Got a question about what pads are, why you need them, and how they work?
You've come to the right place.
WHAT ARE PADS?
Pads – also known as “ambient pads” or “pad loops” – are continuous, textured sounds that add layers of depth, feel, and emotion to your music. They fill your sound, enhance a mood, and kill dead-space, no matter what key, tempo, or song arrangement you use. In short, they're pretty great!
EXPLAIN HOW I USE PADS IN FIVE SECONDS.
Pick a pad sound, pick your song key, press play on your desired device, and repeat these words, "Wow. That sounds great." It's that easy. (Was that under five seconds?)
ARE THESE PADS JUST FOR WORSHIP TEAMS?
Absolutely not! Pads work really well to fill the sonic atmosphere for not just worship teams, but singer/songwriters and other bands both on stage and in the studio.
WHY DON'T I NEED A CLICK TRACK WHEN I USE PADS?
Coresound Pads are built to fit any tempo, song arrangement, and chord progression. Seriously! No click track necessary! Just because they make you sound amazing doesn't mean they need to be complicated to use.
HOW DO THE PADS CHANGE CHORDS WITH THE SONG?
They don't need to! The pads provide subtle melodic texture as other chords within the same key are being played over top of them. For 99% of the popular worship songs out there, these pads will work!
WHAT DO I GET WHEN I BUY A SET OF PADS?
Each set of Pads includes ten-minute WAV audio files for all twelve major keys. They are each crafted musically to work well in songs that are in both major or minor keys. And of course, your pads purchase will also be immediately available within the MultiTracks.com Playback app!
DO YOU HAVE MINOR KEY PADS?
Yes we do! Our Minor Key Bundles have beautiful pads that are specifically designed to work with minor-key songs. Did you know, though, that many of our pads works well in BOTH major or minor keys? Subtle Sweet & Organ Drone particularly work well! For other pads, take the minor-key of your song, go up 3 half-steps, and use that key for your pad (ex. Dm song = Pad in F, Am song = Pad in C). Drop the pad a little lower in the mix, and you’ll be set!
WHAT KIND OF AUDIO FILES DO I GET WITH MY PURCHASE?
Every pad comes in high-definition WAV files.
WHY ARE THERE SO MANY PAD SOUNDS? DO I SERIOUSLY NEED THEM ALL?
Each set of pads has a signature sound to make your worship team sound great. It works well to use one pad for an entire worship set to add consistency, or be creative and use different pads for creating different moods and moments throughout your worship set.
WHAT IF I CAN'T DECIDE BETWEEN TWO DIFFERENT COLLECTIONS OF PADS?
Then get them all! Really though, we didn't create a ton of pads to make you choose between one or the other. We design each pad specifically to complement all the other amazing pads in the Coresound library, not replace them or copycat them. We hope you choose not to decide between them, and get all the pads!
DO I NEED TO BUY ANY SOFTWARE OR EXTRA GEAR?
Nope! Not at all. If you want to stick with just audio files, Coresound's pad audio files require NO ADDITIONAL SOFTWARE and can be used on any device (phone, iPod, tablet, laptop), media playback app (iTunes, etc.) or digital audio workstation/DAW (Ableton Live/Logic/etc.). Whatever workflow your band or church uses, these pads will fit! And if you choose to use the Playback app (which is the best way to trigger & play pads during your worship service), all you need is an iOS device and you'll be set!
SERIOUSLY, DO I NEED TO BUY NOTHING ELSE IN ORDER TO USE PADS IN MY WORSHIP SERVICE?
Seriously! There's a good chance you already have everything you need. If you trigger the pads on a device near you and want a simple solution, all you need is: 1) an audio cable that goes from your device to a direct box (1/8" to 1/4" will do the trick), 2) a direct box, and 3) an XLR cable from the direct box into your mixing console. Done! (Pro secret: our favorite direct box is the Radial ProAV1 - the Swiss Army knife of direct boxes. Use a normal 1/8" to 1/8" audio cable to plug right from your device into the ProAV1. Simple!)
WHAT APPS CAN I USE PADS IN?
The sky is the LIMIT! We've seen & heard worship leaders use our pads in countless ways - you can add them to just about any setup that you already have! Pads work great with: iTunes, Windows Media Player, ProPresenter, MediaShout, Powerpoint, Up/Down, Worship Team Director, Queue, DJay, and more. Of course, the easiest app of all to use pads in is the MultiTracks.com Playback app.
I HAVE A SMALL WORSHIP TEAM. WILL PADS WORK WELL FOR US?
Absolutely. In fact, one of the best uses of pads is for small church worship teams. They subtly but effectively fill your atmosphere and transform your sound, even if you only have a single instrument.
I HAVE A FULL BAND AT OUR LARGER CHURCH. DO I REALLY NEED PADS?
You sure do! :) Unless you have a second keyboard/synth player every week, Pads will do a lot for you. And even IF you had two keyboard players, pads would STILL do a lot for you! Big or small, these pads are a glue that holds everything together.
WHY DON'T I JUST MAKE MY OWN PADS? HOW HARD CAN IT BE?
Your time is valuable. We did the hard work for you. You can quickly rack up a large bill buying the gear you need to create these sounds… not to mention the time it takes to set up, create sounds, and get them into audio-file format… and then learning about EQ & post-production to make sure your pads don't muddy up the mix of your worship band! That’s a big commitment! So we did the work for you. Coresound Pads fill your worship sound without you having to spend hours to do so.
WHAT MAKES CORESOUND PADS DIFFERENT FROM OTHER PADS?
We found that pads we've purchased from other sources sound OK but are lacking in post-production. We found ourselves heavily EQing and processing the purchased pads so they wouldn't muddy up our sound. So we set out to create Pads that work well with all your instruments, are perfectly EQ'd, bring a layer of beauty to your music, and require no more work from you than to press play.
WHAT ELSE CAN I USE PADS ON BESIDES SONGS?
Pads work great in multiple places throughout your worship service. They can be used to create moments of prayer and reflection, for spontaneous praise, for speaker conclusion, add depth to your videos, and so much more! One thing we love about pads is that you don't have you play your instrument as much to "fill space" - the pads do the hard work for you. So be creative and come up with your own ways to use Pads to fill your worship atmosphere!
THESE PADS ARE GREAT! CAN I SEND THEM TO MY FRIEND TO USE AT THEIR CHURCH, TOO?
Nope. That's illegal. And you want to stay legal, right? Spread the word and point them to this website - if you love it, chances are they will too! And legally purchasing them gives us the opportunity to keep making great products for you. Win-win.
SOME PADS HAVE FAINT MELODIES THAT DON'T LINE UP WITH THE MELODIES IN MY SONGS. THAT SOUNDS LIKE TROUBLE. WHAT GIVES?
The melodies in some pads are designed to work no matter what chord changes are happening. That being said, make sure the pad is at an appropriate volume level so it serves as an accompaniment rather than an attention-getter (too hot in the mix).
HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO CREATE ALL THE PADS?
A lot longer than you’d think! Creating a great sound is the first step of the process. Then we analyze each frequency range to make sure pads fill the right places and avoid other places (so you still hear your instruments clearly without the pad overpowering it). We spend countless hours in pad post-production, carefully (and painstakingly) crafting them with an array of top-shelf studio equipment to ensure they perfectly fill your worship sound.
WHAT IF I DON'T WANT TO TRIGGER THE PADS MYSELF? HOW ELSE CAN IT BE DONE?
No problem at all. You can easily get your presentation software (ProPresenter, MediaShout, etc.) to trigger audio files for each new song. Or you could ask another band member to trigger them from their device. There are countless ways to do it - which one works best for you?