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been getting heaps into more atmosphereic sound's lately but every time i try to make something with more alive atmosphere i kinda fail!!

what would be best to make atmosphere come alive?

pads,reverbs?

phasing, autopanning, delays, layering pads, using wierd drones and pitch them way up or down

using high and low sounds together to create a space, up and down sweeps....you can do tons of things

record a room/retaurant/office/road/open space/river/turkey house and lay it on top of your track.

you'd be amazed how trippy your office will sound with a little reverb on it.

Layering pads and arp's. Be careful tho, it can get muddy... watch which pad it taking up which space in the spec range.

Filter in the pads.
Reverb the tails (using the decay button)
Using gating, ( helps things not getting muddy)
Layer pads
Detune
mutli tap reverb's (like ping pong, but watch it does not phase)
stereo image... for the fullness sound
Pan... (most pads are in stereo so make sure you not panning a stereo signal to L or R. You need to pan the mono signals. Or big mono happens again

It's all about sounding natural


etc

Check out the intro's to my songs, it should give you some ideas.

in all honesty - absynth (if you have it) is all you need. Some amazing presets in there and once you learn the software possibilities are endless. Fantastic plugin.

I've has some pretty nice results pitching drums/pads way way down, adding delay & Reverb then *sidechaining* it all to say, a kick, but muting the kick so you get sometimes quite noticble movement, but with no apparent trigger. Can be quite cinematic with 'verbed drones, so that they cut out suddenly. Makes everything feel trippy, for want of a better word.

eg...
Soundcloud

Soundcloud

Half Life sample pack

volcanogeorge wrote:Half Life sample pack

This. Pure gold.

Thanks everyone!
just mucking around with some pads etc just know..

when you mean layer pads do you mean 2 of the same pads sound?

JemGrover wrote:I've has some pretty nice results pitching drums/pads way way down, adding delay & Reverb then *sidechaining* it all to say, a kick, but muting the kick so you get sometimes quite noticble movement, but with no apparent trigger. Can be quite cinematic with 'verbed drones, so that they cut out suddenly. Makes everything feel trippy, for want of a better word.

]

i just gave this a go got some nice vibes but the sidechaining gives it a little to much gating feeling on the pads will keep playing with this tho
cheers.

thierry_le_dj wrote:Thanks everyone!
just mucking around with some pads etc just know..

when you mean layer pads do you mean 2 of the same pads sound?

By layering i mean, to have more then one pad running at the same time, which the same chords (that's another one, use chords, 95% of the time). They do not necessarily have to be the same, as that in most cases would case phase. But find to pad that fit together, but maybe a different ranges in the spectrum, maybe, one in the low region and one in the mid, then one right at the top (they are hard to find, them one's)
Now you have 3 pads running, sound very heavy, but quite alot of problems too, you need to EQ have! Hear where the pads are roughly sitting, each pad needs to be in its own space. Test to check after processes that each pad is sitting in their own places is to.. bring in one pad at a time. So pad 1 play, alone, then bring in pad 2 with pad 1, (now as this point do you hear another place of the freq spectrum being filled, and then pad 1,2, and 3 together.

Remember

EQ
Pan
Compress (if needed, on the pads where the level tends to float too much.)
Chorus/flanger
Filter (in and out of pads)
Reverb (not soo much delay tho)
Gate with reverb, to get the tail, so it does not go on and on, eating up headroom.
Check the freq spectrum
Watch out for the low end, pads eat that shit for dinner
Stereo image pads with need to, to give it more openness

Go for it now!

interesting percussion and drums!

not just kicks, snares and hats.

go for bongos, clicks, snaps, taps, shakers anything...
and on top of that have some more natural sounding snares,
instead of sounding like theyve come straight from a drum kit.

nitz wrote:

thierry_le_dj wrote:Thanks everyone!
just mucking around with some pads etc just know..

when you mean layer pads do you mean 2 of the same pads sound?

By layering i mean, to have more then one pad running at the same time, which the same chords (that's another one, use chords, 95% of the time). They do not necessarily have to be the same, as that in most cases would case phase. But find to pad that fit together, but maybe a different ranges in the spectrum, maybe, one in the low region and one in the mid, then one right at the top (they are hard to find, them one's)
Now you have 3 pads running, sound very heavy, but quite alot of problems too, you need to EQ have! Hear where the pads are roughly sitting, each pad needs to be in its own space. Test to check after processes that each pad is sitting in their own places is to.. bring in one pad at a time. So pad 1 play, alone, then bring in pad 2 with pad 1, (now as this point do you hear another place of the freq spectrum being filled, and then pad 1,2, and 3 together.

Remember

EQ
Pan
Compress (if needed, on the pads where the level tends to float too much.)
Chorus/flanger
Filter (in and out of pads)
Reverb (not soo much delay tho)
Gate with reverb, to get the tail, so it does not go on and on, eating up headroom.
Check the freq spectrum
Watch out for the low end, pads eat that shit for dinner
Stereo image pads with need to, to give it more openness

Go for it now!

Thanks alot Nitz!!

Mortal wrote:interesting percussion and drums!

not just kicks, snares and hats.

go for bongos, clicks, snaps, taps, shakers anything...
and on top of that have some more natural sounding snares,
instead of sounding like theyve come straight from a drum kit.

Sweet mate!
Cheers..

Try adding some vinyl noise over the top of your track, can really help to add atmosphere if used with some nice reverb and delay

triss wrote:you'd be amazed how trippy your office will sound with a little reverb on it.

(<---- evil though, with a long plate tail)