Making beats from presets?

tgod

legend
Hey-- First post here
I am not new to music production, I have been messing around casually for the last few years. I have started to take it more seriously though and am trying to pursue it.

I have a question. I use logic pro x as my DAW, and am able to make a pretty decent trap beat relatively easily using the presets in the built in synths like alchemy. Heres the thing though. If I want to be serious I want my beats to be unique and not easily copy-able. Do many big producers actually use the "preset sounds" on synths? Or are they sampling/creating their own sound then putting it into a synth? I just feel like even If I can make a banger instrumental off a preset such as "Dark synth" or somthing, it's still not that good or unique because it's not really my sound i'm just arranging it into a pattern... make sense? For example, anyone who owned that software could now go in and make that beat because I didn't edit or create the sound, just used the preset. So basically I am asking if good producers actually use standard un-edited presets in DAWs for their sounds, are they just editing the presets, or are they creating their own and putting it into the synth? I hope this makes sense.
Any opinions appreciated

<3
 
Ya, bro a little bit of it all. I usually start somewhere with presets though and edit them into a more unique and slightly different sound, with plug-in effects added, etc.
You can start from scratch using synthesis like some people, but a pre-set can't hurt as long as you keep working on the sound (don't just click the pre-set and use it dry).

Those are my thoughts on it...
 
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Guitar players play guitar. They use effects, and search for new sounds, but they do not fundamentally create/recreate the instrument each time they want to play something. They play guitar. Drummers play drums. Harpists play harps. Many keyboardists only play piano, or organ, or electric piano. Etc., etc., etc.

There is no shame in using presets or stock sounds. It is basically what composers, arrangers, and orchestrators have been doing since instruments were invented and categorized in some way-- putting them together in different ways to make new group sounds and creations. It's cool and very admirable to create new and unique synth sounds, but many (usually newbie/inexperienced/uninformed) creators, usually synthesists, insist that you can only do good work by starting from scratch every time. This is not how pros or experienced people generally work, and it ignores other important factors in music creation, such as use of the basics (harmony, melody, rhythm), good orchestration and arrangement (how the instruments are used together, what they play, and in what style or genre), good song structure, repetition vs. contrast, and so on.

Create synth sounds from scratch if you want to. Use presets if you want to. There are no merit badges, ranks, or medals for working either way, and no guarantee of success because "I never use presets." Just make good music.

GJ
 
@tgod all that matters is if you communicate your emotion(s) with sound. Listeners don't care if you use presets, real instrums, virtual instrums, etc. as all the minutiae matters to other musicians so don't get caught in the circle jerk.
 
Just Master 1 synth to the point of complete control of all parameters. After that the synth becomes an extension of your mind.
 
Nothing wrong with using presets, but I would use them as a starting point and tweak to fit your idea/track. I wouldn’t use them as a crutch though, you should try learning sound design from scratch as well so it’ll help you tweak the presets however you want and not just flick knobs randomly.
 
You can make presets sound really unique with a few effects layered on top - phasers, chorus, flangers, reverb, distortion, saturation and so on. There are TONS of big tracks with really obvious presets, nonetheless. The listeners don't care! And nobody will copy your tracks, unless you get really really huge - and even if they do, they will never be you.
 
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