Tips when working with synths

S

solo.guitar

New member
I have a song I'm working on with several synth/pad parts in it. It's also got 2 guitars and a piano.

The song and the mix sound okay, but the synths just stand out too much and don't seem to fit right no matter what.

Is there some kind of filter I can add to all tracks to make them seem more apart of the same mix? Or maybe playback the synths through my "monitors" and re-record them to give some ambience?

What things do you usually do when mixing with synths/real instruments?
 
Thats a cool tutotrial. What kidna synths are ya using? Sometimes the 'attack' from certain pads isn't there, which IS part of the sound, but I find it can make them stand out for that reason.
 
solo.guitar said:
I have a song I'm working on with several synth/pad parts in it. It's also got 2 guitars and a piano.

The song and the mix sound okay, but the synths just stand out too much and don't seem to fit right no matter what.

Is there some kind of filter I can add to all tracks to make them seem more apart of the same mix? Or maybe playback the synths through my "monitors" and re-record them to give some ambience?

What things do you usually do when mixing with synths/real instruments?
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Pull back on the volume level on the synths a bit more than you might initially think, and add some ambient reverb to them. Not a whole lot, just some kind of "warm ambience" type of setting.

It seems to me that the more artificial or "synth-sounding" the synth track, the further back the volume need to be pulled and the more diffuse reverberation...unless you want your stuff to sound like a Gary Newman track. In other words, a synth that purposely sounds like a Moog or an Arp synth usually needs more distance and diffusion to fit with acoustics than synth tracks meant to emulate natural instruments.

G.
 
Synth patches are often programmed to sound massive and sweet IN ISOLATION. That's a problem because they dominate to much of the audio spectrum , when MIXING you have to cut them down to size and make room for the other stuff. You can not just throw it all together, turn everything up and and ( then a miracle happens) it all works cohesively. You have to make some descisions and whip out the EQ!!!! ;)
 
It all depends on the tune

Are they all stereo synth pads? If you have a number of synth parts it might help to sum some of them to mono, or have one synth part dominate the left side and a different one dominate the right.

Also try a hi pass on one side and a low pass on the other, then find a good place to balance in the mix.

Sometimes it also helps to add just a touch of overdrive or tube saturation to help glue things together.

Good luck and keep us posted.
 
Thanks for the tips.

I've noticed that turning them down in the mix does make them fit better, but there's one synth lead part that I really want to stand out.

It's not a matter of EQ really, as I already have all of that done. It's the fact that it's a synth, and the rest are real instruments, and it just doesn't sound realisticly apart of the same mix to me...

I need to add something to it, I'm thinking ambience? I've yet to use a reverb plug that had realistic ambient sounds, and I think re-micing them with the same mic I used for the other instruments will add the same ambience and make it sound more realistic...
 
using my soft-synths, i usually slap some ambiance or straight reverb to my synth parts.

of course, it's house, techno etc so thats expected to be there.
 
I always use a little bit of reverb for all instruments pretty much. I'm fully dependant on soft synths...and tend to use lots of acoustic/electric guitars, banjo, mandolin etc....with a hint of reverb in each. It formulates a pleasant place for them in the song.
 
of course there's the good ol' trick pan hard left with a slightly delayed track hard right (or vice versa). creates a nice ambience without being obtrusive
 
Lots of good advice so far.

To elaborate a little:

Adding reverb to any track (synth or real) will move it "back" in the mix, so that is always an option. If you want to really set the pads back, use only the 100% wet sound.

And scooping out the midrange with EQ will allow space for some of the real instruments to come through without competing for fthe same frequencies. Remember, EQ is not to make the synth sound good when soloed - it is to make the synth fit into the overall mix.

Sometimes blending the synth pad with a real instrument playing the same note can glue everything together.

Using a stereo field manipulation device or plug in can work very well - the idea is to take the pads out of the middle of the stereo field and move them to the sides. Waves has some good plug-ins for doing this.

Finally, if some of the synth sounds have sharp attack transients, a compressor set with a very short attack time will help control the transients and make the sound fit better.
 
Everyone elses suggestions sound good....but the one point I want to make is that a synth is not a real instrument hence the word "synth" so trying to make it sound like a real instrument and blend in that way with acoustic intruments isnt really what its mean to do per say....hahah thats all :)
 
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