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I use to have no problem making dark sounds when I were making Techno. It was easy actually. Just pitch the right sounds down and ur there. But with Dubstep this does not seem to work as well for me because you need to make space for your bass. Most of the darkness would come from the bottom end stuff. Take that away and it sounds quite poor tbh.

Has anyone got some tips on making dark sounds? maybe some VSTs out there that have some nice pads for making darker sounds?

I have an example of something I call dark below. I think it is just one noise and played as a chord to fill it out but it sounds dark even tho it is now very low.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3rv4V9FjsM

Well generally I'll use a sample that I like, pitch down or stretch the sample out, then add attack and release as necessary.

Absynth and Albino are (imo) nice VST's for pads. ive got some nice sounds out of them before. I use them for making dark sounds aswell as works fine for me. I think you can crab a demo of Absynth of NI's website and i think Rob Pappen (sp?) made Albino of which a demo can be found on the net somewhere.

HAACK wrote:Well generally I'll use a sample that I like, pitch down or stretch the sample out, then add attack and release as necessary.

Yeh I been doing that too with samples. I just hate not having full control to do what I like with the sound tho. Would love to be able to make my own with a synth.

djacroama wrote:Absynth and Albino are (imo) nice VST's for pads. ive got some nice sounds out of them before. I use them for making dark sounds aswell as works fine for me. I think you can crab a demo of Absynth of NI's website and i think Rob Pappen (sp?) made Albino of which a demo can be found on the net somewhere.

Got Albino but only ever used it for bass.

You got any audio examples of anything dark you may have made with it?

serox wrote:

djacroama wrote:Absynth and Albino are (imo) nice VST's for pads. ive got some nice sounds out of them before. I use them for making dark sounds aswell as works fine for me. I think you can crab a demo of Absynth of NI's website and i think Rob Pappen (sp?) made Albino of which a demo can be found on the net somewhere.

Got Albino but only ever used it for bass.

You got any audio examples of anything dark you may have made with it?

not atm, im work

ive got some WIP tracks that was going to finish off in the next few days that contain some dark, pad like sounds made in albino so once ive put them up, ill post think link here.

djacroama wrote: not atm, im work

ive got some WIP tracks that was going to finish off in the next few days that contain some dark, pad like sounds made in albino so once ive put them up, ill post think link here.

Yeh cool. If the work is not finished and you dont mind showing me you I dont mind. Just interested in hearing what you did.

Play minor scales. (More on music theory here ---> http://www.dubstepforum.com/music-theor ... 54823.html )

Arrange your stuff sparsely.

Add lots of reverb.

Low pass filter to achieve a darker sound.

Use ear candy/incidental FX. Make sure that they are twisted, like the sounds of little boys wimpering, scraping metal and psycho beasts growling and breathing heavily...

Pitch shift all vocals down two octaves lower than they are naturally.

If you do all that, even Chuck Norris will run away like a ninny!

And Fuzzpils Oatmeal is a good free synth for generating pads and metalic FX. It has a randomise patch button which generally creates good sounds after a few clicks.

Download it here ---> http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... sc&start=0

futures_untold wrote:And Fuzzpils Oatmeal is a good free synth for generating pads and metalic FX. It has a randomise patch button which generally creates good sounds after a few clicks.

Download it here ---> http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... sc&start=0

Nice one.; I do generally try out the processing you said above but I am not getting what I am after. I will try this synth you suggest and see if i can help.

what do u think of that youtube link, nice sound huh?

Heres what I have been doing - with the vsts I use...

Get your favourite grain sampler, fuck with a sample of say... a sax... (https://co.native-instruments.com/index ... tchid=8370)

Get a good timestretching vst too - fuck with it some more....(https://co.native-instruments.com/index ... tchid=2081)

Then save it as a .wav - load it into your favourite vst with the ability to have sample wave forms, wack it on oscilator 4/5 (http://www.linplug.com/Instruments/Octopus/octopus.htm)

then make a normal pad but splitting them as.. 2 of the octaves pitched a octave higher, 2 octaves pitched down a octave lower, then have the sample octave normal, mess with envlopes and wah-lah as they say.

