Blog by Jack Prest, Producer/ Engineer at Studios 301
If you’re working on electronic music production or online mixing, there will come a point in every track that you need to send things a little left of centre. Here’s some tips on how to get a little freak into your beats.
1. Crystallizer – Sound Toys
- This plugin is epic and throws out all sorts of weird pitch modulations and sounds. The presets alone have a wealth of sonic possibilities and you can really get deep into sound design when you start tweaking. All Soundtoys plugins have a hidden layer or parameters, press the tweak button on the main GUI to access them.
2.Moog Multimode Filter – UAD
- I love this plugin. Not only can you throw it on an average sounding soft synth and bring it to life but you can really get some crazy tones. The Drive function adds some super tasty harmonics (try the +20db switch for ultimate destruction) and the filter self-oscillates when you crank the resonance. You can also tempo sync the modulation which makes it great for mangling beats.
3. Re-Amping
- I’d strongly recommend investing in a re-amp box and a little amp or some guitar pedals. There is a whole world of sounds available as stomp boxes and it’s a great way to add some real sounds to an otherwise ITB track. Even if the pedals are cheap and nasty and sometimes that’s exactly what you want…
4. Re-Micing
- You should also try recording audio playing through your monitors with a microphone. The mic doesn’t need to be anything fancy. Move the mic around to create a sense of movement and modulation in the sound. Just be careful to mute the input of the mic to avoid feedback. Izotope make a plugin that imitates this process called Möbius Filter, that I highly recommend. (Fun Fact – This technique was a big part in how they made the original lightsaber sound!!!)
5. Record your own sounds.
- No better way to get something weird and original into a track then to make it yourself. Experiment with things around the house (pretty much everything makes a noise) and sculpt those sounds using your DAW’s samplers and effects.
For enquiries or bookings with Jack please contact us.