Hello everyone! i recently joined up with SA to help further my music production skills in the realm of electronic music. (Trance is my thing). I’ve been struggling getting synthesis down properly for months now and have found the videos and techniques here to be very helpful. I’ve spent a good time atching rewatching and taking notes nd i look forward to taking away as much as i can from the courses here.
Here’s my issue: i love the lead sound from the classic “Bullet in the gun 2000” i know it’s layered supersaws with heavy delay and verb (possible pad underneath). But i’m struggling to get it right. So far everything i’ve tried with Sylenth has sounded too harsh and even combining with Vanguard and Nexus i just can’t get it right. If anyone can help me out on how to break down the sounds of this track it would be greatly appreciated!
Also i’m both a Logic & Ableton user if that helps any.
-Cheers & hope all is well!
-Luke
Above is the original saturday mix version (Instrumental) of the 99 release. I couldn't get the 2000 version to embed but you can find it on youtube if you do a search :D
The key to getting a really great, ‘professional’ quality sound, is going to be in the tiny details, and also in the processing that you do, above and beyond just stacking up a load of detuned supersaws!
You have to consider that the exact sound in ‘Bullet in the Gun’ (or any other top trance track for that matter that has a sound that is based on detuned supersaws) - it may have taken the producer and/or engineer many, many hours of hard work to get the sound exactly right and sounding that good - and of course they need to get an exact sound that slots perfectly into the mix of the overall track, and complements all the other elements of the track perfectly.
Even for highly proficient and experienced producers and engineers - this can take hours and hours of tweaking and trial and error to get this exactly right!
So my advice to you would be - layer some supersaw sounds that you think will work and get you the sound you’re seeking in the end - then be prepared to tweak and experiment for hours with EQ, compression, reverb, delays, effects such as chorus and unison etc etc, - think about it - it’s not going to be easy to get something that sounds amazing and fits perfectly in the mix in 5 or 10 mins - you have to keep working on it until it sounds just like it needs to!
I would imagine that Oakenfold and the engineer(s) that he used to produce the track - spent alot of time on that lead to get the final result that you hear in the track!
Thanks David! i will try experimenting with the finer elements to see what i can come up with. I’m no stranger to hours in the studio mucking about with things (i am an audio engineer who usually deals with bands etc…) But when it comes to the electronic side it’s all new to me. Synthesis especially as mentioned. Thank you for your advice i will try that this weekend. I cam across a few things in logic that might work the other night going through presets to start off with and edit from there. Cheers!
Yeah one thing i have found really useful, is to look at really good sounding presets from softsynths, and figure out why they sound so good.
Often, it is very small, minor things that have been done that only affect the sound a little bit, but they do make a difference!
Of course, layering is another key method that the top pro’s employ to get great sounds - so many times what sounds like one single synth sound in a track - is in fact maybe 2 or 3 sounds layered, sometimes even more!
These things often only make small differences on there own - but when you add them all up, they end up making a big difference to the final sound that you are left with!
Cheers for all the advice mate! 
i just spent a day tweaking and have come up with the basic core of it. I just need to blend them better and work out the pad sound now. Thanks!
Nice answer David. Which lead are you referring to Luke? The one before the breakdown that plays during the build up or the one that plays during the breakdown?