I come from the acoustic world. So when I get a film score, I pick my instruments and often that constrains me to a small set of samples to choose from. Even for a piano, I often choose among a small set based on the exact sound I am looking for. Within a short time frame - often less than an hour, I have defined my basic set of samples assigned to tracks (often about 30 to 40 tracks). Even the choice of percussion and percussive sounds are rather quickly chosen and defined (and they often end up being multiple 'programs' within the same track).
I have occasionally scored with synths - but that is normally not my 'sound' especially since I have concentrated on shorts and not episodic/tv projects which are often tied to synth rather than acoustic sounds.
So last week I signed a contract to score a film and the filmmaker/director wants it to 'sound like' the soundtrack to "Tesla" which is as far as I can tell pretty much all synth. She wants the sound to be 'atmospheric' / chordal with little to no melodic basis.
I can do that. So I went off to look at what synths I had to draw from. The project has little money so I am not looking to purchase any additional stuff - just use what I have. Nonetheless, I quickly discovered I had literally hundreds of options/candidates/samples.
1. I should have but never cataloged and described any of them and so while most of them were 'unsuitable' for this project, I spent the better part of day listening to everything I had to pick some 'candidates'.
2. I listened to the ones I had picked on previous projects. Unfortunately some of them go back more than 5 to 10 years and so they were based on some synth samples that were GIG (Gigastudio) files that will not convert (with Kontakt 5 as Kontakt 6 dropped the import feature, I believe). So I could use them but it would have to be with a 3rd party Gig sampler called GPlayer (which I own) or perhaps I could use a 3rd party utility like CDXtract (same vendor as GPlayer) but that is a cost item is I don't own it. Doable but not preferable unless the filmmaker really likes the sound.
So for those of you who depend more on synths than acoustic samples, how do you choose among your 100s of samples/candidates. Do you maintain a small 'go to' list, do you listen to previous projects/films, do you try to figure it out by first choosing a 'set' or by the 'name' of the sample? something else?
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You could look to preset developers to see how they organize their sets. SoundDUST and The Unfinished are my favorite preset developers for soft synths. They'll organize presets with groupings like BASS, PAD, LEAD, PERC, ARP, SFX. It doesn't take too much to see how those track to orchestral instruments, if you're used to thinking that way.
Samples of synths can work, depending on how much control the player gives you over the samples. Omnisphere uses a combination of synth and samples that makes it one of the most useful synths in my arsenal. Plus it's got hardware synth integration if you have some of those. But you should definitely check out soft synths (emulated or virtual synths), especially if your samples are 10+ years old. Soft synths are much more flexible, since you can control the actual elements (oscillators, filters, etc.) directly. The way you would with hardware synths. My favorites are the U-he synths: Diva, Repro, and Zebra (they also have a bunch of free soft synths). I also use Massive X (née Massive), which I used a fair amount in OUIJA HOUSE.
Side note: am I thinking of the right TESLA? I thought that was an orchestral (albeit hybrid/processed) score.
Here's my electronica score to the sci-fi pilot PALLIDUS. It uses the soft synths Diva, CS-80 V (with a breath controller), OP-X PRO II, ZebraHZ, as well as the sampled synth Micro-5K. https://soundcloud.com/jonathanprice/pallidus
Totally agree with everything Jonathan says (though Joel, despite usually agreeing with what you post, on this occasion I do disagree with your comment about short films predominantly working with acoustic sounds- I've just finished my 26th short and there is a real mix of soundworlds ranging from experimental to the traditional in that back catalogue!)
Like Jonathan says a lot of the preset groups within soft synths should give you an idea of how to search and organise them. Some like Arturia Minilab have great filter options too. Personally I only occasionally use pre-built synth sounds for very specific needs. They aren't as personal or as distinctive, or anything like as flexible. My favourite synths are Zebra2, Iris, and my outboard Roland System2 (eventually I plan to get into Eurorack too, but that's enough synths for now). Within those soft synths I've got multiple folders with my own patches in. Those folders include a general folder for non-specific patches, and the rest are organised by film so I know what patches are the right soundworld for a particular project. They also all have suitably descriptive names making it easy to find what I need through search filters if needed. And if I need a synth I haven't already made, then I just make it! Like you say Joel, there's just too many inbuilt synth sounds with a lot of VSTs and it gets very overwhelming, so if you have a basic knowledge of synthesis it's just way quicker and more versatile to create from scratch. If you decide to try making your own and need any tips, just drop me a message and I'm happy to help.
I just had another thought Joel. Do you have any recording facilities and instruments available to you? One of my favourite things to do is to mangle live recordings so they take on ethereal or synth-like qualities. For example, for this kind of ambient/chordal thing, I might get my violin out and record some drones. I'd probably detune it or use my octave violin to get some lower range stuff. Then, maybe play with a few ideas like portamento movements, chord progression ideas, that kind of thing, and finally record some repetitive spiccato/ricochet pedals that can be transformed into driving rhythms. Then by using EQ/a distortion VST like Trash2/delays+reverbs (or my personal favourite transformation VSTs the GRM range), you can create synth-esque sounds to play with or even turn into your own virtual synths. I've successfully done this with a range of string instruments and vocals, but it would work for any instrument. Just a creative idea and feel free to disregard! (I have examples of work created this way if you'd like to hear them).
Joanna - not saying shorts are not scored with synths - I want to clarify, that I myself have scored only two or three of my films (so far) with synths and not acoustic samples.
Johnathan - my question was not as much about what synth to get but once you have all the synths (in my case hundreds if not thousands of unique sounds), how do you figure out what 'sounds' work for what you are doing. In the current project, I have listened to hundreds of the ones I have which has taken me hours. My main question is whether there is a 'better way'?
It's true, it takes time. And the reason I recommend virtual synths as opposed to sampled synths (or, more accurately, sampled synths that don't offer much control) is because you might find a preset that's close to what you're looking for, if only yadda yadda yadda.... With a virtual synth you can go into the preset and change the sound to make it do what you want, which could cut your search time considerably.