Synths and Producing - How do you know what sound you want?

[RhythmixAU]

Hey,

This is a simple thread out of interest of other peoples work flow. I use various synths such as Komplete 8, Sylenth and all of Ableton Suite's various sound design instruments. I tend to find myself experimenting all the time without any real direction or objective, to the point where i will start a production with one idea and end up with something completely different, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
I was just wondering... how do you know what sound you want? And with all the crazy synthesis styles and parameters, how do you get there without getting side-tracked?
On top of all this, do you often use presets in your productions, or do you endeavour to avoid this at all costs?

S.

[SlvrDragon50]

I feel like this really up to you. I really like using the Korg M1 for melodies and a Sylenth for trance-like bass and mid lines.

Once I have a melody developed, then you can mess around with the sound. That's what I do anyways.

[botstein]

.
I was just wondering... how do you know what sound you want?

Typically, I can hear the sound I want in my mind before making it, and can patch pretty quickly drawing on lots of experience and practise.

And with all the crazy synthesis styles and parameters, how do you get there without getting side-tracked?

Oh, I get sidetracked. I've missed my train station, forgotten my personal moral values, and pop culture revolutions getting sidetracked and patching. It's probably a matter of discipline.

On top of all this, do you often use presets in your productions...

No, not really.

...or do you endeavour to avoid this at all costs?

Presets aren't intrinsically evil or anything. I use the init patch as a starting point all the time. In Ableton, or the synth itself, I'll often store my own sounds as presets for later use. Some presets are good for reenforcement - Operator comes with a bunch of drum sounds that I'll layer with my samples and edit to mix well.

[BiggChev]

Regarding how I want my tracks to sound:

If I hear something in my head I either pick up my guitar or sit at my piano. Kinda just sketch out the melody/chord progression or whatever. I found this really helpful and started incorporating it into my writing style back when I started with hip-hop production. The beauty is you're focused on the music. NO effects, or million different types of "bass" samples/patches/banks.

Regarding Presets:

I love them! They make my life easy and can quickly get me from the Piano/guitar to a rough outline of what I want to do. HOWEVER, once I've got that melody down to the way I like it, that preset has NO chance of staying the same. I'll tinker with the parameters until there is something unique and interesting and more importantly suited to the track I'm making.

Knowing What Synth Banks/Patches to Use:

At first you wont, but like botstein said, experience and practice helps. You'll start to know what parameters to tweak and what effects to add to achieve that sound you envisioned. Similar to muscle memory, you'll remember which patch is which and often when listening to a song, you may consciously or unconsciously draw a connection between what you're hearing to what "synth" produces that sound. You know a guitar when you hear one, but remember at one point in time you didn't know what it sounded like.

On getting Side-Tracked:

That shit happens it's unavoidable. You can take friggin adderol to avoid it if you wish. OR you can start to train and discipline yourself. Don't have the urge to write a track, having a melodic writing block? Cool, bang out drums patterns/loops for a while. Save them and then go grab a cup of coffee, play a quarter of madden, take a walk whatever. Maybe something will pop into your head that suits at least one of the drums loops you've made. Lay down the NOTES, just the NOTES. No amount of FX, change-ups, NOTHING can make up for poor music. Get the notes down? Cool Once I get there I'll put what I've got so far nice and loud and walk around my house doing whatever it is I need to do. By listening to it, your brain gets going (or at least mine does).

I'm all for having a very productive 15 minutes than and incredibly useless hour.

[calgarc]

I know what sound i want based on the feeling i want to convey. if i want something sad, i would probably use some pianoish sounds, rather then an overly distorted guitar or a dubbed out super saw lol.

[Tarekith]

IMO getting sidetracked is what making good music is about I love those days where I go off on some totally different angle from what I was aiming for and the song ends up better for it.

[calgarc]

IMO getting sidetracked is what making good music is about I love those days where I go off on some totally different angle from what I was aiming for and the song ends up better for it.

wait a second that is not s'posed to go ther.... dear got it sounds so beautiful.

[epikeddie]

One other bit of advice to the OP, BOUNCE out to Audio tracks versus keeping it in MIDI. I've found that this helps move you along the production path rather keeping at it with banks and presets for days on a sound. Just commit and move on.....then if all is not well....come back to it later.

I've found that following that ONE rule helped me produce at a much faster pace than when I first started out.

[Tarekith]

Totally agree, I never use midi either, everything goes right to audio ASAP.

[diezdiazgiant]

Experience develops taste. It takes experience to know what you like.