OK I have a couple minutes to pound out some really important things that I have learned in the last couple of months. Once again, my sounds are really my sounds, and in an industry where sound design is as crucial as it is in dance music, I really dont want to give out patches or any details that will create a bunch of people using the Barely Alive sounds. I will however share with you all some crucial realizations that have helped me get to where I am (where ever that is....).
0.)I'm going to preface all of these tips by saying it is super important to use both a spectrum analyzer and an oscilloscope.This one is great and I always have it open when making sounds. (
http://bram.smartelectronix.com/scope_docs/)
ANYWAY
1.) Understand how different band widths (the Q value) in an equalizer effect a sound. To visualize this I like to experiment with a saw wave and boost +12db and then adjust the bandwidth while looking at an oscilloscope. You will see that as the bandwidth value becomes sharper, there is a more audible tone created. This is called resonance and it is awesome. This is all fairly simple stuff, but it leads into the next point really well:
2.) Learn how to make acid basses, how they work and why they sound good. They are very important im my opinion because:
3.) EQ before distortion! This is the most important piece of information I can give you and is the KEY to creating your own unique sounds. This is the advice any sound designer will give as far as creating cool basses, and I feel like I only really got to grasp why it is so important. Once again, pull up an oscilloscope and make a resonant EQ boost on a saw wave at 700hz. Look how it makes a formant, in the oscilloscope, and then look at the spectrum analyzer. There is essentially a boost in the spectrum where you boosted (obviously...). NOW before the spectrum and after the EQ throw on a saturator or what ever you feel comfortable using to make things distorted and see how it effects the spectrum. Essentially what it will do is create a bunch of harmonics based off of the fundamental EQ boost. The reason this is so important is because it allows the vowel to exists in other areas of the spectrum aside from the area that is boosted. What THIS allows you to do is change the base sound even more, because now your EQ boosts are changing the entire spectrum as opposed to just one area that is boosted. After you modulate the first EQ that is peaking at 700hz it sounds like an acid bass. Good. This is the theory behind most of my growls now, and it allows me to create really unique sounds from simple waveforms like saw waves. (the growl posted earlier was actually modern talking hehehe)
4.) Compression before distortion can completely change a sound in a good way or bad way. Totally your call.
5.) This is the final and most important tip I can give and it is one that I absolutely LIVE by in terms of sound design: HAVE A PLAN OF ACTION! What I mean by this is go into a sound with a plan on how to create the sound you have in your head. This sounds easy in theory, but in practice it proves really tricky. When you listen to a sound over and over it is easy to change what you have in your head. The most important part of being a successful sound designer is being able to identify what is wrong with a sound, and then methodically fixing it. In the same vein when something sounds good, you should be able to identify it, and then decide WHY it sounds good. If you can accomplish this than you are better than most.
6.) I know I said the last one was the last tip, but I just wanted to say thanks for sticking with this thread for so long and fuck rules.
7.) Hollaback