I'm trying to recreate the synth from the song, Under Control by Calvin Harris. Specifically the drop at 1:01. I want to recreate that synth using just the plugin Massive. Is it possible? If it is, how can I do it? Here's the link to the song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_1ZPr7kYfI
Calvin Harris- Under Control
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- KVRist
- 62 posts since 2 Jul, 2014
Hey ! Which synth do you want to remake ? The lead synth or the one(s) used for the chords ?
You can probably remake the whole song with Massive I guess.
Even though I don't use it I know it's a powerful synth but if you're not into sound designing you may want to learn to use another synth at first, cause Massive can look a bit hard to use for beginners.
You can probably remake the whole song with Massive I guess.
Even though I don't use it I know it's a powerful synth but if you're not into sound designing you may want to learn to use another synth at first, cause Massive can look a bit hard to use for beginners.
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- KVRer
- 17 posts since 12 Jun, 2016
First off, I would recommend using sylenth for supersaws instead of massive just because it's soooo much easier, I've never done supersaws in massive so I wouldn't know really. Seems like there are a few layers to this sound: A pluck, A dreamy pad in the back with a lot of reverb to give the sound depth, and a generic supersaw. Typically, you'd want to keep the simple layer in the middle of the mix or in the mono section and then the supersaws you can have really wide and the dreamy pad in the back as well. Supersaws are just a lot of saw voices in the oscillator lined up and detuned from one another to give you that big sound, it's a high octave one so it really screams. There are tons of techniques you can use to make your supersaws scream, such as choruses, and very fast lfo modulations of the phase and pitch. For the ADSR of the leads, make sure your sustain is a bit lower than your decay and your release is nearly identical to your decay. You can have pretty high release just to make your sound more airy/dreamy. To be honest, it's all about picking the right sounds to layer. I would flip through a few presets and find layers that are similar to his. The layers you should have would be:
1. Simple saw or sine wave that is clean and in mono
2. Plucky sound to give the sound some punch (mainly from a very fast pitch (super short decay and no sustain on an automation envelope) automation and filter cutoff envelope).
3. Thin Dreamy Pad. This one is usually a basic sound with a long release on the amp envelope and a big reverb. This layer adds depth and character to the lead.
4. Generic supersaw lead. This includes stacking numerous saw voices and then detuning them from each other to give you a big lead. Usually, you have to do a lot of processing like compression, subtle saturation, EQ'ing to tame the lows and accentuate the frequencies you want in the sound, reverb, chorus, etc.
5. White noise lead (optional). You can also add a layer of white noise with your supersaws since white noise fills the frequency spectrum a looooot, but it is usually only done if the high end of your supersaw or lead sounds cheesy and raspy, then you can EQ out the high end on your lead a bit and add a white noise layer to your lead to add the high end back. It can also be added on top of what you already have, but really subtly just to add some power to the lead.
In this drop of my song, I use the 4 layers (1 mono lead, 1 supersaw, 1 dreamy lead, white noise layer) that I described above to make a lead that is a similar kind of style that you're looking for. However, it was all done in sylenth1. I would recommend sylenth1 if you're just starting out because it's really really easy to learn and the layout is very simple:
https://soundcloud.com/dancecartel/marc ... el-remix-2
Hope that helped!
Cheers
- DC
1. Simple saw or sine wave that is clean and in mono
2. Plucky sound to give the sound some punch (mainly from a very fast pitch (super short decay and no sustain on an automation envelope) automation and filter cutoff envelope).
3. Thin Dreamy Pad. This one is usually a basic sound with a long release on the amp envelope and a big reverb. This layer adds depth and character to the lead.
4. Generic supersaw lead. This includes stacking numerous saw voices and then detuning them from each other to give you a big lead. Usually, you have to do a lot of processing like compression, subtle saturation, EQ'ing to tame the lows and accentuate the frequencies you want in the sound, reverb, chorus, etc.
5. White noise lead (optional). You can also add a layer of white noise with your supersaws since white noise fills the frequency spectrum a looooot, but it is usually only done if the high end of your supersaw or lead sounds cheesy and raspy, then you can EQ out the high end on your lead a bit and add a white noise layer to your lead to add the high end back. It can also be added on top of what you already have, but really subtly just to add some power to the lead.
In this drop of my song, I use the 4 layers (1 mono lead, 1 supersaw, 1 dreamy lead, white noise layer) that I described above to make a lead that is a similar kind of style that you're looking for. However, it was all done in sylenth1. I would recommend sylenth1 if you're just starting out because it's really really easy to learn and the layout is very simple:
https://soundcloud.com/dancecartel/marc ... el-remix-2
Hope that helped!
Cheers
- DC
