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I wanted to shed some light on a technique I've been using for practicing that I feel may benefit a lot of beginners who are trying to work on design sounds.

For reference, here is my latest track, I've been doing remixes of game music with a Dubstep feel to them, I really don't know how to classify what it is I write:

Soundcloud

I see a lot of people who are starting out, diving into a synth, and trying to do all sorts of complicated tasks within the synth itself and then wonder why it comes out sounding like shit. Well, here is a solution. Take your synth of choice, set one oscillator to any sound, I prefer a saw when making many of my bass sounds. Then, stop working in the synth. Put it away and start working with your built in or 3rd party effects. Instead of over complicating the process with 3 or more oscillators all shifted to different sounds in different wave tables (Massive), instead just get one, plain, saw wave. I find, doing it this way, I end up with a far better, and more complex final sound 9/10 times.

Go from your saw wave to EQ, roll off below 100hz to layer with a sub, stack a saturator after that to beef it up a little, add a small amount of phaser and flanger, maybe work with some pitch shifting, distortion, etc. they key is to not over-complicate the initial sound but bring out the complexity and modulated feel with external plugins. One big thing I've found with this technique, is that it's easier for me to judge how the effect is changing the sound, rather than if I started with a complex waveform to begin with straight out of the synth. Complex waveforms can often sound muddy when too many processing effects are used wrong.

So if your just starting out, or even if your not, try this. You may think it won't work, but I've been making some pretty neat bass sounds with using only 1 saw wave out of massive, or any wave for that matter. But you'd never be able to tell. When I find some time, I'll post a sample of it.

Now I'd like to turn the topic to other producers here on Dubstepforum, what are some production techniques you use to make sounds? Are there any interesting workflows that you think the community could benefit from knowing? Post them, I'd like to learn

Hope this helps somebody!

Thanks for the advice. I'm looking forward to seeing some replies to this thread. My drums sound ok but I really need to improve my synthesis techniques.

ill mindset wrote:Thanks for the advice. I'm looking forward to seeing some replies to this thread. My drums sound ok but I really need to improve my synthesis techniques.

Sorry about the late response, I totally forgot I had made this thread! Anyway, I notice you have feed me's logo in your avatar. From listening to his stuff, most of it sounds like simple analog waveforms, like sawtooth waves, that have been processed, among a few other sounds. Just using a simple waveform and processing it outside of your synth can make a world of difference and the majority of my best sounds were made in this fashion. Don't limit yourself to just using the stuff in your synth, as most of the time, it's not nearly as good as some of the 3rd party plugins you might have that can do the same thing, but better.

You will get the best results by getting the sound right at the source, before it goes to processing. Complex wave forms sound good if you know your synth, using basic waveforms will only limit what you can do with the sound.

Sure_Fire wrote:You will get the best results by getting the sound right at the source, before it goes to processing. Complex wave forms sound good if you know your synth, using basic waveforms will only limit what you can do with the sound.

I'm not saying you can't use complex waveforms, but many of the most interesting sounds I've heard and made were simple analog waveforms with a good bit of processing in the chain. It's good to try both, and if you're having difficulty making a good sound with a more complex waveform then just try to keep it simple early in the chain and enhance your sound with effects. Effects can make a world of difference for a sound. So I agree and disagree, it depends on the context. I definitely disagree with being limited by a simple waveform however, a Reese sound has a million variations, but at it's source, it's just a couple of saw waves offset slightly from one another.