Effects making my synths sound worse?

[oprs]

If you think brostep is simple then you are kidding yourself, or maybe your own efforts at brostep are pathetic, so you hate it for that reason. whatever, it doesn't matter.

Sorry Holmes, bro step tracks ARE easy for me, and my attempts aren't pathetic. But, alas I do not like to make it. Kick snare hi hats GRAW PEE SNAWH WISH WISH ROBOTS FUCKING, gives me a headache
So keep highsteppin.

[amphibian]

EDM = electronic dance music. Almost everything since the 80s. IDM = intelligent dance music - and is used as an umbrella term for anything that is different/unusual/uncategorized. Basically experimental stuff. Everything starts there.

[wub]

I disagree. I could transcribe midi and audio any trance track in a few hours, but something like Datsik's - Gecko would take me fking ages.

i dare you to try and make this in a few hours -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQne95aLTo4

• Vengeance Club pack for the drums
• White noise sweep
• Saw tooth for the driving sound which acts as a bassline early on
• Sidechained to the kick to give it that pulse
• Vocal might be a bit hard to source, so I'd assume this challenge had an acapella up fronyt
• Pads and vocal w/ reverb on the break
• Middle eastern instrument sample
• Supersaw w/ resonance chorus & delay on the breakdown
• Heavy modulation on a few elements to give it that organic 'moving' feel

Wouldn't be THAT hard in fairness. It's well produced, granted, but I think with trance it's almost more about the mixdown to get that polished 'sound' due to it's very regimented 4/4 structure. The thread regarding the difference between raw and badly produced probably wouldn't work on a trance forum, because you very rarely hear trance that lacks that polish. This is indicative of the genre as a whole; Dubstep, and indeed the genres from which Dubstep originated from (Reggae/DnB/Garage etc*) were generally more raw in their nature, at least at the start. As such, the DIY home made ethos and sound wasn't so much of a factor when people took into account production innovation and interesting ideas.

(* Don't want to start a genre discussion right now on the origins of Dubstep, btw)

yeah I could that. But the eastern wind instrument is done by a session muso i think, but everything else is doable. I've done like 2-300 transcribed trance, classical, film score, ambient and hardcore tracks over about 10 years.

If you really want, I will transcribe the midi and send it to you.

I'll stand by Bringer on this one - it wouldn't be that difficult, once you've got the MIDI notes down for the break. The structure of the tune itself isn't particularly groundbreaking.

I don't know what goth trad stuff is but I can tell you right now that as far as complex synth programming goes, producers like Skrillex, Shekel, Diesel or Cyberoptix are at the forefront of all electronic music along with Tipper, Shpongle and the like. A lot of brostep is more simplistic, like Datsik or Rusko's newer stuff but a lot of it is insanely complex.

Don't agree with this statement at all I'm afraid. Tipper is one of the greatest electronic music artistsever IMO. To compare Skrillex to him is just...honestly, I'm lost for words. Go listen to 'Surrounded' on the best system you can find, then listen to 'Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites' on the same system and see how they stack up.

[hifi]

Anyways, I do like listening to the deep shit. I just listened to Burial's latest album last night and really enjoyed it, and I also like stuff like Benga, Kryptic Minds, all that good stuff. I just prefer to produce brostep because it seems to have a more technical side to it with all the interesting bass modulations, and I enjoy the aggressive sound because I used to be really into metal. It's popularity is a bonus too, since getting into dubstep was the first time I actually liked music that is popular!

Bru mutha fuckin ha ha har haripidy harpo,

Alright, reproduce some goth trad stuff if you think its not technical.
Bro step is the least technical thing to produce, its got not no soul and no aim.

not all types of music are supposed to have "soul" or whatever you call it. music is just supposed to make you feel. a certain song can make you feel different than another song. pretty simple explanation. yes, a song can give someone a completely different feeling than the next man but the point is it made you feel. feeeeeeel. either felt good or bad or happy or sad.

[hifi]

Yeah seriously I don't know anyone going gaga over DAT FILTHY DROP BRUV anymore, get into that deep shit.

You just redefined bandwagon jumping.

Why should he 'get into' as you call it 'deep shit'...

There is nothing 'deep' or passionate about 'getting into' something because 'noone listens to that other stuff anymore'

ahahahahahah

[3za]

dunno why you're asking him to validate those tunes. 3za has a superiority complex at times, I wouldn't take it personally

You know that you rusty spoon.

3za is obviously trolling, or he's just retarded enough to think that Tiesto and Deadmau5 are IDM...

Saying Tiesto, and Deadmau5 aren't IDM, is like saying Skrillex, and Borgore ain't dubstep.

[Jacob15728]

dunno why you're asking him to validate those tunes. 3za has a superiority complex at times, I wouldn't take it personally

You know that you rusty spoon.

3za is obviously trolling, or he's just retarded enough to think that Tiesto and Deadmau5 are IDM...

Saying Tiesto, and Deadmau5 aren't IDM, is like saying Skrillex, and Borgore ain't dubstep.

Oh, ok. I see what you did there.

Seriously though, you've contributed to this thread nothing aside from being annoying and offensive.

What, you don't think 3za is a friendly or helpful person? That's like saying Autechre isn't electo house!

Don't agree with this statement at all I'm afraid. Tipper is one of the greatest electronic music artistsever IMO. To compare Skrillex to him is just...honestly, I'm lost for words. Go listen to 'Surrounded' on the best system you can find, then listen to 'Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites' on the same system and see how they stack up.

