In this Serum tutorial we will guide you through the process of recreating the captivating synth sounds from the song "Hurts Me" by Tory Lanez. This track, although originally intended for Tory Lanez's 7th studio album, "Alone at Prom," didn't make the final cut, however, fate intervened when a leaked version of the song started trending on popular platforms like TikTok and Instagram, capturing the attention of music enthusiasts worldwide, as a result, the track was officially released, and its popularity soared even further when Trippie Redd made a second version.
This song is heavily inspired by the synthwave genre, which draws on the nostalgic sounds of the 80s and has a vibe reminiscent of some tracks by "The Weeknd." The synthwave elements in this track create a captivating and atmospheric sonic landscape that hooks listeners from the first note, so let us guide you step-by-step through the creation of the mesmerizing synth lead, the rolling basslines, and the lush atmospheric pads, let's dive in.
This article was possible because all of the presets from this breakdown came from our Dark Synthwave Serum pack and it has have 20% off with the code: SP01.
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Let's start with the main element of the track, this amazing synth sound, to make this patch you have to follow quite a few steps so let's start with the simple ones, first you need both oscillators to have a Basic Shape wavetable, then select 3 voices to both of them and detune them a little, then use your envelope 1 to modulate the cutoff of the filter and set the resonance at around 20%, then use LFO to modulate the finetuning of both oscillator but also (and this is crucial) the size of the reverb but the amount of modulation you will be adding should be above 3.
Now the second step is to use your envelope 2 as an Aux Source of your LFO 1 modulation and to do this you have to make it in the Matrix Tab, so after doing that set the attack of envelope 2 at around 175 ms this will be the time it will take to LFO 1 to modulate at a 100% the parameters assign.
So, the bassline in the track is pretty cool and plays slightly differently in the verse compared to the chorus. Here's the difference: in the verse, it's sidechained at a rate of a quarter note, which gives it a pulsating effect that accentuates the rhythm. However, in the chorus, there's no sidechain, so it's just a steady, driving bassline, apart from that, the preset used for the bassline is the same throughout the entire song, to make it use a DQ_SAW_Wrd in oscillator "A" and a Basic Shape in its fourth position in oscillator "B", the use envelope 1 to modulate the cutoff of the filter and in LFO create a sidechain shape and route it to the levels of both oscillators and to the cutoff of the filter as well and in the chorus just bypass LFO 1 to get rid of the sidechain effect.
This Reese Bass accompanies the main bassline throughout the entire song, its purpose is to provide a sense of warmth and presence, filling the mix with those deep, rich sub frequencies that make your speakers rumble and together, they create a strong foundation for the track, first we need an Mb Saw in oscillator "A" with the warp knob using bend at a 100% in oscillator "B" we have a Basic Shape but the warp knob bend should be at -99%, the use envelope 2 to modulate the levels of both oscillators and use the filter to cut everything above 400 Hz.
Creating this sound is actually quite simple, to get started, select a SQR_SAW_WRD in oscillator "A" and a Basic Shape waveform in oscillator "B" and envelope 1 should have a decay at around 350ms and should be being routed to the cutoff of the filter, now, to give it that dreamy vibe, let's head over to the effects tab. you'll want to add the hyper dimension, chorus, and reverb but the most important one is the delay so put it up in the ping pong mode and set the tempo at a quarter note and turn the feedback at around 50%.
The pad and Reese bass are the two sounds that gives the whole track its warmth and color, thanks to their rich low and mid-range harmonics. They really fill out the mix and give it that extra boost that makes it feel complete, it's worth noting that the pad plays throughout the entire track, helping to create a cohesive and consistent feel that ties everything together, so this sound is quite straight forward use a SQR_SAW_Wrd in both oscillators, both also have 9 voices with the detune set at around .20 and use the filter to cut everything above 900Hz then the final part is to use some LFO´s to modulate the finetuning.
