Harsh, Sharp and Gritty Pad

Northern_Fist

Northern_Fist

New member
Greetings,

I know it's been a while, but I thought I'd stop back to see how good 'ol FP was faring these days. Being in college at the moment makes things a bit difficult at times.

I've been experimenting with a bit of industrial/metal sounds. I don't know the genre well, but I was composing something to create a specific, climactic/dark atmosphere. I have a specific sound that I can hear in my mind flowing in the track, but I can't seem to have alot of luck creating it.

It's a type of pad that I don't often hear, but it's hollow, dark, and very much in the bandpass spectrum. It almost sounds like a thick bunch of strings playing through a broad pipe, and being heard over the telephone.. I've tried pushing squares and saws through a bandpass with noise, and some overdrive. The result was a cheesy sounding pad with some clipping. Most pads I construct are not like this, AND thi style of music is outside of my comfort zone so I could use a few pointers.

Perhaps what I need to look into is a few vox effects. I could be wrong, but I'll be experimenting with this as I await your replies (IF anyone is interested).

Thanks...
 
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maybe a bitcrusher would help create the 'grit'?

Audio editors like SF have a 'telephone' effect that may help...

If the sound is hollow maybe filter out the high+low freqs (but I think you already did this)

Maybe try FM synthesis with string-type algorithm, through a sh***y analogue mixer with FX. I have a cheapo Alto mixer that I love for making pads sound, as you say, gritty..

Probably no help but hey - I tried..
 
On the contrary, you did help. The "bitcrusher" effect I'm on the search for. The "Rock" freeware soft-synth has some bit-crushing like parameters that are similar to lo-fi. Actually, that whole lo-fi sound is probably what I should be tinkering with. I'll be experimenting with some warming compression and lo-fi effects.

The "Telephone" effect is mainly a bandpass mindset. I usually try to EQ for this effect, BUT, there's usually some form of resonnance missing.

I'll continue experimenting with my FM synth. Otherwise, I have a hunch that the Rock synth could help me a great deal in this quest -- experimentation awaits!

Join us next time for "Sound sculpting with Bob Ross."
 
Thanks Krushing! I'll be checking that out.

Well, I want to thank you for the suggestion. I took a string soundfont, and a choir soundfont and layered them. I sent them through the HoseBeast plugin' with controlled bitcrushing and granular synthesis. Then the sound passed through a "Moog Distortion" plugin that had a high resonance filter. I'm a step closer to achieving the certain sound.

However, the sound itself is too low-pitched for what I originally intended. It's taking up too much middle room that I wanted for other purposes. However, it sounds a wee like a robotic/gothic choir. I recorded the pad, and I also added it to the mix to see how it sounded. Check out the full result here:

Mp3 of experiment on silly filesharing site

It's useable for other purposes, but I'm going to keep pluging away to seek better results.
 
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krushing... i would hate to see your vst folder.. i would not know where to start and then kill myself. damn this macintosh!!!
 
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Actually, currently on my main computer I have a grand total of 2 (two) VSTs - Tassman 4 and the Filterscape bundle. :)

And on my work machine I have all the crazy sh*t in the world :D
 
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