Creative Synthesis

Creating original sounds that are exclusive to you means going beyond your synth’s bank of presets. Mark Cousins shows you how to achieve sonic individuality.

It’s a situation we’ve all been in at some point: wading through hundreds (if not thousands) of presets, desperately trying to find a sound that delivers inspiration or that elusive keyboard hook to complete a song. Part of the problem is that in today’s virtual recording environment we’re presented with too much choice: from the huge range of plug-ins themselves to the seemingly endless list of synth basses, pads and so on that accompanies them. Similarly, the ever-increasing complexity of these software instruments presents another hurdle to those recording in the virtual studio, meaning that many of us rely solely on presets for much of our work.

This feature first appeared in Music Tech Magazine issue 49
Filed under General Features

/mtm/features/creative-synthesis

New users, please register here

Please enter your details below to set up your new account. Fields marked with a red asterisk * are required.

Your name
*First name:
*Last name:
Job title:
Company:

Account settings
*Email address:
	Please make sure your email address is correct, as we will send you an email with a link to activate your account.
*Username:
	Choose a username between 7 and 100 characters in length, without spaces or unusual characters. You may use your email address as your username, but note that it may appear in community areas of the site where others can see it.
*Password:
*Confirm password:
	Choose a password between 7 and 100 characters in length, without spaces.
	Remember me on this computer

Your address and contact info
Address 1:

Town or city:
County or state:
Postcode or ZIP:
Country:
Telephone:
Fax:
Website:

	By registering to use the Music Tech website you agree to allow us to contact you with our Music Tech email newsletters featuring news, competitions, exclusive content and special offers, as well as with communications from our carefully selected music technology retail and manufacturer partners. If you provide phone and post details we may contact you by those means as well with special offers relating specifically to Music Tech Magazine and our other publications. WE WILL NOT PASS YOUR DETAILS TO ANY THIRD PARTY. If at any time you wish to stop receiving our email newsletter, simply follow the Unsubscribe instruction on our newsletter. Contact us by email of post if you wish your post or phone details to be removed from our database.

MTM 102	Interview Guy Massey With ten years at Abbey Road Studios and MPG Recording Engineer of the Year 2011 under his belt, Guy Massey has an enviable career. MTM learns more...	MTM 101	New vs Vintage Preamps Sound engineers can get obsessive about classic mics, so it’s no surprise they can get pretty geeky about classic mic preamps, too. But what is it that made those early designs so enduring? Huw Price has previous...
MTM 95	Interview: Paul Epworth This award-winning producer has helped everyone from Kate Nash to Florence & The Machine achieve radio and chart success.	MTM 95	Mobile Recording & Using Found Sounds Mobile recording is now more accessible than ever and it’s a great way to enhance your tracks – you can even create entire productions based on found sounds. Hollin Jones gets on the move.
MTM 95	Pocket Production From smartphones to hand-held games consoles, there are lots of ways to make music while on the move. Liam O’Mullane takes a look at the current options.	MTM 97	25 Tips for Compression Compression is a vital part of everyday music-making and production – and recently the subject of much intense debate as the Loudness Wars continue to rage... So how and when is it best to deploy it? Hollin Jones gives you the lowdown.
MTM 99	Perfect Pitch Correction Working with pitch is an essential part of modern music production, whether you’re making subtle tweaks or going for the full robot effect. Hollin Jones hits the right notes.	MTM 96	Acoustics & Technique for a Better Studio We’ve recently covered the acoustic issues that concern control room monitoring, but are things any different for recording rooms? Huw Price investigates live and dead rooms, the creative use of room acoustics and old-school tricks with gobos...

Sign in to download this article

New users, please register here

See also...

Menu