Indie pop/electronic (and a bit of synthpop, I guess)

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Indie pop/electronic (and a bit of synthpop, I guess)

Postby Nine Volt » 22 Dec 2013 23:22

I didn't know where to put this. So it's going here.

Anyway, I'm talking about the kind of stuff that Passion Pit makes. Generally upbeat, bright, pretty simple, almost retro-ish sounds with catchy choruses (chori?) and good production. Indie pop/electronic and synthpop, according to wikipedia. Specifically I'm most interested in stuff like Carried Away, but whatever.

I'm interested in how it's produced, and I've got a few things I would very much like answers to:

What kind of drums/samples do they use? Do you have any recommendations for sample packs? The drums in Carried Away sound acousticish to me, but I couldn't quite replicate them in my five or so minutes of fiddling about - mine sounded too weak. Is there some sort of trick or am i just not using the right samples?

I'm planning to start an indie poptronic(tm) duo/small group, but I want to know some general information about working with vocals and such, so if you could direct me to some good tutorials pleaseandthankyou (I'll check the stickied thread with the links and stuff).

And finally, does anyone have any tips for producing in this genre/style? Or just tips for making stuff like it? Or maybe some tutorials?
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Re: Indie pop/electronic (and a bit of synthpop, I guess)

Postby itroitnyah » 23 Dec 2013 09:23

It sounds like PP could have recorded their own snare and kick samples, perhaps. Try combining snare sounds. The lower sounding snare should be the dominate one though, since it sounds like the snare has a bit of low end. The kick sounds like it has quite a bit of compression on it, me thinks. Although really just find good sample packs (there's a thread with sample pack links in it somewhere) and find good sounding samples, then combine some perhaps.

As for producing the genre, the best way to learn how if you can't find a tutorial on it is to listen to a lot of the genre, listen to how the structuring works, what BPM the genre generally follows, what separates its' style from other genres. Not exactly copy other people's work, but take queues such as following structure, composition style, etc.

For vocals, they work similarly to any other instrument. The thing is though, that they'll contain dynamics, and a lot of them depending on the vocalist. Apply compression to reduce the dynamics of the song a bit will help out with mixing, you can sidechain the vocals to some of the instruments that share the same frequency range if needed, but just make sure that they can be heard and aren't overpowering.
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Re: Indie pop/electronic (and a bit of synthpop, I guess)

Postby topitmunkeydog » 31 Dec 2013 08:17

So I'm a big fan of Passion Pit and although I haven't yet tried doing any of the things he does I have researched a bit about the methods used. I think that Chunk of Change (the first EP) was recorded entirely using software synths on Ableton but the most recent album Gossamer uses a lot of live drum sounds (I've seen them live and they mostly have their drummer just play live drums https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51pgElN5KWY) but I know for Take A Walk there is no kick drum they actualy just recorded people stomping next to a microphone a bunch. I haven't seen that many interviews with Angelakos where he actually talks a lot about the process of making music but he does so in this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKBZ7Qy-YEY
I too am interested in learning this genre as I'm trying to start a band similar to this.
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Re: Indie pop/electronic (and a bit of synthpop, I guess)

Postby Nine Volt » 31 Dec 2013 20:21

topitmunkeydog wrote:So I'm a big fan of Passion Pit and although I haven't yet tried doing any of the things he does I have researched a bit about the methods used. I think that Chunk of Change (the first EP) was recorded entirely using software synths on Ableton but the most recent album Gossamer uses a lot of live drum sounds (I've seen them live and they mostly have their drummer just play live drums https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51pgElN5KWY) but I know for Take A Walk there is no kick drum they actualy just recorded people stomping next to a microphone a bunch. I haven't seen that many interviews with Angelakos where he actually talks a lot about the process of making music but he does so in this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKBZ7Qy-YEY
I too am interested in learning this genre as I'm trying to start a band similar to this.

Thanks for the info (and you too itroitnyah).

I've noticed that Passion Pit's synth design is quite simplistic, at least on Gossamer and Constant Conversations, though I haven't heard anything from Chunk of Change so I can't comment on that.
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Re: Indie pop/electronic (and a bit of synthpop, I guess)

Postby topitmunkeydog » 31 Dec 2013 23:52

If its simple on gossamer it's even simpler on Chunk of Change, those sounds seem very basic to me
I was reading someone's opinion on Passion Pit that said that the complexity of his music relied not on the sounds but on the composition. I don't know anything about sound design but I do know composition and from what I hear Passion Pit's music is hella complex.
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Re: Indie pop/electronic (and a bit of synthpop, I guess)

Postby Nine Volt » 01 Jan 2014 11:03

I wouldn't necessarily say hella complex, though the actual composition isn't nearly as simplistic as the sound design. Like, on Carried Away the lead is just a square wave with some minor effects, but the way it's used isn't as simple as it sounds. I'd say the draw of Passion Pit relies on not only the vocals but the simplicity of the sounds themselves - catchy and not to complicated. Everything is either basic waveforms or common synth types like supersaws and whatnot, but it's the way they're used that makes them good.
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