PERFECT PADS
Master the art of creating gorgeous, textural chords
Pads are a staple of music production, and everybody knows how to make them, right? So what could we possibly teach you about crafting a kick-ass pad? Well, the thing about pads is: anything goes. So, if yours are getting stale and boring, we’re about to open up a trove of cool ideas and inspirational techniques to make sure your next one is 100% original.
The basic essence of the ‘pad’ sound has been a feature of music for hundreds of years – ensembles of string players were creating calm and evolving atmospheres since long before electricity, and many factory preset pads show classical leanings today. But this isn’t the place for a treatise on classical music – pads really became interesting with the invention of synths.
Jean Michel Jarre’s Oxygene (1976) may well be the perfect example of the modern electronic pad’s genesis. The philosophy was spacey, futuristic, evolving layers of swooshing synth soundscapes that fizzed and hummed across the entire range of frequencies. These techniques and sounds weren’t just intended for isolation, though, as musicians looking to fill out sparse or uninteresting mixes chose to add similar layers in order to ‘pad it out’. From then to now, that ‘pad’ became a staple of music production.
Pad properties
So what are the fundamental ingredients that make a pad what it is? The sound should be sustained, whether a single note is held or multiple notes are smoothed over with processing. The sound should be as full-frequency as possible – at least while you’re crafting it – so source sounds or synth waves with plenty of harmonic content tend to fare better – sawtooth and square waves are the traditional ideal candidates.
The onset of the pad should be slow and smooth rather than transient and immediate. A long attack time dialled into the amplitude envelope or a crossfade placed on an audio file are obvious ways to do this; but getting more creative could see solutions such as volume automation or interesting envelope follower set-ups. The release stage of your pad is most likely going to be slower, too – see Pushing The Envelopes for an in-depth technique for setting it up in any synth.
Consider an orchestral-style ‘swell’ effect by dialling in some delayed-onset effects or simple modulation using a mod envelope with a delay stage. Pads are also usually wide, stereo elements, so don’t be afraid to crank up the width by increasing unison voices and spread parameters in your instrument of choice, and delving deeper into the stereo field with stereo processing.
Pad effects
Your synthesized or sampled pad would be nowhere without a huge chain of creative effects processors. Lend some real character and uniqueness to your pad sound by delving into whatever you’ve got on hand.
The most ubiquitous effects processor applied to pads is, quite logically, reverb. By smearing every stage of a pad, reverb (and delay processors, too) adds smoothness, diffusion and a sense of space to the outcome. Setting a large delay time in a reverb patch, and making the processing more dry than wet, is a good way to start if you’re looking for a guideline. But if throwing those switches the other way makes more sense for the sound you want to achieve, go with what sounds best.
The next most important effects to consider are modulation processors. Chorus, phasers and flangers could be classed as a different ilk of delay effect, since they create their sound by imposing a short delay and modulating the timing of that delay. Their delaying, signal smearing antics and evolving sonic qualities make them great for creating an interesting pad sound; plus, these processors often add an element of stereo width that can be just what’s needed. Put your preferred chorus or phaser effect near the top of the pile for pad creation.
Also not to be missed are distortion and unison processors – unison effects will create a chorus-style stereo spread, and are a good alternative to modulation effects if your sound source doesn’t have its own voice-spreading functions. Distortion can add crispiness to the high-end, getting that extra sparkle and fizz from the all-important top of your pad sound.
When EQing your shiny new pad, consider the dominant frequency areas where it makes its impression – often, these can be found in a relatively low ‘vocal’ area around 500Hz for its warmth, and further up the spectrum where it ‘shines’ above the other instruments – but as with anything, it’s up to the state of your mix and your taste to dictate the finer points to tweak.
Lend some real character to your pad by delving into your effects processors