MusicTech Synthesis Masterclass

http://www.musictechmag.co.uk/mtm/features/synthesis-masterclass-issue-78


While it’s easy enough to comprehend the mechanical building blocks of a synthesizer – the filter, envelopes, oscillators and so on – it’s much harder to understand how to successfully combine these ingredients to create a finished sound. All too often, a first attempt at sound design involves a few tentative tweaks to an existing preset or blindly adjusting parameters until something sounds ‘right’ – often leading to a sound that lacks both character and definition. By contrast, the skill and experience of a good sound designer enables them to draw on a palette of key sounds and effects, each of which can be fine tuned to match the musical objective in mind.