Let's talk about this awesome pad that enters in the middle of the verses and stay throughout the chorus, it's like a breath of fresh air that brings some sparkle and lightness to the track, in a way, it's the perfect complement to the first pad we talked about before, while the first pad focuses on the low and mid-range harmonics, this one takes care of the upper harmonics, we use a Prime wavetable in oscillator "A" and a IHasCanKick in oscillator "B" with a Saw wavetable in the sub oscillator and use the filter in the High 12 type cutting everything below 800Hz.
We've made it to the final patch of the track! This synth sound is like a special guest that only appears in the intro and chorus. It adds an extra layer of texture and flavor to the already beautiful pads, which are playing the same chord progression, its actually quite simple to make just use a Basic Shape in oscillator "A" and a PWM_Mdc in oscillator "B", now envelope 1 should have an attack of 10ms with a decay of 1.5 ms and a short release as well, the routed to the cutoff of the filter.
]]>This article was possible because all of the presets from this breakdown came from our French House Serum pack and it has have 20% off with the code: SP01.
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Let's talk about the bass in this song, because it's seriously one of the most important instruments, it's a catchy line that repeats throughout the song and really drives the groove of the whole track, alright, let's start recreating the bass, first we used a Basic MG in oscillator "A" and a Basic_Wrd in oscillator "B," both with 4 voices, to give it a little extra brightness, we added some frequency modulation to oscillator "B", and to really shape the sound, we used envelope 2 to modulate the cutoff of the filter, and the final touch is to have the resonance of the filter to be around 65%.
The other main element that pops in the verse and the chorus next to the bassline is this synth sound, which is quite dry and stabby, we used an SQR_Saw_Wrd in oscillator "A" and a SawRounded in oscillator "B" and they both have seven voices to make it sound wider, use envelope 2 to modulate the cutoff of the filter and something that is not showing in the image below is that envelope 1 should have a very short release so the sound doesn't have a tail.
Now that we've reached the bridge of the song, there's a really cool subby bass that comes in. If you're reading this tutorial on your phone, you might have a bit of trouble hearing this sound, but trust us, it's there, first you'll need PWM Maths in oscillator "A" and a Basic Shape in oscillator "B," both one octave down, for the sub, you should use a Saw wavetable two octaves down, use envelope 2 to modulate the leves of both oscillators and use the filter to cutoff everything above 200 Hz and crank the drive and fat knobs to give some warmth to the sound.
The synth sound that really brings the high frequencies to fill out the spectrum in the bridge. It's one of the three elements that really make this section stand out, to create this sound, we started with a saw wavetable in oscillator "A" and a IHasCanKick wavetable in oscillator "B", then we used envelope 2 to modulate the cutoff of the filter, but here's the secret sauce: to get that brassy sound that really makes this synth stand out, the attack of the envelope should be around 40 ms to about 80 ms. In this case, we set it right in the middle.
The final element that appears in the bridge section it's a really cool Rhodes-type of keys, and it's playing the same chord progression as the synth, but every quarter note, to create this sound, we started with an FFT_Adds_2nds in oscillator "A" and an Analog_Bd_Sin in oscillator "B," one octave up this adds a layer of brightness that really helps the keys stand out then we added a Sine wavetable in the sub oscillator to give it a bit of warmth and depth, to really make this sound perfect, we used envelope 1 to modulate the cutoff of the filter, just slightly. This helps to give the sound a bit of movement and keeps it interesting throughout the bridge.We saved the best for last - the lead sound! This patch was really fun to make because it uses quite a lot of modulation. To get started, we used a Basic_Wrd in oscillator "A" and a IHasCanKick in oscillator "B," both with ten voices.
Now, to give this patch its characteristic funky sound, we need to do two things. First, we need to use a Formant-I filter and modulate its parameters with LFO 2, this helps to give the sound a really unique and interesting texture, second, we need to use an LFO to modulate the finetuning at a 1/16 note rate. This helps to give the sound a bit of movement.
The final touch to really make this lead sound shine is to add a slow modulation to the finetuning, this is really easy to do, just go to the Matrix tab and use envelope 2 as an Aux source.
