How To? Warm, transparent synth background pads please!

You might need Z3Ta 2.

Can I link an example? Hear the pad behind this. This!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy5rnl_sx0Q

I don't often use pads ....BUT, I have Komplete and there are a bunch of pads in there... everything from the harsh brittle ones to the warm sounding ones like the example you posted.

the right reverb helps to let it fit the space... not to short and not to spacey sounding.... and of course the right pad.... 

to warm things up a bit, I also use a plug in cake that is a bit of tape saturation.  Adjust the levels as needed and it adds a bit of distortion that has a warming effect without being noticeable.

Ok,

It's difficult for me to understand what the term "warm" means to you but I took another listen, and I want to modify my original statement.

I think that first pad can be emulated with a saw wave going thru a ADSR. That's what, I think, may be described as the warmth. Maybe?

The saw wave emulates the timbre of a horn section... imagine a horn section playing quietly when that songs starts off and see if that makes sense to you.

The ADSR is used to make the initial transient smooth and pad like rather than percussive like a piano. 

It seems like a strings type pad is layered on quickly after ward and they play against each other in anticipation of the wood wind and organ joining in. 


best regards,
mike

BTW. It doesn't have to be exactly this pad, I'd appreciate and am looking for an arsenal of these types of Pads. Building my own always goes awry.

Quickest path is to get Omnisphere. Then set aside the next three days for stepping through its 8,000+ presets.

Alchemy is also very good for lush pads. U-he's Diva is another.

There are lots of free and cheap pad libraries for Kontakt. Here's a sound designer who's made it a project to post a new Kontakt pad every day for a year, all free to download: Julian Sound Calendar. 


If you've got serious money to spend, take a look at Sample Logic's product line. At least make a point of grabbing their $5 sample pack for a taste.

Thanks Bit, I'll look into those as well. And that sounds very nice James.

Exactly the type of pad I like for my music!

I've tended to use a pretty basic square wave in Z3ta+ with some LP filtering and then some big delays. Pretty simple but comes out warm and mushy. When that doesn't suit, I've just been using orchestral strings (the DSF in DimensionPro) but that's a little more obvious sounding.

For something that really adds some nice emotive interest, the composition of the parts is super important. Even a plain background pad can emotionally (but subtle and not really heard but felt) come to life if written with some interest.

I'm still very new to this so loving the ideas.

Jeff, I'd love some Dimension D. That unit sounds amazing. Is there a good plug that emulates it well?

Seconding Omnispere especially for pad sounds it's a pad monster.

There's so much stuff in there that you'll probably never get though it.

I've had it for 6 months or so and every time I dig though sounds I find something new.

It's an amazingly good synth as well, it even has dsp oscilators, not sample based.

Many users never dig into the synth only part of Omnispere, it can do just about anything without using any samples at all.

I hate to sound like a broken record but...   Pro channel, pro channel, pro channel!!  

mmmk?   What you need to do is use the Cakewalk Saturater..   Not the soft-tube one, and then boost with the quad curve eq..  Try the Pure button, and boost the mids like...  "a decibel."

Easy, breezy, cover girl!!!!!!!!!!

Jeff Evans


You can get Dimension D from here:

http://emptyroomsystems.com/ers-dimension-d-v1-0.html 

UAD are not the only ones doing it. I have heard the ERS could be a little better. I have had both the unit and the plug-in but not at the same time though. I find the ERS does a pretty nice sounding Dimension D effect. It is quite subtle like the actual hardware. It is when you turn it off you may notice the change more.

Very true, but UAD IS one of the only companies in my opinion, that IS getting this modeling down right. I find that plug companies that do mocks usually don't come close when you compare to the real unit. Removing the noise floor makes the unit less authentic, Jeff....no offense brother, but in my humble opinion, that's not something worth bragging about really. If we are looking to purchase something authentic that has a unique sound, we want flaws and all, ya know? A piece isn't authentic when you alter it's true personality. The DD isn't a noisy piece to begin with for me, but the little it does add makes a difference as it *can* add a little sizzle in a good way.
 
Speaking of the EMT 250, UAD went to Ocean Way Studio and literally modeled from the actual unit there. In my opinion, it's one of the best sounding reverbs I've ever used or owned. I'd have a hard time believing someone could even come close by just reading a schematic or something and trying to make a plugin....or however they do that. I can't say for sure as I've not tried anything by this Empty company...but my past experiences haven't been good ones with the companies that do mock-ups without using real units.
 
They always seem to remove something or fall short. Heck even some that use real pieces fall way short. Granted, I don't ever expect a plug to sound exactly like a piece of hardware, but if you ever get a chance to try anything UAD, you'll be amazed at how close they are...and in most cases, they are absolutely spot on to where my ears can't hear a difference at all. This is why UAD is so high up on the ladder for me. I sold my Manley Massive Passive when I got the UAD version. It was THAT good and I can use multiple instances of it. They also added a Massive Passive Mastering eq...which came with the plug I bought. That sure beats paying $4500 for one piece. LOL!
 
I think for Christmas, I'm going to buy you a UAD Duo because you of all people, need this thing once and for all. :) James Collins from your neck of the woods has one...he loves it. He's a good dude...might be cool to hang out with him some time if you get the time so you can check some of this UAD stuff out. Honest, it's amazing in my opinion. :)
 
-Danny

What are you using for your keyboard/controller?  I find so many useful pads in my Motif every time I explore it... so don't forget to take a look there.  There may be some sounds you have forgotten about in yours.

