# Choosing instruments that sound good together



## Fenicks (Dec 6, 2020)

A challenge I often run in to when making music on my computer is figuring out what instruments will sound nice together and communicate the feel of the song. I'm not writing orchestral music for films but experimental/alternative pop which means I sometime uses orchestral instruments but not all the time. I like to combine synths and strings and samples, but it doesn't always work. Sometimes they just sound jarring among each other, especially when its strings with obviously electronic elements. Got any tips or tricks for how best to pick sounds that will cohere, or how to encourage them to do so through mixing?

Lana Del Rey's producers are good at this kind of thing. The following instrumentals feature lots of synths, strings, trap and hip hop beats, and samples while sounding coherent in a way I'd like to achieve. I'm not going for the exact same style but I like how creative and distinct it is.

 (strings in the chorus)

 

The specific reason I'm asking is because I'm writing a song using my vocals (soprano), a lyre from Dark Era (plucked chords), and a cello (counter-melody) as principal instruments. These three elements sound great together but I'm having trouble filling out the rest of the soundscape because everything else I try doesn't sound right or shifts the ambiance of the song too much.


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## el-bo (Dec 6, 2020)

Fenicks said:


> These three elements sound great together but I'm having trouble filling out the rest of the soundscape because everything else I try doesn't sound right or shifts the ambiance of the song too much.



Definitely worth considering that if you already have something that sounds "great", then nothing more is needed, and that anything added will at best come with diminishing returns and at worst will just 'spoil the broth'. Sometimes, a thing is perfect as it is:



Anyway...

Consider, first, that most sampled instruments are recorded in 'broad/wide-band'. The library developer is usually aiming to record a given instrument with as much dynamic range as possible, in full stereo and in a space that is conducive to make that instrument 'sing'. Like a photo shot in 'RAW', this gives the end-user the most flexibility when it comes to incorporating a specific element in their work i.e it's much easier to sculpt and chisel away from full-scale than it is to expand on details that were never captured in the first place.

And when it comes to electronic elements e.g synths and drums, this broadband issue is heightened. Sound-designers are really looking to showcase a synth's features. Sounds may occupy huge amounts of stereo width, have a lot of movement and be drenched in effects. Same for drums, which will often be designed to make a huge impact when heard in isolation. A lot of sculpting is necessary to combine these sounds, especially with non-electronic elements.

And to extend the photography analogy, maybe it'd help to think of how one might go about assembling a digital photo collage. As with the sampled instruments, each photo was intended to be seen in it's entirety. To take these disparate elements and make them into a somewhat cohesive collage will first require isolating your intended foci from their particular environments/spaces. From there, it'll take various amounts of resizing, cutting, nipping, tucking and sculpting to these elements to be able to be assembled together. And if you then wanted to give the elements a sense of being in the same space, one might add various filters.

For the musical equivalent, we have many tools for the necessary sculpting. We can use transient designers or de-reverb tools to try to reduce the inherent space and ambience of recorded instruments; we can use compressors to reduce the size (i.e dynamic range) and bandwidth of a particular element, and EQ to carve space (also, avoiding overlap) for these elements to jostle against each other. Also available are tools to reduce the stereo image (sometimes all the way to MONO), which again reduces the size and dynamic footprint while allowing easier placement. Once all the elements are in place, reverb can help us with the 'glue' necessary to convince the listener that these elements were created for/in the same space.

Although, perhaps far from what you're aiming at, I'd definitely recommend listening to how certain Hip-Hop artists manage to homogenise disparate crate-dug elements:


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## el-bo (Dec 6, 2020)

And to speak to your point about mixing, it's all about mixing. However, unless you are working with known elements and know the effects your mixing moves will help make, these are mixing decisions that wouldn't normally be left till mix-down. If you fins something not working, then see if you can sculpt it right at that moment. It's more of a mix-as-you-go workflow. The final mix then just becomes a case of levelling, sweetening etc.


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## Fenicks (Dec 6, 2020)

el-bo said:


> And to speak to your point about mixing, it's all about mixing. However, unless you are working with known elements and know the effects your mixing moves will help make, these are mixing decisions that wouldn't normally be left till mix-down. If you fins something not working, then see if you can sculpt it right at that moment. It's more of a mix-as-you-go workflow. The final mix then just becomes a case of levelling, sweetening etc.



Thank you el-bo! Your replies are fantastic as always.  I'll give the songs you linked a listen. Got a lot to think about (and practice) now.


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## el-bo (Dec 7, 2020)

Fenicks said:


> Got a lot to think about (and practice) now.



Have fun!


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