These will be the essence of your ambient track, and will open your sounds up and make them more human (or not, if that’s your preference). In FL Studio, you’re free to run numerous automations simultaneously. Layer cakeįor our purposes, automation might mean something as simple as turning up the volume of a particular sound as the song builds. Even small adjustments can be enough to drastically alter the course of your sounds. To achieve this, we advise using automation to push and pull your pads across a host of different parameters. The key to designing strong and spellbinding pads is knowing how to sculpt and conduct their progression. These stretched-out sounds with prolonged attack and release periods are usually the subject of evolving modulation that builds and releases tension, shaping the sounds as they move. You’re probably familiar with pads already – and, if not, see our introductory feature on the joys of them here. Think of the tips and tricks you’ll pick up in this tutorial as broad pointers that can be applied to many projects and compositions. You’ll find them in electronic genres such as house and techno, where they’re often used to establish atmospheres, or as epic introductions before being shattered by the song’s beat. It all depends on the mood or setting that the music is trying to convey.īut ambient sounds aren’t limited to their titular genre. Ambient sounds need not be organic or artificial, natural or industrial. There are many more sub-genres of ambient music than there are rules that govern it.

Often, they’re drenched in reverb and delay, as well as phaser and LFO effects that warp and manipulate them to further affect the stereo field. But in practice, it typically translates to the kind of slow-paced easy-listening and gently undulating instrumental sounds favoured by the likes of Aphex Twin, Brian Eno and Tangerine Dream. The ambient genre’s name is self-explanatory. But before we dive in, let’s first explore exactly what an ambient pad is.

In this tutorial, then, we’re going to challenge you by limiting your synth plug-in privileges to just two: FL Studio’s 3xOSC and Fruity DX10.

Loaded with synths capable of sculpting generous pads, FL Studio makes ambient compositions easy – perhaps too easy.

Mixing synth pads