]]>Welcome to our tutorial on how to make the sound design of all the synths behind one of the funkiest songs out there "24K Magic" by Bruno Mars, we are big fans of anything funky and disco so to say this tutorial is overdue is not an exaggeration, let's dive into the intricate details of this chart-topping track, released in 2016, "24K Magic" features a remarkable groovy bassline and an abundance of funky synth sounds that make it a perfect representation of the genre and a great track to remake from scratch using Serum, so let's start.
This article was possible because all of the presets from this breakdown came from our French House Serum pack and it has have 20% off with the code: SP01.
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There's no denying that the bass is the soul and heart of the track. It gives the song so much movement and groove that it's impossible not to dance along, to make this bass sound, we used an IHasCanKick wavetable in oscillator "A" with 5 voices to make the sound nice and wide, then, in oscillator "B", we used a Basic Shape and selected the bend option in the warp mode section, setting it at 100%, now to get this funky kind of bass patch you need an envelope (in this case envelope) to modulate the cutoff of the filter, the set your resonance at around 45%, and for those slides between notes don't forget to set the legato and mono on.
When it comes to making music, sometimes it's better to keep things simple and let the other elements shine. That's exactly what we're going to do with the synth stabs in the chorus, even though this sound on its own may not be that impressive when it's combined with the drums, bassline, and arpeggio, it creates pure magic! so to make this sound, we used another IHasCanKick wavetable in oscillator "A" and a basic Shape in oscillator "B" with the PMW mode in the warp knob, then to make it sound stabby, we used envelope 2 to modulate (which should have a short release and decay) the levels of the oscillators, the PMW mode on oscillator "B", and the cutoff of the filter. This gives the sound a nice and sharp quality that really cuts through the mix.
Even though this synth may sound quite similar to the previous one, it's actually quite different this one is not as bright as the one in the chorus and is less predominant, but it still adds another layer to the track, to make this sound, we used a basic shape in oscillator "A" with some frequency modulation and in oscillator "B" we used a PWM_Mdc with the sync mode at around 60% in the warp knob, but the real secret to this preset is in envelope 3, first, you need your attack to be at around 50ms to give this kinda brassy effect, and the release should be short, then, we routed it to the levels of the oscillators and the cutoff of the filter.
We've now arrived at the bridge section of the track, and the main element here is this huge and powerful Reese type of bass and to make it, we used a Jno wavetable in oscillator "A" with 5 voices and spread the detune so it's nice and wide then in oscillator "B", we used a basic Shape with 6 voices and also spread the detune. This gives the sound a nice and full stereo image that's just perfect for the bridge we used envelope 2 to modulate the levels of the oscillators, and the filter should be cutting everything above 400 Hz, now to add even more warmth and character to the sound turned up the drive and fat in the filter, which gives a presence to the sound that really fills up the mix.If you notice this sound is being slowly opened by a filter during the duration of the bridge which is 8 bars, so don't forget to add one and automate the cutoff.
We've finally reached the final element of the track, and it's quite a big one! This arp gives a breath of fresh air to the song, and when it enters the mix, it just glues everything together like magic, we used a SawRounded wavetable in oscillator "A" and only gave it 1 voice. In oscillator "B", we used a Basic Mg with the Sync at 2.95% in the warp knob, then to add even more depth and to the sound, we used delay and reverb to taste in the Fx tab.
I guess that wasn't all, the reason we give one voice to each oscillator is because in the track the pan is being automated from one side to another, just automate it like in the image below to give this effect or use and autopan.
]]>This article was possible because all of the presets from this breakdown came from our Dark Synthwave Serum pack and it has have 20% off with the code: DS01.
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This bass was so much fun to make because it has this cool sliding effect between notes, to achieve this, all you need to do is to first overlap some notes, then activate the legato and make sure the synth is in mono and set the portamento time to around 500 ms and you're good to go!
