Pads and Leads

L

laela

New member
Hi, I'm new to FP and I couldn't find this question on the site so I'm just going to go ahead and ask if anyone can explain to a noob like myself what is a pad and a lead??
From listening to youtube vids leads seem to be the loud main melody parts of a song whereas pads seem softer and on a lower frequency range,,,am i far off??
 
No you're not.

Leads play melodies, and are the main instrument on a song (if the song has no vocals), or play a secondary role to the vocals. Keep in mind that this isn't a rule of thumb, as the lead role on a song depends on what genre the song is (on drum and bass, for example, the bass and drums are the leading instruments).

The pads are normally used as a ambiance, to give another supporting ground to the other instruments, and are directly related to the mood of the song.
 
As stated above.
Also, leads are typically played with only 1 note at a time (maybe a 2nd note to enhance the performance sometimes, but mainly 1 note), while pads are mostly made out of chords.
 
steffeeh said:
As stated above.
Also, leads are typically played with only 1 note at a time (maybe a 2nd note to enhance the performance sometimes, but mainly 1 note), while pads are mostly made out of chords.
Click to expand...
You can clearly listen to a "two note lead" on almost every hardstyle track. In fact, there are mostly three notes: two of them on different octaves, normally the first note on the upper octave, and on beat, and the second note on a octave below, and offbeat. They are used as basslines to give support to a third note (or notes) being played an octave up of the first note I said, which is properly doing the lead.
 
to extend the answer slightly a pad is a sound type that is usually used with a musical line that is based on outlining the chord movement.

It may use all of the chord tones or just an outline of the chord usually the root and 5th and octave, sometimes just the root and octave.

It may even construct a much longer counter-melodic line using different chord tones as the progression moves on, e.g. the chord progression is I-V-IV-ii-V-I in C major (C-G-F-Dm-G-C) the line could be played in octaves as

C-B-A-A-G-G

or

E-D-C-D-B-C

or

G-G-F-F-D-E

or any one of another 3[sup]6[/sup] (729) possibilities (some will be more likely than others)

note that these three lines together contain all of the notes of each chord at each step if lined up together

Chord progressionCGFDmGC
Chordal padC
E
G		B
D
G		A
C
F		A
D
F		G
B
D		G
C
E
Octaves OnlyC'
C		G'
G		F'
F		D'
D		G'
G		C'
C
Octaves and 5thC'
G
C		G'
D
G		F'
C
F		D'
A
D		G'
D
G		C'
G
C
Melodic pad 1C'
C		B'
B		A'
A		A'
A		G'
G		G'
G
Melodic pad 2E'
E		D'
D		C'
C		D'
D		B'
B		C'
C
Melodic pad 3G'
G		G'
G		F'
F		F'
F		D'
D		E'
E
 
bandcoach said:
to extend the answer slightly a pad is a sound type that is usually used with a musical line that is based on outlining the chord movement.

It may use all of the chord tones or just an outline of the chord usually the root and 5th and octave, sometimes just the root and octave.

It may even construct a much longer counter-melodic line using different chord tones as the progression moves on, e.g. the chord progression is I-V-IV-ii-V-I in C major (C-G-F-Dm-G-C) the line could be played in octaves as

C-B-A-A-G-G

or

E-D-C-D-B-C

or

G-G-F-F-D-E

or any one of another 3[SUP]6[/SUP] (729) possibilities (some will be more likely than others)

note that these three lines together contain all of the notes of each chord at each step if lined up together

Chord progressionCGFDmGC
Chordal padC
E
G		B
D
G		A
C
F		A
D
F		G
B
D		G
C
E
Octaves OnlyC'
C		G'
G		F'
F		D'
D		G'
G		C'
C
Octaves and 5thC'
G
C		G'
D
G		F'
C
F		D'
A
D		G'
D
G		C'
G
C
Melodic pad 1C'
C		B'
B		A'
A		A'
A		G'
G		G'
G
Melodic pad 2E'
E		D'
D		C'
C		D'
D		B'
B		C'
C
Melodic pad 3G'
G		G'
G		F'
F		F'
F		D'
D		E'
E
Click to expand...

Wish I could hear what I'm seeing. How can I better understand this answer, or will I need to come back it in a few more years?
 
Last edited:
just to see if i understand this clearly; A pad is a sound that can be formed using: 1. Chordal tones of a chord progression 2. Using just the root, fifth and octave or sometimes only two of these values. 3. As a melodic pad using different notes taken from the chord progression.
 
I don't think a pad necessarily needs to even be a chord. It is what the name implies - padding to fill out otherwise empty space, if needed. It very often is chords or something akin to that, which is where bc's guidelines apply.
 
A pad is like a big explosion or a big into booming sound. rumbling and big layered sounds that sound huge that goe on for probably im gussing 10 seconds kinda stuff.

A lead would be like something you hear in a melody or quick burts would be a stab or key if its quick and like a key to a piano or keyboard.

On a sidenote. Highs talk about the upper spectrym you hear like cymblas and bright high sounds in the air. While mids are in the middle hence the name. Lows are low and booming.

While technically possibly you use any sound on any key. Certain sounds sound better where they are for their predom inant use. Such as a lead in the middle. OR a bassline in lows. OR a hi hat or cymbal in the upper mids and highs.

Anthony Richard.
 
MadAnthony81 said:
A pad is like a big explosion or a big into booming sound. rumbling and big layered sounds that sound huge that goe on for probably im gussing 10 seconds kinda stuff.
Click to expand...

...or they can be very subtle, thin and quiet. As said, padding. It doesn't nearly always need to be "big".
 
MadAnthony81 said:
While technically possibly you use any sound on any key. Certain sounds sound better where they are for their predom inant use. Such as a lead in the middle. OR a bassline in lows. OR a hi hat or cymbal in the upper mids and highs.

Anthony Richard.
Click to expand...

I'm not an expert when it comes to sound design, but I believe your post is a bit innacurate: leads don't need to be "middle", and cymbals sounds don't are always used on the higher frequency spectrum. All comes to experimentation.
 
I concur.

BTW. I was just trying to give a general idea of what this stuff was. My impression was that the asker doesn't know much. KNows little to nothing. Which is OK . But hey I didn't used to know this stuff either which is where wonderful help comes from in Future Producers. Thanks for all the good answers Future's.
 
Ddream said:
I'm not an expert when it comes to sound design, but I believe your post is a bit innacurate: leads don't need to be "middle", and cymbals sounds don't are always used on the higher frequency spectrum. All comes to experimentation.
Click to expand...
Not inaccurate at all, bass is bass for a reason. You delegate voices to their own sonic territory so they are easier to distinguish and don't clash with one another.
 
Thanks for all the great answer guys!!And yea my knowledge is next to nothing at the minute so I'm so grateful for all your answers.
 
Pumpthrust said:
Ddream said:
I'm not an expert when it comes to sound design, but I believe your post is a bit innacurate: leads don't need to be "middle", and cymbals sounds don't are always used on the higher frequency spectrum. All comes to experimentation.
Click to expand...
Not inaccurate at all, bass is bass for a reason. You delegate voices to their own sonic territory so they are easier to distinguish and don't clash with one another.
Click to expand...

I actually think that madanthony's statements were off-the-mark because he was trying to twist several metaphors into a larger convolution that was more of a tautology than anything else

DDreams criticisms stem from this I think, not the denying of using different sound types for different roles/functions within a piece.
 
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