Courses on sound design?

[adamszabo]

I can only repeat what others said, deconstruct patches and see how they are made and why, and also read your synthesizers manual, there are usually good info there. Sound design is like learning a new instrument, people can tell you how to do it, but you have to go and practice over and over. Its best to learn from mistakes and experience, and you have to build upon a basic foundation of understanding oscillators, lfos, envelopes, filters, effects, etc, and what to use when.

[BONES]

It feels a bit awkward to start "reverse-engineering" all presets. Isn't there a straight forward way to learn this?

Yes, by doing it. It's not really that hard once you dive into it.

If you can find a course called "sound design", it won't be the kind of course you're looking for, it will be for people who want to do foley for films and TV.

Few examples of things I want to read about:
How many and which layers are needed to create a crash sounds.
How to add movement to pads.
Why most FM is usually done with sine waves.
Most used PWM techniques.
How to synthesize sounds that resemble a certain instrument, ex. pulse => flute.

What's a "crash sound"? Do you mean a crash cymbal? Anyway, those are quite basic questions that are unlikely to be directly addressed anywhere. The best idea is to ask them here.

There are many ways to add movement to pads. The very simplest way is to detune Osc 2 by a small amount (10 cents or so). That will cause the waveform to go in and out of phase with Osc 1, which creates subtle movement over time. Using Unison enhances this effect, which is why I use it a lot. For less subtle movement, an LFO or an envelope (or combination of both), applied to various parameters, usually filter cutoff or pitch, will do the trick. Modulating pan with a LFO can work really well, as can adding stereo delay or other stereo effects.

You use sine waves on FM for a cleaner sound.

You can use PWM however you like. I usually modulate it with an envelope for bass sounds but I'm more likely to use an LFO if it's for a lead or pad sound. There are no rules, just do what sounds good to you.

Interestingly, it's possible to make a lot of sounds with any waveform you care to choose. e.g. Most of my favourite strings patches use sawtooth waves but some of them use pulse waves and also sound great.

[mudi1974]

I can recommend the YouTube video tutorials from Jon Audio:
He explains well and without fuss.
https://www.youtube.com/@jonaudio

[Laqua]

I really enjoy watching Databroth's Youtube videos. He does a great job with them and goes slow enough that I can see how he got to the results he ends up with.
Lucky guy also gets to play with a lot of the new VSTs before release.

[rod_zero]

Get Syntorial, interactive tutorial based on ear training.

[VELLTONE MUSIC]

It feels a bit awkward to start "reverse-engineering" all presets.
Isn't there a straight forward way to learn this?

What do you wanna learn exactly,if you know basics,the rest is experiments and results..,focus on your type of synthesis,see how your mix benefit from it and experiment with everything you know.
I doubt there is another way of learning sound design,like there is only one way to learn how to drive a car...by driving it,just listening and watching will not make you great driver
Don't watch videos,which say turn this knob to 12 o clock...these guys aren't sound designers,but enthusiasts.
You have to see/hear the sound as part of bigger picture,so to create the 'right' sound,which will energize the mix very pleasant way.
This is practical side,theoretical is random sounds.
To me the goal is to create something useful for the mix as dynamic part of it.
Advanced sound design is the dark side of the force..so to say

[tehlord]

It feels a bit awkward to start "reverse-engineering" all presets.
Isn't there a straight forward way to learn this?

It's not awkward at all. It actually IS the most straightforward (and best) way to learn. As others have said here.

[bmanic]

@roman.i

There is no shortcut to this!! The best way to learn and the most rewarding is definitely by deconstructing presets and experimentation. Having said that, if you really are interested in how to synthesize particular sounds you could start with some basics like the Sound on Sound legendary series on synthesis.

https://www.soundonsound.com/series/syn ... ound-sound


The key is to understand the "why?". If you are only after the "how?" you'll never actually learn and you'll forever be stuck at a level where you need somebody else to make a tutorial for everything you want to do.

Proper deep learning takes time and patience.. and most of all, it takes experimentation! You can't truly learn anything unless you jump into the deep-end and explore.

Tutorials for particular tasks are only useful to a certain extent but if you don't explore on your own you won't develop intuition. This is why for instance in school/university exams you never get exact same questions as you had in your textbook or during classes. The whole point is to force you to think for yourself and to utilize the actual understanding of the "why?" that you've hopefully gained during those classes.

[roman.i]

Thanks folks. Started to blindly deconstruct presets on my synth, will see how it goes...

[CinningBao]

That's the way! Good luck, you'll learn a lot on the way