Let's take a look at all the Skrillex threads here. You know how there's tons of people who want to make Skrillex's midrange/bass sounds, but NOBODY CAN FUCKING FIGURE IT OUT. I take that to mean that Skrillex is a master of advanced synth programming, on a far higher level than almost anyone else. I suspect that if we had a bunch of Tipper wannabees come to this forum, the results would be much the same. You can make the argument (and I would agree with you) that Tipper is a better musician/composer, but I'm just talking about synth programming here.

[3za]

Seriously though, you've contributed to this thread nothing aside from being annoying and offensive.

First reply

It sounds to me you're just adding effects hoping they will make your sound better

There are lots of different effects , with even more parameters. When shooting in the dark, you rarely hit the target.

What have you got? What do you like/dislike about it? Were do you want to take it?

You started a thread asking a basic question, got lots of good answer, but then you decided to start talking a load a crap about shit you don't even know jack shit about.

I don't know what goth trad stuff is but I can tell you right now that as far as complex synth programming goes, producers like Skrillex, Shekel, Diesel or Cyberoptix are at the forefront of all electronic music along with Tipper, Shpongle and the like. A lot of brostep is more simplistic, like Datsik or Rusko's newer stuff but a lot of it is insanely complex.

See, were the fuck did the guy that don't even know how to use effects, get that shit from.

That is the moment I started talking shit like you do.

IDM

So now post a song more complex then that, by some one you mentioned in the post I quoted.


Oh yes I win the internet again, don't even know why I still bother playing anymore, to good at this shit

[wub]

Oh yes I win the internet again, don't even know why I still bother playing anymore, to good at this shit

too*

[symmetricalsounds]

Oh yes I win the internet again, don't even know why I still bother playing anymore, to good at this shit

shooting fish in a barrel

[oprs]

ZING. haha, 3za with the fatality

[Ldizzy]

c-c-combo breaker

[benjam]

Bitchslapped lol

[-[2]DAY_-]

how could this one turn into a waste thread.... it had such a promising title.

OP, it isn't about synthing a sound and tossing FX chains on it. The whole process involves you drawing for the building blocks of the sound you want to hear. Starting with an oscillator. Choosing a waveform. Adding to it if you want to hear more. Filtering if you want to hear less. Modulation sources that are available, and what they can be routed to. But let's assume you DO get the sound you want out of the synth, but it needs a little something extra. It's unlikely tube distortions or bitcrushers are going to give you that. Though, they sure as hell may be useful mixing tools. What you probably want to do is use layering. Maybe you have low pass filter modulation. Apply the same modulation to a bandpass, maybe change the waveform or the octave... If your sound needs more midrange crunch, try layering with middy complex waveforms or distorted squares/saws. Maybe it needs more bottom end. Layer with a sine sub (switch filter mod to amplitude mod and remove the filter). And/or layer with a single fat square or triangle wave. If it needs more top end, add some screechy bizzniz over the top.
Bounce your layers to audio and apply compression as needed to each one, followed by simple, gentle, subtractive, corrective EQ. Bus them all to a group bus and apply gentle buss compression (low ratio). That will change your sound into a SOUND.

[Jacob15728]

Seriously though, you've contributed to this thread nothing aside from being annoying and offensive.

First reply

It sounds to me you're just adding effects hoping they will make your sound better

There are lots of different effects , with even more parameters. When shooting in the dark, you rarely hit the target.

What have you got? What do you like/dislike about it? Were do you want to take it?

You started a thread asking a basic question, got lots of good answer, but then you decided to start talking a load a crap about shit you don't even know jack shit about.

I don't know what goth trad stuff is but I can tell you right now that as far as complex synth programming goes, producers like Skrillex, Shekel, Diesel or Cyberoptix are at the forefront of all electronic music along with Tipper, Shpongle and the like. A lot of brostep is more simplistic, like Datsik or Rusko's newer stuff but a lot of it is insanely complex.

See, were the fuck did the guy that don't even know how to use effects, get that shit from.

That is the moment I started talking shit like you do.

IDM

So now post a song more complex then that, by some one you mentioned in the post I quoted.


Oh yes I win the internet again, don't even know why I still bother playing anymore, to good at this shit

I know what IDM is. By saying that Deadmau5 and Tiesto are IDM, you just invalidated your opinion. That Aphex Twin song is very complex, arrangement wise. For the last time, I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT MUSICALITY OR ARRANGEMENT. I AM TALKING ABOUT SYNTH PROGRAMMING.

<iframe src="/forum/video.php?url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Sft_oRzx8o" frameborder="0" style="overflow:hidden; height:auto; max-width:540px"></iframe>

I know you're gonna shoot me down for this, but we're talking about two different types of complexity. Also, note that I never said brostep was more complex than IDM. I said that it CAN BE one of the more complex types of electronic music (as far as synth programming goes, not necessarily arrangement/musicality), along with IDM and others.

I'm a beginner to music production, and I haven't had the best of luck with effects. Does that mean I don't know complexity when I hear it? Does that mean I'm not allowed to have an opinion on music that I like to listen to? Are only professional producers allowed to have opinions on listening to music?

EDIT: OK, I didn't notice your first reply. I appreciate your help, I just think there's no need to post obnoxious sarcastic jokes that are clearly aimed to offend me just because you disagree with my opinions/music taste.

[nowaysj]

[das_raunchy]

dont mind me.