Now, let's move on to the rest of the patch, to create this bass sound, we used a Basic_Mdc wavetable in oscillator "A" and an IHasCanKick in oscillator "B", then, we added an envelope with 2.80 s of decay and routed it to the cutoff of the filter.
For the final touch, we used an LFO to modulate the amp (you'll find this inside the Matrix tab). Set the LFO to a quarter note, and it'll work like a sidechain effect. And that's it!
Let's talk about the main chords, they're played throughout the song, and the synth sound doesn't change either, to create this sound, we started by using a SawRounded wavetable in oscillator "A" with 9 voices, and an IHasCanKick in oscillator "B" with just one voice, next, we used envelope 2 to modulate the cutoff of the filter with a decay at around 6 s, this gives the sound a sweeping effect that's just perfect, then use an LFO to modulate the panning and the phase so it has some movement and a wider stereo image.
So now let's recreate the amazing pad that enters in the second part of the first verse, we think it's the main sound of the song because it adds so much contrast to the main synth sound and they pairs up so nicely.
To create this sound, we used an IHasCanKick in oscillator "A" with 11 voices to make it nice and wide, in oscillator "B", we used a Basic_Mdc wavetable, but here's the secret part of this patch, we set the portamento to always and the time to around 350 ms, to add even more depth to the sound, we used LFO 1 to modulate the levels of the oscillators with a quarter note rate.
Now lets make this really cool element in song that's quite easy to miss because it's not that present in the mix, but trust me, it's there and it adds so much movement to the track! I'm talking about the stab sound that follows the same chord progression as the main synth.
To create this sound, we started by choosing a PWM DS wavetable in oscillator "A" and a Saw wave in oscillator "B", then, we used an LFO that looks like the one in the image below to modulate the levels of the oscillators (and sub oscillator), the cutoff and the resonance of the filter, and even the noise, and for the final touch we went to the FX tab and added an eight-note ping pong delay to give the sound even more depth and movement.
Now here comes the tricky part, go to your FX tab and use LFO 2 to modulate the frequency of your phaser, the cutoff of your filter (make sure you are using the Formant III type) and the EQ to give some gain to your high frequencies.
We've finally arrived at the last part o the track which is the bass sound in the chorus, this part is really cool because the song changes from a sweeping synthwave bassline to a more plucky and funky one. To create this sound, we used an IHasCanKick wavetable in oscillator "A" and a Basic Shape in its second position in oscillator "B", then, we used envelope 2 to modulate the cutoff and the resonance (which should be at around 45%) of the filter. This gives the sound a nice and funky quality that's just perfect for the chorus, to add even more depth and character to the sound, we added some compression and distortion in the FX tab.
]]>This article was possible because all of the presets from this breakdown came from our Indie Pop Serum pack and it has have 20% off with the code: BP01
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So its that time again where we use Serum as a sampler, we started by creating the sound of the main bass of the song using a Fender Jazz Bass, nce we had the sound we wanted, we recorded a C note with a long tail and imported it into Serum's noise oscillator and we enabled pitch tracking and one-shot mode, then we added an Analog_BD_Sin in oscillator "A" with some frequency modulation and in oscillator "B" we are using a Sweep20, now to get a more gritty sound we used the Ableton effect pedal in the OD mode with a gain of 5%.
The song starts with this Pad sound (and obviously with the main guitar which we did record) and it has a dreamy quality to it, first we need a Basic Shape in its second position in oscillator "A" and a Jno wavetable in oscillator "B", now the magic of this patch comes from LFO 1 which is modulating the frequency modulation from oscillator "A" and the Sync from oscillator "B" like you can see in the image below.
Now you can also see that LFO 1 is modulating a lot more, if we go to our FX tab we can see that the mix of the reverb, some filter parameters, the frequency from the phaser and the EQ are also being modulated.
This pads enter en the breakdown before the chorus and it was a hard task but once we got it right it added a whole new dimension to the track, first you need a Basic Shape in oscillator "A" and an IHasCanKick wavetable in oscillator "B", envelope 1 in modulating the cutoff of the filter so it opens at around 1.2 s, to get that out of tune sound you need to use an LFO to modulate the finetuning of both oscillators.
