Learn the BEST Ways to Use Synths in Modern Metal

[@ToniHennig]

Great video mike,please more of this kind.

[@andrewneehall5664]

Excellent video! Bassist here, just starting to dig into adding synths to my band's music. Thanks for sharing these helpful tips!

[@DrMikeMetal]

Thank you so much for watching!

[@dreamsofsolace]

thanks for this 3 step break down. I never really knew how impactful doubling up synths with guitars can actually be. I'll definitely try it out in my next song. Plus they way it was presented was cool and helpful.

[@DrMikeMetal]

Thank you for checking it out!!

[@tzhong889]

this video was so helpful and crafted well. Also with the examples of bands. I really enjoyed it and was helpful please continue with these!!!

[@DrMikeMetal]

My absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for watching!!!

[@tjwhibbs553]

Seeing Invent Animate live this summer, cant fucking wait!

[@DrMikeMetal]

I saw them live here in Melbourne. Unforgettable

[@TommyMerry]

Great stuff as always brother! I’ve been using some of your ideas with Vital and loving the results. Years avd years ago, I was doing this in my home studio when the Ensoniq EPS first came out. I was friends with Joey Alves of Y&T, and I told him I was mixing in synth with guitar parts to make him sound heavier, and he was pretty disappointed in me lol. A lot of guitar players friends used to hate the idea that I was mixing in synth (way in the back) although they loved the results of the tone . I also did it with a lot of my leads to create a little bit more mid saturation as well, at those times I had a guitar synthesizer pickup that I was feeding into the Ensoniq to track along my leads in real time. I don’t wanna say that the future is synth guitars because that’s kind of been done and played out. However, clearly heavy electric guitar needs to be making some technological shift so we can get things sounding even heavier and sicker realtime on stage. Keep making great videos!!

[@DrMikeMetal]

Thank you so much for sharing!! That's so weird and I find this to be a close minded old school approach We're here to innovate and create cool music in any way we wish. No one should gatekeep based on our approaches. I guess, full replacement of guitars with synths or midi guitars leads to a completely different genre, however, augmentation is a terrific idea

[@user-gp7kn1su1u]

Brooo, you are such a gold mine! THANKS SO MUCH!!!!

[@user-gp7kn1su1u]

Also, the currents shirt is so sick!!!

[@DrMikeMetal]

Too kind of you Sir!!

[@DrMikeMetal]

Yeah they slay, saw them live here in Melbourne, rocking gig

[@mistaraa_]

Hey! at 7:51, was this Vore by Sleep Token? I'm currently trying to do a full production cover of that song, and I can't quite figure out just from listening to it what kinds of synths are used particularly in the opening part with the lofi guitar in it. There also seems to be some ambient pad sounds over the heavy verse parts, but I can't nail down the right synth sound for it. Could you point me in the right direction of what synth sounds to look for in this song?

[@DrMikeMetal]

that's right, just a short cover of Vore. these synths are quite intricate. I would say these could be sample-based, or Serum. in the intro, I hear an ambient pad and a bouncy reversed synth. in the verses, I hear a "fiery" synth. seems like a distorted ambient piano + a pad

[@diode86]

Hi. Been trying to make piano to sound something like that piano on 7:50. Any advice?

[@DrMikeMetal]

@@diode86 it's pretty straightforward. In Logic Pro X, there are some piano + pad presets. Essentially, it's a regular piano with a pad underneath. The piano leads the melody, and the pad gives the atmosphere. There are similar presets in some Kontakt libs as well

[@diode86]

@@DrMikeMetal Thanks for this :D

[@sebasaggio6351]

There is any A.I. synth that follow my metal riffs. Like EZ keys but applied for metal/heavy rock?

[@DrMikeMetal]

@@sebasaggio6351 no free AI ones yet. Try Vital though

[@shinx1102]

Excellent content! What you transmit is great! 🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘 I'm working on getting the tone similar to the Sleepwalking Song by Bring Me The Horizon. Especially the Synth of the intro. Not only does it have distortion and reverb but it has something else that I can't decipher so that it has that effect when the notes sound and sound similar. You can help me with that?

[@DrMikeMetal]

Thanks so much for watching and engaging!! Yeah it sounds like a specific granular modulation of the wave table that leads to this bitcrushed effect. Which synth VSTs are you using? This is such a broad area, I remember getting similar tones by simply going through different wave tables and their modulations, can't remember the details

[@shinx1102]

@@DrMikeMetal Thanks for your answer! I have tried it with Serum and Vital. In Serum the Fx used are Un Hyper/Dimension, Reverb, Compressor and Distortion. The wave table you use is a Square wave in Oscillator 1 and a Sine Wave in Oscillator 2.

[@DrMikeMetal]

@@shinx1102 yes, so this would be not coming from the FX section, rather than from the synthesis itself. I'll do some research and get back to you, but it does sound like a ring modulation (or something similar) of a certain waveform

[@shinx1102]

@@DrMikeMetal Oh! Thank you so much! I appreciate your good will friend! I will be attentive to your news!

[@larswillsen]

When I started re-recording after 30+ years I was hit by a stroke (blood clot in my left brain) and though I still have my "melodic songs" ability its been hard to re-invent myself - I have tried, and since I'm a former synth pro musician in the 80s this is what I have done .. not like anyone really .. but be nice to me: kzbin.info/aero/PLhShxlp1ZAtIolbi_Ab0mzwevRXZpbcjV :-)

[@DrMikeMetal]

hey Lars! thank you for sharing. my condolences to your difficult journey. I had a listen to Konspirazy, really loving the classical synth lead at 1:50! Very nice synth pads and pulses in the chorus of Blood Path, too! keep up the great work, Sir

[@larswillsen]

@@DrMikeMetal Hi Mike, thanks - I really appreciate it. There's also "Crash", "Abysmara", "Backstage secret", "Synth Inferno" from that box .. and ofcourse I have a billion other stuff - Just trying to document a hole in history before I go 🙂

[@Felix_Effex]

I really like the ibformation, but your way of cut editing or what ever it's called makes you flash and I find it hard to stay concentrated. Thank you .. a synthesist.

[@DrMikeMetal]

Thank you for your feedback, duly noted!

[@matiassanjines6955]

was that vore? lol

[@DrMikeMetal]

@@matiassanjines6955 mhm

[@louistremblay1218]

kind of baffles me northlane wasn't included in this video, they one of the best, if not the best band to integrate synths/electronic elements in modern metal.

[@DrMikeMetal]

@@louistremblay1218 I agree. I guess that their style is so unique that it's hard to put Northlane in any box...

[@jakelong2139]

Baffles you? Lol make your own video

[@DrMikeMetal]

@@jakelong2139 nah I agree with Louis, Northlane are huge in synths and I shouldn't have skipped

[@louistremblay1218]

@@DrMikeMetalforgot to mention the video is great either way !

[@DrMikeMetal]

@@louistremblay1218 thank you kindly