Sound design

[conorvincent]

i have reached the stage where i feel i can create great tracks and good melodies but i suck at sound design. i am trying to produce progressive house and at the moment getting a lot of inspiration from dubvision, avicii's old stuff and matisse and sadko. could anyone help me or give advice for sound design in general or specific to this style of music?? thanks in advance!!

 

[bschaefer]

Try the A/B comparison technique. Pick up a track from an artist that you like and try to just copy it. For instance, pick up a stab synth that you like from a track that you are inspired by, and try to reproduce it. Try to get as close as you can from it. I think that it's the best advice, since there is no recipe on music production.

 

[mrotsdnaS - eduraD]

There are loads of resources on the internet to help you with sound design. Sound on sound, for one, really got me on my feet in regards to sound design and synthesis technique. In general though, any beginner's ability in sound design is limited by aural perception. Learn a few things about synthesis, then spend some time every day sitting down, listening to your favorite tracks, and writing down every little detail of the sounds you hear - be it the waveforms you hear, modulation, frequencies etc. it will help a lot.

 

[steffeeh]

One thing I notice is that you want to sound like this or that artist and so on, and you wonder why you can't manage sounding like them - well because you're not them.
Take a step back, experiment with sound design your own way and find your own sweet sounds that will make your own signature in your tracks. Be you.

Then you have a whole world of tutorials and techniques available by a Google or YouTube search. Be open minded and try stuff out, even stuff you think you won't use in the end - who knows, maybe you have loads of fun experimenting with them anyway.

I for example produce some kind if Electro/House that I'm too lazy the even care to specify more - but boy, do I have fun making reese basses and ambient pads!

Anyway, to actually answer your question - for these House styles you use fairly simple synth sounds; plucks with different timbres, supersaw leads, basic bass synths, and so on. Just go to YouTube and search for "Avicii plucks" or something. You'll find endless lists of videos to choose from.
But one thing that has to be said, is that no matter how simple a sound may be, there can still be loads of time finetweaking it so it sounds awesome. Just because the technique is simple doesn't mean you can make it fast So if you struggle with sounddesign - maybe you don't give the patches enough time?