Phase Plant for sound design - tutorial guide Asbjoern Andersen

Posted by Asbjoern Andersen in Sound design guides • 2 Comments


Kilohearts' Phase Plant is a wildly creative tool for sound design - and here are Senior Sound Designer Minh Ho's 5 first videos in a brand new 8-part sound design workshop utilizing Phase Plant (among other tools) to create custom whooshes, risers, hits and drones.

Don't have Phase Plant yet? Get it here

Sound design workshop by Minh Ho
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Watch Minh Ho’s workshop videos • Get Phase Plant • Hear Joel Berg’s wild Phase Plant audio examples

 

Part 1 – Intro

 

On the importance of movement in sound design, and the balance between noise and tonality:



Pt 1: Intro [Sound design workshop]


Topics and playing times:
00:00 Intro • 00:11 Sound design = movement • 01:23 ‘Building blocks’ • 02:56 Tonality vs noise • 03:50 Case study: Sekiro • 06:05 Closing words

Part 2 – Sampling: risers

 

How to create risers in a sampler from static pads and drones, and ways to accentuate the building in energy with effects and modulations:



Pt 2 - Sampling: risers [Sound design workshop]


Topics and playing times:
00:00 Intro • 00:21 Loading and playing samples • 01:22 Volume envelope • 02:19 Pitch curve LFO • 03:22 Distortion and filter modulation • 04:53 Printing to audio • 05:30 Unison • 06:30 Sampler unison quirk • 07:47 Modulate everything! • 09:50 Downwards pitch-shifting • 10:41 Loop length modulation • 11:57 LFO rate modulation

Part 3 – Sampling: whooshes

 

How to create whooshes and pass-bys using a sampler, and how to leverage FM, RM and AM to create new tones and articulations:



Pt 3 - Sampling: whooshes | FM, AM, RM [Sound design workshop]


Topics and playing times:
00:00 Initializing • 00:10 Volume envelope • 00:37 Pitch envelope • 01:25 Synchronized LFOs • 03:27 ‘Comfort’ reverb • 04:41 Less static sample • 06:27 Filter movement • 07:11 Swapping samples • 07:44 Bipolar pitch curve • 08:13 Some variations • 08:34 Frequency Modulation • 10:51 FM: tuning the modulator • 16:02 FM: enharmonic • 17:35 Ring Modulation • 18:56 RM: using the sideband • 20:20 Sidebands to tremolo • 20:55 Amplitude Modulation • 22:01 LFO rate modulation • 24:36 Punchier pitch curve

Part 4 – Sampling: impacts

 

How to create puncy hits and impacts, and how to fine-tune the transient using a combination of pitch and volume curves, filtering and distortion:



Pt 4 - Sampling: impacts [Sound design workshop]


Topics and playing times:
00:00 Initializing the patch • 00:24 Volume envelope • 00:54 Pitch envelope • 02:42 Adding distortion • 03:18 Swapping samples • 03:51 Adding FM • 04:51 A word on randomization • 06:37 FM envelope • 08:20 Adding RM • 09:05 OTT or noTT • 10:12 Swapping samples • 10:38 A word on layering • 11:29 Tweaking • 12:55 Shaping the transient with filters • 13:30 Increasingly adding distortion/center>

Part 5 – Granulation

 

On the power of granular sampling to completely transform the tone and texture of a sound:



Pt 5 - Granulation [Sound design workshop]


Topics and playing times:
00:00 Intro • 00:28 Typical granular pad • 02:54 Granular riser • 04:42 What Padshop can teach us • 05:58 Granulation = ring mod (kind of) • 07:35 Granular whooshes • 10:56 Adding pitch modulation • 12:09 More stuff Padshop can teach us • 12:21 Granulation = flanging (kind of) • 13:57 Fat granular hits in Padshop • 15:16 Applying to Phase Plant • 16:06 Playing with the playback position • 17:15 Swapping samples • 19:13 Whoosh from a hit • 23:24 Grain spawn rate • 28:16 Free rate risers

 

Get Phase Plant here:

 

If you’re feeling inspired, you can get Kilohearts’ complete Phase Plant below:

 

 

BONUS: Want to hear what Phase Plant is capable of? Check out these wild examples by Joel Blanco Berg. Click to jump straight to your chosen sound:

 

Motorcycle • Jungle • Snow • Rain and thunder • Propeller Plane • Propeller Plane • Goo • Lawn mower • Drum kit • Drill

 

Motorcycle:

 


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Jungle:

 


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Snow:

 


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Rain and thunder:

 


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Propeller plane:

 


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Goo & gunk:

 


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Lawn mower:

 


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2 thoughts on “How to use Phase Plant for sound design – a sound design video workshop by Minh Ho”

  2. Really cool! Thanks! Could you provide a link to your source materials, or make a tutorial about how to create them, like that following along would be much easier 😃

    Reply

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