How to get electronic pop music sound less digital

[RasmusRudolph]

My biggest problem when creating electronic pop music is that it always sounds too flat and midi-like. IMO one of the biggest differences between the professionals and people like myself, is the ability to get their songs to sound real and dynamic instead of digital and static.

It's really frustrating since I don't know how to get the sound I am looking for, and it's really hard to explain in technical terms. Therefor I hope you guys can point me in the right direction, based on the examples I am about to post. Your help means the world to me, since I really feel this is what holds me back from making some really great and exciting music.

I know it's a long post, but even if you just take a glance at it, I would be happy to hear from you. My DAW is Logic Pro 9 btw.

Alright, here we go:

Taio Cruz - Hangover - YouTube (0:38 - 1:08)
Sounds really dirty and squashed. It has that real sound to it, and it's not just cause of the guitar. It sounds like it was recorded through a microphone or something like that. It has depth and sounds roomy, but it doesn't sound like just reverb and hi-cut. I don't know how to explain it better than the word "real", cause it really just sounds real, messy and distant in a good way, whereas my next example sounds really artificial (digital/midi), clean and flat.

My Example #1 - Box.com player
I am trying to get the same kinda sound and feel as in the Taio Cruz track, but it just sounds flat and digital. Adding distortion, basic reverb and hi-cut doesn't give me the result I am looking for - it still sounds "out of the box" midi-like afterwards.

Ke$ha - SWEAT *NEW* (NOT A REAL SONG) - YouTube (0:14 - 0:30)
I know this isn't a finished track, but it still has that real and dirty sound to it. The synth doesn't sound flat and midi-ish, like My Example #1. Although it sounds edgy and "in your face" it also sounds kinda squashed and like it has a lot of room and dynamic around it. Where my synths sound like a flat line of digital sounds right in front of you, the sound I am trying to achieve (like in Hangover and this example) sounds like it has some space in front of it and around it, and doesn't appear "straight up" and clean. I don't know how to describe it correctly, so I try to be as illustrative as possible.

David Guetta ft. Flo Rida & Nicki Minaj - Where them girls at - YouTube (0:29 - 0:49)
Try and compare this straight up with My Example #1. How do I get it to sound more like David Guetta's track? My first instinct was a lot of hi-cut and reverb, but that didn't do the trick at all. This track has more depth and dimension to it, and again doesn't sound like flat electronic synths.

My Example #2 - Box.com player
I made this bass so it's easy to compare straight up with the original..

KE$HA - TiK ToK - YouTube (0:32 - 0:48)
..which sounds less digital than my version and like it has some distance to it without sounding enclosed (again tried lots of EQing, but that's not it). It sounds more real, instead of flat out midi.

My Example #3 - Box.com player
This is an attempt to get the same soundscape and feel like the song in the link below, but it just sounds like a midi joke. Reverb, hi-cut and some delay didn't get me any closer to sounding like:

Cobra Starship - You Make Me Feel - YouTube (0:16 - 0:30)
No need to repeat myself. Hopefully you know what I mean by "real" and "dynamic" vs "midi" and "flat".

So I really hope you got an idea of the sound that I am trying to achieve. I know it's not the exact same thing in all the songs I posted, and that there's no magic "make it sound real" plugin, but the thought is actually not that crazy, since I believe I just need to know exactly what to work with and which plugins I need to master (or even own). The plugins I mainly use are Logic's built-in channel EQ, PtVerb, sample delay and delay designer.

The thoughts and words that immediately pops into my head are squashed and roomy, dirty and messy, a kind of low-fi feel, raw and unpolished, yet tamed. Think Dance eJay (my sound) vs. Dr. Luke (goal).

I wholeheartedly hope that you understand what I am talking about, since it's really hard to explain. I know my music sounds decent, but I am not looking for recognition of the sound I already have.

Tips and tricks, plugins, settings, channel strips, explanations, good ideas, anything that can get me in the right direction is welcome.

Thanks a lot!

