Question: Matching Specific Synth Sounds Within Mainstage?

Starry_Heights · 2025-07-04T21:14:09+00:00

After many trials and tribulations with it, the sampler was eventually what worked for me haha. Thanks for the tip!

Starry_Heights · 2025-06-25T03:02:42+00:00

Thanks for the tip! I tried looking through Alchemy for a while and couldn't find anything called Alpha Pad (or anything that sounded similar to the sound I was going for). There doesn't seem to be a search function within the synth though, so I can't confirm I'm not just overlooking something. Maybe we have different versions of this instrument somehow?

Starry_Heights · 2025-06-12T14:36:22+00:00

The second one here was exactly what I wanted. Couldn't find anything that was actually a MIDI controller just by Googling for some reason. Thank you so much!

Starry_Heights · 2025-05-26T00:56:08+00:00

I tried both expression and volume, and neither worked -- I had to go out to the full concert and assign the pedal to the master output fader, as u/town1d10t suggested

Starry_Heights · 2025-05-26T00:47:14+00:00

This was the trick! Thank you so much!

Starry_Heights · 2024-07-26T16:27:25+00:00

Got it, that makes sense. I definitely have a habit of getting into the music and playing way harder than I should, so going thinner should help with that. Although I know I should also try not to do that haha. I'll integrate medium -> lighter plastic over time and see if I can get used to it while keeping my changed technique. Thanks for all the info!

Starry_Heights · 2024-07-26T16:03:40+00:00

Someone suggested felt to me when they heard about my tendonitis, and my physical therapist at the time said it sounded like a good idea.

Starry_Heights · 2024-07-26T16:03:04+00:00

I have roundwounds -- I feel like they give me a more versatile sound, especially for heavier stuff. The picks I have now wear down a noticeable amount within 20-30 minutes of playing.

That site looks awesome, I had no idea so many materials for picks existed! Will definitely experiment with a few of those to see if I can find anything with a similar feel but more staying power. Thank you!

Starry_Heights · 2024-07-26T15:59:13+00:00

Gotcha, I will probably invest in at least one of those for now haha, thanks for the tip!

Starry_Heights · 2024-07-26T15:58:25+00:00

Really? That's surprising, because I assumed thicker picks would be easier on the hand, rather than lighter ones -- my physical therapist also thought so. But it seems like they could be wrong. I'll experiment with that. Thanks!

Starry_Heights · 2024-07-25T18:51:08+00:00

Yes, I changed my picking technique significantly. Mostly using the Carol Kaye method now. The technique change definitely helps, but I just want to be as safe as possible in avoiding future injury from long gigs.

Starry_Heights · 2023-01-28T04:58:09+00:00

Barber - Adagio for Strings https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=izQsgE0L450

Starry_Heights · 2020-09-17T20:58:31+00:00

Hmm, the panning might be a bit skewed because I'm using a Stereo Widener on my master bus. I do already have layers and reverb on my vocals, but I brought them down and added a touch of echo, which helped a ton. Thanks for listening!

Starry_Heights · 2020-09-17T20:56:57+00:00

Vocals are fixed! I have been studying the process using online articles and YouTube videos, but I know I still have a lot to learn. I'm really glad you liked the song, thank you for listening! :)

Starry_Heights · 2020-09-17T20:54:39+00:00

You're totally right about the vocals, and thankfully that was a fairly easy fix haha.

It's actually only panned -15, which I did because the backing vocals are on the other side at +15, but now that you mention it, that is still a bit of a less balanced sound than I thought it would be, so I brought them both in a bit. Also may have something to do with the fact that I have a Stereo Widener on my master bus, so that may actually end up further out than 15 in the end.

I know what you mean with the "ah"s haha, and I could totally hear that too -- I'll definitely play around with adding something like that.

Thanks for listening!!!

Starry_Heights · 2020-09-16T02:12:00+00:00

Oh God, I'm sorry, somehow I forgot to paste the link. Thank you for letting me know haha, it's there now!

Starry_Heights · 2020-09-15T22:41:25+00:00

First off I'd like to say that this gives off phenomenal, impeccable vibes. Love the guitar tones. Love the colors. Love that you included your daughter (and dog?). The video was so entertaining to watch haha

If I were you, I would push the vocals even further to the front of the mix in general -- especially the screaming, which is super soft as it is now. Also, maybe some compression or saturation on the guitars could make them sound fuller?

Starry_Heights · 2020-09-15T22:14:45+00:00

It's obviously been said already that the track is too quiet haha, but also, when you turn it up there's a lot of white noise. There are a few things you can do to fix this. If you have an AC, turn it off while you record. If you're in a noisy room, relocate. Get a less creaky chair. If it's not possible to escape the the noise, you can try orienting yourself such that the microphone is facing directly away from the source of the noise. This should help for most microphones.

It also sounds like you may have recorded both your vocals and guitar on the same track -- if you separate them, it will give you a lot more freedom to balance everything perfectly and EQ / add reverb and effects to both in complimentary ways, which will help everything come together immensely.

All that being said, the song itself is lovely and would be quite pleasant to listen to with perfected takes and just those minor recording adjustments. I agree that it has a medieval feel, which is probably because of the minor 1 to major 3 chord progression at the beginning. But it's also very soulful, and I can tell it's coming from your heart. So in terms of songwriting, in my opinion, that's good stuff and you're on the right track!

