The way I like image instruments and effects as part of a song is simple. Instruments are the main characters of your story. Whereas, the effects are the personality/details of the characters. But how do you pick your main character ? It would be an easy choice if there were direct rules in what instruments you play with certain genres and emotions.
A great place to start is knowing/planning the overall mood of your song. Is it going to be sad? Hopeful? Aggressive? It is apparent that some instruments don't work well with certain moods. For example you’d be least likely to include a kazoo in a depressing, orchestral piece.
Here are some examples of typical use of instruments in genres:
Rock: drum kit, electric guitars, singer, bass
Jazz: piano, trumpet, double bass
Classical: orchestra(piano, violins, flutes, cello etc)
Country: electric and steel guitars, drums, mandolin, mouth organ
Electronic/dance: drum machine, vocoder, talkbox
Pop: electric guitars, synths, drums & drum machine, bass
So when choosing what instruments to use, it should follow the effect each section of your song needs to deliver - guitars, pianos, drums, horn section, synths, harmonica - each of these instruments have a distinct sound or timbre(I will explain later). Raspy guitar and distorted harmonica may scream blues rock, while a saxophone may be sexy and smooth. A grand piano may sound classy but electric piano will sound pop. It’s all about experimentation and getting to know the sounds of instruments.
EXAMPLE INSTRUMENTS
Here are the different instrument families and some examples:
Woodwind
Flute
Bassoon
Clarinet
Brass
Trumpet
Tuba
French Horn
Trombone
Strings
Grand Piano
Violin
Cello
Harp
Acoustic guitar
Electric guitar
Banjo
Ukulele
Percussion
Snare
High-hat
Triangle
Tambourine
Cymbal
Drums
Xylophone
Gong
Keyboard
Keyboard
Electric piano
Synths
WHAT IS TIMBRE ?
All instruments have their own unique character/ timbre (Elefterion, E. (2020)) ; a feel; a place where they can be used to their fullest potential. “Think of timbre as the sonic fingerprint, or quality of the sound.” (Tronhjem, C. (2019))
More specifically, when played, every instrument produces vibrations, how we hear them. The vibrations produce a particular frequency which is specific to every instrument, this is it’s timbre and how we can tell the difference between sounds and instruments.
Now knowing that all instruments have their own characteristics you can gather it’s emotional vibe as “Pure’ timbre tones, where ‘even harmonics’ dominate, provide a more round tone. For most people this might indicate friendliness, warmth or happiness, whereas odd harmonics with noisy content might be harsher on our ears and thus appear less friendly.” Tronhjem, C. (2019))
This is why experimentation is important as you can determine, just by using your ears, if an instrument is a good fit or not.
TECHNIQUES
Alongside instruments having their own timbre. You can also take into consideration how you play and use instruments, as different playing techniques can add extra detail to the emotion you are trying to paint.
For example stringed instruments can be plucked, struck and strummed. Each sound different from the other this could be because of the “vibration characteristics, or the loudness at which an instrument is played.” Tronhjem, C. (2019)
To explain what I mean I’m going to show an example. Earlier this year I did an experiment, on guitar, comparing different playing techniques. My techniques were: plectrum, coin and fingerstyle.
I redid my experiment using the exact same techniques, nothing changing. The difference being the melody being played. My previous experiment video didn’t give enough time to process and fully listen to the differences of each technique.
The experiment video:
My notes:
Let’s analyse each technique.
I found that fingerstyle had a more warm deeper sound with lower frequencies being more present. The playing was also a lot quieter compared to the other techniques. That may be because I’m not very experienced with fingerstyle playing or because I wasn’t playing with a solid object. I found that using the fingerstyle technique is best for slow, soft playing as you can control the quietness of the dynamics.
Now the plectrum. The picks I use are very thin plastic, I like the flexibility of them. Compared to the coin the pick gives a smoother, less harsh sound. However, you can’t really use a pick to make those unnerving sounds like the coin does because it’s not as solid as a coin. But the dynamics of the plectrum is louder than finger style.
Out of the three techniques, the coin gives the brightest sound. It has more articulation over the other methods because the coin is metal and more solid than the plectrum I was using. Sliding the coin up and down the guitar strings was easier and accentuated the frequencies more, creating a metallic effect. However, this metallic sound would be too harsh sounding for a sad song. But it would thrive and work in a loud rock song.
