Why do they call it "pads"

[doppelkorn]

I've noticed that sometimes people talk about a sound in production called "pads", especially in D+B production. What is this referring to exactly?

 

Like here on a description of a synth:

 

The MS2000 actually comes up against the similar Roland JP-8000 and Novation SuperNova & Nova synths. Despite its amazing look, the MS2000 has some surprising limitations. It has only 4-voice polyphony so you won't be creating very lush or complex pads and sounds with it. In spite of this, its sound is clean, crisp and very flexible. It can easily conjure up beefy basslines, sub-basses, wonderful sweeping leads, pads and hits. Classic features include a 6 pattern arpeggiator, a very flexible LFO with sample and hold and even vintage wood side-panels and printed block diagrams and programming data on the face.

What exactly is a pad and why is it called a pad?

[doppelkorn]

OK ignore the first half of that question but why do they call it a pad?

 

A synth pad is a sustained chord or tone generated by a synthesizer, often employed for background harmony and atmosphere in much the same fashion that a string section is often used in acoustic music. Typically, a synth pad plays many whole or half notes, sometimes holding the same note while a lead voice sings or plays an entire musical phrase. Often, the sounds used for synth pads have a vaguely organ, string, or vocal timbre. Much popular music in the 1980s employed synth pads, this being the time of polyphonic synthesizers, as did the then-new styles of smooth jazz and New Age music. One of many well-known songs from the era to incorporate a synth pad is "West End Girls" by the Pet Shop Boys, who were noted users of the technique.

The main feature of a synth pad is very long attack and decay time with extended sustains. In some instances pulse-width modulation (PWM) using a square wave oscillator can be added to create a "vibrating" sound.

Is it because it pads out a mix?

[Mike-L]

Yeah I think thats it. Soft sounds that fill in the spaces around the others, like padding.

[doppelkorn]

Thanks Mike. Lock the thread. Print it out. Frame that son of a gun.

 

DV delivers.

[supacuts]

It stands for Prolonged Attack and Delay, due to the characteristics of the type of sounds used. They were also pre-programmed chords assigned to the pads of early Roland's. The term was first coined by Patrick "Paddy Fingers" McDaw in 1932.

 

It's all lies, but a bloody good question.

[assemblyworker]

Supercuts speaks the truth, even if he made it up. It's just a truth waiting to happen.

[doppelkorn]

PADZ!