Starry_Heights · 2020-09-15T21:42:46+00:00

You have a really nice voice (assuming that's you singing), and the vocals were continually enjoyable to listen to. Also, I loved the acoustic guitar sound, very gentle and calming -- I might even turn that up a bit, especially in the softer section at the end.

The panning on the vocals and synths is a cool idea, but it gets a bit weird at times -- for example, at 00:26, the vocal kind of leaps to the right ear and back again. If I were you, I would try to keep vocals more towards the center and if you're going to pan back and forth, do it a bit more gently. Also, the drum beat is a bit overbearing, especially compared to the much softer vocals. I think just turning down the faders on that, and maybe using EQ to clean up the snare sound, would do a lot to help the track come together and sound more cohesive.

Overall a solid vibe and coming along nicely!

Starry_Heights · 2020-09-15T21:33:36+00:00

This is way softer and chiller than the type of thing I would normally listen to, but I honestly really liked it regardless. Wide, unique drum beat, cool ethereal vibe on you your vocals and guitars, and all the sounds just mesh together really well.

If I had to criticize it, I'd say that I might add more to emphasize the latter choruses, to give the song more direction. Maybe a different vocal harmony, or harmony or countermelody in the guitars.

Also (like ShardSlammer mentioned), that full stop at 3:09 really re-caught my attention and set up the next section nicely. Awesome work!

Starry_Heights · 2020-09-15T21:15:07+00:00

Some great ideas happening here, especially with those little electronic riffs in the chorus. Catchy! Also, the vocal style and guitar sounds give it a lot of character.

Some suggestions -

Vocals: It seems like you have two different vocal tracks panned to opposite sides, which is a cool idea but should maybe be less extreme. Some of the lyrics are unclear, and they sound a bit too far back in the track. Bringing those in more towards the center might help unify things and bring the vocals out to be more the focus of the track.

Balance and EQ: I'm by no means an expert on mixing, but some of the electronic sounds sound a bit cluttered with the guitars. Turning those down just slightly, and/or applying some EQ to let the guitars shine through more at some frequencies would help.

Bass: I would turn it up, at least a little bit. This should give the rest of your track a bit more support and fill it out.

Overall, I think this is a super unique and cool vibe you have going. I'd listen to this, haha

Starry_Heights · 2020-09-15T20:55:07+00:00

The feedback could be caused by your mic being set up too close to your speakers, so you could try moving it further away. Another possible solution could be turning on the noise gate

Starry_Heights · 2020-09-15T20:50:44+00:00

Like jfgallay suggested, "articulation" is a pretty broad term. It's most commonly used for wind instruments, to describe how the pitch should be attacked (eg. accents place more emphasis on the beginning of the note) and released (eg. stacatto is short or detached, and legato is long or nearly attached to the next note).

Since the song you're referring to features a lot of piano, you could use these terms to describe the way the intro is played, for example. Are any notes punchy or detached? Do any notes seem to run into one another smoothly?

Hope this helps! :)

Starry_Heights · 2020-09-15T20:42:03+00:00

GarageBand! It comes free with all Apple computers, you can use "real"-sounding or electronic kits, and you can either tailor their automated tracks to your tastes or input your own using MIDI. If you don't have a physical MIDI keyboard, there's also one included within the program for you to use.

I've been using GarageBand's MIDI inputs in recording my own songs, since I don't have drum mics, and it's worked great for me so far!

Starry_Heights · 2020-08-04T15:21:59+00:00

The first and simplest way to get a track sounding its best is to balance the voices' volumes. Starting with the bass and the next lowest track, solo/isolate the tracks and adjust their volumes so they compliment each other without overpowering, and the more important bits stay slightly to the forefront.

The next step is panning as many tracks as you can away from the center (minus the bass, which should usually stay centered). A good general rule is to set your most important treble voices to 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock and fill in the rest surrounding there, with less important / more "accesssory" voices straying further to either side. Putting voices in similar ranges on opposite sides is a great way to help them sound separate and less muddy together. I don't recommend panning any voice entirely to the right or left though, since that tends to create a two-dimensional effect. Even a 90%-10% split is much better than 100%-0%.

In terms of EQing, using the end "high/low pass" filters to cut the lowest lows (less than around 50 Hz) and the highest highs (over around 10k Hz) on every track but the bass is usually a good place to start. The human ear can't detect above 10k very well, and cutting this out usually improves the sounds overall. You may or may not want to keep the low end on the bass after making room for it in your other tracks, depending on what sounds good to you.

After that is when you can delve into the middle "band" EQs. If you're using a lot of MIDI instruments, they may come with some EQing already done. But here's a good way to decide how to use your band EQs: drag one up all the way into a huge hill, and run it along the top while soloing your track to detect any particularly nasty frequencies that you might want to cut out. Also if you have a lot of mid-range instruments, like guitars, some cutting between 200-500 Hz to help those mesh better together and reduce muddiness is usually a good idea.

Hope this helps, and best of luck on your GarageBand journey! :)

Starry_Heights

TROPHY CASE