[simpleton]

many of your examples contain heavy "side-chain compression" on lots of the instruments. this gives the songs that "pulsing/pumping" sound that kinda smashes everything together. search this site for info. there's plenty.

the other thing i'd suggest is using a mastering plug-in like iZotope Ozone. plug-ins like this can help you get that loudness-maximized, heavily-multipressed sound. Ozone even contains reverb processing that can add a "roomy" feel.

and don't forget to use swing quantize settings!

[tristancalvaire]

Well, I am definitely no expert on this- if I was, I'd be doing it! However, I do have a few tips.

Hi-range! Soft, but still there white noise in the high-range gives a song a much more organic feeling.

Have very slow, rolling distortion in the sub-range, going up into the mid-range- real instruments don't generate perfect sine waves when played! How you generate the distortion is up to you- but make sure it's a very rolling kind of sound, akin to an organ. Phasing waves, modulated almost closed low-pass filters with high resonance, a tiny bit of release- all these things can go a long way to giving you a more organic sound.

Use tape distortion! A plug-in like Tapehead Medium is free, and very nice to use. Also, Logic's Tape Delay has a hidden tape distortion feature- turn off all delays functions, set times to 0 ms, then open the subset tape of Tape Delay and there should be a tape distortion gain. Gain distortion works wonders- even though it sounds like an oxymoron, using logic's bitcrusher with a 24-bit sample rate and 1x downsampling (to avoid digital distortion) then gaining a sound is an easy way to give it a more organic feel.

Even though you mentioned them, proper reverb and decaying volume envelopes are actually very important for a more natural sound. Unless you're making a song almost entirely dependent on heavy reverb (aka Trance), you need to find the right balance of it- you need breathiness, without the sound actually sounding like it has reverb added to it digitally.

Finally, you say you're trying to make it sound less digital- well, analogue synths are the answer! Analogue synths are affected by things like temperature, time they've been on, how often they've been used- they are imperfect, and that's why their sound is so beautiful! Bits and bytes will always sound the same- but much like a when strumming a guitar string, you will never get the same waveform out of an analogue synth twice! Here are two examples of songs I made using an analogue synth heavily- My Moog Slim Phatty-
http://soundcloud.com/tristan-toxique/c ... -and-candy
http://soundcloud.com/tristan-toxique/8-bit-wings

Best of luck to you!

[fader8]

My biggest problem when creating electronic pop music is that it always sounds too flat and midi-like. IMO one of the biggest differences between the professionals and people like myself, is the ability to get their songs to sound real and dynamic instead of digital and static.

Rasmus,
The answer is simpler than you think, and relatively easy to do, too.

If you listen to a group of musicians play actual instruments in a live setting, there are a few things that will always be true:

1. The tempo is never constant. It will swing but even the swings will never be exactly the same.

2. No one is ever perfectly in tune, either with themselves or with their bandmates.

3. The same note will never have exactly the the same timbre twice.

4. Notes will never have the same level, attack, decay or release, and their timbre will always evolve in some slightly different way over the duration of the note, regardless of how short the note is.

You can recreate all of the above to any extent you like within Logic. The tools are there for both the sound design and the sequencing aspects of this.

[tristancalvaire]

Here's a track I'm working on you may be interested in-
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1715217/daftpunkyayyy.m4a

It uses Vinyl Emulation (iZotope's Vinyl), Tape Emulation (Massey Tapehead), Logic's Compressor set to Opto with Telextronix LA2A settings as well as soft-clipping for tube emulation, a Moog Slim Phatty for most of the synths, very small reverb on the Razor 'yeah' synth, layered 808 + acoustic drum samples, velocity controlled levels on the drums, groove+humanization on the drum beat as well as groove on the delays, manually tweaking filters rather than automation.

I'm obviously going for a very organic, vintage feel- if you use these techniques to a lesser extent, you can get something similar to the songs you linked.

[John Reid]

Another thing you can do is play each track in real time into Logic.

I like doing this since it allows me to vary the notes and velocity/expressiveness of each instrument. So I record the drum track live, then repeat with the bass line, etc. It's also more fun, since you feel like you're PLAYING, not programming, and can sometimes find a note progression that you hadn't thought of before.

Definitely makes it feel like there's a human in there, somewhere.

I find that some of the plug-ins mentioned can induce , since they sound like they "try" too hard. As with any plug, moderation is key.