Top 5 layering tips for electronic music sound designers

If you want to know how to layer synths and sounds for better sound design, you are in the right place.

Layering is the process of combining sounds together to make more complex results.

It is one of the best tools in a producer’s kit, because it is able to overcome the limitations of a synth or sample, by opening it up to extra sounds.

Layering can be done with several synths playing together, by editing together samples, or by combining synthesis and sampling.

I tend to layer with three parts, not as any rule, just because it happens to generally work well for me.

As such, the examples in this article all have three layers, but don’t feel like you need three, you can do just two, or many more.

The only thing to be aware of is that layers still need to be mixed together and can cause more problems than they solve.

Left, Centre, Right

One of the best reasons for layering is to add extra stereo width.

If you have a sound and want some extra width to it, try making three copies and panning them hard left, centre, and hard right.

On the left and right channels tweak a few parameters so that the sound is slightly different.

Try adjusting the LFO rates slightly, and making small adjustments to the envelope attacks so they are spread in timing too.

This will sound like it was recorded in several takes and will stop phasing issues.

This effect won’t work well if the sound is identical in each layer, but also, if it is vastly different in each ear, it can be disorientating.

Make sure that you don’t add any stereo send effects to the hard-panned tracks (unless you intend to), as this can ruin the stereo feel.

It is better to add effects such as ping-pong delay and reverb to the group so that it is processed as a whole.

I find wavetable synths especially fun to layer as the range of complex sounds in a single layer is already insane!

It is especially easy in Ableton after the latest update, which allows users to upload their own tables in Wavetable.

Bottom, Middle, Top

This is perhaps the easiest type of layering and is used in a lot of electronic music for the kick drums.

If you want to design a sound, you want a good spread across the frequencies.

Many producers will layer three different kick drums to get the exact sound they want.

The kicks are heavily filtered one has only the lowest frequencies, on will have only the punch, and the last one will have the high-end “click”.

It can also be done on synths, with many synths offering a built in version.

If you have ever enabled a sub oscillator on a synth, you are adding another layer.

Likewise, if you copy your melody into a sub-line, then you are technically layering.

By adding layers based on frequency, you get a wide spread and the frequencies don’t clash. as much.

Try choosing a synth patch and adding a layer an octave below, and a layer an octave above.

Tweak the two layers so they sound better in their respective octaves and hear how much bigger it sounds.

If you are mixing these layers together, make sure you cut some of the low end out of the top octave layer, and cut some of the high end out of the bottom octave’s layer.

These can be grouped together and glued together with compression.

Make sure you are monitoring this at a good volume as factors such as the Fletcher-Munson curve really can come into play with this type of sound design.

Intro, Verse, Chorus

Here, we have an arrangement approach.

As the song progresses, you want the parts to get louder and more intense.

This can be done in several ways, such as, adjusting the filters, automating the volume, or adding distortion.

If we play with layers though, it can get even more intricate.

Firstly, build up a three layer sound that works great in your chorus.

If you take out the bassiest part, you are left with two layers.

These two layers are not as exciting as the chorus because they lack the low-end weight.

Then for the intro, take out the second most interesting layer, so you are just left with a thinner sound, which by the time the chorus arrives, has already become familiar in our heads.

If you are using layered synths which are separate to the bass, try removing the brightest layers for the verse and intros so that when the chorus kicks in, we introduce the layer which adds the most shimmer.

Melody, Harmony, Sub

This is very similar to our “Bottom, Middle, Top” approach, but it is more musically interesting.

Try choosing two different synth presets and play melody on the beefier preset.

On the other preset, pitch it up 7 semitones (a perfect fifth).

This perfect fifth layer turns the sound into a “power chord”, but across two different synth sounds.

The third layer could either be a sub-line (just the melody a few octaves down on a simple preset), or it could be another fifth, this time the octave below (pitch down 5 semitones).

Having the melody with its fifth both above and below it can be a very powerful sound.

The relative volumes of each layer will give the track different feels so try automating the volumes for different sections.

Keep the main melody layer for the verses and add the fifths for the more intense sections such as the choruses.

Transient, Note, Ring

This is a really cool sound design trick, and works in a similar way to layering kicks.

Instead of picking the bottom, middle, and top frequencies though, we pick the time scale.

If we want to make a synth sound more punchy, we can add a layer with a fast attack.

Think about a piano, even the hardest velocities still can leave you wanting a more percussive sound, so why not layer a percussive element to it?

A pitched clang or metal hit works well on top of a piano.

It can be smoothed out with a bit of reverb too, stopping the sound being too distinct.

The other thing you might want is to have a sound ring out more.

Let’s get rid of our piano, but we will keep the hard metal clang.

It will probably end quite abruptly, but we can add some high pitched sine waves with a long release to simulate the ringing sound.