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How are sound effects created?

Sound effects are created using a range of techniques including sound recording, synthesis, and sound processing. Sound designers work closely with filmmakers to identify what sound effects are required for a film. They then capture or create the audio needed to make the effects, shape the effects using music software, and add the completed effects to the film.

All kinds of sound effects might be required for a film, from the smallest detail (a creaking door or swishing curtain) to the most dramatic explosion. Some of these sound effects relate to action happening on screen, while others – such as impacts and risers – exist outside the “world” of the film alongside the musical soundtrack.

How do people make sound effects?

Sound designers make sound effects using a combination of synthesizers, recorded sounds or samples, and sound shaping with audio effects and other tools. Some sound designers may record audio on the set of the film or in their own studios, while many get sounds from professional sample libraries or create sound effects from scratch using synthesizers. However a sound designer gets their audio, they’ll then need to shape it into the final effect using editing, arranging, and audio effects such as EQ and distortion.

How to generate sound effects

You can generate sound effects using tools that are easy to get hold of – you don’t need to be a professional sound designer to make great sound effects.

You could start by recording your own sounds using a microphone and audio recorder. If you don’t have this equipment, sound libraries offer a wealth of great sounds for creating sound effects. Professional sound libraries charge a subscription, but there are also free libraries such as Freesound and Free Sounds Library.

Native Instruments also offers thousands of pro-grade samples, from evocative atmospheres to cutting edge sound design and orchestral instruments. Explore cinematic sound libraries from Native instruments.

You might even want to create your own sounds from scratch using a synthesizer.

Once you have your sounds, they need to be shaped into sound effects. For this, you’ll need music software such as a DAW and audio effects like EQ, reverb, and distortion.

Komplete Start gives you seven audio effects perfect for creating sound effects, as well as samples, synthesizers, Kontakt instruments, and more – and it’s completely free. It’s a great place to start on your sound effects journey.

With a box of audio tools at your disposal, you’ll be able to start shaping your sounds into convincing effects. We’ll look at exactly how to do this in the examples below.

How to create 6 popular sound effects

1. Impact

In modern film, Impacts – or hits – are used like punctuation marks. These dramatic booms and clanks can emphasize shocks, climaxes, and transitions on screen. You’ll find them in action and horror movies, and they’re all over Hollywood trailers.

The trick to creating an impact effect is layering. One percussion sound on its own might be a pretty boring hit, but four or five complementary samples can make for a complex impact with weight, personality and drama. Here’s how to do it.

How to produce a song start to finish

There are many ways to create a complete piece of music. A common approach would be to begin by picking an idea, theme or mood, then compose chords, beats, melodies and lyrics.

Next the song needs to be arranged, after which you’ll likely want to make some tweaks to the mix. Finally the song can be mastered, using tools such as Ozone 11 Elements.

How to mix a song from start to finish

One common way to mix a song from start to finish is to first balance the levels of your tracks, so that nothing is too loud or too quiet. Next, effects such as EQ, dynamics processing, delay and reverb can be applied to ensure that each element sounds its best.

Some producers prefer to mix as they go rather than after the arrangement has been completed, and some like to reference against professional tracks to ensure that their mix sounds comparable.

How can I produce my own song?

Everything you need to produce your own song is included in Native Instruments 360 Essentials, including instruments, effects, and mixing and mastering tools. By following this tutorial you’ll be able to produce your first song, and this should give you the confidence and inspiration to make many more.

How to create a song from start to finish

1. Creating a concept

Many musicians start their projects by simply noodling with whatever instruments they have to hand, but let’s take a more organized approach.

Currently, crossover country tracks are popular, so let’s make a laid-back country/hip-hop hybrid. By making this decision we already know that our track’s tempo should probably be in the 80-100 BPM range, and that we’ll need a guitar instrument, a drum kit and a bass sound at the very least. Session Guitarist Strummed Acoustic, Empire Breaks and Massive X are all included in 360 Essentials, so we can use those to make the foundation of our track, then add other elements when we have a better idea of the track’s vibe.

