Oke I have the sound from a VSTi, I am happy with the sound itself, now how to make it sound huge??

Any suggestions, please help.

Arjen

The easyest way to make a lead sound bigger is to add more voices and make them slightly detuned- similar to the unison function of some older poly synths(and the pro 53). You can try some chorus and reverb to fatten it up as well.

For starters, a cool song arrangement that builds up the tension before the lead kicks in. If the rythmn kicks, when the lead jumps in the whole song should feel uplifted, like you're running naked downhill or something... (er maybe that's just me)

After that, sparing use of EQ and not so sparing use of a good reverb might help!

What i usualy do i put the synth that i like on 1 channel with all kind of FX and then i put another synth that sound a little diferent and i copy the melody from the 1st on into that synth and then play both of them overlapping on eachother that makes the sound a lot fatter and fuller

As already mentioned...Eq is a good start - use a spectrum analyser to see where the main frequencies lie with your lead sound....then roll off some Eq in your other lines that share the same frequency bands. That's often at least half the problem with big sounds - other melodies interfere with the main line, so you need to separate them out.

It also depends on which octaves you're playing the lead line in ... e.g. lower mid lines will overlap with snares, toms, kicks, and basslines (unless they're sub-basses). You're going to have real trouble with a mix if you play a lead line in C2 - even C4.... often if you transpose the lead line up an octave or two, it will sit better (even though it may not then sound like what you wanted to start with).

There are no hard and fast rules in music, but generally it's really not a good idea to start a track from a lead line with a pre-defined sound - that way you'll have problem after problem getting the drums and bass and especially pads to fit in with it. As long as the lead melody is good, then you often don't need a power sound for it to stand out.

(Not that I want to put you off your big sound... but I've tried doing music that way before, and given it up as a bad job.....especially if it's dance-orientated music)

layer it so you have 2 of them and add some stereo enhancing to one.

Might not be the right way to go about it but it works for me!

Detune and Chorus always works for me!

That, and what jzero said: an arrangement that builds up to the lead usually does the trick.

toppa

I like distortion

...just can't beat those extra overtones and harmonics...

It won't sound very nice, though.

....which is a plus...

-S.

smart wrote:

layer it so you have 2 of them and add some stereo enhancing to one. Might not be the right way to go about it but it works for me!

Did that with Cubase. Now that I have Logic there is this little effect "Spreader" that does it at almost zero CPU cost. One of the controls says LFO, but I don't really hear it oscillating much, and the effect is wonderful.

Can anyone tell me what the little bugger really does?

V.

Sleek Month wrote:

I like distortion ...just can't beat those extra overtones and harmonics... It won't sound very nice, though. ....which is a plus... -S.

!!!!!!!!!

Forever,




Kim.

Run your lead through Hexaline. You won't regret it
'Tick

Arjen's orginal question is a good one.

I bet a lot of us get the same ... a great sound gets killed off in the mix.

But what's the cause of this situation in the first place?

Where did the big lead go?

With masses of VSTIs to play with, the danger is always to keep adding layer after layer of great new sounds till the whole thing gets swamped.

These days I'm trying hard to keep to the original core presets I used while writing the song, which is usually when the lead sounded best.

It's the newcomer sounds to the mix that usually cause the trouble. The great pad or second sequence that ends up burying the big lead.

Try playing the mix with just the big lead, bass and drums alone, then adding the other parts one at a time, eq'ing and setting them back with reverb and less gain so that the core parts keep shining through.

Automate this so that the newcomers don't get pushed back so much when they're not competing.

Obviously as people here suggest, you can simply cheer up the big lead with fx to give it more presence.

But it can be better to remix all the other newcomer sounds so that this isn't so necessary.

Look to the cause of why the big lead went dead

Just my 2 cents.

Thank you all for your help an useful comments. I usually try to make it big with effects, and always end up with a great sound on its own that doesn't fit in my mix. I started to experiment a bit with EQ...and it seems to work indeed. Looks like using two instruments for the same melody makes it stand out....even more when you use different octaves for these two..

Thanks again,

Arjen