The Basics: Envelopes

Envelopes are a tool in digital music that help us control sounds and effects. This is through and envelope's ADSR. ADSR is something you will encounter in many tools in your DAW, and deals with how we shape sounds.

it stands for:
Attack
Sustain
Decay
Release

Working together, these parameters will help shape how a sound or a parameter functions through time. For the sake of this post, lets pretend we are dealing with an envelope that controls the volume of a synthesizer.

Attack is measured in in milliseconds. This controls how long it takes for the envelope to reach its maximum level. In this case, it would control how many milliseconds it takes for our synth to reach max volume.

Sustain in this instance is measured in dB. It controls the sustained volume at which our synth will remain after the initial attack volume is reached.

Decay is measured in milliseconds. It controls how long it takes for our synth to reach its sustain volume, after the initial attack volume is reached. *note: Decay will have no effect if the sustain level is the same as the attacks maximum level.

Release is measured in milliseconds, this measures how long it takes for our volume to trail off to zero after we have released the key for our synth. A release of zero will result in no release being audible.

Developing a comfortable understanding of how these four parameters work together to produce practical results is essential for helping create a cohesive and fully fleshed out track. Envelopes are the difference between a pad and a pluck, a build or a stab. Spend a lot of time with these, and you will find yourself getting quicker and better results with your sound design endeavors