Pads, Ear Training & Psychoacoustics...???

C

Chew_Bear

New member
Most of the time...My ears can easily identify instruments and sounds that make up a lot of songs that I listen to.

BUT...The one component/sound that I have the 'hardest' time picking up on to try and critically listen to is...PADS.

Some songs are easy and I can definitely tell when there is a definitive pad.

But most of the time...Pads seem like this 'elusive' sound/instrument that my ears have a hard time picking up on or that I have a hard time distinguishing from the other instruments and sounds in the song.

So...

1. Could it be that the song does not have a pad at all and therefore I am simply looking for something that isn't even there at all...???

2. Do ALL songs in most genres of modern western music use a pad...???

In other words...Are pads something you should always include in your songs or is it simply a matter of choice/preference...???

3. Does/Can psychoacoustics play a role in this too...???

In other words...Is there such a theory that says...

A song can actually create its own 'ambience' (or Pad in the song itself)...even though there is no pad instrument, sound or track at all to begin with...???

Therefore...

Is it plausible that its just a matter of the instruments/sounds, technical methods/techniques, technical sound design and music theory/arrangement...(all combining together cohesively)...that is actually causing the song to create its own 'ambience'...

Hence...The ear picks it up as a ambience and than tells the brain that there is a pad there...(psychoacoustics)...when there really is not.

Seems like my brain/ear gets lost in the mix and therefore I don't even know if what I am listening to is even a pad at all or its just the combination of really long reverb tails of multiple instruments/sounds in the mix.
 
Anything having to do with the composition or sound design is purely preference based.
Doing anything in a genre is preference based.

Sounds like you're just hearing the entire track and overthinking it.
And pads are just droning sounds that can also be anything for real :/
 
As said before, the original definition of a "pad" comes the word "padding" - it's there to fill empty space. Obviously if the song is "full enough" or the space needs not be filled, you don't necessarily need a pad either. So no, there are no rules that the instrumentation of a song should include a pad. Or anything else, for that matter...but yeah, a lot of the "ambience" can come from other things than specifically have a pad to do that. I don't think it's a pad's role to solely "do ambience" - it can add to ambience, but of course all the instruments and vocals and reverbs and delays and such contribute to the ambience. So it's not a black & white thing.
 
Sometimes the pad is relatively loud and obvious. Sometimes it is subtle. Sometimes it is so quiet, you can't hear it in the mix, but it still adds something. Sometimes there isn't a pad, but the specific arrangement makes it sound like there is.

Sometimes a pad is a synth pad. Sometimes it can come in the form of a different instrument. Organ is a perfect example. And sometimes it is faked: my new favorite trick is to but a huge reverb on an instrument already present, and it comes out sounding a lot like a pad. This works great on piano, but it could start with just about any sound.

A pad acts like sonic glue. It's meant to be low in the mix: since it is constant, you hear it in the quiet parts of the measure, not the loud parts like drum hits. Some songs need this glue, some songs don't. Try it out in your song to see if it fits or not.
 
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