Soundscapes from 4 chords

In its original form, Ambient does not need any beats at all. It is not uncommon to use acoustic instruments such as piano or strings or guitars, which are transformed into atmospheric pads with effects. In our following workshop we will develop a multilayered melodic ambient track in this style from a piano chord sequence. 1 Harmonic base

We start our 85 BPM slow ambient track with a virtual piano. So grab a suitable sample instrument like the Arturia Piano V3 [1] and let‘s go! The eight-bar chord progression Cmin7, Gmin, Fmin7 and Ab9 provides an atmospheric harmonic foundation. Now we want to transform the piano sound into an atmospheric sound. 1

2 Bass

This is easy with a reverb effect like Eventide Blackhole [2]. By picking up the chord tones with other sounds, you can create a layered arrangement in no time. Next, we‘ll create a low-frequency foundation with the chord root tones. The sound textures of Arturia Augmented Strings [1] fit this genre perfectly. 1

4 Electric guitar as pad

The chord notes are plucked one after the other, which in itself doesn‘t sound spectacular, but with the right effect processing can sound very atmospheric. IK AmpliTube [4] provides the desired clean sound, while the Arturia Delay Eternity [1], Blackhole [2] and ValhallaShimmer [3] effects transform the guitar into a surface sound. 1

5 Reverse effects

Based on the guitar chords, we create reverse reverb effects. To do this, we simply record the chords using only AmpliTube as the effect, reverse the recording, and then apply the delay and reverb effects to the chords played backwards. When you finally reverse the resulting recording, you get wonderful reverse sounds. 1

3 Drone note

We decide on the „Arrival“preset. Ambient often features a held note (drone note) that creates interesting (dis)harmonic friction. For this task we use the preset „Burning Desire“from Augmented Strings. Now how about atmospheric guitar sounds? MusicLab RealStrat [3] takes over this function. 1

6 Dramaturgy

These complement the guitar pattern perfectly. Additionally, we added a melody with Arturia Pigments [1] (also with lots of delay and reverb), while Arturia‘s Prophet-5 V [1] contributes a muffled filtered bassline. With just these few musical elements you can build a complete arrangement. Have fun with it!