Thickening up your synths - ?!?

[andy static]

the spreader in logic is an effective quick way..

dunno if other daws have something similar or not

[B-Frank]

Hey again everyone!

I've got a problem atm. I've created the main hook of my song with about 7-8 various basslines/leads.etc. and it's all sounding very good except for one problem - the whole track sounds "empty". I put this down to each of the synths not carrying enough weight. Problem is, the main tricks I use to thicken them up (compression, eq, distortion.etc.) isn't really helping. I've tried adding other oscillators above/below the sounds but then they lose the effect that I love atm. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas/tricks on how to expand them further? Most of them have reverb on them as well (basslines excepted).

Haven't really read past the first couple posts because I am feeling abit lazy. If by chance you are using massive and you want to thicken up your bass synths cranking up the unison always helps a fair bit. N in all honestly, it wouldn't suprise me it wasn't the bass/leads lacking and probably lacking reverberated hats and abit of shuffle. Fills out the sound no end.

[paravrais]

Personally the best advice I can give on this is don't overcomplicate things. So many times I've heard tracks where people have put every effect known to man on their lead. Frequency split it into 5 parts and given each bit different stereo treatment, compression blah blah blah and the end result comes out weaker than a simple lead you can make then send straight out of the synth.

Basically what I'm getting at is if your lead doesn't sound fat dry out the synth then it won't sound fat after a shit load of processing.

[amphibian]

wait so did you duplicate the bass line and put it slightly behind the first or??

and can you give us a sneak peak at what your working on? now you've got me curious.

yup, about 8-10ms. 1-5ms created unwanted phasing.

not always true, at different frequencys the phase will be at different ms

Yeah, but I was only giving info on the bassline I was working on

[amphibian]

Personally the best advice I can give on this is don't overcomplicate things. So many times I've heard tracks where people have put every effect known to man on their lead. Frequency split it into 5 parts and given each bit different stereo treatment, compression blah blah blah and the end result comes out weaker than a simple lead you can make then send straight out of the synth.

Basically what I'm getting at is if your lead doesn't sound fat dry out the synth then it won't sound fat after a shit load of processing.

Good advice dude - this is actually what I ended up doing, went back to the drawing board and made the default sound as phat as I could get it

[TheBassTest]

Saturation.

BOOM! seriously dont sleep on saturation

[Ldizzy]

here's a couple ideas :

volume

.. if your syths are flimsy, are they loud enough?

Saturation :

Id cosign on saturation : it is generally seen as one of the best ways to inflate sounds, make them fatter...

so id prolly distort or saturate each of them... but not a lot.. just a tad bit...

a lot of people think saturation means ripping the ish out of sounds.. but it can be done VERY in a very subtle fashion... and it adds to your sounds...

Multiband treatment :

You could push the fun further, and achieve new levels of greatness with multiband treatment of your sounds...

BUT AS IT HAS BEEN SAID PREVIOUSLY AND CONFIRMED BY YOU : U COULD PROLLY FIX THAT FROM THE SOURCE... (yet... i don't know... i still like the idea of splitband treatment)

you could do that for each bass... but i'd advice u to bounce to audio first...

basically u split them in bands of frequency with a phase linear eq... and affect each band separately... very subtly...

OR : i dont know how good of a balance u have between all of your basses... but if they are cohesive enough, or can be broken down into subgroups of similar basses... : id prolly try to break them down into submixes/busses of similar basses.. and apply similar effects to those busses.. thru multiband treatment.. (basically do the same thing as ive explained above... but applying the same effects to a couple patches..)

like have the gritty basses on one bus... separated lo mid hi or lo lomid himid hi... with phase linear eqs.. and then alterated in a way they'd all sound a little fatter... with saturation... chorus... phasing... and stuff like that... then do the same for the subby basses...

Stereo image :

maybe ur basses need a little stereo placement (be careful with mono compatibility tho)

Depth/ambiance :

maybe u need some reverb? some delay? a mix of both... these can add a lot to your basses...

id prolly use them as send effects tho... and id make sure they dont get in the way of your sounds...

like.. id prolly try putting a little verb and a little delay on them... and sidechain the original bass signal to a compressor that id stick on that verb-delay channel.. so that the wet signal is tamed by the dry signal when it comes in... but more prominent by the end of your phrase...

Pads/... ..ambiance :

Pads are exactly made for that : fill gaps...

what i stupidly call ''sonic randomization'' :

I'm sorry that i make words up.. and especially lame words.. but one of my very personal ways of making things more appealing to the ear is to add a little randomization to them... to emulate, or let myself believe that i emulate analog stuff...

one thing i love about an analog drum machines (and ive owned some) is the fact that its never as accurate as a computer for playing back sounds in terms of texture... i remember reading an article about kicks generated by a linndrum vs 24bit samples of one linndrum kick.. played on a 4/4 beat... one was very appealing and non fatiguing, while the other was boring.. ill let u guess which is which...

so when i tried making techno on my computer, i used to take the kick sample... and put it into kontakt.. then stick an lfo on the pitch and make it fluctuate very little.. but very fast... and i SWEAR it would make a difference in the long run... i did that with decay as well...

i may be a little ... esoteric.. but i swear it gives me more endurance to repetitiveness..

and quickly like that, i would imagine it would make sounds fatter... and im not talking about blatant vibrato.. im talking about something subtle...

in your case id bounce each part of the bass or try to alter the pitch in a similar way from the source (altho i doubt it would give the same effect, ive tried and samples usually react better to that... but here, im potentially trolling as im pushing my convictions a little too far) .

so.... yeah.... id try stuff like that on your sounds... it could add a little life to them...

good luck...