How do you EQ and process Synth Pads?

[mementus]

Tell me your story, your philosophy. Whatever.

[mmGhost]

i re-sample them. Create them, bounce them, layer them, bounce them, reverse them, add effects, bounce them again, reverse again, bounce... you get the idea.

My goal is always to do this with harmonically-rich pads (i.e. open your filters) and load into your sampler of choice by the time you are done and drive the filter with your sound. Bouncing and resampling like this creates a lot of movement that will make people go "how'd he get that pad to swell like that?".

In terms of layering I usually think in terms of how to fill out the spectrum of sound based on what I'm going for. There is no one way to EQ and process the pads. Totally depends on the composition. The key is to start with some great sounds which will make the mixing more fun and easier later.

[do_androids_dream]

You eq them - approach them - just like you would eq rhythm/backing guitars in a rock/pop song. You pull out frequencies that other instruments in the mix occupy so that the pads can 'wrap around' everything without conflicting too much - unless the pad is completeley upfront and dominating a mix - although it still generally applies..

[The Chase]

I find myself digging out a shit-ton of low-mids from them. It's really important that they stay out of the way of the punch areas of dynamic content. And then I try to keep enough upper-mids away from leads and cymbals to keep some room for pads/atmospheres to provide a real sense of space in the mix.

I have weird habit of giving pads/atmospheres their own reverb send and then mixing that reverb's wet channel into the main mix like it's a track of its own.

[commodore]

Side-chain them, even if just lightly. EQ out some of the Low end, except for pads that are used strictly during breakdowns. EQ to taste playing the full mix, letting the leads and drums stand out. I also layer them, but EQ and process them separately.

[DJbrimLo]

I use Synth Pads often. I typically do more Saturation in parallel than Direct EQ on them. The layer of saturation will help give some presence without losing the lower mid-range. I feel that often times synth pads without that lower mid-range can sound cheap, unless it was obviously intentional. I also will do some adjusting to the stereo imaging of the Pads. Lastly will be dome ducking of certain frequency bands triggered by side chain. Those 3 steps usually get my Synth Pad right where I want them to sit without disturbing the initial tone of the Pad I started with.