When you do layers

davidvaillant

New member
Hello everyone,
When I am doing layers on my DAW, what are the different types of sounds and how many of them do I have I put? I know there's Supersaws and plucks, but that's all. Also, when I am doing layers, is it just try and fail until I find a sound that I like? Thanks
 
Yes, davidvaillant, it's pretty much finding what you like. Additive synthesis is a little different than layering, which might be something like combining several snare sounds to get just the right combination of "crack," "beef," and "punch." But ultimately it depends on if you're happy with the sounds of not, and if they mesh well sonically with the rest of the parts...


GJ
 
Sometimes, part of the compositional process involves finding the right sound. If you are passionate about your music, then don't settle. Do whatever it takes to find either find the right instrument, or alter and layer instruments until they fit your needs.
 
Hi David,

Choice and options are endless when it comes to layering instruments. For instance, if you are going for a rhythm guitar sound you may layer and stack two or more guitars on top of one another with different EQ, FX, levelling and panning etc. The same can be said for pianos, keys, synths as well.

Layering is a great way of bulking a particular instrument or sound.

Other end of the spectrum, some producers forgo adding layers and keep instrumentation to a minimum and the production very stripped back. Rick Rubin has been noted to use this practice.

Really comes down to what you are looking for and the sound you are trying to achieve. Hope this helps.
 
But I think it's important to distinguish between three separate (but somewhat related) processes that are seemingly being discussed in this thread-- 1) Additive Synthesis (combining and tweaking waveforms and synth sounds to create a unique/"non-preset" sound), 2) Multi-Tracking (recording separate tracks of individual parts of an arrangement, and mixing them together to create a finished arrangement and mix), and 3) Layering, which as far as I know is combining "layers" of the _same_ type of sound (usually drums but could be other instruments) to create a specific whole/gestalt/total sound, but doesn't involve lots of tweaking at the level of say sine or sawtooth waves, although EQ carving may be involved. In other words, stacking sounds to create one "big" sound for a specific instrumental part, with the goal that the listener can't necessarily identify each individual layer.

GJ
 
Your 1 is not what Additive Synthesis is.. what you describe is just 'adding more synths'.
Additive synthesis is specific synthesis technique where the sound is built out so called 'partials', which basically means a whole mess of sinewaves being combined to form the sound.

There aren't that many of those synths, because it gets quite complex and it's really heavy on CPU power to calculate enough partials to make thick sounds.
NI's Razor is an example of it, even though that was designed to kind of resemble how you operate a subtractive synth. It has filters and reverb, but they don't work like traditional effects, they modify the actual partials.
It's pretty interesting and gives some pretty unique sounds.

I myself hardly ever use layering actually. Except maybe when it comes to designing my drums.
Usually there's other, more practical ways to get a similar effects. A big reason is that I really hate when projects expand like crazy. Everytime you double something,
it means an extra hit on my CPU, an extra mixer channel to manage. If you bus, that's three channels instead of one. For my workflow that really does not work at all.. I haven't had complaints about my stuff sounding thin or weak... lol, more the opposite.
 
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