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Sound Selection?
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| Beatflux |
| Are there any good tips or articles on this subject? I don't hear it being talked about very much, except for the usual "pick good sounds." |
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| Kysora |
| I'm actually pretty curious about this too, wish I had something to contribute about it. |
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| tehlord |
| Good sounds, in terms of fitting and working in a mix most likely sound rubbish when played in isolation, and then when you layer them up and use them as a collection of flavours they work. Adding FX is the spice. |
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| Eric J |
Honestly ya'll this is just one of those things that is all about experience. Picking the right sounds initially, choosing which sounds go well together, knowing what to add or take away from a sound to get it to fit, knowing when to ditch a sound because it isn't working, and how sounds add up to create the overall sum of the track is just something you'll have to learn over time with lots of practice and experience.
Just like everything else there is no shortcut or rules really. It would be impossible to write a book on the subject really because it is very subjective depending on the context in which it is going to be used.
The only real guidance I can give for you would be to pick sounds whose fundamentals are in different octaves. So if your typical track has sounds in ranges C1 thru C7, then you can think of a typical map like such:
C1 - C2 : Sub Bass
C2 - C3 : Bass
C3 - C4 : Mid Bass or Low Synth
C4 - C5 : Synth
C5 - C6 : Hi Synth
C6 - C7 : Very high synth or "airy" sounds. This range I usually reserve for hats and such because it is difficult to find sounds at such a high octave that sound good.
Keep in mind that you can have some separation of sounds in the same octave. Sometimes to can move it around in the 3D space. Side to side with panning or push it forward or back with more or less reverb and other effects. If a sound takes up a very narrow range of frequency, sometimes you can fit more than one sound in an octave. Supersaws are terrible for this because they take up so much of the frequency spectrum, which is why most tracks that use them don't have much else going on, especially in the mid ranges.
I still like to get my arrangement going first because it is much easier to pick the right sounds if you already have a general idea on how they will be used in the context of the track. Just pick sounds that are marginally close to what you want when writing and get the arrangement hammered out first. Then you can work on the finer details.
Good Luck! |
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| Subtle |
| Selecting the right sounds is just something you just "get" by spending time with music, gaining experience, making tracks, training the ears.. and getting rid of the bias that comes with judging your own music. |
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