Synth Rock Production for a Beginner - Any tips?

[brockf]

Hello,

I am just getting into synth rock production (all digital, not even any live guitars) and I am having troubles getting sounds that don't sound cheezy and MIDI-ish. I am basically using a Roland GW-7 workstation as the midi controller, Fruity Loops with Tom Hicks drum samples, Cubase SX3, the a1 synth as a virtual instrument, and then my vocal chain. Does anyone have any tips, resources, synth recommendations, etc. for a beginner like myself? Bands I am interested in sounding like are:

Boys Night Out (http://www.purevolume.com/boysnightout)
The Killers
Baumer (http://www.purevolume.com/baumer)

What's the standard arrangement for these bands? I seem to end up having quite a few tracks such as:

- Warm Pad
- Second Pad
- Rhythm Guitars (Slayer plugin)
- Lead Synth
- 2nd Lead Synth, usually same virtual instrument as Lead Synth
- Bass
- Kick, Snare, HiHats, Crash, Toms drum tracks from FL Studio 5

Thanks for your help and time!

[mitchell]

Originally Posted by paulnowo

Hello,

I am just getting into synth rock production (all digital, not even any live guitars) and I am having troubles getting sounds that don't sound cheezy and MIDI-ish. I am basically using a Roland GW-7 workstation as the midi controller, Fruity Loops with Tom Hicks drum samples, Cubase SX3, the a1 synth as a virtual instrument, and then my vocal chain. Does anyone have any tips, resources, synth recommendations, etc. for a beginner like myself? Bands I am interested in sounding like are:

Boys Night Out (http://www.purevolume.com/boysnightout)
The Killers
Baumer (http://www.purevolume.com/baumer)

What's the standard arrangement for these bands? I seem to end up having quite a few tracks such as:

- Warm Pad
- Second Pad
- Rhythm Guitars (Slayer plugin)
- Lead Synth
- 2nd Lead Synth, usually same virtual instrument as Lead Synth
- Bass
- Kick, Snare, HiHats, Crash, Toms drum tracks from FL Studio 5

Thanks for your help and time!

I don't how much I can speak for other bands, but if you're into synth rock stuff, you might like my project. You can check it out at:

www.myspace.com/celebutantemusic
www.celebutantemusic.com

I also play keys for Berlin and write Keyboard magazine's Vintage Synth Programming column...

My stuff is actually more synth heavy than Killers or Bravery, but still has some guitar. I do everything in Logic and only use Logic's ES2 synth, Native Instruments Pro-53, and my Alesis Ion sometimes for bass. To me, a lot of the secret of non-cheesey synths is eq and spatialization. In other words, be creative with panning sounds, and make them stereo either in the synth with unison modes, or using chorus, delays (subtle=good), or small reverbs. I often pan the sound one way and the effect the other.

I generally treat electronic drums just like real ones... I frequently use Linndrum samples that sound like turd on their own, but I put each drum on a separate channel and individually compress and EQ them and usually make a master reverb for the snare that I feed a little of the toms and cymbals into.

Another good EQ for synths (and guitars too) is to make sure to get out the junk you don't need. Bass sounds and pads frequently have lots of low end that muddies up a mix; use a highpass (or low shelf) EQ and hack out all the low end junk. The only thing in the mix that should have a lot below 100hz is the kick and MAYBE one bass sound if they cooperate.

Also- you mentioned a bunch of pads. Don't go too nuts with big pads as they can fill a mix with muck. This is of course a matter of taste and preference, but if you listen to my stuff, there's very little in the way of big pads and chords. I do this on purpose to open up the mixes. It's kind of like the synth equivalent of Rage Against The Machine or death metal... a bunch of instruments pumping away at one part. Or if I do a lot of parts I try to have a lot of little things that orchestrate nicely together- big huge parts don't play well with others in a mix.

[Don Solaris]