6 Ways to make your synths emotional + BONUS

The video covers six different techniques to make synthesizers more emotional, with all examples taken from the creator's own track released today.

• 10 favorite Serum presets included in a bundle • 10 favorite Vital presets included in a bundle • 10 favorite kicks samples included in a bundle

Purchase the track on Beatport and send the receipt to hanna@mercurialtones.com to receive the complete project file with all presets and samples.

Remix version available on Beatport includes Ableton project files to explore the production in detail.

Using semitone changes within a scale (like C minor) creates immediate emotional progression, with semitones existing between notes like E-flat to D and A-flat to G.

• Take a C minor chord (C, E-flat, G) • Identify semitone changes within the chord structure • Move notes up by semitones to create unresolved, emotional feelings • Add filter cutoff adjustments to deepen the ambience

Semitone manipulation creates dark yet emotional sounds and can be abused in chord progressions to enhance tension and create an unresolved, unfinished feeling.

Opening up the chord by raising notes creates deeper, more emotionally compelling ambience.

• Stable notes in C minor: C (first), E-flat (third), G (fifth) • Unstable notes: All other scale degrees • Stable notes create resolution, unstable notes create tension

Use a repeating four-note bass progression and vary the octave placement to control tension levels across bars.

Ending a progression on an unstable note (like A-flat) creates unresolved tension and emotional incompleteness, whereas ending on a stable note (like G) creates strength and resolution.

Unstable notes at the end of progressions generate emotional tension and complexity in tracks.

Pinging notes are additional ambient hits that play on top of existing melodies and bass progressions to create contrast and intensity.

• Keep the main melody and bass progression intact • Add pinging notes with a contrary motion progression • Use only two-note movements for pinging (example: G down to C)

Pinging notes use high-frequency sounds (like lead synths or noise layers) to create dramatic ambient textures without competing with deep bass frequencies.

Pinging notes dramatically increase the emotional impact and intensity of the track, creating very strong emotional effects when added to melodies.

Chord progressions are multiple melodies packed together, consisting of bottom melody, middle stable melody for cohesion, and top melody.

• Create opposing movements between top and bottom melodies • If bottom moves up, move top melody down • Use 16-note or 8-bar chord progressions for variation

Combine unstable notes (like G-sharp) with stable notes (like C) to create drama and contrast that emphasizes emotional intensity.

Add stable notes at the beginning of new eight-bar sections to signal new beginnings and provide resolution before building tension again.

Use different synthesizer patches and sounds to add emotional variation to seemingly simple two-note progressions in electronic dance music.

• Identify the desired emotional direction (example: hopeful rather than dark) • Create different chord progressions for different emotional impacts • Select appropriate patches to match the emotional tone

Stack two contrasting chord progressions with different timbres on top of each other to create magical complementary textures that reinforce the intended emotional direction.

Combining contrasting progressions with contrasting timbres creates rich, emotionally complex sounds that feel polished and intentional.

Create multiple melody and progression variations, then listen critically to identify which version best reflects the intended emotions.

• Create a new audio channel • Route the selected synthesizer channel to the resampling solar channel • Record the output to capture the live performance

Chop and cut the resampled audio to match desired rhythms and add effects on top to create refined, beautiful ambience.

Resampling allows precise control over timing, arrangement, and effects application to achieve the most emotionally impactful final sound.