I know that Brian May, guitarist for Queen, used a sixpence. In this video he says that he likes how smooth the action of playing with a coin is. I think this is interesting as he’s become accustomed to playing guitar with a sixpence.
( 1:55 - 2:50 & 23:15 - 26:15)
I should have experimented with other coins like 10p, 20p or 50p as they have a thinner, serrated edge, the sound may be different for each.
My overall consensus is that each technique sounds different from one another even if it’s slight or not. You could use a coin for harsh, brash and angry songs; use fingerstyle for slow, solum acoustic numbers; or use a plectrum for general use to be loud and present. So considering playing techniques is something definitely that will add extra detail of the mood and atmosphere you want to create.
AUDIO EFFECTS
Once you’ve picked your instruments have started to record/have recorded. You may start thinking about using audio effects. Audio effects are used to alter the sound of instruments and audio. The effects you add can range from being subtle to extreme, and can be used live or in the studio when recording and mixing.
Audio effects can be accessed digitally or physically(analog). They can be in the form of:
Pedals
Heavy rack units for studios and live performances
(Compression & EQ)
Or as digital VSTs
(Compression, Tape Saturation and Overdrive)
When it comes to the mood and emotion of your song, audio effects can be super useful in helping you create the feeling you want.
Here are some basic audio effects you should know and can use in your music:
Modulation effects
Chorus
“Think of it as a recording of the same note, stacked on a few times each other, then each tuned & timed slightly off each other to create that overall ‘chorus’ effect.” (Chng, n.d.)
Shimmer effect Fluctuating sound, higher pitched
A popular effect used in the 80s.
Mainly used on guitar, bass, vocals, keyboards and synths.
Phaser
A trippy modulation with a warm, bass and treble tone.
Present in funk & rock songs
Mainly used on guitars and synths.
Flanger
A short delay, wobbly and metallic sounding effect.
Present in funk & rock songs.
Mainly used on guitars and synths.
Tremolo
Create a change in volume causing this underwater sounding, trembling and choppy effect.
Mainly used on guitars.
Vibrato
A pitch modulation effect that sounds wobbly when fluctuating pitch.
This is similar to the chorus effect but without delay.
Wah
Enables you to express notes, altering the tone and frequencies of a signal to create a distinctive sound that resembles a human voice “Wah”.
Also in the form of a whammy bar on electric guitars.
Used in a lot of jazz, rock, funk etc
Time-based effects
Reverb
Reverb occurs when a sound hits any hard surface and reflects back to the listener. Think of when you’ve been inside Churches or bathrooms it’s as though your voice echoes around this room, this is reverb.
A reverb effect acts the same, it iImitates or exaggerates natural reverberations.
This effect can create/fill space within a song.
It also gives very dry sounds more life.
Delay
Delay is an effect that repeats sound multiple times. So delay stores a signal for a period of time before sending that signal back out creating a repetition of sound.
Delay mode can vary from being subtle to an extreme amount of repetition.
A good example of delay = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdURqcVxIdk
There are different types of delay: tape echo, delay pedal and stomp box.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-woP9ghLVE This is a live version of the previous video where they attempt to cause a delay effect themselves.
Spectral effects
Panning
Panning creates an illusion of a sound moving from one ear to the other.
Used a lot in mixing.
EQ
Is a a very useful studio production tool. It enables you to edit audio subtly or extremely to the point where you completely change the sound of the audio.
An example of what can do with EQ is cutting frequencies. You are able to cut high, mid and low frequencies.
Another technique you can use is frequency sweeping which is used to remove unwanted frequencies in audio.
Dynamic effects
Distortion
An aggressive and sinister effect that sounds “Evil, loud and edgy!” (Future, 2017).
Distortion is best used in rock, punk and metal, think Nirvana. This effect gives a ‘rebellious’ and ‘angry’ vibe to genres such as grunge, punk, metal and so on.
Compression
Compression is another valuable live and mixing effect. It’s job is to balance the dynamic of an audio signal.
It stops audio from clipping. If you set a dynamic level audio should not peak over the set limit.
You could make compression sustain notes but also enable a punchy attack to them. It depends on what effect you want.
Overdrive
A gain effect that makes things loud, slightly distorts and gives a crunch.
Best used in rock, blues, punk etc.
Fuzz
Similar to distortion, but not as aggressive, as it gives you a thick warm and fuzzy sound.
