Adding that Airyness

pseudonym813 · 19th October 2011

When I listen to some of my favorite tracks from artists like Calibre, Synkro, Bukem, etc. I notice a certain airy quality that sounds like a shimmery wind sound which I struggle to get with my own tracks. It's not like everything sounds washed out with reverb or has a particularly high frequency shimmer added with eq, either. What am I missing? Is it in part due to the mix?

aunshui · 19th October 2011

example?

Hazmatic · 19th October 2011

Small doses of white noise perhaps? Can you give an example?

pseudonym813 · 19th October 2011

aunshui · 19th October 2011

Okay, listening to the first track...I'm hearing percussion with reverb, a pretty thin pad with reverb, reverb on everything actually. It's thin though, you might try messing with the wet/dry mix or putting a HPF on the reverb bus with a hint of resonance.

Jon Silva · 19th October 2011

Listening to your two examples and since you mentioned Bukem: when trying to come up with similar sounds, I had success using choir/vocal waveforms without attack. Yamaha and Kurzweil have fairly good aaahhs and ooohs and these make a nice basis for airy pad sounds. Doesn't have to be those two brands though, probably any rompler has these waveforms.

Adding a bit of white/pink noise will work as well as sampling your own breath (the way it sounds when you're whispering) and adding that as a layer.

Also, Bukem stuff has the cutoff slightly modulated by very slow (unsynced) LFO rates so the cutoff move over four bars or so which makes these pads come to life.

bluegreengold · 19th October 2011

It comes primarily from the samples in the machines used to make the tracks. Eq and effects are just sweeteners.

It seems to me that there is a pretty wide disconnection in belief regarding what kind of gear was used to make the tracks that have the 'classic' sounds, and what was actually used. Pure synthesis has come back into fashion lately, but the vast majority of electronic tracks from the 90s used samplers and romplers, maybe with some analog subtractive and fm. With drum and bass, often it was just a sampler.

Trying to recreate something like airy breathiness from 'pure synthesis' is tricky. Of course it was done (or else where would the sample come from) so it can be recreated, but that's pretty high level synthesis skills. The kind that would keep people employed at the big companies who were producing the romplers etc.

Just adding some reverb and white noise isn't going to recreate it.

worm · 19th October 2011

yeah i was amazed when i got my first rompler at how instant it was to get the feel of all my favorite records from the 90s

bluegreengold · 19th October 2011

Watch out, you might even start to believe that some presets are cool! lol

Simonator · 19th October 2011

Let's talk AIR

......

audslu · 19th October 2011

I think utube quality can't really help to hear such detail in the hi freqs but i think i know what u mean. Do u mix with native plugins entirely? If yes, then probably it's because most plug eqs (mainly) sound like that. Try higher sample rates in your daw. Also these tracks you refer to, are likely to be mastered with analog so they the highs don't lose definition and can sound more open (i don't know how else to say it, it's an analog-phase thing). In general i agree that outboard gear sounds more like the sound u describe. Have u demoed duende native 4k cs?, it has a nice analog phase eq, might help.

19th October 2011	#1
pseudonym813 Gear nut Joined: Jul 2010 Posts: 87 Thread Starter	Adding that Airyness When I listen to some of my favorite tracks from artists like Calibre, Synkro, Bukem, etc. I notice a certain airy quality that sounds like a shimmery wind sound which I struggle to get with my own tracks. It's not like everything sounds washed out with reverb or has a particularly high frequency shimmer added with eq, either. What am I missing? Is it in part due to the mix?

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19th October 2011	#2
aunshui Lives for gear Joined: Apr 2011 Location: New York Posts: 797 2 Reviews written	example?

19th October 2011	#3
Hazmatic Gear addict Joined: Apr 2011 Posts: 480	Small doses of white noise perhaps? Can you give an example?

19th October 2011	#6
Jon Silva Gear nut Joined: Apr 2010 Location: oscillating between Cologne and Adana Posts: 90	Listening to your two examples and since you mentioned Bukem: when trying to come up with similar sounds, I had success using choir/vocal waveforms without attack. Yamaha and Kurzweil have fairly good aaahhs and ooohs and these make a nice basis for airy pad sounds. Doesn't have to be those two brands though, probably any rompler has these waveforms. Adding a bit of white/pink noise will work as well as sampling your own breath (the way it sounds when you're whispering) and adding that as a layer. Also, Bukem stuff has the cutoff slightly modulated by very slow (unsynced) LFO rates so the cutoff move over four bars or so which makes these pads come to life.

19th October 2011	#7
bluegreengold Lives for gear Joined: Aug 2011 Posts: 738	It comes primarily from the samples in the machines used to make the tracks. Eq and effects are just sweeteners. It seems to me that there is a pretty wide disconnection in belief regarding what kind of gear was used to make the tracks that have the 'classic' sounds, and what was actually used. Pure synthesis has come back into fashion lately, but the vast majority of electronic tracks from the 90s used samplers and romplers, maybe with some analog subtractive and fm. With drum and bass, often it was just a sampler. Trying to recreate something like airy breathiness from 'pure synthesis' is tricky. Of course it was done (or else where would the sample come from) so it can be recreated, but that's pretty high level synthesis skills. The kind that would keep people employed at the big companies who were producing the romplers etc. Just adding some reverb and white noise isn't going to recreate it.

19th October 2011	#8
worm Gear addict Joined: Oct 2006 Location: lake district Posts: 334	yeah i was amazed when i got my first rompler at how instant it was to get the feel of all my favorite records from the 90s

19th October 2011	#11
audslu Gear addict Joined: Sep 2011 Posts: 368	I think utube quality can't really help to hear such detail in the hi freqs but i think i know what u mean. Do u mix with native plugins entirely? If yes, then probably it's because most plug eqs (mainly) sound like that. Try higher sample rates in your daw. Also these tracks you refer to, are likely to be mastered with analog so they the highs don't lose definition and can sound more open (i don't know how else to say it, it's an analog-phase thing). In general i agree that outboard gear sounds more like the sound u describe. Have u demoed duende native 4k cs?, it has a nice analog phase eq, might help.