I notice you have Komplete 7.  There is a ton of stuff in there as well.

I have to agree with Linear Phase too...  the PC offers up some fantastic settings that can dress up an otherwise mediocre pad....and don't forget the PC FX Chains....some of them are great for adding motion, color, or "texture" to a sound.

As I've stated in a coule of other posts-  so much of today's music is listened to on iPods/earbuds.  So give our listeners some ear candy!  And I find Pads with motion are great for this.  (When I visit NYC, I am AMAZED that the majority of people I pass on the street have earbuds plugged in.)

Good luck and keep us posted of your search results.

UKJediKnight


Can I link an example? Hear the pad behind this. This!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy5rnl_sx0Q

This sounds like an extremely simple preset ... probably would sound anemic on its own, but it blends sublimely.  I'd guess this is a single oscillator patch with fairly aggressive low-pass filtering.  Sounds like a medium-short attack and release (that is, not the lengthy fade-in/out you get with a lot of "string" pads).  There may be a second oscillator an octave up that gets added in at few spots, or that might be more notes being played or even a different pad preset.  It's a little hard to hear it clearly.
 
Just find something you basically like in tone, and if you think its close but too harsh, bring the filter cutoff down or apply EQ after to tame the harsher upper regions.  Fiddle with the attack and release settings until it's nice and lush without sounding muddy.

UKJedi: Apologies for de-railing your thread with the plugin talk. Jeff and I are good buds and always seem to end up in great conversations during other peoples threads. LOL! Sorry about that.

In answer to your question, though additional synths like everyone has mentioned will definitely get you what you need, I feel that some of the advice Linear Phase gave you is also spot on and worth visiting. Though I wouldn't have totally advised you as he did (no offense Linear, honest!) he's on the right track in my opinion.

The word "warm" is the first mistake in my opinion. The reason being....this is one of those words that just means too many different things to too many different people. LOL! On one of the forums I frequent, you get this **** when you type "warm" because the site owner feels the word is just so mis-used, it becomes misleading to those in search of information.

Some people in Europe consider warm to mean "clean, with presence" while others like most of us in the USA consider the word to mean "balanced, without harsh high end, nice mids, a happy mixture of everything that isn't annoying to the ears".

So as you can see, the word can definitely give you different results. If clean and clear is your idea for warming, reduced mids and low mids with a touch of high end air will cure you. If you think of warm as *I* do, you want that edge taken off the high end. Part of my feelings here sort of cross with what Linear said.

Though I think the Pro Channel eq can deliver warmth, I disagree with "the gloss" option because it adds a little high end sheen to it. This to me is not the proper approach to warming something up. I also do not believe in saturators because they simply do not warm in the way *I* am used to. Saturators of the digital nature, distort more than they warm up the tonality. It's not like the old days when we ran a REAL tube pre-amp or something....these things (in my opinion) just totally fall short on what tube (or valve if you're from Europe) warmth is all about.

So, if something is cutting too much with high end and you want to warm it up, the first thing to do is to control the high end that is making it too abrasive. You will get high end from 2k to 6k. This is where you can remove harshness.

From 7k on up, you have what we call "the air frequencies". These add high end, but not in the form of harshness when used sparingly. So if you take off some of blatant high end from 2k to 6k, add some mids between 600 Hz and 900 Hz, those are the frequencies in MY opinion that will warm things up. If you need a little air so to speak, 10-12k is a really nice place to start.

Watch for low mids when trying to warm something up. With synths, the low mids and lows will walk on top of other instruments if you're not careful. You also have to keep in mind whether or not this instrument will be a focal point or a filler instrument. If it's a focal point, you can enhance it just about any way you want to allow it to shine. From there you'll need to conform the other instruments around it.

If it is a filler instrument....like pads that just enhance, you'll need to be careful of the mids and low end or you will easily get frequency masking. In this situation, I like to actually make my pads LESS warm so they will cut through the mix. In this case, my advice is the same as Linear's. We can use gloss, we can add a saturator for a little sizzle so the sound cuts through, we can boost a little more high end if needed....all this makes the pads cut through and in turn, you can keep them a little lower in the mix if you need to.

But honest when I tell you, a good eq is all you need to warm up a sound. It's just a matter of removing harsh highs and coming up with the right mids to accentuate the sound. If you find that you are working on the sound for a half hour or so, it's usually best to choose another sound as it shouldn't take that long to make it fit in the mix. The right sound source will always be the key in my opinion.

However, in the synth world, half of the fun is taking a sound that may not be right from the start and turning it into something completely different using filtering or aliasing etc. There are just so many variables here that it's tough to pinpoint. I can't tell you how many times I started out with a sound I hated for a pad that turned into something incredible while trying things within that sound patch. So definitely experiment, but know "when to say when" or you can sit there for weeks tweaking this stuff. LOL! Best of luck. :)

-Danny

Here is an example of a pad sound that is complex. 

This is a remix that I have just done of Galactic's Ha Di Ka. I am having a go at the remix comp on the Indaba Music site. The start features some hand drumming with vocal chants over the top. I have used two pad sounds at once there and they are complex. One is a Korg Wavestation patch and the other is Roland JD800 patch. Both are pretty full on but it works because there is not much else going on in this section. A good time where complex pads work OK. 
 
http://www.indabamusic.co...est/submissions/146994 

If I was trying to fit it under busier stuff I would use a much smoother simpler patch. There is more info on the track in the Songs section.