KVR Audio

neueliteratur · Post by **neueliteratur** » Wed Sep 09, 2015 4:56 am

Hi,

I've noticed that in almost every Coldplay song,

there is almost always this string/pad sound going on in the background, behind the basic band instruments (dr, bss, gtr, pn, voc)

I guess this device(?) adds to the emotional force of the songs..

ex: just click on random moments of the clip, you'll hear it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk8eQ4Faz48

My question is, does this procedure have a name in the music production world?

thewizrad · Post by **thewizrad** » Thu Sep 10, 2015 4:52 am

I think it's an influence from both Brian Eno and Jon Hopkins. Guess you could say "ambient". Check out their solo work for more background.

goolord · Post by **goolord** » Thu Sep 17, 2015 4:06 pm

well, it's almost certainly actually just a thin string pad with a lot of reverb on it. i guess if you wanted to name the 'procedure' it would be padding. lol.

in all seriousness anything quiet with a lot of reverb and a lot of harmonics would probably achieve the same effect

neueliteratur · Post by **neueliteratur** » Fri Sep 18, 2015 5:21 am

Thanks for the advice.

Yeah, I noticed that I definitely need to start from a sound with lots of harmonics, otherwise it's sounding very thin and weird.

One more question: what is the best way to mask the sound of the original sound source? For example when I try to make this wide reverb ambient pad effect with a guitar or strings, I still hear tone of the source instrument way too clearly.

But when I hear other people, the original instrument sound is inaudible and there is just the ambient effect left.

goolord · Post by **goolord** » Fri Sep 18, 2015 5:49 am

hmmm i'm not entirely sure but you could try just turning the dry way way down and the wet way way up on whatever reverb plugin you use.

lfm · Post by **lfm** » Fri Sep 18, 2015 2:28 pm

neueliteratur wrote: But when I hear other people, the original instrument sound is inaudible and there is just the ambient effect left.

Try preFader-send to reverb, then you can turn off dry signal if you want.

So use an effect bus, with reverb that is 100% wet.
Then prefader send to that bus.

In the normal case, postfader send, you can only get a 50/50 mix just about, since going 0dB on both will do that.

With prefader send, you can go crazy on effect with no dry signal.

Also effective to make a move for something from far in the back to the front, by automating dry signal into the mix.

simon.a.billington · Post by **simon.a.billington** » Mon Sep 21, 2015 1:05 pm

You could also try a subtle bit of modulation effects like a chorus or phaser either on the strings or possibly prior to the reverb.

The bonus of using one of these effects, other than the obvious, is that it will smear the attack transients and help push the instrument further into the background.

There are other pad ideas you can try too. It my sure your synth of choice will have a whole bunch of presets just devoted to similar type sounds.

For something a bit different you could always try a B3 organ or so m thing.

neueliteratur · Post by **neueliteratur** » Fri Nov 13, 2015 1:03 pm

Thanks for the advice.

Now I'm gonna look up what prefader send is.

kelldammit · Post by **kelldammit** » Fri Nov 20, 2015 5:59 pm

Another good example of similar technique is Seal's "Crazy". Behind the verses, you can hear what sounds like a light/thin keyboard pad of some sort. A closer listen reveals it to be a heavily reverbed strummed acoustic guitar. Keeping it low in the mix helps provide a sense of "airy space", as well as outlining the chords when there may not be much else doing so. It's actually a pretty cool trick.

seratone · Post by **seratone** » Tue Sep 27, 2016 7:52 pm

I have been the keyboard player in lots of bands recording and live - back in 2002 I was really interested in what patch Coldplay was using - there has been a lot of speculation on this on the Coldplay Fan sites but these conversation usually go down the garden path of discussing which has more 'warmth' VST's or Hardware Digital Synths.

They used a Korg Triton - and the Patch is called =Liquified= (='s are part of the patch name) your can get that patch in the smaller Korg x50 and MicroX now. UI hav ethis sound on a recently purchased X50 - that's the Coldplay Pad....

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 8:12 am

neueliteratur wrote:there is almost always this string/pad sound going on in the background, behind the basic band instruments. I guess this device(?) adds to the emotional force of the songs..
[...]
My question is, does this procedure have a name in the music production world?

Yes, in my jargon it's called the "carpet layer".

Vleker · Post by **Vleker** » Tue May 05, 2020 4:09 pm

Can't find =Liquified= in the Triton VST sadly

seratone · Post by **seratone** » Sun Dec 10, 2023 6:43 pm

Liquified can be found on the X-50 or the Korg Micro X. It's truly the one of the most outstanding patches on those synths. That being said there's a "Knob on Drawbar" patch on the Micro X, but it's not the "Fix You" Organ by a long shot.

vurt · Post by **vurt** » Sun Dec 10, 2023 6:45 pm

a wet blanket?

osiris · Post by **osiris** » Tue Dec 12, 2023 9:35 pm

I don't think it's a pad. I've read the guitarist uses reverb with a delay. I have a reverb with a preset that can make a sound extended like a pad. Solaris can do this. Other forums with this discussion say EX5, CS80 and a Moog Voyager. Someone said they know one song uses a preset called Warmer from the EX5. Someone pointed out the Voyager was mono, but that didn't mean you couldn't layer a pad.

The Coldplay background sound thing