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How many pad layers?

I have a hard time creating a good atmosphere in my tracks so i have a few questions. How many layers of pads do you usually have in your tracks and how do you mix them together so it's not overtaking the mix but not under utilized either?

I usully have a saw pad sidechained (eq cut below around 130 hz with a boost on the mid/high range) with abit reverb + another more atmospheric pad with similar frequencies but it sounds kinda flat. So i need tips : D
Also is there any good vst that especially creates good airy/atmospheric pad sounds?

Thanks!

Re: How many pad layers?

quote:

Originally posted by trancedanne Also is there any good vst that especially creates good airy/atmospheric pad sounds?

Atmosphere / Omnisphere, Absynth, Korg Wavestation (from Legacy Edition).

If your pads sound "flat," you may want to put some more movement in them with LFOs modulating pitch, filter cutoff, or other parameters.

Re: How many pad layers?

quote:

Originally posted by trancedanne I have a hard time creating a good atmosphere in my tracks so i have a few questions. How many layers of pads do you usually have in your tracks and how do you mix them together so it's not overtaking the mix but not under utilized either? I usully have a saw pad sidechained (eq cut below around 130 hz with a boost on the mid/high range) with abit reverb + another more atmospheric pad with similar frequencies but it sounds kinda flat. So i need tips : D Also is there any good vst that especially creates good airy/atmospheric pad sounds? Thanks!

Use 2 or 3 octaves with the pads. There are a lot of VST's out there that are great for pads. I wouldn't buy one specifically geared towards them. Atmosphere/Omnisphere are great for pads and atmospheric sounds, sound scapes, and Omnisphere can do some pretty neat synthesis, but it's a rather complex engine and I personally find other VSTs such as Albino to be just as good. The difference is Albino is not a sampler in the least bit, so you'll have to do more EQing and such to get it sounding as "professional" as the spectrasonics synths.

Discovery Pro from discoDSP is also a very nice program for pads and such. It is an almost exact replica of the Nord Lead 2X and can even share patch data with the machine. It has 64 voices and 2x oversampling which will knock some pads out of the park (and eat your CPU alive) - You'll probably have to bounce them to audio if you take that route.

Also it's all about picking the right sounds that go well together to create a more wide spectrum. even use an exciter on them can also help. a little bit of chorus.

I'd recommend sticking with one octave per pad and spread two or three pads out to cover the range.

Use as few pads as you can get away with to keep the mids clean, and use only lowpass and highpass filters if you can rather than stuffing around with the mids. Also, if your after atmosphere, remember to keep the pads as sound design elements more than melodic elements.

I use at least one Crystal VST for like 99% of my tracks that use pads and atmosphere, it's that good. Very difficult to program though. Also String Theory is pretty nice too, and both are free.

I'm going to sound like a noob here but typically I use three pads all with three different levels of ASRD (like you'll hear one pad initially then another pad coming in while that's decaying, and then the last one while the second one is decaying) so they all flow really well together.

sometimes i have layerd my pads/strings with anything up to 10/15 layers yep but it all comes down to what you're making and adjust according to it.
just learn to hear what you want in your mind and add varing things untill you're happy.

its not about how many pads you use its more about how well you choose the sound , how well you eq it to fit in the mix and the fx you use to make it sit back or stand out. I will generally use 1 or 2 (maybe 3 at most) pads and make sure they each have there place in the mix. placement by eqing in the mix is key for clarity. If i use more than 1 or 2 pads it will be different pads for different sections. cryophonik is very good with pads (and just about everything else too) and I really learned how to use them from him

Whats more important than the pad layers are the bass MIDI's and pan refractors.

Check out Computer Music with John 00 Fleming, the newest one.. he will tell you how many pads to use.

quote:

Originally posted by meriter Whats more important than the pad layers are the bass MIDI's and pan refractors.

If all you did with Pads was have then follow the Bassline that could get while boring

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