Why it's so difficult to make ambient

[Constructed Identity]

Because I don't have a reference artist, that is, there isn't one person making the kind that I really like.
Ambient can be anything, I know, but I specifically like musical ambient- not a lot going on, but emphasis on the space/timing.
We get into patterns. We start doing things the way we made other music and it hurts creativity. Also, there is no instrument for ambient, rock has the electric guitar, techno has the 808/909...

I want to make more great ambient but I have a hard time even starting and then what I make isn't what I originally had in mind. It can be frustrating.

[Eauson]

https://youtu.be/rioRQosAnQY ?

Actually, edit wrong URL

https://youtu.be/6jXbnydhNjU

Its probably not what you are looking for, it it field recordings, turned to solid sounds ?

[llze]

a few pads and some bling bling

[Eauson]

a few pads and some bling bling

If you can whistle it, I'll clap along

[chk071]

Experiment, experiment, experiment, that's how i would do it. IMO, there is no such thing as one way, it's not Rock, it's not Trance, so there isn't anything like a recipe for a (great) track, especially if you feel like there's no reference artist for what you want to do. It's probably more about a feeling for the sounds, and what will/has to come next.

[Constructed Identity]

a few pads and some bling bling

...is not going to work.
My standards are high. "Fumi" from Loop Guru is one I like. Also found a few on Soundcloud from unknown people, but it is hit-or-miss mostly finding what I like, hence I must make it.

[Nocturnal909]

Maybe try "The Orb" or some Moby's Ambient album. Enigma's Return To Innocents is upbeat....
Some few songs by Aphex Twin (some are not even ambient).

[deastman]

Maybe try "The Orb" or some Moby's Ambient album. Enigma's Return To Innocents is upbeat....
Some few songs by Aphex Twin (some are not even ambient).

I don't recall any ambient tracks on that Enigma album...

[arkmabat]

Listen to Eno and grab Valhalla Shimmer. Instant ambient.

[musical android]

There is a great online community/forum for ambient music and musicians that can be very inspiring.
ambientonline.org

[chaosWyrM]

a few pads and some bling bling

...is not going to work.
My standards are high. "Fumi" from Loop Guru is one I like. Also found a few on Soundcloud from unknown people, but it is hit-or-miss mostly finding what I like, hence I must make it.

well if youre looking for stuff like that loop guru track and using "ambient" in the search terms...that could explain why youre not finding a lot of stuff.

try worldbeat, downtempo, or chillout. im not saying that to sound like some sort of genre snob (ill use the word ambient for that stuff myself sometimes)...its just that youll have a hard time finding what you want if you look in the wrong places.

[rockstar_not]

It's actually quite easy to get started with freeware:

Here's some 'ambient' tracks that truly only took an hour or two per track to put together and post:
https://soundcloud.com/rockstar_not/sco ... ront-range
https://soundcloud.com/rockstar_not/roc ... bishot-2-1 (careful of the opening of this one, I was having a Soundcloud issue that when they converted my audio file it put a spike of noise right at the onset)


Sources that you might not yet have in your plugin folder:
Krakli Cygnus - choose the space skin for inspiration: Well, that's embarassing, Cygnus is no longer hosted/offered by krakli. Ok, pick any pad source you might have on hand. Be ready to hold down notes, just a few at a time, for a long time. Tim Conrardy had something to do with Cygnus. Try Oatmeal on some random patches.

Some not so pad-like sounds are also required if you take cues from Eno in his Editions EG days. I like Synsect by xoxos for some of this. Ambishot above uses synsect fed into delay and a huge reverb.

Man, it's been a long time since I did that track - both Tim Conrardy and xoxos replied on the post. Here it is:
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=191904

Tim, we miss you and your graceful participation in this forum.

Synsect is here: http://www.xoxos.net/

You also need a delay with tape emulation, in my opinion. I like Bionic Delay by interruptor.ch: http://www.interruptor.ch/vst_donationware.shtml

Another thing that will be useful, usually before the delay, is a filter. Frohmage works well (yes it's old, but it's still one of the most fun VST ever created IMO)
https://www.ohmforce.com/ViewProduct.do?p=Frohmage

And of course you need a reverb with tails that go on forever. My go-to was the at the time freeware Ariesverb, on the Temple of the Ancients preset (first one). He still offers a freebie version of this.
http://www.ariescode.com/index.php

For a synth-less version of Ambient, you might like this:
https://soundcloud.com/rockstar_not/sco ... t-ye-orion
Sources were my el cheapo SX bass guitar and a MIM strat I had at the time, through I believe Amplitube 2 free and then into filters, delay and reverb - very likely the same mentioned above.

Bass, piano and electric guitar and some Oscine Tract synth:
http://rockstarnot.rekkerd.org/songs/FA ... ng%205.mp3

Tweak some things now and then either with automation, mod wheel, etc.

Now, if the above isn't your idea of ambient, then my apologies.

[deastman]

For ambient drones, my favorite technique is to play guitar with Ebow and run it through a long effect chain of delay, reverb, and various modulation effects.

Oh, and Kaleidoscope is also great for ambient.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

a few pads and some bling bling

If you can whistle it, I'll clap along

actually, if you can whistle it then it's probably not ambient

[llze]

here is a long video series tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... cv4CuWml8Y

maybe also check out scuba, wich is one of my favourite artists in that league:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8WFJXDI_2Q