Definition
Transition FX are non-musical (or semi-musical) sounds that guide attention between sections: risers (rise and build tension), downlifters (fall, release), impacts (hits on the arrival point), sub drops (fall of low end), sweeps, reverses, whooshes, tape stops. They are the “direction” of electronic arrangement and of film.
Risers
- White noise with a rising high-pass or band-pass (from 200 Hz to 8–10 kHz over 8–16 bars), crescendo in volume, increasing reverb.
- Pitch riser: a saw or a chord with pitch rising by 12–24 semitones (exponential curve toward the end).
- Shepard tone: an illusion of endless rise obtained with sine waves at different octaves rising while a spectral envelope makes the high ones fade out and the low ones appear (Roger Shepard, 1964; continuous version by Jean-Claude Risset). Christopher Nolan and Hans Zimmer have talked about it in connection with Dunkirk (2017).
- Rhythmic risers: snare rolls and gates that double the subdivision (see “Fills and transitions”).
- Granular riser: increasing density and pitch.
Downlifters and sub drops
- Downlifter: falling noise or sweep (LP filter from 10 kHz to 300 Hz), after a drop or at the start of a breakdown.
- Sub drop: a sine wave falling from 60–80 Hz to 30 Hz over 1–2 s with light distortion; tune it to the key (in A minor it starts from A1 = 55 Hz).
Impact
A layering of: deep kick or low tom, sub drop, short filtered noise, processed crash or cymbal, long reverb (3–6 s). On the downbeat of the drop or at the scene change.
Reverse
- Reverse cymbal: a reversed crash that peaks exactly on the downbeat.
- Reverse reverb: reverberate a note or a word, render only the tail, reverse it and place it before the original: the sound “arrives” from nothing.
- Calculation: the end of the reverse must coincide with the next transient (align in ms, not by eye).
Others
- Tape stop: slowing of pitch and speed until it stops (Gross Beat in FL Studio has tape stop presets).
- Whoosh/swish: filtered noise with automated pan.
- Glitch and stutter: very short repetitions (1/32, 1/64) before the drop.
Building in FL Studio
- Noise: 3x Osc (noise shape) or Sytrus, Fruity Love Philter filters with internal envelopes, cutoff automation with clips.
- Reverse: in Edison (Reverse) or with the Reverse option of audio clips.
- Gross Beat for tape stops, gates, stutters.
- Fruity Granulizer for granular risers.
- Render the FX you build to audio and create your own library (see “Resampling”).
Example in A minor (EDM 128 BPM)
16-bar build before the drop: white noise with HP from 300 Hz to 9 kHz (exponential curve), pitch riser of an Am(add9) chord from −12 to +12 semitones over the last 8 bars, snare roll that doubles every 4 bars. Last bar: one-beat drop-out, 1-bar reverse cymbal peaking on the downbeat. Drop: impact (kick + sub drop A1 → A0 + crash with 4 s reverb).
FX mix
- HP on the FX (many contain useless lows) and automated volume: they must grow but not cover the vocal.
- FX in wide stereo, sub and impact in the center.
- Leave headroom: risers and impacts summed at the drop can trigger the limiter.
- Consistency: use two or three recurring FX per track, not ten.
Exercise
- Create from scratch a noise riser, a pitch riser and a Shepard (three sine waves at octaves with crossfade) and compare the tension effect.
- Build a reverse reverb on a vocal word before the chorus.
Related topics
“Fills and transitions”, “Granular synthesis”, “Resampling”, “Mix automation”, “Sound design for film and video games”.