This is a pretty funny one to share.
I spent the day reworking a couple old tracks that I was planning to play in a live set I have coming up. One of them had a lot of fast break edits going on, with all manner of daft effect processing going on.
I figured I may as well continue in that vein as I reworked the track and stumbled across a cool sound which I figured I may as well continue with a bit.
So this sound actually started life as a kick drum from an Amen break, there's a whole load of stuff done to it, it's hard to remember the exact order I worked in, so wont go into too much detail.
WARNING SIRENS by Noisy Neighbour Sound
It's been EQed and compressed, then I used some stacked comb filters to give a weird twangy resonance to it, pretty high feedback dialed in with a little bit of automation on the delay time.I rendered that out before loading it into a sample and adding some loop points to get it repeating at a cool point. Messed about with pitch and speed till it was getting pretty siren sounding. Again, I rendered that out before loading it into Absynth for a bit of final tweaking. Tried it across the keyboard till I found a note that worked best. Rendered again before opening in sound forge to EQ a little bit and add a reverb.
I was hoping to get a sort of space ship warning siren, like the type that goes off in a sci fi film when the enemy ship is near by. Think I did a pretty good effort!
Showing posts with label Absynth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Absynth. Show all posts
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Thursday, 17 March 2011
Sound-A-Day 17.03.2011
Carrying on from yesterday I suppose,
So yesterday I had a bit of a fail after trying out an idea I had for a Reaktor patch. Didn't work out nearly as well as I hoped, but not to feel discouraged I decided to have another look and see what I could get out of it before calling it a total loss.
A bit more successful today!
So the patch is essentially a wave table style source running through a delay and reverb. I decided to try out a different delay module to before, used one of the grain delays instead. I also redesigned a better feedback circuit which had more accurate control over spill. The grain delays are great because of the pitch shifting options. The synth has more or less become some hybrid wave table/feedback pitch shifting effect now..
I redesigned most of the envelope settings and also made the tracking through the wave table smoother. Suddenly the sound was a lot smoother sounding, and far more usable.
I ended up using some step sequencers assigned to each parameter, and a button to step through the sequence rather than running. By entering lots of random values into the sequencers and stepping through I could hit upon lots of different sounds, one completely different from the last. Very satisfying to do!!
I think I might try and turn this patch into something of a dark abstract sound scape generator. Set very slow random modulations to the sequencers and so on, might be interesting.
So I recorded the output of the synth, and loaded that into Absynth for some extra tweaking. I layered 2 different sounds with filters to accentuate the parts I liked and remove the clashing bits. Finally a bit of reverb and it's done.
PITCHSHIFT ERROR by Noisy Neighbour Sound
Pretty cool sound I think, not the greatest ever, but I feel happy to have got something out of what was yesterday a failed effort!
So yesterday I had a bit of a fail after trying out an idea I had for a Reaktor patch. Didn't work out nearly as well as I hoped, but not to feel discouraged I decided to have another look and see what I could get out of it before calling it a total loss.
A bit more successful today!
So the patch is essentially a wave table style source running through a delay and reverb. I decided to try out a different delay module to before, used one of the grain delays instead. I also redesigned a better feedback circuit which had more accurate control over spill. The grain delays are great because of the pitch shifting options. The synth has more or less become some hybrid wave table/feedback pitch shifting effect now..
I redesigned most of the envelope settings and also made the tracking through the wave table smoother. Suddenly the sound was a lot smoother sounding, and far more usable.
I ended up using some step sequencers assigned to each parameter, and a button to step through the sequence rather than running. By entering lots of random values into the sequencers and stepping through I could hit upon lots of different sounds, one completely different from the last. Very satisfying to do!!
I think I might try and turn this patch into something of a dark abstract sound scape generator. Set very slow random modulations to the sequencers and so on, might be interesting.
So I recorded the output of the synth, and loaded that into Absynth for some extra tweaking. I layered 2 different sounds with filters to accentuate the parts I liked and remove the clashing bits. Finally a bit of reverb and it's done.
PITCHSHIFT ERROR by Noisy Neighbour Sound
Pretty cool sound I think, not the greatest ever, but I feel happy to have got something out of what was yesterday a failed effort!
Monday, 7 March 2011
Sound-A-Day 07.03.2011
Unfortunately no weekend photos this time. I've got a pretty brutal deadline to meet for some tracks I've been working on, and just simply couldn't afford to take time away from working on that.
Doesn't mean that I don't have time to keep up on the blog though. I figured when I started this that there would be moments when I'm really busy, but I also promised myself that I would keep this up!
So today's sound is something along the same lines to a thing I did last week, making dark modern scary sound effects and atmospheres. As I mentioned then, one of the things that really comes to mind with that type of sound is string effects, almost mandatory for scary films.
This time around I thought that rather than starting with synthesised ones, I'd begin with a string sample and see where I can take it.
