Hi I was wondering if anyone can give me some solutions to creating a SOUL SONG
How would i set out the layering ?
what are the most used instruments ?
any advice will be helpful


or any good video tutorials ? (most seem to be on trance music)
Cheers

 

This should be a tutorial. Lou Rawls performing a Gamble and Huff tune.

 

I can help you, but explain more what you mean by soul? Do you mean Neo soul, like D'angelo, Musiq Soulchild, and Jill scott? Or do you mean old school soul: like Marvin Gay, Al Green, and Bobby Womack? Or do you mean more like 90's R&B/hiphop soul like Jodeci and Boyz II Men?

 

Just get you some quality acoustic instruments (kontakt), B3 organs, electric pianos, stages, wurlis, etc, and intimate pianos are probably the best route to go. Depending on what you're doing, a good string and horn library might be imperative as well.

 

As far as percussion and drum goes, live sounds are more essential than electronic drums. As far as that genre goes.

 

LOU RAWLS could sing great, classic, nice voice,

yes all of the above NEO SOUL and old school
two examples

And

I dont want put hundreds of vst`s and plugin on my computer
Just the essential (so advice on this is helpful thanks)

Thanks to all who replied

 

No reply ?

 

The tools are not that important - cadence, patterns, and most importantly rhythms.

Helps to know if you can actually read music and play an instrument it would hep a ton. Kind of helps to know you level of proficiency when trying to direct certain things.

 

Rnb and Soul is about the emotion and the way you are able to express what you like through the instrument you play. Sure this is true for all music, but with this style, the way you play the instrument, be it the guitar or keys or whatever else you choose, is imperative to the sound. Like others have said, can you play an instrument? It's tricky to advise based on your question as we don't know your proficiency level.

It's not just about the sounds you have, but how you use them.

For vstis though, you can never go wrong with the libraries from GospelMusicians. their PureSynth and Neo-Soul Keys are truly out of this world.

But if you simply have kontakt and a good Piano library and know exactly what you want to achieve, the world is your oister.

 

Don't forget funky guitar. It most times IS the rhythm that drives the song.

 

A good sine wave pad or lead wouldn't go amiss either.. It's honestly mostly about the songwriting in this genre with basic production techniques behind it.

 

Has anyone Come across any good tutorials youtube or otherwise ?

 

It's the song key and chords that make the sound. Watch ProduceRnB videos, listen and watch the song keys and chords they use.
In Soul, RnB, Gospel and (real) House music the Keys sets the sound, then the Bass, Rythmn and Chords carry the song.....IMHO

 

Last edited: Feb 19, 2018