Designing Leads with NI Massive

Further your sound design skills and unlock new sonic possibilities with this course from producer Liam O’Mullane aka The Sound Tutor, focusing on the creation of soaring lead synths with NI Massive, one of the most popular soft synths on the market.

Liam has been producing music for over 20 years, and is known for his work in the drum and bass scene as TST. He is also an accomplished DJ, having demonstrated his technical mixing and scratching skills on BBC 1Xtra, and having been endorsed by the likes of Serato and Vestax. More recently, he has worked with Chris Octane as part of DnB outfit Colo(r), and has been delivering lectures at SSR London.

On the course, Liam shares his extensive sound design knowledge, walking you through the creation of a variety of differing lead sounds. The patches make full use of Massive’s capabilities, from complex evolving sounds controlled by macros, to rhythmic sounds with routing and envelope mapping allowing for intricate shaping of the timbre. The course concludes with a couple of bonus modules teaching a few compositional tips to help you create effective melodies.

The course is available to stream directly from the site after purchase, and is accessible 24/7/365. Included with the videos are the presets that Liam creates on the course, as well as 15 bonus Massive lead presets, courtesy of Loopmasters . For more information, check out the module descriptions and sample module on the media tab.

Sample Module

Module 1 - Short and Rhythmic Lead Sound

This first lesson walks through the creation of a short, percussive lead sound, inspired by the styles of EDM and Hardstyle. The patch makes use of many of Massive’s features, such as phase modulation, and effects such as parallel tube distortion.

Module 2 - Filtering the Lead Sound

Continuing on from the previous module, Liam explains his choice of oscillators, envelopes and filter modulation.

Module 3 - Thickening the Short Lead

The short and rhythmic lead patch is rounded off with some thickening and widening using the voicing, FX and Massive’s on board EQ.

Module 4 - Long and Modulated Lead

This module teaches how to program a sustained lead synth patch, which will make extensive use of modulation and macros enabling you to switch between two distinct timbres.

Module 5 - Adding Macros

Liam further shapes the sound by adding one of Massive’s filters as well as some phase distortion via the modulation oscillator. He also begins to add macros to enable movement between two distinct timbres.

Module 6 - Shaping the Tone

In this lesson, the tone is tweaked by use of vibrato, LFO and some more of Massive’s insert effects such as the frequency shifter.

Module 7 - Adding FX and EQ to the Modulated Lead

Liam moves to the FX section of Massive to add some more finesse to the sound ,with the addition of some distortion, reverb and chorus. He also shows how to EQ the sound to fit into the mix.

Module 8 - Creating a Nasty Broken Lead

This lesson focuses on the creation of an FX like lead patch, making use of pitch envelopes and heavily resonant notch and scream filters.

Module 9 - Thickening the Broken Lead

Liam rounds off the patch by adding macros, changing the voicing settings and adding a flanger and chorus effects.

Bonus Module 1 - Choosing a Musical Key

In this module, Liam teaches you some tips and tricks for working out the key of a track, and choosing the right notes to compose a melody or bassline.

Bonus Module 2 - Jamming with Reference Material

After working out the correct key and scale, Liam jams over the beat to create some melodic phrases and ideas.

Key Features:

• Streamed videos available immediately after purchase
• Accessible 24/7/365
• Over 2 hours of tutorials
• Massive presets from the course included
• 15 bonus Massive lead patches courtesy of Loopmasters