DARK TWISTED STRINGS by Noisy Neighbour Sound
The sample came from a CD of Elgar's Enigma Variations, a piece called Nimrod, which if you're not familiar with I really recommend you check out. I opened the sample in Sound forge and got to work with the EQ, just trimming away the frequencies that I didn't want, low stuff especially since I planned to put that in myself later on. Once that was nice and tidy I topped and tailed it, and then loaded it into Absynth, as usual, in one of the granular channels. Loads of messing about with the various parameters, little bits of pitch shifting as well. I was aiming to get something atonal with the characteristics of strings, but without being instantly identifiable as such.
Next I opened up Reaktor and got to work on making the low end stuff. Initially I tried using Steam pipe, since I thought that it would complement the string sound well, but I just couldn't get quite the right sound. I ended up using Carbon 2. Using all 3 oscillators with some heavy modulation, and the Band Reject filter. A bit of chorus, managed to get a nicely brooding angry synth sound.
I then recorded this out, and again EQed in Sound forge before loading into Absynth. I spent quite a while getting the two sounds to mesh together in the right kinda of way, and lots of small little automation tweaks in the envelopes to keep things flowing properly. Last up a bit of light filtering and some reverb.
I really like this sound, definitely dark and creepy. I'd like it more if there where less granular artifacts perhaps, but that more down to my heavy handedness than anything else.
Now back on with these tracks! I've got to have 12 minutes of audio, all written, mixed, mastered and ready for sync by Thursday!!? Wish me luck!
Doesn't mean that I don't have time to keep up on the blog though. I figured when I started this that there would be moments when I'm really busy, but I also promised myself that I would keep this up!
So today's sound is something along the same lines to a thing I did last week, making dark modern scary sound effects and atmospheres. As I mentioned then, one of the things that really comes to mind with that type of sound is string effects, almost mandatory for scary films.
This time around I thought that rather than starting with synthesised ones, I'd begin with a string sample and see where I can take it.
DARK TWISTED STRINGS by Noisy Neighbour Sound
The sample came from a CD of Elgar's Enigma Variations, a piece called Nimrod, which if you're not familiar with I really recommend you check out. I opened the sample in Sound forge and got to work with the EQ, just trimming away the frequencies that I didn't want, low stuff especially since I planned to put that in myself later on. Once that was nice and tidy I topped and tailed it, and then loaded it into Absynth, as usual, in one of the granular channels. Loads of messing about with the various parameters, little bits of pitch shifting as well. I was aiming to get something atonal with the characteristics of strings, but without being instantly identifiable as such.
Next I opened up Reaktor and got to work on making the low end stuff. Initially I tried using Steam pipe, since I thought that it would complement the string sound well, but I just couldn't get quite the right sound. I ended up using Carbon 2. Using all 3 oscillators with some heavy modulation, and the Band Reject filter. A bit of chorus, managed to get a nicely brooding angry synth sound.
I then recorded this out, and again EQed in Sound forge before loading into Absynth. I spent quite a while getting the two sounds to mesh together in the right kinda of way, and lots of small little automation tweaks in the envelopes to keep things flowing properly. Last up a bit of light filtering and some reverb.
I really like this sound, definitely dark and creepy. I'd like it more if there where less granular artifacts perhaps, but that more down to my heavy handedness than anything else.
Now back on with these tracks! I've got to have 12 minutes of audio, all written, mixed, mastered and ready for sync by Thursday!!? Wish me luck!
Thursday, 24 February 2011
Sound-A-Day 24.02.2011
Ok, here's another sound along the same ideas as the previous one. But very different sounding still, same mood though I think.
This one, to be honest, started out as a bit of messing about with Carbon 2. Just making some classic snarly bass sounds. Was playing with the Band reject filter cutoff and found this sort of sweet spot where the synth just let out this awesome growl type of sound. Not especially musical, but really cool effect.
I recorded the output, and opened it up in Soundforge. Did a bit of EQ to hopefully accent the growl a bit more. Next I put that into Absynth, in one of the granular channels. Made an envelope for controlling the Grain Speed and size, a bit of pitch modulation and a bit of amplitude modulation.
That's more or less it, nothing too fancy I guess, but I really like the result!
DIGI-GROWL by Noisy Neighbour Sound
This one, to be honest, started out as a bit of messing about with Carbon 2. Just making some classic snarly bass sounds. Was playing with the Band reject filter cutoff and found this sort of sweet spot where the synth just let out this awesome growl type of sound. Not especially musical, but really cool effect.
I recorded the output, and opened it up in Soundforge. Did a bit of EQ to hopefully accent the growl a bit more. Next I put that into Absynth, in one of the granular channels. Made an envelope for controlling the Grain Speed and size, a bit of pitch modulation and a bit of amplitude modulation.
That's more or less it, nothing too fancy I guess, but I really like the result!
DIGI-GROWL by Noisy Neighbour Sound
Thursday, 3 February 2011
Sound-A-Day 03.02.2011
So I'm always interested in trying to make robotic and mechanical sounding music, and one of the things I like to do is use recordings of servos and other types of electrical motors. No exaggeration, I have folders full!
This sound started out as an attempt to synthesize the same type of sound, although I ended up getting quite sidetracked.
The sound started off as something resembling a servo, but I decided to try playing about with it in Absynth, I've really fallen in love with the Granular sampling features it has.
