# How are atmospheric drones made?



## jfino (Apr 29, 2017)

Hi,
Not 100% sure if this is the right place to post this .. 

I want to learn to make my own atmospheric drones from scratch. 
What are the tools and techniques used?
Anyone know good sources to learn from?

Thank you!
Jimmy


----------



## David D. (Apr 29, 2017)

I use granular synthesis to get some cool drones and pads sounds. I create my own from scratch using sounds I've recorded around my home and import them into padshop pro. I use padshop pro because it comes with cubase but there are a lot out there. You could even use kontakt if you have that. 

Here's a good YouTube video to get started with kontakt: 

I'm sure there's a lot more options, but this is what I use atm.


----------



## Ned Bouhalassa (Apr 29, 2017)

Drones can be made from many sources, synthesized and acoustic. One of the keys is imagine that this sound is the anchor around which other ideas may form, it is the base of a piece, the root and glue in a cue. And so you may want a filtered sound, that gently evolves through modulation (LFO, Envelope, by hand). If you want it rich, you can double the sources, maybe two or more different synths, playing at once. The richer the pad, often, the less will you find it useful for chord/polyphonic work. For dark drones, try playing back (non-multi-sampled) acoustic samples 4 octaves below their root. Lots of long reverb add room, as do multi-tap delays. Another tip is to use an envelope follower, tracking a dynamic, changing acoustic recording (stream in a wood, water drops after rain, radio announcer, dumbek solo, your voice) and apply the resulting modulation to the filter cutoff, filtering a static synth voice/oscillator.


----------



## Ned Bouhalassa (Apr 29, 2017)

Yes, granular synthesis is a good option, but IMHO, it's a quick fix, and is heard so much that it's becoming tiring.


----------



## Ned Bouhalassa (Apr 29, 2017)

Best source to learn from is nature, as drones are everywhere around us (traffic, planes, wind, rivers, electrical hums, subway, spiritual/religious singing, driving in a car on the highway with no music or talking, etc).
Otherwise, just get Omnisphere, and go over it for a year or two.


----------



## jfino (Apr 29, 2017)

thanks for the advice so far everyone. I will experiment with reverbs and delays, modulators and granular synthesis. 
any more tips always welcome thanks again!


----------



## Rodney Money (Apr 29, 2017)

omiroad said:


> The rule of thumb is to first try PaulStretch


PaulStretch, worked for me! Lol.


----------



## Serg Halen (Apr 29, 2017)

1. Take any synth, or any library with soft sound (electro piano, dulcimer).
2. Write some part in tonality, for this synth/library.
3. Insert valhalla shimmer (or analog) 100% wet, and valhallavintageverb 100%.
4. Enjoy!


----------



## gregh (Apr 29, 2017)

i do a lot of drones with an electric guitar that has a special pickup to give infinite sustain, but really anything that gives a sustained sound is simple to use for a natural sounding drone eg anything bowed. Layering and blending between layers to cut of the initial transient is sometimes necessary/useful

For synthetic drones convolution is incredibly powerful. Convolution reverbs always( i think) allow you to use your own wav files as impulses. Using convolution you can even turn a drum track into a drone with the right wav file as impulse. Experiment away and emjoy


----------



## Vin (Apr 29, 2017)

Dron-e and Metaphysical Function are great for that type of sounds.


----------



## gregh (Apr 29, 2017)

all the drones here are made with convolution and a jackhammer - actually the whole piece is made using that combination  using tuned impulses I made


----------



## Puzzlefactory (Apr 29, 2017)

Isn't there a Reaktor ensemble that randomly churns out drones...?


----------



## heisenberg (Apr 30, 2017)

Puzzlefactory said:


> Isn't there a Reaktor ensemble that randomly churns out drones...?



A couple of posts above. Dron-e and Metaphysical Function listed above are the obvious choices in Reaktor. Dron-e is a free download and the other is part of the default Reaktor ensemble collection. It also has a second version as well.


----------



## Puzzlefactory (Apr 30, 2017)

Ah yes, metaphysical function was the one I was thinking of.


----------



## Rohann (Apr 30, 2017)

Rodney Money said:


> PaulStretch, worked for me! Lol.



Beautiful piece! What are you using for the solo strings?


----------



## Rodney Money (Apr 30, 2017)

Rohann said:


> Beautiful piece! What are you using for the solo strings?


Thank ya, my friend! The one that "sounds real" playing the melody is Cinesamples' Tina Guo and the one that "sounds synthesized" just playing 4 notes and a glissando slide is my friend Thomas.


----------



## CDB (May 16, 2017)

gregh said:


> all the drones here are made with convolution and a jackhammer - actually the whole piece is made using that combination  using tuned impulses I made




Fantasic and +1 on using nature as a sound source! The world is your oyster.


----------



## Silence-is-Golden (May 16, 2017)

The OP's question would receive a very different meaning and answers if this were a science forum ......


----------



## karelpsota (May 16, 2017)

The real challenge is designing a source sound with *interesting movement*.

In terms on synthesis: try alternating the volumes of different notes going through the same distorsion unit.



For the example above:

Step 1. Take 2 sines. One is a 5th above the other. The volume of the second is automated by a random LFO to create movement. They all go through the same tube distorsion.

Step 2. Bounce to audio, pitch down an octave.

Step 3. Make 10 variations of these. And blend them all together.


----------



## Rohann (May 20, 2017)

karelpsota said:


> The real challenge is designing a source sound with *interesting movement*.
> 
> In terms on synthesis: try alternating the volumes of different notes going through the same distorsion unit.
> 
> ...



Really good point! Drones are easy to make. Interesting drones take a bit more deliberation.


----------



## Rohann (May 20, 2017)

Great example of extreme timestretching for effect:
Original:


Ambient:


----------



## Wes Antczak (May 21, 2017)

All of the above. I've also gotten some interesting results playing around in Izotope Iris. 

Effects such as Crystallizer, Kalaidoscope or Excalibur are also your friends.


----------



## ranaprathap (May 21, 2017)

Learn to blur vocal samples.


----------



## reutunes (May 21, 2017)

Good timing as this week's Samplecast episode covers one way to make drones / soundscapes super quickly and easily. All you need is a sound source (literally anything will do), a big reverb and about 30 seconds of editing. Check it out below - I've cue'd up the video to the right section:


----------



## Ned Bouhalassa (May 21, 2017)

Making a drone is easy. Making a good drone takes time.


----------



## ccarreira (May 21, 2017)

Study Korg wavestation presets. That is a masterpiece of a Synth.


----------

