Sound design

The process of creating, shaping and manipulating sounds from scratch, as opposed to arranging or composing with them. In electronic music it mainly means programming synthesizers, choosing waveforms, setting filters and envelopes, and modulating parameters with LFOs, to build original basses, leads, pads and effects. It also covers processing recorded or sampled material with techniques such as resampling, layering, distortion, granular and FM synthesis, and effects chains. Because many electronic genres are defined as much by their signature sounds as by their melodies (the 303 squelch in acid house, the wobble bass in dubstep, the supersaw lead in trance), sound design is a core skill for producers. Software synths such as Serum, Massive and Vital have made it central to modern EDM production. The term is also used more broadly in film, games and theatre for creating sound effects and audio atmospheres.