After that lets go to the FX tab and add a downsample distortion to get a more gritty sound and create an EQ curve like the one in the image below.
Creating this Synth sound from the track required a two-layer approach. The first layer was used to get more atmosphere vibe with a wider stereo image and the second layer added definition to the sound. This technique helped us achieve a sound almost identical to the original.
To program this first layer in Serum, start by using a Basic Shape in oscillator "A" and a PWM_Mdc in oscillator "B", envelope 1 needs to have an attack at around 200 ms, now the key to make this patch is in the filter, use a Band 24 with the mix at 90% and the cutoff at around 1kHz, now in the FX tab use a Hall reverb and add to taste.
To add definition to the atmospheric first layer, we created a second layer using a Jno wavetable in oscillator "A" and an ICanHasKick wavetable in oscillator "B", envelope 1 has an attack time of 60ms, and we used a Band 24 filter to shape the sound, we used an LFO to modulate the detune of both oscillators. This creates a subtle but effective modulation that resembles a tape flutter and adds depth and character to the sound.
The song's synth-like arpeggio sound is introduced early on and adds a fantastic energy to the track. While the patch itself is fairly simple, it's still a lot of fun to play. To create this patch, you'll need a Basic Shape in oscillator "A" and a Jno in oscillator "B", to cut some of the high frequencies, we used envelope 1 to modulate the cutoff of the filter, however, the real magic of this preset lies in the FX tab. By adding delay, reverb, and distortion, the sound becomes more three-dimensional and complex, adding depth and character to the music.
]]>This article was possible because all of the presets from this breakdown came from our Synthpop Serum pack and it has have 20% off with the code: SP01.
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The keys in "Somebody Else" are a crucial part of the song so to start, so to make them we need to choose "Basic Shapes" and select the "Sine" waveform in oscillator A, this will be the foundation of the sound, next, in oscillator B choose a Analog_BD_Sin waveform to add some warmth and character, adjust the level of both oscillators at around 50% to balance it out, now to modulate the filter, select LFO 2 and set the rate to around 2 Hz to create a slow and subtle modulation, then drag it to the "Cutoff" of the filter, now for the final touch use LFO 1 to modulate the drive of the filter this will give a tremolo kind of effect.
The bass in "Somebody Else" is heavily influenced Synthpop music so to start in oscillator A choose the "Jno" wavetable and select the mirror mode in the warp section and set it at 10%, then in oscillator B choose a Basic Shape in its second position and set the warp mode to "Bend" at 100%, to modulate the cutoff of the filter, use Envelope 1, set the decay of Envelope 1 to around 1s to create a plucky sound.
The synth sound in the second part of the chorus is characterized by being shiny and bright and to recreate this preset, we need to start with oscillator A and select a "SawRounded" waveform, set it one octave up and use 9 voices to create a thick and full sound, next in oscillator B choose a "Basic Shape" waveform in its second position, this will add some character and texture to the sound, modulate the cutoff of the filter with Envelope 2 and set the attack at around 82ms to create a brass type of sound, in the FX tab, add a little high end with the EQ to give some brightness to the sound then use reverb and delay to taste to create a sense of space and depth.
The pad sound in the chorus of "Somebody Else" sits behind the amazing vocals making it like an atmospheric lead, to recreate this preset, we need to start with oscillator A and use the "Analog_BD_Sin" waveform, then set it one octave up and select 7 voices to create a full and lush sound, then in oscillator B choose the "IHasCanKick" waveform to add some character and texture to the sound, now we need to cut a lot of high end so use the filter and set the cutoff frequency at around 3kHz, this will remove some of the higher frequencies and create a more mellow sound and for the final touch add a lot of reverb to the sound to create an atmospheric and spacious feel and activate the legato and portamento so it can slides between notes.
