Disciple recordings would be nice

I'm not really a newbie with sound design. I know what lfo, envelopes, filters and so on do, but whenever i have something in my head, it's just an endless struggle to actually make something that i want it to sound like. Lately, i'm really into bass house music (habstrakt, Jvst say yes, ghastly,...) and trying to make some, but nothing seems to sound good, or there is something wrong and i just don't know how to fix it. I feel like sound design is one of the few things that really holds me back from actually making music, because i get discouraged whenever some synth won't be good. Does it also go into more complex patches? Cause that's what i'm kind of heading for.

There is no right amount of layers, you just have to make it fit perfectly ofcourse.

This makes me think of a screen of one of madeon's tracks:

drummer here, used to play melodic hardcore punk & ska and later metalcore for a while lol

it has definitely helped me build interesting, complex, and most importantly believable snare/tom rolls in the stuff i produce now. being a drummer in a band made me realise that for instance suddenly switching to triplets in the middle of a song adds to the power; tricks like syncopes and tremolo's, even in dubstep, also add to the effect.

(inb4 "drummers are not musicians")

I'm a drummer too (well i used to be). How did you learn music theory then? Was it just endless reading about it, or ear training and figuring it out yourself?

I sometimes scour liveleaks for samples, but this is also extremely depressing, I don't recommend it. You may find a great sample but you'll also want to go kill yourself

True, if you want to see some fucked up things, Liveleak is the place to go.

Since this is a production forum, and i guess like me, most of us don't just listen to music but also listen to every detail and the sound design, i am wondering what producer really blows your mind production-wise?

For me Culprate is one of them. Every song he makes has so much small elements and weird sound, that i keep wondering how the hell he does it. Same goes for Noisia.

So, what's yours?

Hi there!


There was this AMA on reddit from a student of Icon Collective i read, in which he said Syntorial is a really great vst to learn about synthesis and you will actually be able to make the sounds that you have in mind. Are there any users here that have used Syntorial, and if so, what are your thoughts about it, and did it really help you with your sound design?

for those who don't know what syntorial is: http://www.syntorial.com/

Anyone know how to make the, call it "chord drop" in this edit by Porter Robinson? https://youtu.be/Vo9Bvsb5Pf8?t=55

i do not want to copy his sound, i just want to understand how it's build up. Because it's pretty f'ing cool! (if it's layered, saw+sine, lfo etc.)
Preferably in Sylenth1, but Massive or Harmor would also do just about fine.

Thanks:)

From what i can hear i think it's 3 (or more) layered sounds playing different notes. I can't tell you much about the sound design since i'm not really good at it, but what i can say is that they are all arpeggiated, which you probably already knew