> Step by step
1. Pad recipes: what makes a good atmospheric backing sound?
1 Pads always use long, sustained notes. That’s very easy to set up using MIDI, but you also need a sound that lasts long enough. No point in using a pluck sound for a pad, right? For some advanced envelope controls, check out our walkthrough on p69.
2 Reverb is the next essential element for creating a decent pad. Use far heavier settings than you usually would, to ‘smear’ the sound and make any changes in tone smoother and longerlasting. We’re talking higher mix levels, longer decay times and less damping than you’d use when adding space to things like drums or vocals.
3 If you’re hungry for more, try rustling up a reverb sandwich: take two reverbs with relatively subtle settings, then add effects between them in the chain. The sound will smear upon hitting the first reverb, then this ambiencecoated signal will be ‘re-smeared’ and smoothed out again by the second reverb.
4 Sure, it’s entirely possible to use single notes to create pads, but you get much more interesting tonal interaction when you add a few more into the cocktail. Over the following pages, we’ll be discussing using both oscillator tuning and extra MIDI notes to make lovely chordal pads, and exactly which notes will provide your pad sound with what effect.
5 When it comes to chords, basic threenote triads are usually the first stop. While these can work just fine, we’ll be encouraging you to spread your notes about a bit later in this article. This will give your pad chordal density and complexity – as long as the notes works well with your track, of course.
6 Using a frequency analyser isn’t essential, but if you want your pad to fit into the mix from the start, it’s worth identifying where the rest of your project’s signals are lacking in the frequency spectrum, in order to pinpoint where the pad could fit. As pad sounds are pretty static, you can help it find its niche and program accordingly.
7 When synthesising pads, LFO timings are worth thinking about. Specifically, unhooking your LFO’s Rate from your host’s tempo will help it stand out. This will make the sound far less obviously rhythmic, so it doesn’t sync up with other instruments’ timings and thus becomes less predictable.
8 You should never – repeat, never – be afraid to layer interesting sounds together in the pursuit of a more interesting pad. This is where that handheld or phone microphone comes in especially handy, letting you layer long, non-repetitive ambient or environmental noise into your sound.
9 If you’ve got a complex or evolving pad sound, standard mixing tools may not be effective. Try using dynamic EQ or multiband compression to bring down levels where it counts – ie, when certain frequencies or frequency bands get too rowdy. This lets the sound evolve and stops it getting out of hand, without just curtailing it wholesale.