KVR Audio

noiseboyuk · Post by **noiseboyuk** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 7:25 pm

I was listening to the God-like Newman again today, and as per usual wishing I was as talented as he was at doing the simple in such a sublime way. Does anyone know what sort of synths he uses? A good example is Dead Already in American Beauty - really subtle, gorgeous, floaty things....

Sequent · Post by **Sequent** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:07 pm

Just a head's up that it isn't necessarily 'just' what kinds of synths he uses. It's how they're produced as well. Just because you own the same synths doesn't mean it will automatically sound the same. Well, I hope it's okay to say that, and I realize it doesn't directly answer your question.

noiseboyuk · Post by **noiseboyuk** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:16 pm

Quite right! I was wondering if he actually does things far more tricksy that using synths anyway - sampled and processed gong scrapes maybe?

Still, he MUST have some staple synths too!

Sequent · Post by **Sequent** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 10:30 pm

I would say probably yes on the samples. Then don't forget the effects kinds of things that he might be doing. When you said "gorgeous, floaty things" that is one thing that came to mind. And he probably has a synth or two sitting around as well.

Or he might have migrated to all software by this point.

It's an interesting question you posed and it would be fun to hear what kinds of things he uses. One clue might be had by looking through interviews in magazines like Keyboard, etc. Seems like those magazine folks like to talk a lot about gear, and oftentimes gear will be mentioned either directly in the interview or shown as a sidebar.

Another thing to do might be to peruse the extras materials on dvds for films that he had scored. It's possible that there might be an interview with him on something and even if he doesn't talk about his gear directly you might be able to catch a glimpse of what he has in his studio.

Mind you, that information as well as magazine interviews might be dated depending on when the film or magazine came out.

noiseboyuk · Post by **noiseboyuk** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 10:51 pm

Good thoughts. I just did a google and found this on his site from 1990:

I like defining a space in time, or letting the mood play through. I'd have sessions where I'd hire guitarists to get that feeling, since I only played the piano, keyboards and various noise-making things. What I hated about synths - or "electronics" as I prefer to call them - is that you can hide their sounds in the wrong way. Electronics can be really hideous, ugly and oinking. But if you cloak that with processing, then it becomes interesting because you can't trace the source of the sound

That seems to bear it out. That's what I was thinking when I analysed it - it's really hard to pin down what is going on, although its unobtrusive.

Oh, and this, on The Shawshank Redemption:

I painted a picture of desolation with electronic colors, then pulled out the emotional scenes with actual instruments. But even the electronic parts of the score weren't totally manufactured. Some of the prison's metallic sounds were processed hurdy-gurdies, prepared steel guitars and solo pianos. So there weren't a lot of actual synthesizers.

And this...

Q: How did you develop your distinctive electronic sound?

TN: I have a lot of good and interesting musicians I work with, among them Rick Cox, who uses a prepared guitar, George Budd, who plays processed phonographs and designs sounds, and Chas Smith, who does amazing things with a pedal steel guitar. The stuff that delights and interests us is getting to new musical places that we'd never have imagined. We happen to pass by some idea, then touch and explore it.

So... I've answered my own question! A lot of graft and talent, and very little synths, it seems...

spectrum · Post by **spectrum** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:28 pm

You'd likely enjoy Omnisphere. Thomas newman has been using it lately and as I'm a big fan of his too, there's a lot of Newman-esque sounds in there.

Captain · Post by **Captain** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:37 pm

Just had to add one "me too" - TN is definitely one of my all-time favourite movie composers.

spectrum wrote:You'd likely enjoy Omnisphere. Thomas newman has been using it lately and as I'm a big fan of his too, there's a lot of Newman-esque sounds in there.

Ha, well I thought I spotted a patch in Omnisphere named after Mr. Newman!

Sequent · Post by **Sequent** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 4:36 am

Well, as an Atmos user (haven't upgraded to Omni yet), I had thought about that as another thing to mention. A lot of composers seem to have Atmos (and now Omni I expect) in their kit. Ones that I've also seen come up are Absynth and Cameleon. I can't speak for Omnisphere because I don't have it and Atmosphere is a closed system, but what's nice about Absynth and Cameleon is that you can feed them your own recorded sources, and of course don't forget your sampler. Your sampler can be your best friend for this sort of stuff. It's unfortunate that samplers seem to be quickly becoming primarily used as vehicles for sample libraries and that we tend to sometimes forget that they can be powerful instruments in their own right. Or perhaps using the commercial library as a starting point to further mangling.

Other things to consider are looping, a decent reverb, a nice long delay, and a pitch shift type of effect. With just those relatively simple tools just about anything can become food for some interesting atmospheres, and you don't even have to necessarily be a 'guitarist' to be able to generate some incredible textures this way using a guitar or whatever other instrument you want to try. And it doesn't even have to be a proper "instrument" it can literally be anything.

You can see TN talking just about these things in those excellent quotes you pulled.

Synths are great and I would be the very last person to speak against them, lol. But sometimes we tend to be too synth-centric, especially around here. Which is not to speak against some of the wonderful things that we have available and some of the great foundations that people like Eric have provided with the deep tools that they give us. But it can be a heck of a lot of fun to get down into the trenches yourself at least once in a while! It's all good, really.

Someone who comes to mind who's done some interesting work with organic textures and soundscapes without using synths is Alio Die. You might want to google him.

Also check out Tim Conrardy's Starscape soundset for Absynth. Just taking apart those patches and analyzing the sources that he used and how he used them can be quite inspirational. I think it's relavent to this discussion because I think it might be just what you're talking about. It seems to be what TN was talking about too.

noiseboyuk · Post by **noiseboyuk** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:35 pm

Thanks guys, that's all really useful stuff. I was wondering about Omnisphere - I've been getting by pretty well on lots of good freebies (Zebra CM, Kore, Proteus VX etc) for synths, but I'm beginning to think that Omnisphere may really be worth the hype. Need more money...

But at the same time, I wonder if this isn't just too easy and I should start experimenting a whole lot more with what I've got - a la Newman....

loachm · Post by **loachm** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 5:08 pm

Sequent wrote:... and of course don't forget your sampler. Your sampler can be your best friend for this sort of stuff. It's unfortunate that samplers seem to be quickly becoming primarily used as vehicles for sample libraries and that we tend to sometimes forget that they can be powerful instruments in their own right...

...enter Kontakt...

I think, for Kontakt users sample libraries from Soniccouture and Tonehammer as well as the NI KoreSoundpack "Acoustic Refractions" could be alternatives for the acoustic and psycho-acoustic sections of Omnisphere.

www.soniccouture.com

www.tonehammer.com

http://www.native-instruments.com/index ... ctions&L=1

Brittlestem · Post by **Brittlestem** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 6:19 pm

noiseboyuk wrote:Thanks guys, that's all really useful stuff. I was wondering about Omnisphere - I've been getting by pretty well on lots of good freebies (Zebra CM, Kore, Proteus VX etc) for synths, but I'm beginning to think that Omnisphere may really be worth the hype. Need more money...

But at the same time, I wonder if this isn't just too easy and I should start experimenting a whole lot more with what I've got - a la Newman....

Yeh, but have you got friends with treated pianos/guitars/whatever? These guys have soud designers working for them, their own personal libraries on top of the run of the mill stuff - hence when you get the opportunity to get your hands on Omnisphere etc go for it! And sure, sample your own guitar/mandolin whatever but then load it into Kontakt, whap it into Kore and run it through some of the *amazing* FX combinations etc.
And in the meantime focus your real energies on your compositional skills so you can write something as amazing as "The Great Work Begins" or "Road To Perdition".

Thomas Newman type pads