From dense, rich chordal washes to delicate single-note threads, the synth pad is a staple component in just about all forms of electronic music. With these seven tips and techniques, we’ll show you how to take yours to new heights.

1. Layer up those oscillators – and synths!

Among the keys to all but the simplest of pad sounds is textural complexity, and the easiest way to imbue that is to stack up different oscillator waveforms, wavetables, samples or whatever currency your pad instrument of choice deals in. Detune the oscillators away from each other and dial in some unison to thicken up the aggregate sound, and use your instrument’s envelopes, filters and effects to pull it all together. And why stop there? Having deployed all three oscillators in your virtual analogue, say, rack up another synth or sampler and mix in yet more layers, bringing the various threads of your pad together as a cohesive whole using level balancing, EQ, compression and effects.

2. Bring the noise

That noise generator on your plugin synth isn’t just for hi-hats and risers, you know – it’s also a very effective tool for working a little fizz and high-frequency presence into pads. Try all available colours of noise to find the one that best suits the timbre and spectrum of the rest of the sound, and apply a bit of gentle filter modulation to add interest. You’ll probably want to keep the noise signal low in the mix, though – generally, the idea is for it to contribute to the sound rather than dominate it.

3. Integrate found sounds

Lend your pad an organic vibe by blending in a looping (or long) environmental recording – running water, wind, rain, cafe background noise… you get the gist. A dedicated field recorder is ideal for capturing such material, obviously, but you can get excellent results with a USB mic plugged into your phone or tablet. EQ and filter the audio to bed it in with your synth layers, and experiment with processing – reversing, pitching, etc – if total realism isn’t called for.

4. Modulate everything

Unless you want your pads to come across as flat and lifeless, getting busy with the various modulation systems offered by your instrument(s) at every stage of sound design is absolutely essential. Prime targets for automated control via LFOs, envelopes, step sequencers and so forth are filter cutoff, oscillator shape or wavetable index position, oscillator and unison detune, and – if supported by the synth in question – effects. The ultimate goal is to create something that comes across as animated and ‘alive’, but do exercise restraint with your modulation machinations – pads usually want to be part of the background rather than an up-front distraction. Subtle changes over time, then, rather than 100% depth on everything 

5. Sidechained dynamics

Modulation is the first port of call for adding motion to any synth sound, but when you want to align a pad’s rhythmic progression with that of the contextual track, reach for a sidechained compressor or gate, keyed off the drums, most likely. We’re not necessarily talking overt pumping or deep, punctuative chopping – the lightest touch of pulsation could be all that’s required to match your pad’s dynamic profile to that of the rhythm section. But that’s not to say that heavy sidechaining and gating don’t also have their place in pad design: the entire trance genre would be very different without those kick drum-ducked pads, after all.

6. Don’t overlook onboard effects

Today’s software ’power synths’ – by which we mean the likes of Omnisphere 2, Serum, Hive 2, Dune 3, VPS-Avenger, Massive X, etc – are loaded with incredible built-in effects that genuinely do away with the need to draw on separate plugins for processing and polishing. Distortion, chorus, phasing, flanging, reverb and delay are at the top of the list for pad sounds, and, as suggested above, they become even more creatively useful if they can be modulated within the synth.

7. Rendering and chord sampling

Rendering your synthesised pad as an audio clip opens up all sorts of creative possibilities, from slicing and rearranging (the more modulation in the original part, the better), to reversing and timestretching. And if your sampled pad comprises a clearly defined chord, try bunging it in a sampler and playing it up and down the keyboard – the linear spacing of the notes within the chord will be maintained as it’s transposed, resulting in all sorts of strange harmonies and interesting timbral shifts. Known as ‘chord sampling’, this technique was utilised by old-school house, techno and jungle producers to ‘offload’ synths to sampler memory, freeing them up for redeployment elsewhere, but became a characterful sound in its own right – and one that’s made something of a comeback of late.

Have you got any top pad production tips to pass on? Let us know in the comments.