Creating an ethereal glass pad

If you need a pad that shimmers but doesn't get in the way of your mix, the ZebraCM is on hand, and it's sounding ethereal!

- Dave Gale

Dave Gale is an Emmy award-winning media composer, producer and orchestrator, with an enormous passion for synthesisers, in all their forms. His varied composing style embraces everything from full orchestral and hybrid scoring to fully electronic scores, employing synths wherever possible. He also happens to own some of the finest synths in existence but we're not jealous, OK?

Let’s face it, we all need pads! Once you’ve addressed your drums and bass in your mix, the chances are you’ll find yourself turning to pads to help bolster your track’s harmonic core, while adding interest to the sonic spectrum. The problem is, pads often get a bad rap and for good reason…

Many of the impressive-sounding pads which we have heard over the years have acquired something of a date stamp, and nothing exemplifies this more than the glass pad. Thanks to its sharpness of sound and resonant colour, it doesn’t do itself any favours, as it immediately conjures imagery of dated soft-rock tunes, performed by musicians with mullets! You’ll be pleased to know, this is not where we are taking a trip with the ZebraCM today, but we are going to take the concept, and create something altogether more subtle and with a degree of timbral undulation.

While these more ethereal glass pads have arguably never gone away, it’s useful to know how to control the harmonic content. This can be achieved at both the synthesiser filter level, or with heavy equalisation, leaving a pad which should blend into many forms of production styles. We’ll draw some musical inspiration from the likes of applauded electronic musician and producer Chicane, while not getting too glassy and overbearing in the process.

Step by step

Creating an ethereal glass pad