Synthwave | Spacewave
Description
Take off to the stars with this all-instrumental mix of thrilling and chilling retrowave music
Quickstats
Playlist Length
0 days, 6 hours, 28 minutes
Playlist Followers
56
Source
Playlist Last Updated
February 5, 2024
Mood
Mixed Mood
Track Popularity Rating
Deep
Style
Varied
Average Release Decade
2010s
Main Genre:
Electronic
Reddit Info
Reddit Post
This is my jam---I've only finished one 'spacewave' album, but I'm working on my next right now. What I do is get a specific song (or group of songs that are similar) to use as reference in terms of the vibe. I don't copy the song itself---just the vibe. Then I start with either a pad, bass or some kind of arpeggio pattern until I got a few elements that I like the feel of. Then I get down to sound design to bring them fully 'online' (i.e. sounding exactly how I want them). I personally like pads to be big and deep, like either saw sweeps or swells. If its kind of low frequency, then side-chaining is a must (so it doesn't conflict with the Kick or even the bass in some cases). Diva and Serum can do this, but my favourite is the OB-X (or a knock-off, I use Arturia's V collection). With Serum, technically there's a bit more effort needed to get decent results: the detune has to be adjusted, automate the filter so there's interesting movement, and add a 'wobble' either to the master tune or the individual oscillator tunings. You may have to do similar things with Diva, but I find it goes quicker getting to a good sound (ymmv). Diva is perfect for the Bass, however. I find Serum can do some decent basses, but not as well. I also like Diva for warbly or 'sad saw' leads (think Blade Runner---there's youtube how-to videos if you search) and for bell-like sounds (but rather than make them very 'bell' like, I'd try to get them to be a bit 'weird' for a more 'spacey' feel (maybe try the digital osc---they seem to work well for that). For really spacey sounds, Serum should have you covered. Its easy to slap a 'Square' shaped LFO on the tuning of an oscillator, automate it and play around with a high resonance filter to get cool and weird space effects. Another useful trick is to take a pad sound you like (could be anything really) and bounce it to an audio file. Then throw a bunch of effects on it and EQ the shit out of it until its unrecognizable, but has some kind of creepy or dark vibe to it. Now you have a cool little ambient effect that can run in the background of your song. Although this sort of thing can be time consuming, since its all about messing around with effects and settings... Anyway, hope some of that proves useful! Good luck! Oh, and if you're on Spotify, here's a playlist that might be good for inspiration: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2yCQTQgUgyeX77GqMake8P?si=ab99eaf9c5dd4732
Upvotes
6
Subreddit
synthwaveproducers
Reddit Username
blade_m
Reddit Timestamp
11/14/22 9:55
Reddit URL
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