Layering: Using New Sounds to Enhance Old Sounds

Layering has a long tradition in the audio world. From music to film, layered sounds have sparked imaginations and immersed listeners in ways vanilla sounds never could.

Think about a Tyrannosaurus Rex. What does a T-Rex sound like?

Did you hear this in your mind’s ear?

Could you have guessed that was a combination of a tiger and a baby elephant?

In the 90’s, sound designer Gary Rydstrom took vanilla sounds he recorded in the field and layered them in such a way as to create new, breath-taking sounds to bring the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park to life. (You can read more about Rydstrom’s work in this article from NPR)

More to the point, layering sounds can breathe new life and vitality into the music you create. This week, we will briefly examine the process of layering sounds together in order to create new sounds.

Do I have the right base?

Before you go layering sounds, think about how close your first sound is to what you want. I say you need to be about 75% of the way there. If the first thing you think is “oh this would be great if it had…” you have the wrong sound.

Consider the genre in which you are working. Are you making techno music? You probably don’t want an old-school funk kick. Likewise, you probably wouldn’t reach for an 808 if you are working in country-western. Sure these are extreme examples, but the point remains; get as close to the right sound as possible first.

What’s Missing?

This is the part that many novices may struggle with. It’s one thing to hear something and say, “That sounds bad.” It’s another to say “That needs X,Y, or Z to sound good.” It’s important not to go hunting for complementary sounds without having a direction. You will only become lost in a bottomless sample folder (you know the one) and wind up with a sub-par final product. So once you have your base sound, you need to decide what it is missing.

When you have decided what your sound is lacking, search for another sound that has exactly the quality you want. You may surprise yourself and find another sound that is all-around better suited to the role than your original sound. Swap it out! You’re not married to your original decision!

Don’t Overdo It

Layering has the potential to be a bottomless rabbit hole from which there is no escape. Don’t allow yourself down that hole; you will only waste time and burn out. As with everything else in music, less is more. If you find yourself wanting to layer three or four sounds for a new hat sample, you probably have the wrong sample to begin with.

Once You Have Chosen Your Ingredients

The next step is to combine them – and while once in awhile it could be as easy as playing them simultaneously, in most cases, that won’t cut it. You need to sculpt the sounds in order to fit them together like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle.

Sounds have many dimensions, but as we combine our sounds into a single sound, we will examine two: frequency and duration.

In terms of frequency, a decision must be made as to which frequencies are desirable for each sound selected.

For duration, it must be determined which segment of the sound is desirable for each sound selected – the attack, the decay, the sustain, or the release.

Sculpting the Pieces

Once you have identified the desirable frequencies of your sounds, drop an EQ on your primary sound and notch out a little space for the secondary sound to sit. -3dB, give or take, should do the trick. Adjust your Q to taste.

Next, create level envelopes on your samples in order to feature them during the correct segment of the sound. For example, if you are layering the attack from one kick sample into the body of another kick sample, automate your samples’ levels to drop the attack kick’s level right after the attack in order to allow the body to take precedence and avoid clashing. Likewise, automate the body kick sample so as to exclude its attack and highlight the attack kick. Remember, we are working in milliseconds, so program these automations fast.

Automation is Your Friend

Also, remember that we live in an age where audio is more pliable than it has ever been. Automation and envelopes are bread and butter in sound design — try using them with your EQ as well!

In our kick drum example, try applying an envelope that raises your body EQ notch back to 0dB as the level envelopes move.

Conclusion

Layering sounds is a satisfying means of creating your own sonic signature on your productions. While conceptually simple, however, it does take practice – particularly the selection process, as identifying complementary sounds is a rather gray area that is at times up for subjective interpretation.

It would be unwise to get carried away. The focus should be on the sum of the parts and not only the parts themselves. You are not showing the world how great you are at layering sounds. You are showing the world how great you are at making music. Layering is only a tool — an option to get you from where you are to where you want to be.

-Chris Lazaga
AudioMunk