Synths used in top 40 music...

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timemass

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I am a noobie, so anyway, I was just wondering, what kind of synths would have been used in major top 40 songs, for instance, Britney's "Till the World Ends", J.Lo's "On the Floor", or Lady Gaga's "Judas"? I know we have no way of knowing the software (or perhaps hardware?), but in the case of software, would it be one of the synths right out of the box (Ableton, FL Studio, etc)? Of course very likely highly modified by numerous settings and effects. Just curious, as of course they sound very professional (And surely post-production...). Thanks!
 
how many licks does it take to get to the center of tootsie pop? lol I know that many of the current tracks can be done in reason because of how powerful reason is. I know a lot of top Electronic music use Massive its probably the best vst ever made for that genre.
 
timemass said:
I am a noobie, so anyway, I was just wondering, what kind of synths would have been used in major top 40 songs, for instance, Britney's "Till the World Ends", J.Lo's "On the Floor", or Lady Gaga's "Judas"? I know we have no way of knowing the software (or perhaps hardware?), but in the case of software, would it be one of the synths right out of the box (Ableton, FL Studio, etc)? Of course very likely highly modified by numerous settings and effects. Just curious, as of course they sound very professional (And surely post-production...). Thanks!
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Look around everywhere, you should be able to find some soft synths online for free. But for good sounds and samples, you will have to pay between $50- $200. I prefer Sylenth, u-he Zebra, Massive, and Toxic Biohazard. I offer up $5 kits on my site, too, along with free sounds weekly. Not tryin to plug product, just thought it was relevant to the topic.

& What kind of synths you talking about?? Sounds like house/Euro Dr. Luke style sounds. Take any saw or grimy synth, add a trance gate, set tempo to about 130 and you're good. Hope this helped
 
I personally dislike Massive, very very much. People think its the best because so many use it. So many people use it because they heard this guy and that guy use it...so in order to make music like that guy, they download the same software....

Personally, give me FL Studio's 3xOsc, Wasp, and 1 or 2 other basic ynths..and I'm happy, and able to make just about any sound I want/need..Its not what you use, its the knowledge you have put to use..

The synth that starts off Britney's "Till the World Ends"...simple 3-4 step process using FL Studio's 3xOsc...its a Square/Saw mix with some portamento and simple FX chain.. Sure you could use something overly complex such as Massive to create the sound...but you don't need that shit.. Its a basic, simple sound...And you hear similar sounds in almost every electronic/pop song.

That Jennifer Lopez song....same thing..Saw waves, slightly detuned, with simple tweaks to the ADSR/filter envelopes to give the sound that short/percussive sound to it.. Then throw an FX chain on it to beef it up.. No need for anything but a basic Synth with a few Oscillators..

Lady Gaga's Judas song...pretty basic as well..Real thick bass synths.. I believe RedOne produced that track...and if you listen to the other instrumentals he made for Lady Gaga, most of them incorporate the same sounds..Same square wave sounds, and in the case of Judas, Saw waves...There does seem to be more processing involved in his sounds than the previous tracks metioned..but its still basic stuff, really. You just gotta learn the art of synthesis. I'm still learning something new every day.. but one thing I learned long time ago....You dont NEED Massive, or any other crazy synth like that to recreate any of these sounds. They're all essentially the same sound..just different processing. They're mostly, in electronic/pop music...Saw waves and Square Waves...and sometimes a mixture...and even alot of times white noise mixed in to give it a gritty sound...You can make these sounds with the basic synth plugin in what ever DAW you're using..
 
You will find that when it comes to pop songs, the synth sounds are very basic and yes your packaged plug-in in your daw could do the trick. Pop songs need to be simple and non-complex for the listener to be emotionally connected easier, plus, pop songs are all about the vocals not the synths timbres. Stick to saw and square waves and thats all ;)
 
SwagProductionz said:
I'm startin to delve into making this kind of music now.. Sylenth and find presets thats the secret
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exactly we are pretty much in a preset driven market. find the most sounds to put out as much content as possible to stay ahead of the next person. Its a matter of keeping up or staying ahead. Fall back for too long (a few months sometimes) and its like starting over.
 
Well depending on the genre it can vary. For most electronic music I'd say Massive. But you brought up Lady Gaga's "Judas" and just so you know RedOne produced all of her tracks using only the synths that come with Logic, so 100% ITB. LMFAO only used Ableton's Operator for every song on their first album. Although trying to get other producers sounds is a fantastic way to learn about synthesis, don't focus way too much on it. By the time you've gotten their techniques down, everyone would've moved on to something else.

But with that being said, I only use Massive, FM8 and Operator. I don't see how I'd ever need anything else since those can pretty much produce any sound I can imagine.
 
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