What is a lead?

The lead is a central element in productions, it represents the melodic part of your song. It's simply what allows you to convey emotions, whether it's through your melody or the power that your sound gives off.

In this article we will see how to create your leads in 5 steps.

A summary video will be put at the end of the article.

I) Have a good Synth or VST (Virtual Synthesizer).

First of all to compose a good lead. You need synths that provide a good sound. For this you can either use free or paid VST like the ones mentioned in these articles. "Top 10 Free VST to produce Techno" and "Top 10 VST to produce Techno"

Or simply own your own physical synth.

What is important is to have multi-functional VST that can create all kinds of sounds.  The idea is not to have 20 VST that you don't know how to use, but rather 2 or 3 that you know how to create uninteresting sounds that suit you.

II) Get mixing/mastering plugins.

As for the mixing VST, you will need to have some mixing VST in order to incorporate your melodies in your song. In general the plugins present in the basic DAW are very good and do not necessarily require another plugin.

If not, I advise you to use the paid plugins of the Waves suite.

You also need to get a sidechain, there are several that do the job.

Personally I use LfoTool.

Also avoid having hundreds of plugins for compression, equalizer and more. Just get the basics and it will do the job.

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III) Create your melody.

Once you have your tools we can start to create your lead melody. To do this you need to find a synth that you like and that has an impact.

Once you have found the right sound, choose the scale of your song for example Fmin.

To compose your melody you have 2 possibilities : create it from scratch yourself or use MIDI files. These are files to drag and drop into your software and you will already have the melody composed.

If you want to know more about the subject I wrote an article on it here is the link. "How to use MIDI files ?"

If you want to compose it yourself you can use the root notes available in your software according to the scale of your piece.

You just have to follow the grey boxes and you will be able to compose your melody without making a false note.

IV) How to mix your lead.

This step is quite free, you can use as many effects as you like, depending on your style and your wishes.

The classic mistakes are not equalizing your lead correctly and not having a sidechain which will choke your kick and greatly reduce the dynamism of your track.

Here is how I do it:

Equalizer :

Sidechain :

Overdrive :

Reverb :

V) Incorporate your drums.

For the demonstration I used only 3 patterns : kick bass, hi-hats, open-hats and rides. You can add other drums to layer and enrich your beat but here you have a base.

If you need quality drums to get started I recommend the "Techno Starter pack" which is available for free.

If you want a more complete sound bank, I recommend the "Inception Techno" pack with directly created drum loops. You can create your own beats quite easily just by mixing the loops.

You will also find the melodies I use for the drums in MIDI format.

Things to remember :

To finish this article, there are a few things you should remember. It's not about how many VST you have but how you use them.

It's the same for physical synths

Mixing is very important! It's what will allow your melody to sound in harmony with the drums and thus have an impact.

A good lead is also a good melody, either you compose it yourself or you can use MIDI files. They will allow you to get inspiration for your productions, it is an essential element.

Keep it simple enough in your compositional elements, no need to add tons of drum loops. What I recommend is to stay minimalist in your productions and to use as little as possible in order to hear each element of your track correctly.

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