Now, let’s begin making our track. Set the project tempo to 85 BPM.

What’s inside?

360 is one of the world’s largest collections of music production software packed with bestsellers from Native Instruments, iZotope, and Brainworx. From synth and sample instruments to mixing and mastering tools, each package has everything you need to get started, get creative, and finish your music. Plus you’ll get your hands on the latest instruments and effects as they are released. For a detailed product comparison list, head here.

Putting it all together: from idea to finished chorus

Creating a chorus is about blending melody and lyrics into a seamless whole. Start by brainstorming the main idea or emotion you want your chorus to convey. This idea will guide the melody and the lyrics. Once you have a clear concept in mind, experiment with different melodic ideas. Don’t be afraid to try out multiple versions until you find the one that feels right.

It’s important to allow yourself time to experiment during this process. Sometimes, the best ideas come from unexpected places. You might start with one idea for the chorus and end up somewhere completely different by the time you’re finished. This is a natural part of the creative process, so lean into it and be okay with making mistakes.

Arrange your instrumental to fit the chorus

Having a solid grasp of production and arrangement can help bridge the gap between vocals and instrumentation. By understanding the basics of arrangement, you’ll see that a powerful chorus isn’t just about the vocals — it’s about how all the elements of a track work together.

That is to say, you should use arrangement ideas to make your chorus stand out and convey the emotion you’re trying to evoke.

You can try things like adding extra instrumental layers or even stripping some away; writing soaring harmonies over the chorus section; or adding rhythmic pulses to the chorus to add interest. This part is really up to you and your creativity.

On the production side of things, make sure you have all the right tools to help you along the way and let you get your ideas down quickly and efficiently.

Get started writing catchy choruses

Writing a compelling chorus is all about finding the right balance between melody, lyrics, and emotion. By understanding the purpose of the chorus and crafting a catchy melody that complements memorable lyrics, you can create a chorus that people will remember.

Grab a free copy of Komplete Start, hop into your DAW, and start writing a catchy chorus today.

Get Komplete Start

Who is the greatest film composer of all time?

Our vote for the very best film composer of all time depends on who’s asking. If you care deeply about the history of cinema, we’d credit Max Steiner for his role in inventing film music as we know it. If you’re a lover of memorable themes, John Williams is perhaps the greatest film composer at writing iconic melodies. If you’re interested in bold new sounds, Vangelis or Mica Levi (Micachu) might be the best film composer for you.

Each of these movie composers has made a unique and essential contribution to the art of film scoring. Explore them all and see which you connect with.

Who is the most prolific film score composer?

The most prolific film score composer might be Ennio Morricone, who wrote over 400 scores in his lifetime. Aside from defining the sound of Westerns, Morricone composed for a dizzying range of genres, and his influence is still felt in film music today. But he faces stiff competition from composers like Max Steiner – who wrote over 300 scores – and Hans Zimmer, who has some 250 score credits to his name (and counting).

10 of the best film composers of all time

1. Max Steiner

Max Steiner helped invent film music as we know it. Or as critic Paul Cote wrote: “Steiner’s music had extraordinary influence on the techniques, approaches, and conventions that remain the foundation of film music in the Western world.”

Why was he so influential? Timing was a factor. Born in 1888, Steiner began working in Hollywood in the silent movie era and was well-placed to shape the transition to “talkies.” His colorful backstory also played a part. Steiner was born in Austria before fleeing to the US as an adult, and he used his European classical education to develop the language of movie music.

Steiner took inspiration from Richard Wagner’s “Leitmotif” technique to bring drama to films. He would write melodic themes for every character in a film, capturing and heightening their personality through his choice of tune. Steiner also pioneered the technique of closely matching film music to the action on screen. These ideas might seem obvious now, but that’s because Steiner (and his contemporaries like Erich Korngold) made them the foundations of film music.

