I've tried for years now, I just can't sound like my favorite artists...

[kanoharuayu]

I know you should find your own sound and stuff, but there are sounds I literally love, I want to get a similar sound to my favorite artists... They're mostly from 1998 to 2004, I literally searched till I found their old gear.

Roland SDE3000a delay/reverb
Zoom RFX multi fx unit
Hardware compressor forgot which
Boss FX unit
Korg 01/w, Boss DR55 drums, Roland XV, Novation synths, Yamaha SPX950, Access Indigo...

I found alternatives to all these online, and some "kontakt" librarys of roland and stuff, but the sounds in the kontakt sampled librarys sound so plastic and fake compared to their sounds. I can get almost dial in a similar sound but it ends up sounding "thin" "weak" and bleh sounding,


Should I just buy the phsyical gear? The genre I'm going for is "psytrance, trance, pop trance" FWIW I tried thousands of synths presets for massive and sylenth, but couldn't find any similar to the vibrant sounds in these songs

Maybe I just suck at processing the sounds? I tried Korg M1, and found some very similar sounds to the songs, but definitly not on the level I hear... Even the drums sound think and huge, the boss drum samples I downloaded sux compared to them, i dunno...

[ATS]

i'm the same way man, there is some music i love so much but I just can't do it.

[Tj Shredder]

Once I had a real Fender Rhodes piano. I never got the sound I knew from my heros back then until I sampled it into my FZ-10m... Or in other words, its much less about the original gear than about getting used to what you have. When these pieces you love so much had been made, that sound did not exist yet...
Maybe you can get some hints, if you post in production techniques with both, your hero‘s music and your own attempt...

[JerGoertz]

I've found processing can make a huge difference.

[chk071]

For me, it's mainly about the right gear. It took me quite a while to discover the stuff which gives me the sound i'm after.

[Tj Shredder]

Of course at some point its about gear! But not necessarily about the exact gear someone used to produce her sound. As long as you know your gear, especially what is coming with your DAW nowadays, it should be possible to get out the sort of expression you are after. There is no need to sound exactly the same, you most likely could make it sound even better...
Knowledge about the gear my hero used does help of course. Often its the details which are more important than the obvious, visible gear...
WIth the Rhodes sound I finally found out that the battery of pedals used by my heros had more to do with the sound than the big expensive and heavy instrument itself...

[do_androids_dream]

I'll bet none of the artists you're trying to sound like were trying to sound like someone else.. Just make the music that comes out of you naturally. Then, others might want to sound like you

Having said that, the sound of older trance/psytrance IS hardware. You ain't gonna get it in software. Buy whatever hardware you can find then make do with software for the things you can't find..

A good way to learn is to try to methodically and meticulously recreate one of your heroes tracks. You will learn a lot as you will have to research almost every step and you'll try out a lot advice/ideas. Even if it's a disaster at first you'll know what NOT to do next time.

[Dunbar]

If you're looking for production and equipment advice you could try posing on Gearslutz. There's a wealth of knowledge from professionals and they're happy to share.

As for achieving the exact sound as your favourite artists, it's not always easy. I recall a seasoned recording engineer being asked if he could achieve a sound like Led Zeppelin 2 - he retorted "even Led Zeppelin couldn't sound like Led Zep 2".

[Chemik]

What I've resigned myself to is, never dismiss the impact of recording in $100K studios, engineers, and mastering by people in their own $100K studios.

Ever watch a documentary where the band plays the synth sound they used in a famous song and it absolutely blows? Thin and totally lifeless. After mixing, engineering and mastering, voila. HUGE sound.

[Distorted Horizon]

And you'd need exactly the same knowledge and exactly the same feeling what the original artist had at that moment when he/she made the track. All you can do is some flavors and inspirated by -thing but never sound exactly the same.

[BertKoor]

Have you ever heard of Mark Knopfler? He tried everything to be just like Hank B. Marvin of The Shadows (if that still rings a bell)
He bought a red Fender Stratocaster and all, but look what happened.

Turns out later, it's all in the fingers and brain controlling them, hardly in the gear itself.

[thecontrolcentre]

If I use the same paint & brushes as Salvador Dali will my paintings look like his? Obviously not. Same with music.

[chk071]

I'd argue that a synthesizer has a much bigger impact than a guitar or a paint brush.

Sure it's also about the artist. Or, even, mainly. It's just that it's no fun for me to work with instruments I dislike.

[mellotronaut]

I've found processing can make a huge difference.

that's it! it's not only, what your favs used, but how and where and in which combination... and all the coincidences and the work-arounds

[vurt]

Sure it's also about the artist. Or, even, mainly. It's just that it's no fun for me to work with instruments I dislike.

but that's not necessarily "the exact gear used on recording xyz"