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DIGITAL ERGONOMICS: SYNTHESIZERS

In the previous article I spent some time talking about drums, and how to organize them in useful ways so you can access them quickly.  This applies to synthesizer sounds as well.  I was talking to a student of mine recently who was saying that he has all these great synth plug-ins.  He sits, and clicks through sounds, and finds a lot of great stuff that’s not EXACTLY what he’s looking for.  And then, when he thinks of a use for one later, he can’t find it, because he can’t remember what it was called.

Pretty much every library of synth sounds you will come across will have a different browsing system, layout, and naming convention.  A lot of them opt for silly ass names like ‘Photon Blast’ or ‘Sunrise on Titan’ (these are actual ES2 preset names in Logic).  I understand they’re trying to make them sound cool, and make keyboard guys with ponytails want to play them, but for me they tell me exactly nothing, besides the fact that the guy who made them loves science fiction.  I love science fiction too, but I also want to find useful synth sounds quickly.  As a result, what I will do if I get a new synth or am feeling bored is go through the banks, find presets I like, maybe tweak them a bit to bring them more in line with my use, or not, and then save them as Logic channel strip settings in one of my folders, before giving them a name that I will understand when it’s time to use them.  If you don’t use Logic, substitute whatever preset-saving system your software of choice uses.

The key here is we’re using the preset system of the sequencer, not the plug-in itself.  That way all your sounds across different plug-ins will be saved in one place.  A lot of my names would be no more descriptive to someone else than those goofy sci-fi names, like, for example, ‘2094_blurred_fm’ or ‘bewww_bewww,’ but they mean something to me.  That’s what matters.  Having done this I can quickly jump in, pull useful synth sounds out, and focus on what’s important – expressing my ideas and making music.

Another thing which can cause problems is synth overload.  I do not support or advocate piracy, but the fact is that nowadays a lot of people can download tons of different plug-ins, with only a small investment of time, install them all, and then not know how to use them and feel overwhelmed.  This happens less to people actually buying the gear, but still, its an issue for everybody.  My major piece of advice: more stuff is not going to make your music sound better.  Better skills and ideas are going to make your music sound better.  I, for example, pretty much just use the built-in stuff that comes with Logic.  Because I am pretty good at working with synths and getting sounds I want out of them, I can usually hear or think of a sound and mock it up in Logic’s ES1 or ES2 synth.  I am not saying don’t use plug-ins, but I do advise you to pick, for example, a fairly versatile synth like the ES2, or Massive, or whatever you like, and learn it really well.  Spend time with it trying to copy other people’s synth sounds and figure out how to make them happen on your own.  The knowledge gained will be INCREDIBLY useful.  Not only will it allow you to make interesting unique sounds that are stylistically appropriate for your music, but it will allow you to take presets which are close but not quite right and get them there.

Now, notice earlier I said find a preset I like and edit it or not.  I get a lot of students asking me, ‘is it OK to use presets?’  They have read somewhere on the internet some gear-loving troll dissing someone because they used a recognizable preset in their track.  I say if the preset is doing something that you like, it fits your style of music, and will work for what you want to do, then by all means, use away.  Let the internet trolls hate.  I personally do not make music for the approval of other producers or internet forum users.  If you do, my advice is to think long and hard about that.  It’s personally much more important to me that my music makes girls dance, and maybe dudes too, but really, who wants to go to a party with a bunch of dudes?  Or trolls for that matter?  Not me.  Basically if a preset evokes what you want it to evoke, and does the job you want it to do, you should use it.  Presets are useful because they get a sometimes complex sound up and running quickly, and let you focus on playing and composing.  Usually if I am going to draw for a preset its because I’m trying to evoke a specific sound that is usually connected to a genre.  For example right now hip hop and pop music have been taken over by trance sounding lead synths.  I could sit and make my own stacked, detuned, saw wave synth sound, but actually if thats what I’m going for I might as well just use a preset.  The reference will probably be more direct the closer to that sound I get, because very often that’s why I’m using a sound like that in the first place: I WANT the listener to make that connection.