How do you choose your synth/drum sounds?

I don't do that genre, but I think many start with creating bass and drum grooves on which they arrange the melodic parts.

Whether you use a compressor or not, it doesn't get recorded anyway, so you can adjust the sounds as much as you like afterwards.
I'd prefer  recording without compressor, especially because many synth sounds are already compressed or otherwise  "edited". Synths, drums and vocals need a different kind of compression, anyway, so it's better to add those on the tracks (if any is needed) and do the "mastering" compression when the basic mix sounds ok.

Thanks guys for the replies!

  Kalle, I agree, drum and bass first...   to get the basic groove of the song going... then everything else on top later.  Thanks for the compression tips.

Skullsession,   yea i go back and forth with it too, but I think its best to keep compression OFF while tracking.... it's probably best to keep it as accurate as possible before mixing?

If anyone else has more to add to the subject, I'd love to hear!

Thank you!
-Adam

I always build from the drums....... add bass... then fill in the colors....


After I have the drums right... usually by singing along with acoustic...I'll lay down a scratch vox/acoustic track so I know where I am in the song..... then I start one instrument at a time.....usually bass first.... just to give it a decent sound to work with.  A properly constructed drum & bass track can practically carry a song all by itself.

If you wrote them on piano, get that sound right first.  Then see how the drums and bass fit. It may take you in different directions than you intended, and that might be good or bad.

Middleman


Kick, Bass and Vocal. If the songs not working with these 3, adding more sounds is like dressing a pig in a Polo sweater.

A good tip on synths is to run them through a decent preamp or re-amp them to get a bit of room sound. Straight from the box, most of them sound cheesey.

Middleman,

How would I do that with a softsynth?

Thanks,
Adam

Oh wow, you never know i never thought of that!  I dont have a pre-amp though LOL.... dont laugh.  I could only afford a laptop, audio interface and monitors (for now).

Do most people who use softsynths do this?  

Oh ok!  Cool thanks for that info.  Yea it does sound like a really good idea!   I notice the Native Instrument synths sound very "digital", but i got the old classic synth emulators like polysix, ms-20, etc.... and they sound REALLY warm!    

I start woth whatever comes to me first and build around that. Like James said if you have a piano part build from that because you need to know that the drums n bass n stuff will fit. It's like when inpiration hits go with the flow. If I start from scratch I usually have an idea for a rythm or melody and already got that sound in my head so just put it down and find (or create that sound) and then just keep going. Record it -> Listen -> Feel -> Hum something -> Record that. Repeat until satisfied. As I said when it comes to sounds I already hear what I want in my head so I go find that or something similar and tweak it. If I by any chance wouldn't already hear the song playing in my head I'd just play the loop and browse through some presets of some synth/instrument I'd like to use until something suitable appears and then tweak that if needed.

When making a song I usually make the music first and make an instrumental rough mix (also because I make music for others), then wite lyrics for the music and if needed tweak the music (or even record first and then make slight changes in the music). When mixing I start with kick and bass, then ad snare and hi hats and then fill in things in in order of relevance (can't make my mind up about getting the vocals to sit with basic rythm and ad instruments later or put the vox on as a last icing on the cake though; and there are valid point for both ways of working so I just go with what I feel like at the moment).

If you don't have a pre-amp run try running the synths through tube, transformer and/or tape emulation for a similar effect and some very light room convolution and maybe a slight chorus. In S8 you have the excellent TL64 for tube saturation but also check out varietyofsound for great plugs (and they're even free).

Richard:
In contemporary music a compressor is used just as much as a creative tool to change and crate a sound, or fit it in the song, as it is to keep even levels. It's off course also used to cut of all and any transients a sound might have to make the master limiters job of turning everything into a -0.1 RMS-average square wav Also, if one programs/plays a good dry recorded vst realistically it will indeed behave very much like it's real life counterpart and benefit from the same treatment.