Bedroom Pop Sound Design Explained

Sound design expert Thomas Cochran presents a comprehensive set of Bedroom Pop Sound Design video tutorials! After the multi-Grammy-winning smash success of Billie Eilish and her partner in crime, brother Finneas O'Connell, the debate over whether you can achieve professional sounds with a DAW in a home studio is all but over. Thomas guides you through the process of creating your own 21st-century sounds, from the comfort of your bedroom, using the versatile Serum plugin, but the techniques shown are applicable to most any wavetable hardware or synth plugin. These videos are for new Bedroom Pop producers.

Synth Keys

• Lo-fi Keys Pt. 1 (10:06) - In this video, Thomas introduces the course and shows how to make a lo-fi keys patch using Serum.

• Lo-fi Keys Pt. 2 (11:25) - Next, learn how effects processing can be used to further fill out the lo-fi keys sound.

• Chill Indie Keys (13:58) - This video demonstrates some creative uses of the various wavetables and portamento feature to make a dynamic and playable pitch-bending keys sound.

• 80's Bright Textured Keys Pt. 1 (11:27) - Discover how to create a keyboard sound inspired by the Roland JV-1080 synthesizer. These bright 80's keys are found all over bedroom pop productions.

• 80's Bright Textured Keys Pt. 2 (05:56) - In this second part, Thomas highlights some effects processing that can be used to bring the patch to life.

Leads & Plucks

• Textured Flute Lead (13:35) - Learn how to use the more unusual flange filters in Serum to create complex textures from simple waveforms. This is achieved through the keyboard tracking of these filters.

• Textured Vocal Lead (15:40) - Thomas shows how to take an audio sample of a vocal and use it to generate a custom wavetable in Serum. This creates a hybrid between a sampler and a wavetable synthesizer that gives you a unique texture not possible with a standard synthesizer.

• Juno 106 Pluck (14:04) - Watch how to create a Juno 106/60 inspired pluck sound that's usable in a wide variety of productions.

• Chorus Guitar Patch (14:10) - This video illustrates how to make a chorus guitar patch that's extremely popular in bedroom pop and indie rock songs.

Bass Patches

• Classic Indie Synth Bass (12:21) - Learn how to make a classic synth bass tone - another staple of bedroom pop and indie synth tracks. This bass makes use of filter modulation and creative compression to give it tight and crunchy sound.

• Funky Synth Bass (10:13) - Here Thomas shows how to make a funk-inspired synth bass sound, which is applicable in a myriad of productions.

Pads & Textures

• Rhodes Pad (15:05) - Discover how to synthesize Rhodes-style patches - and many useful variations thereof - using Serum.

• Juno Type Pad (11:52) - Finally, learn how to make a Juno pad sound inspired by Tame Impala. This patch makes use of vintage modeled wavetables and interesting modulations to get that classic, sought-after Juno sound.