A Beginner's Guide to Synths
Over the past couple of weeks it feels Hans Zimmer has been everywhere promoting his latest film Dune: Part 2. It is interesting to see how much of a household name he has become, especially in the UK. Even my in-laws have heard of him!!!
Along with the first Dune movie, Zimmer set about creating a new sound world, in which synths played a vital role, along with a team of solo instrumentalists.
Synths are not usually a large part of my own composing palette, but I have been inspired so much by listening to the soundtrack, that I am going to take a deep dive myself in the coming weeks.
So for this week's newsletter, I thought I would explore some very basic concepts when it comes to writing for Synths, for anyone who hasn't used them much in the past.
I will also give you some examples of some stand out patches from my favourite free soft synths, which you can download straight away and start exploring for yourself.
Synth Basics
Synths (or synthesisers) allow you to create pretty much any sound that you can imagine. They can help give your music a more contemporary tone and can even help you to achieve sounds which are not possible on acoustic instruments.
Synths (both in the hardware and software form) often contain a huge array of different parameters to shape the sound in unlimited ways.
For beginners, the sheer number of different parameters can be really quite intimidating.
My first piece of advice would be to limit yourself to just learning one, going as in depth as you can, before exploring others.
Within the composing world, composers will generally fall into two categories, when it comes to using synths. Those who program their own sounds from scratch, and then those that use presets (with possibly some tweaking to get closer to their desired sound).
I am definitely in the second camp at the moment, but I aspire to be able to create my own patches from scratch in the future!
As a first, Vital is an amazing free software synthesiser which I would thoroughly recommend for anyone to use. A link to download it is here.
I actually have a YouTube video on Writing for Free Synths (using presets), which you may find useful.
I've concentrated on the following main types of synth sounds in the video:
Basic Synth Sounds
Synth Bass
Synth Bass sounds are often used to help give a piece a helping hand when it comes to adding extra oomph in the low end. They can be great at giving your music more depth due to the added low frequencies as well as helping to give an extra rhythmic layer to your music.
Useful Patch - 'Jupiter Bass' from Vital
Pads are typically long, held or sustained sounds, often imitating the sound of a string section, but adding a modern twist to the sound.
Pad sounds can be great at complementing and even enhancing a string section, providing extra warmth and sonic interest, especially when played underneath in the background of a mix.
Favourite Patch - 'Strings Section' from Vital or HS Atlantic Swell from Zebralette
Synth Textures
Like pads, texture based sounds are also typically long sustained sounds, but often have more sonic variety and detail than pad sounds. The sound typically evolves over a period of time once a key is pressed and can usually help to thicken the sound of your music.
Textured based sounds often have additional elements which are morphed into the sound, such as recordings of every day objects which are then stretched out to produce sonically interesting colours.
Favourite Patch 'A Night in Kalyan' - Vital
Synth Percussion
Synth or electronic percussion sounds can be a great way to add extra detail or sonic interest to a track. Common elements include low pitched booms, or high pitched ticking sounds, which can both be combined into a loop.
These elements can be useful for when you need to add extra energy and can also help to propel your music forward as well.
Useful Patch - 'Easy Mallet' from Vital
🎶 My all time most recommended Soft Synth
My all time favourite soft synth is Zebra by U-He.
A firm favourite among countless film composers, it is often considered to be THE cinematic synth.
It's currently available for $99 (as Zebra Legacy) - an absolute steal considering its unlimited potential.
This piece of software has played a huge part in sculpting the soundtracks for films such as Inception, the Dark Knight Rises, Dune Part 1 and 2.
🎶 My Favourite Synth Presets
As previously mentioned, I am definitely a 'preset' composer!
When I feel like exploring new sounds, I will often purchase preset bundles from 'The Unfinished'.
The sound designer Matt Bowlder has created sounds that are used frequently on Hollywood Movies, working for composers such as Zimmer, Lorne Balfe and Jason Graves.
Each preset collection is around £25.00 and he designs sounds for a whole variety of software Synths! Highly recommended!