A nice bit of saturation(I use blockfish for saturation) through a moog filter(http://www.buzzmachines.com/machineinfo.php?id=980) goes down a treat too.

Hope this helps

nice one bro ur a legend. will get on these as soon as I get home.

staggered delays in certain sounds, like a very dull crash cymbal with loads of reverb, imagine a hit with a triplet delay, then 2 bars later a similar hit with a delay on 4ths instead.

miscreant wrote:staggered delays in certain sounds, like a very dull crash cymbal with loads of reverb, imagine a hit with a triplet delay, then 2 bars later a similar hit with a delay on 4ths instead.

I cannot imagine that sounding very dark tbh.

I am more on about pads/leads really. I have trouble getting pitch down sounds fitting with bass for example. Once they are filtered or EQ'd it looses the darkness.

That youtube link to Skreams track is a great example really. A nice dark pad that is not really low.

dissonant chords tend to make things instantly feel moody/eerie

weird atmospheres and stuff can be made quite easily, long smooth pads washed out with reverb and delay, again playing more dissonant or minor chords. tbh its more about the notes and chords you use rather than the sounds.

gravity wrote:dissonant chords tend to make things instantly feel moody/eerie

weird atmospheres and stuff can be made quite easily, long smooth pads washed out with reverb and delay, again playing more dissonant or minor chords. tbh its more about the notes and chords you use rather than the sounds.

I know about rev/del etc.

The chords thing I know little bout tho. Dissonant minor chords means less than zero to me. I will have a read up on it asap.

Out of interest what key/chords are used in the skream link? I think I can hear 3 keys going but it may be different sounds I cannot tell.

dissonance and tension arent just created by using a specific synth patch or effect, they enhance it. playing in minor keys and playing a chord progressing that builds tension are going to be important. augmented and diminished chords can give you this sound. as far as writing disonnant synth sounds i like to automate unison and detune to build tension. for example ill start with a string pad and play the root note for 8 bars and i will increase the unison or detune to make it sound like its going out of key over the 8 bars. pretty simple but effective. but yea, some music theory will help here.

jsills wrote:dissonance and tension arent just created by using a specific synth patch or effect, they enhance it. playing in minor keys and playing a chord progressing that builds tension are going to be important. augmented and diminished chords can give you this sound. as far as writing disonnant synth sounds i like to automate unison and detune to build tension. for example ill start with a string pad and play the root note for 8 bars and i will increase the unison or detune to make it sound like its going out of key over the 8 bars. pretty simple but effective. but yea, some music theory will help here.

dissonance means to play chords that are not consonance, right?

What is unison ?

serox wrote:I use to have no problem making dark sounds when I were making Techno. It was easy actually. Just pitch the right sounds down and ur there. But with Dubstep this does not seem to work as well for me because you need to make space for your bass. Most of the darkness would come from the bottom end stuff. Take that away and it sounds quite poor tbh.

Has anyone got some tips on making dark sounds? maybe some VSTs out there that have some nice pads for making darker sounds?

I have an example of something I call dark below. I think it is just one noise and played as a chord to fill it out but it sounds dark even tho it is now very low.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3rv4V9FjsM

It sounds to me like you should try the same technique you were using in techno, but EQ your sounds so they aren't quite as full (example) cut the lows out of a pad (after you lowpass). This may make the pad sound thin on it's own, but the mix it will fit.

I bet you will have a more original sound applying techno production to dubstep too

contakt321 wrote:
It sounds to me like you should try the same technique you were using in techno, but EQ your sounds so they aren't quite as full (example) cut the lows out of a pad (after you lowpass). This may make the pad sound thin on it's own, but the mix it will fit.

I bet you will have a more original sound applying techno production to dubstep too

Been trying that but it just sounds so thin and weak. I am going to try some of the things ppl have suggested in here and see if I can get something sounding good. I think I am going about things the wrong way. I am getting a nice sound and then trying to filter it. I should set the filters up first and then make the sound cos I am losing the best bit after the filter is applied.