Steiner wrote over 300 film scores, many of them classics that place him among the greatest film composers. His music for Gone With The Wind (1939) drew on traditional American melodies to conjure the atmosphere of the Civil War American South. In Casablanca (1942), he transformed the melody from a popular song, “As Time Goes By,” into a gorgeous theme that became one of the film’s most memorable features – and an all-time movie music highlight.

How many kinds of rap are there?

It’s impossible to say exactly how many kinds of rap there are, but we could list dozens of different rap genres, from feel-good Old School to spine-chilling Horrorcore, crossover Pop Rap, and beyond. Rap is one of the most popular music genres of all time, and it’s taken countless forms in its 50 year history. In this article, we’ll explore the 20 most important types of rap music.

What defines the rap genre?

Rap is a genre of music developed by Black musicians in the US, centered around a rhythmic, spoken vocal delivery. Beyond this basic definition, there have been countless different types of rap over the years. Rap can be propulsive or laid back, aggressive or mellow, jazzy and sample-based or futuristic and synth-heavy. We’ll take a look at the diversity of rap genres in this article.

What makes rap a genre?

Rap is a genre because its key elements make it distinctive: rhythmic, spoken vocals and hip-hop beats. These elements are so powerful original that they have become recognized worldwide, making rap one of the most successful music genres of all time.

What are the three main subgenres of hip hop?

Hip hop can be separated into countless subgenres, but the three most important relate to the three regions of the US that are most important in rap: the East Coast, the West Coast, and the South. Each of these three subgenres can be further subdivided into different rap styles. For example: the East Coast is famous for the raw sound of boom bap. The West Coast invented smooth, sleazy G-funk. And the South has brought us unmistakable rap genres like Bounce and Crunk.

Effects-based processing

Applying effects is an effective way to alter and enhance tone.

Reverb adds a sense of space and depth, making a recording sound as if it was made in a concert hall, cathedral, or small room.

Delay creates echoes, repeating the sound at specific intervals.

Distortion and saturation introduce harmonic overtones, adding warmth or grit.

Chorus and flanger are modulation effects that create a sense of movement and thickness by slightly detuning and delaying the sound.

If you want to dive deeper into these ideas, check out this article where we demonstrate how effects processing can yield different guitar tones.

Equalizers

An equalizer or EQ is a tool used to adjust the balance of different frequency components in a sound, allowing you to shape very specific parts of the tone.

By boosting or cutting frequencies in the bass range, you can affect the warmth and power of the tone. Adjusting the midrange frequencies can influence the character of certain instruments and vocals, making them more or less prominent in the mix. Enhancing or reducing treble frequencies impacts the clarity and brightness of the tone, allowing you to fine-tune the overall sound.

Oscillator

The Oscillator is the starting point of virtually all synthesis. Oscillators generate a fast, repeating signal that we hear as a waveform. It might be a smooth, undulating sine wave, a sharp sawtooth wave, or a boxy square wave, for example. Different oscillator modules offer different waveforms, and different controls for shaping the sound they produce.

In modular synthesis, most Oscillators need to be combined with other modules to create compelling sound. These extra modules will speak to the Oscillator via CV signals, allowing you to control the pitch and envelope of the notes produced.

More sophisticated Oscillator modules give you access to more niche and adventurous forms of synthesis, such as additive and FM synthesis. Depending on the kind of sounds you want to make, you could also explore other sound generators for your modular synth: for instance, a module that plays back samples, or a module that generates drum sounds.

Amplifier (VCA)

An Amplifier module is used to control the volume of other modules – typically Oscillators. In their basic state, most Oscillator modules in modular synthesis just output a continuous tone. You have to tell the module when to play a “note.” You can do this by sending it volume signals with an Amplifier module. This basic task makes Amplifier modules one of the simplest, and most essential, components in a modular rig.

Envelope Generator (EG)

An Envelope Generator can be used to change parameters over time – like the loudness of your synth sound – using editable shapes called envelopes.

