Subscribe
Home Recording

9 Beginner Sound Design Hacks That Will Transform Your Music

Does sound design have to be a chin-scratching world reserved just for the likes of electronic pioneers like Aphex Twin and Nils Frahm? Absolutely not. The world of sound design may carry a certain intellectual air to it, but that needn’t be the case, nor should you fear it. Here, Headliner brings you some simple and easy-to-implement sound design ideas that sound brilliant and show you don’t need to spend hours wandering around your local city or patch of countryside with a microphone to achieve. Get those designing hats on!

Process your reverbs

Reverbs are a digital effect created to replicate a natural, reverberant space such as a cathedral or hall. As they are effects, it’s a lot of fun to add more effects, and reverb sits very nicely at the end of an effects chain. Go crazy with some processing and you can achieve some pleasingly weird sounds!

Time is infinitely stretchy

A common use of time stretching in a DAW is to line up a sample with the BPM of the track, but this is another great place to get creative. Try time stretching a sample until it sounds like something else entirely, for example. A fantastic free plugin is PaulXStretch, which can turn samples, or even entire songs into an infinite-sounding ambient pad — lovely stuff!

Abusing convolution

Convolution effects are a means to creating some of the most authentic, close-to-the-real-thing reverbs. They also offer a big creative sound design opportunity: many convolution plugins allow the importing of sounds to use as IRs (impulse responses). These sounds would typically be the natural reverb recorded in a space, but today we’re getting whacky. Import other sound samples that you’ve recorded or from resources such as freesound.org and the convolution effects will bring you some insane sound design. This one is for the patient, the results won’t always be good or usable, but it’s worth sticking it out until you stumble onto something brilliant. Try throwing traffic sounds, birdsong, or whatever inspires you on the day.

If it ain’t broke

If you’re looking to create glitchy sounds, which often sound like synths or gear malfunctioning, one way to approach this sound design is to get very literal, by using broken gear or instruments. Safety-first of course; go for electronic gear that is slightly broken, rather than so battered that it’s likely to catch fire if you turn it on. Cables with a loose connection are a classic way of getting a glitchy sound, or a synth with a voice or two that are beginning to kick the can. I’m sure you’ll know that lo-fi music loves an out-of-tune piano, while broken drums and guitars can also yield great results.

Stack those distortions

Don’t be shy when it comes to experimenting with different distortion techniques — and definitely don’t limit yourself to just one distortion effect. Things can get very cool indeed from a sound design perspective when you chain multiple distortion plugins. This can totally transform a sound. Try a digital bit crusher and add an analogue drive. Modulating the parameters of each effect as they interact can lead to some really interesting tonal shifts and evolving textures.

Get Bon Jovi on everything

If your previous forays into sound design have left you feeling like you’re living on a prayer, here is another idea that isn’t difficult to implement at all. Vocoders were created with vocals in mind, and became a trademark part of the New Jersey rockers Bon Jovi’s sound, but how about chucking the effect onto different instruments and sounds? A few ideas to get you started: a synth, or a percussion track. But ultimately, go wild! Sound design is all about investigating uncharted territory.

Stick that reverb in reverse

Here’s a short and sweet one! It is nonetheless a powerful trick — add some reverb to your favourite one-shot (an audio sample with a single note or chord), bounce the audio, then simply reverse it. Like the aforementioned stutters and glitches, this oft-used sound design technique works great as a transition between sections. You will hear countless examples of reverse reverb used on vocals, pianos, and guitars, so try it on some more weird and wonderful instruments to get your own unique take on the technique.

Turn it into a synth

Here’s a game-changer for your burgeoning sound design brain — start looking at everything as a synth in waiting. Plugins such as Kilohearts Phase Plant and Arturia’s Pigments come with sample engines, in which you can drag and drop any sounds. So take a sample you are fond of, and start playing it as if it’s a synth. Try it with one of the weird sounds you’ve created from previous techniques for extra points!

Get stuck in a feedback loop

Some people see feedback in recordings, such as guitar feedback or the hiss of an old compressor, as unwanted noise to edit out. Not today! The kind of feedback loops that sound incredible are those heard via delay pedals or plugins. To really double down on this sound design, you can create loops of your own. To do this, route your audio to an effect send, and then route back to a new, separate audio track. Complete the loop by sending audio from your new track back to the send. You can level up even further by adding modulation filters, distortion, and whatever takes your fancy for a psychedelic explosion.

Hopefully, sound design is now a source of excitement and inspiration instead of stress and tears for you. When you approach it from a place of fun instead of heavy seriousness, the floodgates of creativity open and expect some crazy results.


Further Reading:

Best plugins for sound design