How do you make full instrumentations?

How to make that sound...
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I'm curious. What do you build first, second, etc?
I feel a litle emberassed here. I'm trying with popular dance music (german), but it was just some cases that i made something "good" and those were just luck.

What I found effective is:
(0.) voices
1. a lead synth (so the fattest sound)
2. kick (that 'pumps' with the synth)
3. kick tiggers (clap, snare, etc)
4. bass (set to the synth - if the bass goes with the synth, it will do with the kick as well - if the kick is good)
5. others (pads, fills, etc. tweaked to the bass)

How do you do it?

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A very large book could be written on this.

But if you are doing lead instrument first, make sure to leave enough room for the other instruments in different registers. The best mixes have each element clear so it's full effect can be had (unless that element is supposed to be subliminal)

Otherwise you get phase cancellation and the mix gets muddy.

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Yes, I know, I alwasy high pass these, except some. For example the JP8000 supersaw (nowadays z3ta supersaws) aren't enjoyable to the full without a little low.
But I think it's not the EQ that makes a good mix, it's rather the sounds used.

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camsr wrote:A very large book could be written on this.
this is exactly how I started to reply, before i decided not to get involved in this thread..
I used to think the internet was going to unite mankind. Now I realize the internet is perhaps mankinds greatest wasteland of bickering, greed, and narrow minds. " And we all shine on, " Imagine that.

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Leeate wrote:Yes, I know, I alwasy high pass these, except some. For example the JP8000 supersaw (nowadays z3ta supersaws) aren't enjoyable to the full without a little low.
But I think it's not the EQ that makes a good mix, it's rather the sounds used.
It's not EQ that will make the difference, its the harmonic series of the sounds you use. Like, if you try to play all your instruments in the tenor range, at once, it won't work. because the fundamental and harmonic frequencies are clashing. Highpass wont help that and EQ will probably make it sound worse.

Shit in = Shit out so make sure the sounds you use "fit", spectrally.

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Leeate wrote:Yes, I know, I alwasy high pass these, except some. For example the JP8000 supersaw (nowadays z3ta supersaws) aren't enjoyable to the full without a little low.
But I think it's not the EQ that makes a good mix, it's rather the sounds used.
start with your bass n drums... everything is in like 8 or 16 or 32 bar patterns, bring sounds in n out...
I used to think the internet was going to unite mankind. Now I realize the internet is perhaps mankinds greatest wasteland of bickering, greed, and narrow minds. " And we all shine on, " Imagine that.

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So you all think my topic is a little stupid?
Okayy... I am voted down. (n)

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I don't think its stupid... I think there is a language barrier. and I am not sure what you mean
I used to think the internet was going to unite mankind. Now I realize the internet is perhaps mankinds greatest wasteland of bickering, greed, and narrow minds. " And we all shine on, " Imagine that.

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I'd like to know something about building up a pop song.
I read a couple of books about mixing a pop song, even more about getting vocal takes better, bigger, etc.. but I couldn't find a single book on chosing the right sound fonts.

So I mean, what should I make (choose) first, second, which instrument set to which...

Could you recommend some books on this topic.
Or I can definitely state that I am paranoid? : ))

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should we tell you what notes to write, too?

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Not necessarily. See, I don't know any music theory. Im just a kind of geek who wants to be just like the bigboys with his rinky-dink Cubase and his Windows machine.

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Hi Leeate! When I started out back in the early nineties I had a Korg M1 and an Atari with a Cubase. I had my favourite bands and songs - I really liked the synth-pop, italo disco arrangements. In the beginning I tried to do cover versions of my favourite songs and tried to imitate their arrangements very accurately - the point was to sound as close to original as possible. This was of course very hard as Korg M1 only had 16 voices of polyphony. Later on I bought Roland Sound Canvas which added more polyphony and choice of timbres. I say that I learned the basics of arranging through doing cover versions - learned what constitute a song. (drums programming, basslines, comping, pads, so on...) You should also learn the basics of music theory - the relation of chords and scales especially. I think that's crucial. a little theory and the love for synth sounds and arrangements will soon get you there :) Just practice a lot. Sooner or later you will compose and arrange something interesting :) Good luck!!! :tu:
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Nineteen Ninety Nine
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Hi zoot!
I feel you.. I have learnt a lot of tricks just by listening to eurotrance songs. And I always make something "nice" if I let myself free, but there's always a pressure for making something new.
Pople who do this kind of stuff think that they need to "flash" with somethinh new. There are more and more amateur-ish productions so nowadays it's better to learn from the "oldies".

I just opened this topic to ask some people what they begin with if they want to create a very new sounding, where they start. For example, once I found a drum wav which was very punchy and nice, but the "fitting" right synth to it was a bull*. (ok, not so much but i didn't imagine my instrumentation with that..)
The opposite happened as well. I made a nice lead preset, thought that I make a very big sounding but the best drum that went with it was too little.

Okay, maybe I'm too complicated.

Thanks for your tips. It was good to hear your story. ;)
___
I just noticed you're from Zenta. So near here (szeged). :D

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Here's my mantra when it comes to instrumentation: If everything is huge, NOTHING is huge. It's allll relative.

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I've written a bit about this here. Read the whole thread - there's some good stuff in there.

-Kim.

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