Getting fat and punchy attitude

[carfo]

Hi. From time to time I try to submit to the HipHop, Trap and EDM listings, but in most cases I get the cues in return. Most of the comments from the screener I have found a solution to when I go back and rework my cues. However one question seem to come back and hunt me.

How do I make my synths sound more fat and punchy? Any tricks of trade or recommendation on libraries and synths to use?

Thanks

[ochaim]

Have you tried layering more sounds under it? Not necessarily synths but its a good start. Detuning can also help too depending on the synth youre using. That’s for fat/fullness but it should also help punchiness since you’re adding more stuff to the attack portion with the layers.

hope that helps.

[Len911]

There are compressor/limiters, and there are a couple plugins from Sonnox you might look into, the transmod and the inflator. Those I'm sure aren't the only way, but you might find those to be the quickest and easiest tools to get the result you are after. There are plenty of demos on youtube.

[carfo]

Thanks Owen and Len911 for good advice. I will try them as soon as I can.

[Razor7Music]

Anyone ever used a transient shaper on keys? I know they can make drums punchier.

[Len911]

Anyone ever used a transient shaper on keys? I know they can make drums punchier.

I would think in most cases they might be punchy enough or too punchy, but I would call punchy something that accentuates the attack envelope and fat as having to do more with harmonics. There might be other reasons why a synth or keys are not punchy, maybe too many things competing in their freq range?

[mojobone]

Probably some combination of compression and saturation is in order. You can get one or both from a single plugin or separately, as you please. Inflator can work, but it can sound tubby and tight if you use too much. Tape emulations are useful, too. Some hiphop genres feature loops that have been compressed beyond the point of distortion; they don't call it the Dirty South for nothing. Probably the best option for this sort of thing is the UBK-1 plugin; it provides a ton more control than your typical transient shaper. The key is getting the phat, without losing too much of the transient detail that packs the punch. I have a mastering plugin with a preset called Acuma Punch that can pump the weakest mix into 'holy terror' territory. It's basically a multiband compressor, no EQ. Multiband dynamic EQs can work, too, but often as not, punch or lack thereof is all about the arrangement and the sounds/patches you choose. If you can get the sound at the source, you won't need the bandaids.

[cosmicdolphin]

Learn to use sidechaining..or something like LFO tool