I thought it might be fun to try and turn the servo noise into something a little more atmospheric, and Absynth is always great for that type of thing. The servo noise got time stretched with an envelope changing the time parameter. That then runs through a Low Pass filter with a very fast LFO modulating the cut off frequency slightly, to give a bit of colour to the sound. Next it's going through a frequency shifter set very low, which is what causes the gating, and finally through a panning delay effect.
GATED FREQ SHIFT SERVO by Noisy Neighbour Sound
It's not quite what I had in mind when I started, but I guess that's just how it goes sometimes. Still came out with a pretty nice sound, more musical than atmospheric perhaps, but that's maybe not such a bad thing!
This sound started out as an attempt to synthesize the same type of sound, although I ended up getting quite sidetracked.
The sound started off as something resembling a servo, but I decided to try playing about with it in Absynth, I've really fallen in love with the Granular sampling features it has.
I thought it might be fun to try and turn the servo noise into something a little more atmospheric, and Absynth is always great for that type of thing. The servo noise got time stretched with an envelope changing the time parameter. That then runs through a Low Pass filter with a very fast LFO modulating the cut off frequency slightly, to give a bit of colour to the sound. Next it's going through a frequency shifter set very low, which is what causes the gating, and finally through a panning delay effect.
GATED FREQ SHIFT SERVO by Noisy Neighbour Sound
It's not quite what I had in mind when I started, but I guess that's just how it goes sometimes. Still came out with a pretty nice sound, more musical than atmospheric perhaps, but that's maybe not such a bad thing!
Monday, 31 January 2011
Sound-A-Day 31.01.2011
Wow, a month in already! that's pretty good going even if I do say so myself! I hope the few people visiting here are getting some enjoyment from the stuff I'm putting up here. I had an idea that I think could be a bit of fun. At the end of the year I'll make a little poll and ask visitors to vote for their favorite 10 or so sounds. Then I'll make a track out of them. I also think I'll try and compile them all into a nice sample pack for downloading too, in wonderful 24 bit WAV!
So today I thought it might be fun to try and confront a fear of mine! I hate water, or rather I hate being underneath it. I am not a strong swimmer and get incredibly disorientated when I'm underwater. I especially hate the effect it has on my hearing. That's not to say that I don't like the sound, just that I don't enjoy the experience. Anyway, I thought it might be fun to try and make a sound that had a similar tonal quality to what I hear when I submerge my ears.
SUB-AQUA by Noisy Neighbour Sound
This sound started off as an experiment using the wonderful Crusher X program. For anyone who hasnt tried this one out yet, I highly recomend it! Amazing sound design possibilities. I recorded the output and loaded it into Absynth to further mangle it about a bit, and finally a small amount of processing inside Sound Forge.
I think I did pretty well in achieving the disorientating effect I was after. The sound makes me thing of some weird underwater alien world.
So today I thought it might be fun to try and confront a fear of mine! I hate water, or rather I hate being underneath it. I am not a strong swimmer and get incredibly disorientated when I'm underwater. I especially hate the effect it has on my hearing. That's not to say that I don't like the sound, just that I don't enjoy the experience. Anyway, I thought it might be fun to try and make a sound that had a similar tonal quality to what I hear when I submerge my ears.
SUB-AQUA by Noisy Neighbour Sound
This sound started off as an experiment using the wonderful Crusher X program. For anyone who hasnt tried this one out yet, I highly recomend it! Amazing sound design possibilities. I recorded the output and loaded it into Absynth to further mangle it about a bit, and finally a small amount of processing inside Sound Forge.
I think I did pretty well in achieving the disorientating effect I was after. The sound makes me thing of some weird underwater alien world.
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Sound-A-Day 11.01.2011
So, although yesterday I said I'd upload some more sounds from my new synth I'm building, and I had every intention of doing so, I really did! But, just as I was closing Reaktor I saw the Absynth icon in the corner of my eye and got a bit carried away!
This started out as a kick and Snare sound made in my Module synth. I built a little sequencer in Reaktor to build a beat with. Then I loaded a wave table synth and set it up to switch waveform every 16th beat. With a sharp amp envelope and some pitch modulation, it made some nice percussion hits. I let this spit out some random beats for a while, recording the output. Trimmed a couple to size and loaded them into the granular players in Absynth. Lots of noodling with the envelopes, and recorded the output
Here's one of the resulting sounds.
Springy-Bend-Kick by Noisy Neighbour Sound
I quite like it, sounds like a plasma cannon or something. Perhaps a long way round to make one 2 second long sound, but I guess it's more about the journey than the destination!
This started out as a kick and Snare sound made in my Module synth. I built a little sequencer in Reaktor to build a beat with. Then I loaded a wave table synth and set it up to switch waveform every 16th beat. With a sharp amp envelope and some pitch modulation, it made some nice percussion hits. I let this spit out some random beats for a while, recording the output. Trimmed a couple to size and loaded them into the granular players in Absynth. Lots of noodling with the envelopes, and recorded the output
Here's one of the resulting sounds.
Springy-Bend-Kick by Noisy Neighbour Sound
I quite like it, sounds like a plasma cannon or something. Perhaps a long way round to make one 2 second long sound, but I guess it's more about the journey than the destination!
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