The pad sound in the second verse of "Somebody Else" is characterized by its soft and mellow qualities, so to recreate this preset, we need to start with a "Jno" waveform in its 7th position in oscillator A and add some frequency modulation to create some movement and texture, now in oscillator B use a "Harmonic Morph" waveform, in this patch we also cut everything above 3kHz so use the filter to do it, set the attack of Envelope 1 to around 400ms to create a smooth and gradual increase in the sound this will make the sound feel more like a pad and add to the overall atmosphere of the mix.
]]>This track was released mid-January and in a few weeks has managed to become Spotify's most streamed song in a week, with around 96,032,624 streams it also became the fastest song to cross 100 million plays on Spotify globally but besides all of that the track is just amazing, it has a funky groove which is very reminiscent of "I Will Survive" of Gloria Gaynor, but that's enough introduction lets start this tutorial so you can learn all the tips and tricks behind this production.
This article was possible because all of the presets from this breakdown came from our Indie Pop Serum pack and it has have 20% off with the code: SP01.
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Now like in every Pop/Funk style track the heart and soul is always the bassline and in this track, there's no difference, so to make this patch we used the noise oscillator as a sampler we imported a C note we recorded from a Fender Jaguar Bass which was a little distorted, then to give it a little more body we added an Analog_BD_Sin in oscillator "A" with some FM modulation and in oscillator "B" we have a Sweep20 wavetable, our envelope 2 is modulating the cutoff filter which is cutting everything above 2kHz.
I can't believe we're again doing another The Weeknd tutorial but every time he releases a new single we find it irresistible to recreate all those synth sounds so this time was the turn of Is There Someone Else? and like always the song is just a Synthpop masterpiece, this track has a few production tips that will be great for you next track like the use of sidechain throughout the song, so lets dive in.
This article was possible because all of the presets from this breakdown came from our Synthpop Serum pack and it has have 20% off with the code: SP01.
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As always let's start we the instruments that are the main driving force of the track and in this case, is the bass, so to make this patch you need oscillator "A" an ICanHasKick waveform at position 55 whereas oscillator "B" uses a Basic Shape waveform on its second position and with one voice, envelope 1 has a short decay at around 600 ms to have that pluck sound and is routed to the filter cutoff
This article was possible because all of the presets from this breakdown came from our Indie Pop Serum pack and it has have 20% off with the code: SP01.
RELATED BREAKDOWNS
- The Weeknd "Is There Someone Else?" Breakdown
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This bass is the life of the track, it gives groove and rhythm the second it starts playing, to make this patch we use sample a fender bass and drop it in the noise oscillator (always sample a sustain "C" note) the enable the one shot mode and the pitch tracking in the noise oscillator and pitch it 12 semitones up, then add a sinewave in each oscillator and use envelope 2 with a decay of 750 ms and a release of 15 ms to modulate the cutoff filter.
Another instrument that was sampled, but in this case we didn't use the noise oscillator we created our own wavetables from a one shot of a Fender Telecaster we have at the studio, so grab your one shot and import it into to wavetable image and choose the constant frame size (pitch avg) option, then use the LFO 1 to move the wavetable ( as seen in the image below), now for the final touch our envelope 2 is modulating the cutoff filter with a decay of 250 ms, this will make the patch to sound plucky and more close to a mute guitar, then add a quarter note delay and thats it.
Now to make this Keys sound as closer to the ones used in the track we needed two layers, the first one giving a lot of higher frequencies while the second layer is giving a lot of body and warmth.
To program this Rhodes style patch in Serum, use a Harmonic Subtle in oscillator "A" and Basic Mini in oscillator "B" modulate the cutoff filter with envelope 2 and set the resonance at 10%, the important part of this layers is that the LFO in this case number 1 is modulating the Amp and to do this you need to set it up in the matrix Tab, this modulation is what is making the vibrato effect.
Since the first layer provides all the brightness, this layer perfectly complements the first one as is giving all the warmth and body to the sound, to make it we started with two sinewave one in each oscillator use 5 to 6 voices and detune it a little, now to make the vibrato effect we did in the first layer use LFO 1 to modulate the volume of the oscillators and the amp ( the rate should be the same as the first layer).
