i know its a bit vague but

How would you sound design a lead that "takes you on a journey" (whatever that means for you)

thanks!

 

I would first let myself be inspired. A couple of videos. I don't think there is a recipe, it should come from within.
It's best to start with a pad. Floating, lots of space and breadth like the sea.
So a little more reverb and less attack and more sustain and release in the ADSR.

Klaus Schulze - Timewind (1975)

Mike Oldfield - Music of the Spheres (2008)

In the Nursery - Stormhorse (1987)

How to Compose Ambient Music (7 Tips + Live Example)

 

Last edited: Nov 14, 2021

Thematic modulation and sonic modulation (automation, layering, omit/add, effects, etc).

 

Long delay and reverb.
Slow modulation of cutoff, resonance, flanger/phaser and sound length.

 

a lead is a melody. a melody must be strong and must hold when played on the piano (or guitar). if is not strong enough for the piano (or guitar), then no form of sound design will work. the "journey", the story, is the melody. the actual sound texture is merely the bells and whistles one may add.
knowing you from your posts, you seem to aggressively skip the basics, so be more mindful of the actual music instead of tools, bells and whistles. perfect basics are 80% of your song (easy to learn, easy to master when you spend quality time on them), anything else is just a 20% (hard to learn, takes 10+ years of experience, hard to master). if you master the "anything else" you're just 20% better.

 

I wrote this and then saw @lxfsn just said the same.

Sculpting a magnificent sound is a wonderful craft. and now you've just got the engine running.

The journey starts when you find the right notes to play.

Is that really going out of fashion? Tragic if true.

 

i agree i get your view, but look at this at 42:44 when he finds a melody..and at 45:33 when he finds the right sound for it

the choice of sound is really important to fit with the track it seems in this case, other sounds were just annoying...even when he raised the sound by 1 octave, it sounded much better again

.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Nov 14, 2021

yeah but you're not avicii (rip). in an interview he said that when he was learning to make music, he was so determined to make a song a day, that he was starting to feel stressed when he was skipping a day from various reasons. I am talking about 500+ of sketches (melody, countermelody, bass, chords) at the point you are watching that video. deadmaus' own sketches vault is 1000+. how many sketches do you have? honestly?

 

i meant that in this case, the choice of sound made the melody much more important than it was (without the correct sound). If he left the sound with the first random choice the melody would be just annoying. Unless it was a piano as you said before....piano fits everything more or less i guess!

 

Your comments there are not incorrect but I still detect some wishful thinking in your comments.

Sorry if I've misread you here but it seems like you still think that 'finding the right sound' is the main deal here - but it just isn't.

Those few minutes you referred to in the video demonstrated Avicii finding the right melody to use and only afterwards looking for a sound. His method for finding a melody looked hopelessly amateurish and chaotic but he absolutely did find what he was looking for - he got his priorities right! Don't let his casual chaos, fumbling around melodically, fool you. That 'find the melody' stage had to take priority - he definitely knew that and he absolutely demonstrated that.

If you let the final few seconds of 'finding the sound' fool you into thinking that was where the magic lives - you conned yourself.

The message stays the same - spend your time finding the right notes; the sounds are important but secondary.

 

You ask questions that are not always objectively answerable because we are talking about art. And should you take time to practice your art, the answers will come by themselves from experience and taste. No one can teach experience and taste, you need to get your hands dirty for that.

Decomposing of a piece can be objective to a big degree. But composing is much more complex. Right now you are a creator the same way someone that watches National Geographic is a geologist, biologist or zoologist.

You need to change sides mate. You need to create more and “educate yourself” less. That “sketch” folder is your truth: the faster you pass at least 150, the closer you are to make music. The more you spend on forums and tutorials, the longer the agony of the transition process from wannabe to artist