Welcome to another issue of Technolite

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Site News:

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Large site updates occuring over the next few months. More free software to be added- they are on the way, just sorting through some dire ones though ;)

See how a 13 year old from the UK is making and marketing their own techno songs using my ultra radical techniques here.

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EQ:

I was asked by one of my subscribers (through the "I would Like" form at the bottom of this page) about Mastering and EQ. Well the subject in itself seems to be a well guarded secret from professional musicians.

But it is not something to be worried about, as the basic concept is actually quite simple to get to grips with.

What we must first think is that EQ is roughly about adding and taking away of frequencies. If I have a kick and want to give it more oommph, I add a bass boost to it. That is what EQ is. So what do most people do:

Apply EQ to everything, to all channels, to all sounds and to the whole songs...and what does it sound like...pure aweful.

The actual ADDING of EQ is where the professionalism comes from. You must also realise that you first must have the frequencies to start out with. If you haven't got a kick that goes "that low" then you can apply every EQ device under the sun, but still not get anywhere.

EQ therefore is the taking away and adding to of present frequencies.

There are plenty of EQ VSTs out there at the present time, and when you do add or take away you must think first "what do you want from a sound?"

Just say if I had a beat and a synth combo, like the one just added to the site, and I didn't apply any EQ, then you will find that both sounds will be fighting for space within the track- this is a bad thing. I want the kick to be deep, and I want the synth to be sparkly but still have a bass to it. With EQ that is possible.

For the kick, you will increase the lower frequencies (63Hz range) but decrease the higher frequency range (2Khz).

For the synth you would do the opposite, this then keeps the main part of the track away from each other, and not competing for the same frequency space, making your track sound like mush.

I have gone into more depth, with diagrams, downloads, frequency ranges of instruments etc in my EQ Masterclass which can be found as part of the Beginners Bible, here.

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Create Top Sysnth Sounds:

To coincide with the release of the newly created Make A Synth Line Tutorial below is 5 Easy Ways To Get Super Synth Sounds.

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Either hardware or software, the synth has many different disguises, but it is still the same synth, whether you have bought something or got it freeware. However, which ever synth you have, it should be working for you at its peak potential, Now unfortunately it can not tell you directly how to make itself the grand daddy synth, so it is up to us to get Super Synth Sounds, and using these 5 top tips, we can:

Super Synth Sounds #1.

Do you really know your synth? Now I know a vast amount of songs that use the lovely preset sounds that come with the machine. Good, fair and well, however what if everyone used them? Your songs will start to appear samey...remember the TB303 squealchy overload in most dance tracks in the 90s? So once we have worked through the presets, could we actually make them better? This is something that we should do from day one...how to make something better. All synths come with some sort of manipulation techniques and even if they are really old, come with some sort of on-board effects. The best musicians and the musicians that have some vastly strange, but cool sounds, manipulate their sounds. Vince Clarke of Depeche Mode and Erasure fame even made his own sounds from scratch, always having one-offs. Mash up your presets, mangle them, see what you find and you will notice some really cool sounds coming from your ordinary synth.

Super Synth Sounds #2.

Do you really know how to use you effects section? The basic effects like reverb, phaser, chorus and Overdrive should be routinely added to synth sounds or at least experimented with. Try doubling up on effects, say overdrive with chorus, reverb and phaser. And while on the subject, the bass and lead sounds always get the effects, but why can't we add them to strings, or pianos etc? These will create a new styled version of a classic sound. Filtering on the other hand is always applied to the bass line or strings. Why not use it on vocals, loops or anything that is different to the norm. You will find new sounds and cool ones if you go against the grain and use effects differently. if your synth hasn't got any good effects, get a separate plug-in to compensate.

Super Synth Sounds #3.

Do you find that some synth patches are, quite feable? So how do we make them a bit more buff, stronger and worthy to be in one of our tracks? If you add more voices to the patch you will get that fuller sound. If your synth has loads of oscillators you can turn them on one by one and then check to see how that sound is effected. The more you detune these extra oscillators, the more apparent they will be. A sub-oscillator is made by turning a regular oscillator down an octave or two.

Super Synth Sounds #4.

If you have done any sampling of sounds you will notice that they are sometimes dirty. This means that they have other sounds in the background, and you can actually clean them up. To clean them up a little bit better you can apply a low-pass filter. This filter will knock out any high frequency sounds, hopefully leaving you with your low-end sound.

Super Synth Sounds #5.

Any synth and bass sound will sound their best using monitor speakers. Using your laptop or desktop speakers is setting you up for a fall. They will never, ever be able to pick up all the frequency range that you need to make any track or make that perfect synth sound. If you can not afford monitors a pair of decent headphones will work in the short to mid term. What they can also do is allow you to concentrate on an area of you work to see if it is sitting right. They can be used to see how an effect has been applied to a sound. But never trust your desktop speakers.

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