How to Make Synthwave

By Rogue VHS · 27-minute video walkthrough · All tutorials

This is how I start a synthwave track from nothing. It's not a polished, highlight-reel version. It's the real early stage of a song: the chords, the first melody ideas, the sound choices, and the moment something clicks. Watch the video below, then use the steps underneath as a checklist when you start your own track.

For me, writing almost always starts with the chords. Once the chord progression is there, everything else gets much easier. The point of the steps below is to give you a framework, so you always know what to do next when you open a new project.

1. Dial in a pad

Start with a pad. It can be a sustained pad or one with a bit more articulation; I usually go for articulation. I like a sharp attack and decay on the patch, then I add delay so you can hear the sound develop over time. Get this sounding good before you write a single chord, because the sound shapes what you write.

2. Write a chord progression around a cadence

Get the cadence in first. Common ones to build from are four to one (IV–I), five to one (V–I) and even seven to one (VII–I). In the video I start in C minor on the one chord and end on the four, then fill the middle with the six and the seven.

Using two minor chords (the one and the four) and two major chords (the six and the seven) gives a more interesting sound. Three minors and one major, or the other way round, tends to pigeonhole the progression into sounding just minor or just major.

From there I invert chords so the notes sit clustered together, add sevenths, and look for notes I can extend across the whole progression. The full method is in the chords tutorial: How to write synthwave chord progressions and melodies.

3. Add the bass

To begin with, simply copy the lowest notes of your chords into a bass part. It instantly adds body and texture. Keep the bass notes in a contained range: if they climb too high, the bass loses its power and weight, so invert down when that happens.

4. Add an arpeggio

Open an arp in the same pattern and mirror the chord notes behind it. If it feels rushed, slow it down. Then automate the cutoff: find the lowest point where the cutoff still sounds good, start there, and open it up over time. While I'm working I put the automation lane directly under the track it controls, which keeps things easy to follow.

With the bass and chords already sorted, harmonically and in terms of sound design, an arp that follows the chords while the cutoff rises already gives you a strong starting point for the song.

5. Check the spectrum is full

By this point it's important that the frequency spectrum feels full. Put an EQ on the master and look: you should have bass, low mids from the pad and arp, a full mid-range mostly from the arp, and some accents at the top from the pad's delay. If all of that is there, you have a great starting point. That's what I look for.

Automation helps the track feel like it's moving too. Rather than a straight line, I'll put a little jump and then an increase into the cutoff, so passing through a section feels like progress.

6. Write a lead melody

Add a lead synth (I use an instance of Diva in the video) and turn it down. It doesn't really matter which note you start on; I usually feel it out, but in the video I start on the fifth. Write it inside the same pattern first and copy it out later. Watch for notes that clash with any borrowed chord in your progression, and adjust either the melody or the arp so they agree.

By now you'll have something like a 24-bar intro.

7. Bring in noise early

I like to get noise involved as quickly as possible, again to fill out the spectrum. I use a noise patch with cutoff and resonance controls, draw out eight bars of MIDI, and record the automation in live. If the filter starts off too bright, route it to its own channel and turn the highs down with an EQ.

8. Add drums and repeat the block

Drums are the obvious next step. Find a loop that suits synthwave, ideally at the right BPM, lower the volume, and paste it across the next section. Then repeat your whole intro block after the drums come in. That reset of the song, with drums added, is often enough to become the start of your verse or chorus. Finish with some hats for extra texture.

Notice that at this stage I haven't done any mixing: no sidechain, no low cutting, just very basic levelling. It should already sound warm. That's something to listen for when you start your own projects.

9. Embellish so it stops sounding formulaic

Embellishment moves you away from the regimented, almost formulaic feel of arpeggios and lets you think more melodically. In the video I do three small things to the arp:

• Swap the order of the last two notes at the end of bar two and bar six.
• Let the top notes play a melody of their own on the offbeat, which introduces a new rhythmic idea.
• Introduce a new note into the progression.

Finally, add some pitch bend to the lead. I automate pitch on the plugin wrapper and draw it in by hand. If you're working with eight bars, choose two notes to bend. Overdo it and it stops working; you want subtle variation throughout.

What next?

Once you have an intro and a first section, the next challenge is making the song go somewhere. That's what the arrangement tutorial covers: How to arrange synthwave and build a B section that works.