PDA

View Full Version : Why do they call them pads?

Piranha
01-07-2006, 01:00 AM
Why do they call them pads?
Michael Troy
01-07-2006, 01:47 AM
Why do they call them pads?

I like MAXI pads....sorry....
rlainhart
01-07-2006, 08:04 AM
Because they're soft and they support the melody, like a mattress pad.
Piranha
01-07-2006, 01:24 PM
Because they're soft and they support the melody, like a mattress pad.

Hahaha. No, seriously, there has to be some explanation...
King_Ellesar
01-07-2006, 02:11 PM
Hahaha. No, seriously, there has to be some explanation...

i think he might have been serious. i mean, i would have said something like that. supportive, soft. some definitions of the word on this (http://www.answers.com/pad) page such as under pad2 make perfect sense: "a muffled sound resembling that of soft footsteps". pads are normally muffled in that you cant really hear each individual note attack quickly. if you picture playing notes on the keyboard like taking steps, playing a pad does sound like muffled steps. and they do support the sound like a matress supports anything.

it makes sense to me this way, but maybe there is more to it than the basic deffinition of pad.
Piranha
01-07-2006, 03:29 PM
*inserts foot in own mouth*
rlainhart
01-07-2006, 03:51 PM
I was serious. I don't actually know who first called them that or why (finding out might be a good project for a music history paper, students), but I've always believed that "pad" referred to the supportive quality of the sound. A classic synth pad is almost always a fairly muted tone, playing fairly dense block chords with relatively little internal motion, the point being to provide chord support for a melody line without distracting from or obscuring the lead tone too much.

I've also heard such chords referred to as "beds", again I believe for the same reason - a soft but firm support for the melody. But I'd be happy to hear otherwise, or find out the real story if I'm wrong.
Piranha
01-08-2006, 08:22 PM
You're probably right. Somebody on another forum said "Pads pad out the empty space behind the rhythm sections"
Staccato
01-10-2006, 05:43 PM
Sounds like it could be true.. I have no better answer.. Havenīt thought much about it though:P Just use them..