Weak sound/better synths???

[Iron Keys]

Been using a lot of synth sounds lately, but I can't help but notice sometimes my shit sounds 'thin'.

Is this just a case of mixing, or should I get better synths? If so, what synths are real good?

I'm using Albino 3 a bit, but I feel my tracks sound a bit 'thin' sometimes.

 

[lion-ucs]

Albino is a terrific synth
Maybe it is your mixing, or your melodies.

 

[wrightboy]

the key is layering. i usually layer sounds to get them to thicken up. you can also use delays.

 

[dacalion]

Albino is a terrific synth
Maybe it is your mixing, or your melodies.

the key is layering. i usually layer sounds to get them to thicken up. you can also use delays.

I agree with both of these...I usually try to "thicken" in my mix but if all else fails, I'll layer it to thicken it.

 

[Iron Keys]

I'm not a keen fan of layering.

I mean, if I have a sound, that sounds the way I want, just a bit thin, then I'm adding all different sounds under it, can change what you was looking for?

Maybe the track will sound different when I mix it, well, when adding mix-bus compression. I dunno.

Just got hold of Novation Bassstation, but it's stereo out is only making left channel sound.

 

[dacalion]

You can mono it? Or is that not what you're looking for?

 

[Iron Keys]

Yeah I just mono'd the channel, but it should be giving out a stereo signal, it was only coming out left.

Mono'ing the channel works, but the plugin itself should be giving out a stereo signal.

Listening to my track, compared to how it sounded mp3 in headphones, sounds fine out my monitors, thin out my headphones, hmm.

 

[wrightboy]

I'm not a keen fan of layering.

I mean, if I have a sound, that sounds the way I want, just a bit thin, then I'm adding all different sounds under it, can change what you was looking for?

layer it with different volumes, and octaves of the same sound. it's all about perception. there are a lot of ways to trick your mind into hearing what you want it to hear. also use panning with the layering.

 

[dacalion]

ok, trust your monitors! but still, I see your dilema...hmmm?

 

[2GooD Productions]

Im very glad you have come to hear this for yourself. In the showcase I have always noticed that although the composition is very good, the sounds used are often not.
What I mean by that, is the very same thing you describe, but instead of saying thin, I would say MIDI. They sound very much like general midi samplebanks.

There are some easy ways to make a sound more exciting, the first thing I go to to try and add life to a sound is a distortion plugin. Stereo widening can be good for mid to high frequencies, phasers can be good, and delays and reverbs can all add life to a dead sound.
But my best advice would be to take some time to find and put in one place all of your favorite sounds. Also try tweaking a synth to make your own sounds, and then save your own created instruments into the favorite sounds folder.

It takes quite a bit of trial and error to find the really hot sounds, and experience of going through the sounds to actually find them in the first place.

And then once you have your go to sounds, you will find you will develop your own signature sound.

 

[wrightboy]

Im very glad you have come to hear this for yourself. In the showcase I have always noticed that although the composition is very good, the sounds used are often not.
What I mean by that, is the very same thing you describe, but instead of saying thin, I would say MIDI. They sound very much like general midi samplebanks.

There are some easy ways to make a sound more exciting, the first thing I go to to try and add life to a sound is a distortion plugin. Stereo widening can be good for mid to high frequencies, phasers can be good, and delays and reverbs can all add life to a dead sound.
But my best advice would be to take some time to find and put in one place all of your favorite sounds. Also try tweaking a synth to make your own sounds, and then save your own created instruments into the favorite sounds folder.

It takes quite a bit of trial and error to find the really hot sounds, and experience of going through the sounds to actually find them in the first place.

And then once you have your go to sounds, you will find you will develop your own signature sound.

now that's some good advice right there ^

 

[thedreampolice]

Layering really is the key to larger sounds.

But another option is some subtle tape style distortion! BRING THE HEAT!

 

[Formant024]

You can layer within albino 3 itself by adding another osc and model it to compliment whatever osc(s) is leading the sound.

Like said, the keys is in the mix and usage of the synth. Sometimes a synth takes the lead and sometimes it disappears into the back (like you would treat an organ in the mix). Is it a polysynth, mono, baseline or chord, is there an arp in use and what range does it take. Drowning a synth in delays and verbs is cool for trance but that same preset ofc wont blend in well with a dry hiphop track so its best to tailor the raw sound in the mix and effects later. So with albino, try and bypass the verbs and delays, balance your track and slowly move from dry to wet effects. If you're using compression on albino, disable the internal effects and use sends/auxes so that you compress the synth behaviour sanse the effects.

Personaly albino is almost 1 on 1 with the acces virus and i know either well enough to claim its one of the easiest synths to place in the mix. I mostly do no eq/comp to balance it off and then its needs pretty much little to nothing to blend in.

So if you think it sounds thin, what are you trying to achieve (big bass?) And what plugin you use is according to you, not thin ?

 

[thedreampolice]

On another quick note, I think albino is coming to the Reason rack and I am FREAKING OUT!

 

[wrightboy]

On another quick note, I think albino is coming to the Reason rack and I am FREAKING OUT!

every time i try to move away from reason, they add something new that keeps me around. damn propellerhead.

 

[thedreampolice]

Have you seen the rack extensions video?



WOW

 

[Iron Keys]

2GooD - much love. I've always noticed this - and it's something that's always pissed me off to the ends of the earth, believeee me! Still is!

All - I notice some synth vst's however, say for example Z3ta and Rapture in Sonar give off comparatively 'larger'/richer sounds. I've heard a thing that sometimes these kinds of synths are quite harder to sit in a mix, as they generally dominate too richly - makes the synthts seem impressive with their huge sounds. But at the same time, with Albino, even with fiddling with some of the presets, i find them to often sound a bit 'dusty' or phasey, almost like the settings are making the sounds thin themself out?

As for distortion/saturation, I've been doing this, but I haven't necessarily noticed it to beef the sounds up much, it works on a nice thick kick, or a nice thick bass, but that's partly granted the kick or bass is semi decent already.

Albino - the "Mod Matrix" in that is still a confusion to me, unable to really get it to do what I want. I've only recently 'clocked' the whole albino layering itself thing, I guess you could use that to really go to town on something.

I don't know why getting my hands on good quality sounds/shit seems such a near-impossible task for me! Ha


Thanks for the replies, IllBrethren

 

[Formant024]

the mod matrix isnt that hard to figure out if you know what the parameters do but key is knowing what you intend to do. I can make an easy example out of the basic wobble bass patch where you use.

All of the source parameters are already set, so whatever you do will trigger from that value. On average most sounds are built up from 2 oscs and will probably also use LFO 1 & 2. So in mod matrix set source to lfo3 since its not being used (check it ofc).
The value in the middle is where you set the max value of the modulation (destination). For the wobble bass you use the filter 1 or 2 (destination) and set the modulation value in between -1 and 1. You dont want the lp filter on it to go full open and close, so tweak by ear when you get more mid/high over the bass sound.

thus
LFO3 // value between -0.06/0.06 // Fil 1 cutoff