Envelopes give contour to a sound. When you hear a synth bassline with a sharp attack that quickly fades away, or a pad that slowly arrives and lingers for a while, you’re hearing an envelope at work.

An Envelope Generator is likely to do at least two jobs in your modular rig.

Firstly, an EG patched to an Amplifier will allow you to shape the loudness of each synth “note” over time. Every time you want a note to play, you’ll need to trigger the Envelope Generator, which sends volume commands to the Amplifier, which in turn changes the volume of the oscillator signal.

That’s right: just to play “notes” with a modular synth, you’ll probably need at least three modules: an Oscillator, an Amplifier, and an Envelope Generator.

The other common job for an Envelope Generator is to control Filter Cutoff. But the flexibility of modular synthesis means you can get creative with how you use envelopes by hooking them up to other parameters. For instance, try patching your EG to the Oscillator’s pitch to make zippy lazer sounds.

The most common form of Envelope is ADSR. But there are many kinds of Envelope Generator module out there, offering funky envelope shapes and deep customization.

Other modulators

An Envelope Generator is a kind of modulator. That means it’s a module that doesn’t generate or process audio itself, but instead sends commands to other modules to make them behave in certain ways. Modulation is an essential part of all synthesizers. By making synth sounds move, modulation helps them to sound alive and unpredictable.

Your modular setup should have at least a few modulation modules. If you’ve used other kinds of synthesizer, you’ll be familiar with the other common modulator type: the Low Frequency Oscillator (LFO), which outputs a slow up-and-down signal, great for making your sounds drift and shimmer.

In most conventional synths, you can only assign your modulators to a few parameters. A modular synth lets you patch in your modulator anywhere that takes a modulating signal. This allows you to create complex routings and surprising sounds. You could even modulate your modulators, by using (for example) one LFO to change the depth or frequency of another LFO. This is when modular synths start to take on a life of their own.

Filter (VCF)

Filters shape the frequency content of a sound. They might do this by removing all the high frequencies above a certain point in the frequency spectrum (in the case of a low pass filter), or cutting unwanted low frequencies (high pass filter).

Filters play a crucial role in all synthesis, by shaping the raw sound that comes out of an oscillator to make it sound smoother and more controlled. Analog (or analog-modeled) EQs can also add character to the sound, particularly when you start turning up the resonance (steepness of the filter peak).

Most modular synth setups will need at least one filter. Preferably a low pass, though many manufactures offer “multi-mode” filters that can adopt different filter shapes for more versatility.

Try controlling a filter with an Envelope Generator to make your synth sound’s frequency profile change over time. But note: if you’re already using your Envelope Generator to control your Amplifier, you might need to get a second EG to control your Filter.

Trigger

One thing that sets a modular synthesizer apart is what it doesn’t have: a keyboard. You can add one if you like, by hooking up a MIDI keyboard to your rig using a MIDI to CV interface (which translates your MIDI notes into messages your rig can understand).

But there are other ways to tell your rig what to do. A Sequencer is a module that outputs a series of predetermined signals to create looping patterns. Sequencers can be used to program melodies, rhythmic patterns, and more – and are great for creating multi-layered music when you only have two hands. The most complex and exciting modular patches rely on clever use of Sequencers.

How to compose a film score

To compose a film score, you need strong musical ideas that will heighten the action on-screen – along with the tools to make them reality. Effective film scoring tools let you conjure powerful, evocative sounds to match whatever scene you’re scoring. That might mean traditional acoustic sounds for a romantic moment, twisted abstract textures for sci-fi, or unusual instruments to evoke faraway times and places.

Kithara can do all three. This cinematic guitar library offers an eclectic collection of plucked string instruments from across the world, ranging from beloved classics to intriguing oddities. It also gives you the tools to layer, shape, and transform these samples into a wide range of sounds, so that creating a film score can be quick and easy. Beginners will find Kithara a handy go-to scoring instrument, while more experienced composers will be inspired by its unusual sound palette and innovative shaping tools.

