Help me understand what lush pads means.
I understand fat, warm, cold, this, thin, digital, analogue, when used to describe sounds.
I don’t use many “pads” in my own music, at least not consciously.
I’d love to hear breakdowns and examples of what lush pads are, and what they are not.
Also just a general explanation of what makes a pad, and when or how they should be used.
Thanks Elektronauts 
I’ve always thought about pads as simply being sustained chords. Maybe with a slow attack and release, or some evolution to the sound, but not necessarily all or even any of those.
As for lush, maybe another word is rich? Smooth, dreamy, reverby? I’ve never really had to explain lush, yet I’ve noticed I’ve been using the word a lot more lately..
The name for that type of sound, “pad” , I think comes from “padding” - the material used to fill a space. Like “beds” in broadcast media (IIRC).
They’re the sounds used to fill in space. Sustained sounds, often played in chords. Anything can be a pad, so long as it fills in space/time. That said, drones and “industrial noise” don’t often get called “pad” (but you could, given the “fills in space or time” definition).
“Lush” - sumptuous, juicy, verdant…
I use it when the pads have some sparkle, feel dense yet bright, perhaps with some motion to highlight their grand-ness.
A lush pad is the sort of pad that makes the whole shopping mall stink of chemically recomposed lavender and dissolves immediately and somewhat disappointingly on contact with so much as a thimble full of water.
It’s one of those phrases that stick in people’s heads and get overused when they want to add emphasis. Like a compressor “gluing together the sound”. I think most pads at least aspire to be “lush”.
Thanks!
This definitely gives me a better understanding.
Also helps me understand why I tend not to use them much.
I really enjoy minimal sounds happening at once, making the existing sounds stand out using lots of space in between.
So Blade Runner might be a good example of “lush pads,” yet holding a melody as well?
Makes me wonder if true pads are more filler and less melodic?
Maybe a bad explanation IDK 
Technically I would say:
Is lush (aside from being a word to describe a healthy patch of grass) a very English word? In my neck of the woods around Bristol, it’s used in the phrase “that’s gert lush, mate” meaning very good or nice.
Nostril assault.
Body Shop: “Let’s stink the mall out with vanilla and ylang ylang”
Lush: “Hold my beer while I show these amateurs how it’s done”
Yes!
However I wasn’t sure if that was close in context for describing sounds.
It’s difficult not to think of lush meaning drunk or making me think of the band, or both for that matter.
Ah yes, lush for drunkard. I had forgotten about that one. Well old school and out of use now
Roland D110 - 5 Soundtrack
I think a “lush pad” is those wobbly tape effect low passed pads smothered in shitter, sorry shimmer reverb 
Shimmers Full
you’re doing it wrong mate. should be warbling your shimmer, not shimmering your warble.
I always think that Lush means movement+not too bright, though it isn’t a terribly well understood (and thus not particularly useful) descriptor.
The 2nd JD800 preset “Massive Pad” is pretty close, but could have the filter cutoff turned down just a bit.
It’s a four-letter word best taped to the outside of a “swear jar” and placed next to the one marked “warm”.