicker' sound when programming a synth.

[Vast_Grid]

IMHO, it has to go through some sort of analog chain (it really can't be done within the digital realm IMO). Some folks might think it is unnecessary and/or a hassle to even attempt it, but to achieve a great studio (analog mixing console) and "warm tone', the digital audio should really pass through some tubes/transistors/analog-circuitry/e.t.c........

Use a mic preamp or any outboard gear in general to get your particular target (warming up synth). I'd use some type of analog effects pedal (any Moog or even a guitar pedal set in true bypass[no need for actual effect, just traveling through circuits]) for tone. You WILL! absolutely notice an extreme difference between the original (untouched) wav file of what ever your trying to apply the effects to and the post "went-through-analog-chain" wav file. Do this and let other people (family, friends, e.t.c.) go through a A/B sound test to determine which is best.

I hope that helps

p.s.
I also recommend actually mic'n it through different environments and using a cassette/vhs/reel recorder for retro lo-fi vintage effect. ALSO others DROPPED SOME GREAT TIPS.

[FuzionDubstep]

try putting your laptop on the stove

[Kochari]

Detune your oscillators by +/- 10 or so

[olyko12]

Good one fuzion. I saw what you did there.

Lots of good info. The phrase "warming it up" always confused. It's nice to get some insight.

EDIT: Btw TAL-chorus(along with most of the other TAL gear) is killer.

[FuzionDubstep]

Good one fuzion. I saw what you did there.

Lots of good info. The phrase "warming it up" always confused. It's nice to get some insight.

EDIT: Btw TAL-chorus(along with most of the other TAL gear) is killer.

[Sharmaji]

saturate and lopass.

[wolf89]

I use my Korg MS-20

(sorry I just felt like being a smug tnuc)

[hasezwei]

assign lfo set to random (not random square tho) to pitch, reeeeeeaaaaaaally slow and reeeeeeeaaaally subtle.
also saturating a bit, detuning a tiny tiny bit, flanging and chorus also help. all about doing it so subtly that you barely notice it, and then turning it down a notch again.

[Nixti]

Try some tape sim plugins like DUY tape, guitar amp sims like amplitube or guitar rig. My fave is soundtoys decapitator. fuckin sick tone machine!

[jaydot]

Saturation is a good bet depending on where you want to "warm up", and as Sharmaji also said low-passing at the right frequency. I was wondering how to create "purple" synths last week, I'd say they were pretty warm? They're just saturated, (I'd imagine low-passed) saws iirc.