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Black Lead

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viper
viper|131

Hey everyone,

this is VIPER. I'm 13 years old and I'm starting to produce. This is a weird question to ask in this forum, but does anyone have a clue how to make the "Black" lead from MAKJ & Thomas Newson on serum or massive? Would love some comments! :)

bordercity
bordercity|1064
In reply to viper:

Hey, welcome to Equipboard :)

I haven't heard the song before, so I gave it a listen; it's quite a busy track. I'm wondering which sound specifically you are referring to? I think I can pick out a distinct lead, but i'd like to be sure on which sound you mean.

Also, good luck with all your production in the future. I started at about 13 (i'm 15 turning 16 now) so i'm not exactly old and wise but my biggest piece of advice is to just have fun and learn your gear.

You don't have to release all your music yet, or at least you don't have to care what people think of your music yet; just make songs and experiment and learn. When you get better, then you can think of releasing something.

Finish your ideas off, and try things out, even if it's weird and doesn't apply to an "image" or "sound" you want to relate to. You'll learn something.

Good luck :)

gchiaren
gchiaren|37548 ADMIN
GEAR:
  • Fender Telecaster Custom Electric Guitar
  • Big Ear Pedals Woodcutter
  • HeadRush FRFR Go Portable Desktop Amplifier
In reply to viper:

Hey viper! Did you know you can embed a YouTube video in this forum? I would suggest grabbing the link to the YouTube video for "Black", editing your forum post (just click "Edit your post" right below it), and pasting the link below your text.

That way, people can listen to it right away if they aren't familiar with the tune, and help you more easily :)

Oh and mention at what time in the video the lead sound you want comes in.

GEAR:
  • Fender Telecaster Custom Electric Guitar
  • Big Ear Pedals Woodcutter
  • HeadRush FRFR Go Portable Desktop Amplifier
viper
viper|131

Hello everyone again! Thank you of the comments! I know that I could post the video, it's just I'm on my Macbook and my father is the admin so he forbid me to use youtube. The lead I was looking for was when the breakdown starts. A breakdown is a term in EDM when this kind of melody and chord progression is played. It is normally not a crazy part. The drop is crazy part of song, it starts right after a build up (a rise). I hope you understand what I mean. :)

gchiaren
gchiaren|37548 ADMIN
GEAR:
  • Fender Telecaster Custom Electric Guitar
  • Big Ear Pedals Woodcutter
  • HeadRush FRFR Go Portable Desktop Amplifier
In reply to viper:

Ok no worries I'll post it, here it is for anyone wondering:

https://youtu.be/I2Id-FOnH_w?t=1m50s

Sounds like the breakdown starts around 1:50. Around 2:04 I hear a lead sound that progressively gets filtered in, and around 2:06 the lead is full on.

If that's the one you're talking about, it should be pretty straightforward! For the lead sound itself I'm sure you can find dozens of Massive or Serum presets that sound close to it. I think what gives this particular lead more weight is that there's white noise being played "behind" the notes, basically mirroring the melody. That's what gives is that sort of fuzzy sound. So grab a plain white noise preset for that one.

In terms of other effects, I hear subtle reverb, and the sound is nice and wide. Not sure if you've seen this post on mixing tips yet, but make sure to follow some of that advice. User a stereo widening plugin to widen the lead, and make sure to cut ALL the low frequencies you don't need that would muddy up the mix (try EQing out up to 400Hz, even higher on the white noise).

GEAR:
  • Fender Telecaster Custom Electric Guitar
  • Big Ear Pedals Woodcutter
  • HeadRush FRFR Go Portable Desktop Amplifier
boom762
boom762|12239 MODERATOR
In reply to viper:

Sounds pretty simple to replicate. Why kind of equipment are you working with? Moogs or Keyboards?

viper
viper|131

Hello everyone! thank you for your comments! Gchiaren ( I think that's how you spell it), thank you for being so specific! It is really helpful! I've already read the mixing tips so I'm going to start getting this preset done. Boom762: I'm working with keyboards but I can't do anything on there except play. my keyboard is a model from Yamaha. I'm not pretty sure now which model but for sure not the best model. I have a midi cable where I can then play the keyboard on my desk and transfer the melodies/ or what I'm playing into the computer and use the vst's.

boom762
boom762|12239 MODERATOR
In reply to viper:

You might look into getting a little sound mixer or DI (Direct In) box for the yamaha so you can have it run into your computer. You could then get a keyboard program so you can distort and tune your sound.

Look into Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater) and Janna Wirman (Children of Bodom). They both do a lot of cool things with keyboards and can play anyone under the table. Below is a link to a video where rudess explains how he gets his SOLO sound.

http://www.keyboardmag.com/create-sounds/1256/program-the-jordan-rudess-lead-sound-on-your-synth/29451

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