Why do so many of the best new songs have a soft sound to them?
I think that in an age of overproduced pop music, there is an increasing demand for something more real. Something that sounds human and imperfect. There’s a certain aesthetic and mood that goes along with this movement – it’s about being natural, warm and relatable.
Dieter Rams once said that “good design is as little design as possible.” The same can be said for good music: as little production work as possible.
This article will show you how to produce electronic music with a soft sound. Here are 6 tips I use to achieve that:
Soft electronic music is a popular genre that can be challenging to create well. In this article, we’ll share 6 tips for soft electronic music production.
1. Start with a soft synth sound
Since you’re creating a soft track, it makes sense to start with a soft synth sound. If your song is based on a piano or guitar riff, start by playing it in the piano roll or using a guitar plugin. If your song is based around an ambient pad sound or lead synth riff, then use those sounds to compose your track.
2. Use chord progressions and melodies that create a mellow vibe
Soft electronic tracks are usually based around chord progressions and melodies that create a mellow vibe. These tracks typically contain soft chords and melodies that don’t stray far from the key center of the song (i.e., they generally use notes from within the scale). The notes don’t have to stay completely within the scale (you can add passing tones or occasional chromatic movements), but they should generally stay close to the notes found in the scale.
3. Don’t use heavy bass sounds in your drop
Soft drops are often less aggressive than those found in heavier genres like dubstep, trap,
If you’ve been producing electronic music for any length of time, you’ll have noticed that there is an increasing demand for soft electronic music. It’s the perfect soundtrack to study too, relax too, and just chill too.
So how do you create soft electronic music? Well, it’s a combination of technique, production knowledge and creativity!
In this article we’ll go over 6 tips for creating your own soft electronic music tracks.
Use long, sustained sounds with subtle movement
The key to soft electronic music is having long sounds with subtle movements. We’re looking for slow evolving pads here that don’t have a lot of movement. You don’t want to use short sounds because they’ll sound too harsh and busy. Short sounds are really not the point of soft electronic music since they are designed to be heard at low volumes.
The sounds used in soft electronic music are small plucks, bells, pads and atmospheric textures. These sounds are playing on a very low level, just to be present and to shape the music. The main role of these sounds is to create a soundscape texture where the other elements can play over.
The best way to create these textures is to take a few samples of white noise or a soft synth patch with some low pass filtering applied. Then you need some effects like reverb and delay. A great tool for this kind of effect is a vocoder. You can use it as an effect on pretty much any sound, but it will make your sound more rich and atmospheric especially when you apply some stereo widening effects on it or pan it around the stereo field.
An important thing about these sounds is that they need to be layered and played at different pitches simultaneously. This will make the sound more complex and interesting when these layers are playing together like one big pad sound.
Another useful tool for this type of music is the LFO (Low Frequency Oscillator). It will give you control over many parameters in your software synth or sampler, so you can tweak it very easily in real time, just by tweaking one parameter all others will follow with the same speed
Soft electronic music is a popular genre, combining the melodies and structure of traditional songwriting with the sounds, production techniques and technology of EDM.
To create a track like this that works for both dancefloors and radio, you’ll need to keep your production techniques tight and know how to add the right elements to take it to the next level. Here are seven tips for making soft electronic music.
For those who are looking to produce some soft electronic music or like the sound of the likes of Odesza and Porter Robinson, here are a few tips to get started.
1. Don’t use hi-hats
This is a big one. Although there are exceptions, typically you won’t hear hi-hats in this genre. They tend to cut through and make the mix sound harsh so it’s best just to leave them out completely.
2. Use long reverb times
Reverb can really help make your track sound soft and dreamy. Without it, things can end up sounding too dry. Longer reverb times will add more space and create a larger feel to your mix.
3. Add delay
Adding delay can also help with creating more space for your mix. This can be done on individual elements or on the overall bus as well depending on what you are going for.
4. Create pad sounds from scratch
Using samples is fine, but creating your own pads from scratch is often much better for this genre as it tends to have a more personal touch which makes for a more emotional experience for the listener overall. Here’s how you can do it:
1: Layer two saws at slightly different pitches with some