Best used in grunge and post punk.
Filters
A filter can either cut, amplify or boost a frequency. Each filter has a determined threshold for cutting or boosting a frequency. These are filters you will commonly find on EQs.
High-pass filter (HPF)
Low-pass filter (LPF)
Band-pass filter (BPF)
All of these effects can be used in various ways. As said previously its best to plan your songs mood and emotion so it becomes fairly easy to determine what effect you may use. For example if you are producing a grunge ranting, upbeat breakup song you may be drawn to distortion or fuzz. Or if you are producing a pop, slow love song you may use reverb to create emotional space in your song with subtle dely.
Useful links:
Free VSTs = https://blog.landr.com/best-free-vst-plugins/
Audio effects = https://www.audiomentor.com/audioproduction/how-do-audio-effects-shape-the-sound-you-create
HOW I WENT ABOUT A PROJECT - IRL EXAMPLE
Now that I’ve explained instruments and effects. I’m going to share two IRL projects of mine and explain my process of picking instruments and effects.
For my previous project my goal was to create a song with a sad vibe. So with my knowledge I created a melody and chord progression in minor.
Here is the demo:
Now for my choice of instruments.I have a habit of over layering with instruments causing my projects to sound busy, so I wanted to keep to a limited amount of instruments. My thought was that having limited instruments would enable space within the song to create an emotional effect. So I chose to incorporate two layers of electric guitar, both with different effects so they could be heard. Alongside MIDI piano with subtle reverb and a bass with EQ. I know that an acoustic guitar would have been more smooth with a soft tone but clean electric guitar is just as effective with the addition of reverb, delay and EQ alterations. So I proceeded with the electric guitar.
After doing some research I found this video:
This tutorial is about how to replicate a warped vinyl sound for guitar that a band called The Neighbourhood are known for using.
I experimented with these effects on electric guitar:
EQ
Compressor
Echo (delay)
Silververb (reverb)
ScanVib (vibrato)
With the addition of these effects, on the electric guitar, the reverb created a very spacious sound which allowed a distant/absent minded atmosphere to be heard and the vibrato added a slight sense of unsettledness.
Overall, the addition of effects really added extra detail and enabled me to create the sad vibe I was looking for. It took a lot of experimentation and trial and error to get that vibe but that is the process of writing and producing music.
Here is another example:
Last year I did my favorite project, this foley project. For this clip I envisioned tension building up throughout the scenes and then for that fear to dissipate and turn into relief. My aim was for it to emit fear amongst the audience.
In TV and film the use of violins and orchestral instruments are commonly used. Think of the Jaws theme song.
It’s unnerving and creates tensions, you are expecting something bad to happen.This tune was an inspiration of mine when doing this project.
In my project I implemented screeching violins that gained in loudness and raised in octave. Creating a spine tingling atmosphere, you cannot relax when listening to this. It makes you want to sit on the edge of your seat.
I also implemented a kick drum that replicated the sound of a heartbeat that got faster and faster during the scene and then calmed down. It almost seems as though it’s the character's heartbeat.
An experiment I tried was adding breathing. I recorded it myself. It added an extra detail of relief as the character seems out of breath and exasperated after making her decision. It’s also the reaction the audience may have after the tension reaches its peak.
Overall, the project gave a sense of apprehension and suspense. However, if I used other instruments the immersion I have created could be lost. So knowing the pros, cons and typical use of instruments and effects is good knowledge to have.
Bibliography:
Future, 2017. Guitarist Guide To Effects Pedals. pp.28 - 50. [Accessed 9 April 2020]
Elefterion, E. (2020). How To Choose the Right Instruments for Your Productions - Audio Issues. [online] Audio Issues. Available at: https://www.audio-issues.com/music-analysis/how-to-choose-the-right-instruments-for-your-productions/ [Accessed 9 April. 2020].
Tronhjem, C. (2019). Sounding Emotional: How Timbre Choices Affect Emotion in Music. [online] Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/the-sound-of-ai/sounding-emotional-how-timbre-choices-affect-emotion-in-music-27cbcf70f759 [Accessed 9 April. 2020].
Chng, R., n.d. How Do Audio Effects Shape The Sound You Create?. [online] Audio Mentor. Available at: <https://www.audiomentor.com/audioproduction/how-do-audio-effects-shape-the-sound-you-create> [Accessed 14 April 2020].