Layering

S

SimonT

Member
Hi!

I'm after advice on layering. Just wondering how, when and why it is used, how does it make your song more professional? How do you know if a track or instrument needs layering?

Thanks!
 
layering add's body to a beat.. like you know how sometimes you hear a beat and it sounds like it's missing something.. has an empty feeling? if you layer, it helps things sound fuller.. know what i'm sayin..
 
you can layer almost everything
its all about equing, ADSR, and panning different signals to make one
 
you can Layer pretty much anything. just be sure to level out the sound of track so, it not loud and buzzing for the listeners

Good luck
 
Typically, my kick drum sound is a merge of between 4 and 8 different kicks layered (and panned) on top of each other...
I generally have something with a bit of 'click', something 'full' in the midrange frequencies, something distorted/dirty and something with a lot of bottom end...
For snares I like a crack, a ring and some string noise - one will overpower the others depending on the track but they're all in there...
 
8 kicks. Amazing Guru. I'd heard of layering 3. 1 with predominantly low end, one with predominantly mid range and then one for the high end, but first time I've heard of 8. What do you think you need for 8 then? What do you think it gives you? I would have thought you wanted to cover the whole frequency spectrum. Would (say you were doing 3) one want to have say, a particular low end range, then with the mid-range kick, do you want that to start from the frequency the high part of the low end kick finished and the same with where the high end kick starts?

Also, just been tryna layer a couple of synths in Reason, A Thor and a Subtractor, but with not knowing what I'm doing particularly, it was a lot of guess work. I was tryna make a lead sound. Any tips here for this? for say a lead, what sort of sounds would you layer? how would you eq them? any other effects you would add, filters, reverb? this was for a housey/deep house if that helps.
 
8 is the most I've ever used... There was a lot of panning and levels in opposition on the L&R (more sub and mid on the right/more 'normal' low end & click on the left) involved and no other source of bass in that track... 2 subs, 2 low, 2 mids (that really knocked) and 2 high(er) end kicks (actually, they were more like 'clicks' than 'kicks') my main sample was top heavy (bass lacking) and sat in the centre of the mix...
Was defintely an experiment!!
Generally I use 4 kicks layered up together.
 
SimonT said:
Hi!

I'm after advice on layering. Just wondering how, when and why it is used, how does it make your song more professional? How do you know if a track or instrument needs layering?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Layering is good when you want to add something to your sound without affecting your original sound.

It's the same thing with the plugins that have a MIX knob on it. 50% means that you hear both of the effect and the original sound equally.

It's like blending the sound but instead of volume faders you use a knob and vice versa.

But if you want to add more effects ONLY on the 2nd sound then you can't do it with the mix knob, you need to send it to each own track.

That's why you need layering.
 
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Layering also gives you more control over your sounds when sampling. Looping a sample with all the instruments in it is cool but i prefer capturing each instrument individually if possible so i can spread them out across the track. This way the layer of sounds are more orchestrated.
 
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