Dark Synthwave Sound Design Explained
Synthesizer wiz Thomas Cochran brings detailed you dark synthwave sound design video tutorials! See step by step how to make sounds from scratch that define this popular genre. In these videos Thomas uses some great 3rd party virtual instruments like TAL-U-No-LX, Serum, Korg Mono/Poly and u-he Diva, but you can apply the info to any comparable virtual or hardware synth. This series is for those who have a basic understanding of synth sound design and want to focus on understanding and creating the sounds found in dark synthwave music.
Dark Synthwave Bass Sound Design
• Distorted Bass (13:20) - This tutorial shows you how to create a rolling distorted bass that is commonly found in dark synthwave tracks. This sound uses distortion and side chaining to create a hypnotic feel for your songs.
• Dark Reverb Bass Stab (13:59) - In this video, learn how the Tal-U-No-LX virtual instrument plug-in can be used to create ambient bass stabs. This patch utilizes side chaining and heavy reverb to create a full ambience for the song.
• Distorted Stab Bass (10:08) - Learn how envelop modulation can be used to make a bass stab more punchy. This video also shows how multi band distortion is used to sculpt the sound.
• Heavy Bass Stab (10:18) - Super saw basses are commonly found in a lot of more aggressive dark synthwave tracks. In this video, learn how these sounds are created and processed.
Dark Synthwave Arp Sound Design
• Phase Arp (10:16) - This video shows how to make a phase-y arpeggio layer for your dark synthwave baselines. While this type of sound is usually more at home in a nurofunk DnB song, it makes the perfect layer for the basses created in the previous videos.
• Resonant Arp (09:57) - This sound design tutorial shows how to use U-he's Diva synthesizer to create a Moog inspired arp sound. This makes an excellent layering element for any kind of synthwave track.
• Texture Bit Crushed Arp (12:09) - Arpeggio sounds are commonly found in a lot of synthwave tracks. Learn how to take a classic Juno inspired arp and transform it into a textured sound with the use of bit crushing.
Dark Synthwave Lead Sound Design
• Synthwave Oscillator Sync Lead (10:41) - This video shows how to use Serum to create an oscillator sync lead. This is used to give the sound texture though the use of modulation.
• Juno Space Lead (10:30) - Learn how to make a classic synthwave lead. This sound utilizes the Tal-U-No-LX synth to create a vintage inspired lead.
• Resonant Lead (08:46) - Watch how to create a vintage inspired resonant lead sound that uses envelope modulation to make an evolving sound. This sound can either be used as a lead or a chord patch.
Dark Synthwave Drum Sound Design
• Drums (10:16) - Wrapping it up, watch and learn the basics of creating and programing dark synthwave drums. This video covers what types of samples are used and how they are processed differently from other styles of drums.