NIN Synth Sound

[DarkEcho]

I am trying to learn how synths work (I have NI Massive). I am a big fan of Nine Inch Nails, and I hear what seems almost to be like a trumpeting/horn section-esque synth part in some of his choruses.

one example would be "You know what you are?" there is a long sustained Synth "burst" at the beginning of each bar.

towards the end of "Just like you imagined" there are some heavy/big synth sounds that come in and saturate everything.

and another would be maybe the chorus of "Ruiner"

if you dont have these songs, you can hear a quick example in iTunes by just searching the title and click the first one you see.

basically, what do these synth sounds have in common? how does one differentiate between triangle/square/sawtooth waves and which ones does Trent tend to use?

[corworld]

Ahh... I think you should focus on the mood and intent rather than the waveform. Trent works very quickly but is known for spending months collecting sounds so they are ready to go come tracking time. I know a lot of the older albums are sampler heavy. He also likes 8-bit samples pitched way down.

What I'm getting at is there is no shortcut to that kind of sound. While massive is a good starting point, so much of the sound is the distortion and treatment given to it. So if you want a gritty sound use a sawtooth waveform but that not going to get you close to NIN by itself.

[akjl4]

He use lots of software and hardware, Have you ever seen a picture of his studio he has everything! On the fragile he runs lots of synths through the tc fireworx on year zero he uses mostly software(NI), done on the road witha laptop while touring.

I dont think he even knows or cares what waveforms he uses, He probably hears a sound in his head and picks the synth that comes to mind for the sound.

[emkay]

With NIN, it depends on what era you are talking about also. I know Charley Clouser was responsible for some if not alot of the "synth colour" until he left the band a few years back. He did the same for Rob Zombie also.
His studio in L.A. is packed with "plug-ins" and hardware modules...

[DarkEcho]

does Trent tend to layer synth over guitar?

how much layering does one do?

also, when you layer stuff... do you keep it in midi form so that you can change things? cause once you save it to audio from midi, you will have to recreate all of your changes.....

maybe just use freeze track to unload the CPU but keep the ability to change the notes in the future?

[Sensual Ears]

Trent uses Pepsodent, because he's rich.

[robmix]

If you're going to get into heavy synth programming you'll need to a little research and spend some time learning the basics. Getting used to the sound of sine/triangle/sawtooth/square waves and knowing what they are generally used for would be an immense help. There's just no way you're going to program anything useful with a modular synth unless you've got a decent foundation in theory.

[robmix]

Originally Posted by DarkEcho

does Trent tend to layer synth over guitar?

how much layering does one do?

also, when you layer stuff... do you keep it in midi form so that you can change things? cause once you save it to audio from midi, you will have to recreate all of your changes.....

maybe just use freeze track to unload the CPU but keep the ability to change the notes in the future?

1. Sometimes

2. a lot, sometimes

3. sometimes. I would imagine with the modular synths he commits it to audio. Pain in the ass to recall modular patches.

4. sure, sometimes. Always save what you can.