Leads that need more presence?

T

Trjuanse

New member
Hello everyone, I've been producing for a bit but for some reason i still cant get myself to make decent leads.. They always lack what i believe its presence. What tricks do you guys go about to make the lead more present? My leads always seem to be very dim. Do you guys use saturators? Maximizers? Some type of compression? any feedback would help! Thanks in Advance!
 
I like to use layering, multing and parallel exciting, distorting, saturating and/or bitcrushing with special attention to EQ for each channel. Try the following:

-Find a lead patch you like
-Find a supporting layer patch
-EQ each to make them mesh together
-Set each level how you like and group them in an aux/group channel and pan it to the right a little bit.
-Send that group to another aux/group channel
-Distort second group to your liking, lower the level to around -12 to -16 under the source group channel and pan a little to the left.

Of course, this is just one idea that popped into my head. Experiment to learn what you like and what best suits your track. Hope this helps.
 
I'm not a great synth designer, but...If you want a lead to have presence you should make a lead with presence. You need a high pitched texture that will give it presence. When I hear presence, I think of a certain high frequency texture. Now maybe by presence you just mean upfront? But that frequency response will give you that effect as well. I would play around with the synth before putting any other plugins on there.
 
Hey crimson, yeah i meant upfront.. my leads always tend to be kinda in the background not really upfront haha,
 
no audio = no opinion on what you need to do

for me a lead is a case of sound design first and then mixing technique and processors; i.e. if I can't get the sound I want through design then I might use some mix tricks to get the desired end result, but each sound requires its own individualised set of mix tricks
 
Trjuanse said:
Hey crimson, yeah i meant upfront.. my leads always tend to be kinda in the background not really upfront haha,
Click to expand...

Like BC said, we could use some audio, but until then I'm gonna keep blindly throwing at advice at the blind question.

Darker sounds tend to sound like they are farther back. What DAW are you using? Does it allow for demo tracks? Maybe you should go poke at some leads on demo tracks and see what makes them tick.

If not, I would start by pitching an osc up an octave or two and switching it's textures until you feel the lead has brightened. I also have no idea what kind of music you're making or what kind of lead you want, so we could use an example of that too. A reference. For all I know you're looking for white noise.
 
yeah sorry, i haven't been home. when i get home ill upload a sample. but the type of lead i am referring to is the trance/House music lead. for some reason i find that there is too much high end on it. i feel like its a lack of proper EQ'ing and compressing like you guys mentioned above... you can listen to one of my tracks and you can see around the middle its still lacks something but idk what it is lol. also on the sample track, the Jorn Van deynhoven thats the type of lead am aiming for very clean on the high end.

https://soundcloud.com/sebastian-vega/sebastian-vega-odin-original-mix-mastered

https://youtu.be/zKKqyKiLpc8?t=2m21s
 
Last edited:
one of my favorite things to do with leads is to play with distortion and EQ. i like the plugins from Plug & Mix....specifically Degradiator, Brightness, and Analoger personally. really can help dial up a lead that doesn't feel like it's cutting through the mix.
 
start with a decent preset and dont use too much reverb on it, eq the mid/high end if it doesnt cut through the mix enough then either chord or add supporting layers to fatten it up a bit. depends on source and sound youre aiming for
 
rayzer said:
start with a decent preset and dont use too much reverb on it, eq the mid/high end if it doesnt cut through the mix enough then either chord or add supporting layers to fatten it up a bit. depends on source and sound youre aiming for
Click to expand...

So you don't think he should tweak the synth at all?

I feel like people are ignoring synth design and what it can do for presence. Getting it right at the source applies to synths too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top