Making Custom Pitched Sweeps and Risers For Electronic Music
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Read the Accompanying Article Here (https://www.sormena.org/articles/arti...)
Sweep (transition) FX scare a lot of young producers. I'm here to show you that they are not as complex as you may think.
In this tutorial we will use more of a subtractive approach. Meaning we will take a block of sound (noise, pitched, natural, etc) and then use filters and other FXs in order to sculpt away at our dense block and emphasize a sweeping motion.
There's nothing wrong with using ready made transition FX from a sample pack but it's always good to know that you can make them yourself. The benefit is that you can really get these transition FX to blend seamlessly with the sounds from the production you're working on.
In the add on video you just watched you saw an example where starting and ending pitch is something to consciously consider and think about. I tend to make my sweep effects near the end of a production when nearly all the other major musical parts have been completed. These special effects serve as great transitions but you want the track to still hold up without them. (otherwise the sweep becomes a crutch and very cliché in all your music). But as long as you know what the underlying harmony will be you can make these pitched sweep effects whenever.
It’s always safe to start and end on the tonic (the first degree of the scale). So if you are working in C major that would be C (rising or falling by an octave or two).
If you know the underlying harmony you can get a little more experimental. For example if the chords are going Dominant-V (G) to Tonic I (C)…you could get creative. Take the leading tone (B as found in the G major Triad) and then rise or drop eventually landing on a C. This emphasizes the motion from one chord to the next. Normally these sweep effects occur at moments in a track where you’re making a strong statement harmonically…so doesn’t it make sense that the sweep could do the same? Sometimes this works and sometimes it sounds weird… just a matter of practice and experimentation.