Filling holes

So I’m reading the Dance Music Manual, and it says “If the pad is being used as a lead or has to fill in a large ‘hole’ in the mix then it’s worthwhile adding a third oscillator and detuning this by +3 or +5 to make the timbre more substantial”



Here is the question… What does a “hole” look like or here like. I’m not too new with music production, but I have never gotten this technical either. I am curious to see what a hole would look like on a spectrum analyzer or what a hole would sound like too. Any help would be wonderful.



Any takers?:crazy:

my thought on that would be if your not using a lead but using a pad as a substitute the pad would need to fill in for the lead so to make it more substantial and less boring to the ear add another osc to beef things up .:slight_smile:

From what i’d gather it’s when there is that missing something in your track. Usually you get that if there is an area in your spectrum that doesn’t have anything filling it’s range.



So for instance maybe there isn’t something moving in the 2kHz range in your track, you may listen and something doesnt feel right.



However i may be wrong lol.

[quote]roben (6/24/2009)[hr]From what i’d gather it’s when there is that missing something in your track. Usually you get that if there is an area in your spectrum that doesn’t have anything filling it’s range.[/quote]



If I bring up the spectrum on my master track, there never really isnt any frequency that isnt covered in the full track. Could that be because when i filter out the individual channels, I’m not filtering out enough sound so that only a specific frequency is playing? Plus if you have a filter automated, its gonna swipe through a range of frequencies and it could muddy up your sound I suppose. Thoughts?

I wouldn’t really look at it like that mate, because the thing is you’re frequency spectrum on your master looking at the whole thing pretty much won’t really show what you’re missing.



The way i like to think of things is in parts.



Look at this chart and basically think about whether you have a key element in your track covering that range



[url=http://www.futuremusic.co.uk/page/futuremusic?entry=a_club_track_s_frequency]http://www.futuremusic.co.uk/page/futuremusic?entry=a_club_track_s_frequency[/url]



The term ‘pad’ came from ‘padding’, it was just shorterned somewhere along the line.

It’s just to broaden out your track, obviously you dont have to always have pads, only really it’s something that is there to compliment the track, although many people can end up using it and it just muddies up the track. It’s all about again looking at your frequency range and seeing where about’s you may need one, if at all.



Sorry mate, i’m only amature at this game so by all means defo don’t take my comments as the ‘correct way’ or anything like that, i’m probably completely wrong hahaha.

[quote]howiegroove (6/24/2009)[hr]So I’m reading the Dance Music Manual, and it says “If the pad is being used as a lead or has to fill in a large ‘hole’ in the mix then it’s worthwhile adding a third oscillator and detuning this by +3 or +5 to make the timbre more substantial”



Here is the question… What does a “hole” look like or here like. I’m not too new with music production, but I have never gotten this technical either. I am curious to see what a hole would look like on a spectrum analyzer or what a hole would sound like too. Any help would be wonderful.



Any takers?:crazy:[/quote]



pads are generally single notes, mabye quite high in the frequency spectrum likes strings etc.

Lead sounds are usually in the Middle of your spectrum above the bass, anywhere for example from about 400hz to say… 4khz.

your pads are prob above that 8khz<



i think what the manual is getting at, that with the absence of a lead sound, using only a pad, which are typically airy, you may need to add in another oscillator and detune it to change the timbre of the pad, to make it more like a lead sound, effectively adding body to it to make up for the lack of a lead sound!



make sense?