How to create film scoring sounds with Kithara

We’re going to show you how to score a movie using Kithara. In this case, we’re creating a film score for a wistful scene set in a faraway place.

Here’s our cue. It features three sounds: chords, an evocative melody, and an atmospheric layer. Let’s break down each layer in turn.

Ableton Live 12.1 is available now.

Free for all Live 12 users, this update brings major additions and improvements to all editions of Live, including Live Lite.

Auto Shift – real-time pitch tracking and correction device

Live 12.1 now allows for native, real-time pitch correction with Auto Shift. Use scales to keep every note in tune with your track, create harmonies from monophonic signals using MIDI sidechain, and add vibrato and modulation to your sound using MPE or the device’s LFO.

Drum Sampler – compact one-shot sampler with built-in effects

This flexible device pairs essential sampling controls with effects such as 8-Bit, time stretch, ring modulation, FM, pitch envelope, and punch: giving you a faster way to flip, mangle and fine-tune your beats.

Auto-tagging for all your samples

Searching your library is faster with Live 12’s filters – and now there’s no need to tag the samples yourself. Live 12.1 automatically assigns new tags to any sample in your library under 60 seconds long, and VST3 plugins will also be assigned tags based on metadata. 

Improved Limiter and Saturator

Limiter gets a complete overhaul – with a smoother release curve to reduce distortion, updated metering, and the addition of Mid/Side routing, True Peak, Soft Clip, and Maximize modes. Saturator sees the addition of a Bass Shaper curve ideal for low-end processing, as well as a more focused UI.

MIDI editing improvements

You can now use the MIDI Editor’s toolbar to filter and select notes by time, pitch, velocity, chance, duration, and several other properties. Live 12.1 also introduces two new MPE-specific MIDI Transformations – Glissando and LFO – allowing you to create curves for the MPE parameters of selected notes.

Create more intuitively on Push

Live 12.1 comes with a host of updates to Push. Design sounds with more detail and control with Push 2 and 3 using Macro Variations, and add instant groove to all MIDI clips in your Set with a single twist of an encoder on Push 3.

The new update brings Live 12’s filtering system to the browser on Push 2 and 3, as well as auto-tagging for samples on Push 3 standalone. Plus, you can now save Default Sets and Template Sets on Push 2 and 3, and organize your Sets by moving tracks and scenes. 

Check out the Push release notes for more information on what you can do with Push and Live 12.1.

MIDI Tools by Philip Meyer

This Pack of MIDI Generators and Transformations from Max for Live developer Philip Meyer opens up myriad rhythmic and melodic possibilities. Three MIDI Generators let you create tumbling, stuttering patterns (Phase Pattern), work with evolving, multitrack Euclidean rhythms (Polyrhythm), and play with stage-based sequencing (Stages), while Retrigger and Slice Shuffler offer novel ways to repeat, rearrange and refresh existing MIDI clips.

Sequencers by Ableton

This Pack of sequencers from Ableton instrument designers Marco Tonni and Christian Kleine incorporates creative new approaches to step sequencing with fundamental features inspired by hardware systems and classic Live devices.

Apply arpeggiated patterns across several MIDI parameters with StepArp. Use SQ to generate complex sequences through MIDI step recording and its unique Condition feature. And reach for the percussion-focused Rhythmic Steps with its four lanes and nested subsequences – all with the option of individual loop lengths – to generate endlessly evolving and polyrhythmic patterns.

Please note that both the MIDI Tools and Sequencers Packs are only available for users of Live 12.1 Suite or Live 12.1 Standard with Max for Live.

Take the tour to learn more about Live 12, and head to the Ableton shop to get your license now.

Live 12.1 is a free update for all Live 12 users and will be installed the next time you open Live. If auto-update is turned off, go to your user account to download. 

For full details on Live 12.1 check out the release notes*

*Note: Release notes are only available in English