Sounds are extrememly complex. They are made up of so many parts, and that is where the secret of layering sounds comes to play.
Think about the sound of a bell being struck.
Now, how much of what you hear is effected by the bell, and how much of what you hear is affected by the tool used to strike the bell?
How much of what you hear has to do with your distance from the bell?
How much of what you hear has to do with the size of the bell?
Does the sound stay exactly the same the whole time? Or shift as time passes?
I ask all of these questions to make a point.
Since sounds in the real world are comprised of many elements, it follows that sounds in the synth world can be comprised of many elements as well.
So sometimes, the secret to getting your patches to pop is to just layer a few of them together.
Effective Common Layering Techniques
While there are no hard and fast rules, these three things might strike up a winning combo for you.
- Opposite type sounds ( Like a pluck and a synth lead
- Similar sounds (Maybe two pads, but with different filter settings)
- Piecemeal (Using different synths to round out the sound over time)
Opposites Attract – 1:30
In this example, I will pair a gliss lead with a plucked sound.
The reason this is so effective is that the attack of the pluck catches the listeners ear immediately, setting the stage for the synths melody to really shine.
Birds Of A Feather Flock Together – 2:49
Layering similar sounds adds depth.
One cautionary warning on this technique, it can also produce some weird build-up in certain frequency ranges. So if you do use this technique, it’s best to make sure the patches shine in slightly different areas.
In the above example, I pair up different piano sounds. I love this trick and use it when I play live frequently. It works a lot like parallel compression might on a drum kit.
Piecemeal – 4:17
This is one of my personal favorite examples.
Using this technique, you select which synths you would like to hear on each part of the sound. For example:
- Piano attack
- String sustain
- Bell release
In this example, I am using a piano and a verby vibraphone.
What to do now?
Grab a copy of the quick synth map. This will help you in all of your sound design endeavors and is just generally pretty handy.
Try out creating some sound pairings and see what you can come up with!