Synthwave | a brief way, how to.

aetherde (32)in #music • 7 years ago

You may ask what is Synthwave actually ?
Synthwave is a electronic music genre - based on the ambient of the 80's with much analog syntheziser and a trancy sounding bassline.
Best known from

>Stranger Things<

i am referring to this post, which i find pretty detailed :)
https://steemit.com/music/@bonggita/synthwave-is-a-thing-and-it-s-getting-bigger

The Beat
usually the #BPM are around 100-130BPM but i think you go best with 130 to 140 BPM depends on your taste.
In my opinion the drums are a vital point in synthwave. I found some synths and sequencer you can use 4 it.
Try this one -> http://www.dubsounds.com/dmx.htm
For fading and breaks use nice drum rolls, so like big toms and fade them to the left and right channel, it makes the song sound more full - if you know what i mean.
The Bassline usually u can use a fast bass like sixteenth note's. Don't be afraid to make something extraordinary like a 1bar Subbass sweep or a catchy 4/4 offbeat bass.
In my opinion you go best with something like that.
The Riff
If you got a electric guitar - or an emulator VST put it in for the riff. Don't make it too loud and keep it simple don't let the guitar distract form the melody and stuff.
If you don't got an electric guitar, thats fine its not a must have. You go VERY WELL with a harsh sounding low poly bass sound as riff.
The Melody / Lead
You can keep it simple by using a prefinished arp sound or create an arp sound in your chosen scale and filter that stuff. Else you can create a catchy pentatonic scale melody - remember keep it simple you don't want to overthrow your follower neither you go crazy on the vocals if you choose an lead melody use the note's of the synth melody.
https://modeaudio.com/magazine/the-joy-of-arps-creating-a-synthwave-score#.WpbU3-ciGGM
The Design / Buildup'n'stuff
Synthwave is basically progressive, so make sure u use filters that lead up to another sound or more layered melodies.
Drum rolls are very important for the ambient, make sure u got a shit load of these.
However, try to segment your songs from the beginning in INTRO/BUILDUP; BREAK; DROP/HOOK; BREAK; BUILDUP; DROP/HOOK; OUTTRO or something like that, don't quote me on that but make sure you got a frame for your song first it makes everything easier.

The Synth.
Synthwave artist Com Truise once said, “A lot of the sounds in my songs are not extremely complex… Turning on a two-oscillator synth and initialising a patch and just detuning one oscillator and doing a nice filter and envelope and going with that.” The key to many great Synthwave and 80s tracks is the basic principle of simplicity offered by the more affordable hardware synths of the day. If you are using multiple synth patches and complex processing chains then you’re probably working too hard. Take a creative approach to the tools which, on the face of it, appear to be more limited – you might surprise yourself with the unique results.
And you realy want to use plucky sharp sounds or soft lead sounds, less attack and a little release for the reverb sounding ambiente.
Never forget a soft delay and a nice fade out for the end - it makes your song sound like it continues forever.

These are just some of my suggestions - and my very own opinion, feel free to add your opinions.
I am currently working on a Synthwave track, but as usual my songs need time to finish, so you have to be patient
:).