Improving your leads

[2manygentlemen]

I'm working on a mix, but the thing is, the lead patches, they always end up sounding Genesis-y/Mega-Drive-like and need to be thicker and more 'modern'; I'm looking to give them 'pizzazz'. What do you typically do to make your synth sounds interesting and ear-catching?

[Moseph]

Double it with a second similar synth and hard pan them left and right, perhaps?

[ad.mixx]

Double it with a second similar synth and hard pan them left and right, perhaps?

This - also the right amount of reverb and EQ will help out your sounds a lot.

[Rozovian]

Some thoughts:

This depends a lot on your synth, but doubling and slight detuning works for everything. Using <100% sustains on your envelopes, both filter and amplitude, gives you a little more development in the sound, whether you're using it for a percussive effect or just to animate the sound. Giving your filter some resonance and making sure the filter moves noticeably between two frequencies in the waveform's harmonics (the higher frequencies in the sound). Sync and PWM can be used for further animation of the sound, and using pulse waves ("rectangle" wave that isn't square) can give it a harder sound (they're effectively super-distorted waves).

In FM synths, which is what I've been working with a lot recently, modulating your lead oscillator with a sine an octave down does... something... good.

Beyond that there's subtle use of modulation effects like phaser and flanger, there's noticeably pre-delayed reverbs, stereo spreading (you can get a huge sound by tripling a single source sound, detuning them all slightly, and panning them L100, C, R100; you can also use frequency spreading or stereo delays for a wider sound), distortion and amp simulation (which typically requires a dynamic source sound to sound good, so use the aforementioned filters and envelopes) and other effects.

Using distortion after a heavy and short reverb might yield some good results for a lead... or not. I would want a pitch-controlled filter on the reverb, but that's tricky to do unless you can route the reverbed signal back into a synth.

In writing, higher pitches are easier to hear, but mid-range stuff is (when loud enough) more powerful as leads. I guess you can layer a higher range lead with a low one, but that might sound like two distinct sounds, especially if the lower sound isn't a sine.

If you're just annoyed at the bendy, glidey sounds, turn of portamento, glide, and whatever, and make your synth polyphonic. If there aren't controls for any of these, get a different synth. TAL has its free Noisemaker iirc, which has some cool lead sounds built in. Study those.

As for me, I usually dig through the preset library until I find something I like. Leads have always been a bit tricky, but once you know what makes a good lead, they're not hard to find, or even to make by accident. You just gotta remember to save them when you make them.

[lazygecko]

Give that pitch some vibrato. Pitches love vibrato.

[Modus]

Sometimes works: Add delay, make it very short, offset it to taste. Makes screaming leads sound very wide and epic.

Other than that, layer and find timbres that compliment one another.

[Darangen]

Layering with similar sounds will help fatten up your leads, while layering with different kinds of leads would probably do more to make them more interesting. Be careful though, they can be too interesting and start being a distraction if you go overboard.

If you're not familiar with what all those knobs on the instruments do, take some time to play around with them. Using automation on those knobs can really bring a lead to life.

[Frederic Petitpas]

Here what I do for a guitar solo but it may apply to a lead synth.

Take your BPM and do this:

60 000 divided by the BPM = 1/4th

40 000 divided by the BPM = 1/8th

3 750 divided by the BPM = 1/64th

Those 3 equations will give you the correct miliseconds to use with the delays below.

You place 3 delays, pan the original track center and put the 1/4th delay center + volume around 60%.

Place 1/8th left and 1/64th right and their volumes should be around 50% (*Not absolute values... just a good starting point)

For instance, the highest pitched guitar in my MMX w.i.p use this technique: Flame Mammooth w.i.p

If you feel adventurous you could add some grit to a delay, have a light flanger on another one and maybe pitch-shift the other. Hope this contributes.

[anterroir]

I also like the "sucking in" approach a lot.

You Render your lead track as a wav.

Reverse that one and apply a big lush reverb to it with least 80 to 90 % wet (depends on the reverb type, I like the CSR Hall or the LX480 with the "send them to church" preset).

After that you add a compressor to smooth out the reverb tail.

The whole thing is rendered as a wav again and then you mix it with your original lead, adjust frequencies, etc.

If it smears too much add another compressor with sidechain input to duck it when the original lead plays or simply cut the wav up.

It's also very nice for intros and bridges when you do that with the whole mix.

[timaeus222]

I usually add a LOT of modulation to my leads. I generally use Zebra for some kickass leads, considering I love to make patches on it. Some well-thought-out modulation would make even the worst synth sound decent. I also believe square wave based patches sound the most powerful and give the most to work with. For example, check this out:

https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/Legacy%20Files/Random%20Stuff/Sound%20Demos/Zebra%20Patch%20Demos/BN1ACDC%20-%20Zebra%20Recreation.mp3?w=c15cce17

This track is an OST's original MIDI with the instruments completely recreated with Zebra2. No notes were really touched, nor has there been any external processing (or any manual modulation, really). All reverb, delay, vibrato, etc. are just internal effects of Zebra2 that I put in each patch. Take a close listen to the lead and you'll see why square waves are extremely useful to start off with. This GBA game uses square leads AND basses on nearly all its songs because it's so easy for it to punch through mixes, and vibrato can really sound intense on a square wave. EQ really does help a bunch, though.

Sometimes I add intense vibrato that comes in about 50ms in. Other times, I actually link the LFO amplitude to an X/Y controller, edit the MIDI CC events in the piano roll, and add vibrato in like that. That way, it won't be vibrato all the time and it'll sound more "live". Note though, that editing MIDI CC with X/Y controllers might not be the best way to do it, but I started doing that naturally, so I like to keep it consistent.

The main thing I do, though, is add some reverb to it. I usually have the wet only slightly less than the dry, and I keep the feedback rather low; around 40%. I put just enough so that it feels like it's in a really spacious area, but not too much so that it doesn't feel too much like a cathedral or something.

Another important thing is to test out VST effects you normally wouldn't use on a certain type of lead. For example, I occasionally use Guitar Rig on E. Pianos to give them a wah pedal effect.

I also find it better to have a larger frequency range than you need, so you can just EQ out what you don't need. That way, you aren't just limited to the sound that you have. Sometimes, you might want add in more frequencies you're "missing" when you're actually content with the amount of instruments you have already.

Modus also has the right idea with layering. Whenever you don't have the sound you want, layer in another sound that has the timbres you want, and EQ out any unnecessary frequencies. Then you can get a much better sound without having to search for hours on end for ONE patch that gives you ONE layer for a good sound. That's probably never going to happen.