Production Tutorial: Our approach to recording and arranging synths
Added 2021-01-27 11:01:00 +0000 UTCIn this video we take a look at the various ways we approach working with synths, using Virtual Light as an example.
In the second half of the video (27.49 onwards) we put these concepts into practice in a short demonstration.
Comments
It varies. Sometimes everything is recorded in the same key, which makes it easy to drop in anywhere, but sometimes not. Either way we'll generally transpose chords and melodies up/down to try creating different progressions.
KOAN Sound
2025-01-10 17:09:59 +0000 UTCDo you record everything in the same key or do you just play random notes and then transpose as needed? Is all the top end stuff from the long recording in one key or just seen more as textual elements?
Auto Focus
2025-01-09 23:58:51 +0000 UTCThank you! Makes me wanna play around with my virtual Model 84 synth ha
Martin
2024-06-11 21:12:37 +0000 UTCThis has made me learn a lot about the arrangement and mixing of synth parts! One thing I could really notice is that each synthesizer has its own unique sound characteristics so having the exact same preset on 4-5 different synths will actually yield 4-5 different results. This tutorial has inspired me to try new filter combinations on different synths and to try and integrate more different synthesizers into my music to try and get different tonalities out of all of them. Thanks Koan sound :)
A Real Tal'darim
2022-02-02 23:50:09 +0000 UTCthis one was so cool had so much fun going through it
Bradley
2021-09-14 19:13:25 +0000 UTCLove learning about creating textures and ambient sounds like this. So much time is spent teaching people how to create dramatic bass and drum sounds that this seems to get bypassed. Thanks so much!!
Peter Vogl
2021-05-19 01:23:49 +0000 UTCThank you this is a gift!
Aeon Drone
2021-03-03 03:38:34 +0000 UTCThat was so good! Never thought of using the same synth layered on top of itself
Alex Cullen
2021-02-06 21:45:31 +0000 UTCI suggest going into your ableton preferences and look in the file or audio tab and see what your settings are.
Ryan Dekker
2021-01-31 21:41:11 +0000 UTCGreat tip! Also would like to add that you can set up some quick macros for any soft synth parameters in ableton and automate with any midi controller that has knobs or sliders. Definitely makes working "in the box" more fun.
Mike
2021-01-31 21:08:13 +0000 UTCApologies if this has been answered before, but how do you go about getting all the referenced samples in your "Current Project" folder on the left there to be .wav files? Ableton always wants to create aif files if you drag things over to the user library. Feel like i'm missing something obvious here haha.
Mike
2021-01-31 19:37:10 +0000 UTCComing soon!
KOAN Sound
2021-01-31 13:45:17 +0000 UTCHey Guys,i can't find even one video about distortion (Trash2 would be great ) !!
Hendrick
2021-01-31 12:17:25 +0000 UTCThey use a ZOOM Field recorder iirc. It was featured in their Foley Tutorial.
LØ
2021-01-31 08:22:16 +0000 UTCwhat do yall use to record foley? anything special? or just like a phone mic? thanks for this amazing video. really really helpful.
Griffin Hall
2021-01-30 17:32:21 +0000 UTCThe SCI SYNTH sound is very Hydroplane-y so good!
Zsombor Deményi
2021-01-30 14:47:48 +0000 UTCThis is amazing guys! Thank you ! Love you both so much!
Zsombor Deményi
2021-01-30 14:45:48 +0000 UTCYES!
LØ
2021-01-30 12:14:27 +0000 UTC1 tip: if you don’t have any hardware synths, but you wanna create those “little happy accidents”. Take a recorder (the mrecorder from melda is free) and play with the knobs until you got some cool results.
Tijs Krijnen
2021-01-29 18:06:03 +0000 UTCYeah we usually record early in the process. But when projects get hefty and we want to record more, we'll render the audio and create a new project to record in :)
KOAN Sound
2021-01-28 18:29:38 +0000 UTCLove this one very informative :)
nowfeel
2021-01-28 16:29:05 +0000 UTCMuch needed reminder to play all the gear I have around. One thing I struggle with a lot when I do this is latency. Do you both prefer recording early on in a project as to avoid latency? If not, is there a workaround you like using when projects get hefty so that you can record your ideas while reacting to the track? Thanks
Jake Leone
2021-01-28 01:43:21 +0000 UTCThank you for the demonstration, really inspiring. Appreciate everything you guys have been showing us!
Zohn Politis
2021-01-27 19:07:22 +0000 UTC