The Out Of Time lead synth has a characteristic brass sound and it seems to run through some distortion, to start use an IHasCanKick in oscillator "A" with four voices and slightly detune, in oscillator "B" use a basic shape in its second position and with some frequency modulation coming form oscillator "A" at around 30% is fine, the to give the characteristic brass sound you need envelope one to have an attack between 50 and 80 ms and route it to the cutoff filter.
This synth comes as a third layer to the keys as is playing the some chord progression, to make this preset we need a IHasCanKick in oscillator "A" with seven voices and a SQR_SAW_Wrd in oscillator "B" with a sync warp at 2%, then our envelope one which is modulating the cutoff filter has an attack at around 70 mms and to make it sound wider use a chorus an a hyper dimension in the FX Tab.
We almost didn't make this tutorial because of this preset, for some reason, it took us a while the get the right sound, first you need a IHasCanKick in oscillator "A" with nine voices and a SAW_SQR_Wrd in oscillator "B", now the trick to make this sound is in envelope 2, you need to route it to the levels of the oscillators and to the cutoff filter, this envelope should have an attack at around 110 to 130 ms to make this kinda flute sound.
Now in the FX tab add some hyper dimension dome chorus and reverb but the most important part is to have a EQ cutting everything below 600Hz and everything above 2kHz.
Now we left the best part for the end, this amazing sound is actually quite common in this type of genre, use a sinewave in oscillator "A" with some frequency modulation coming from oscillator "B" and in oscillator "B" use a WahWah wavetable with some sync at around 1.50%, use one LFO to modulate the amp (you have to do this in the matrix tab) to have a vibrato effect and be sure no to activate the mono or legato because you need the notes to overlap to have this kind of cascade sound.
]]>This article was possible because all of the presets from this breakdown came from our Synthpop Serum pack and it has have 20% off with the code: SP01.
RELATED BREAKDOWNS
- The Weeknd "Out Of Time" Breakdown
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There are three main bass sounds used in "How Do I Make You Love Me" this bass plays through out the verses of the song, the patch uses a IHasCanKick in oscillator "A"with 6 voices and a Basic Shape in oscillator "B" with seven voices, envelope 3 which has an attack of 60ms is modulating the cutoff and we are using LFO 1 to also modulate the cutoff but to give it some movement.
This plucky bass sound that enters in the bridge and is made of two layers and both of them are relatively simple patches so lets start with the first layer.
This first layer is giving all the high end and upper harmonics, you need a Basic shape in its second position in oscillator "A" and a saw wave in oscillator "B" the real trick is finding a sweet spot for the filter to be modulated by envelope two and you need your envelope two to have a short decay to make it sound plucky
Now this layer is the one giving all the low end, is full of body and warmth but also quite simple to make, use a basic shape in its second position too for oscillator "A" and for oscillator "B" an IHasCanKick, in here the difference is that our envelope 2 has bigger sustain which makes it less plucky but also the filter is cutting everything above 200 Hz.
Now for the final bass we need SQR_SAW_Wrd in oscillator "A" with some frequency modulation coming from oscillator "B" at around 20% and a Basic Mg in oscillator "B" envelope two is also modulating the cutoff of the filter but is also modulating the wavetable position of oscillator "A"
The keys that plays the chords in the track are quite dreamy, so first we need a ICanHasKick in oscillator "A" with nine voices and slightly detune in oscillator "B" we are using a SQR_SAW_Wrd with some frequency modulation coming from oscillator "A", LFO 1 is modulating the fine tuning of both oscillators to give a little of that analog vibe (all analog synths work with circuits and some times the electromagnetic interference or the temperature make them fluctuates) and LFO 2 is modulating the pan at a quarter note rate so it sounds a little wider, now envelope 1 has an attack of 80 ms and is being route it to the cutoff filter.
The bridge introduces a synth-like arpeggio sound, despite being a rather straightforward sound, the patch is enjoyable to play, you need a Basic Shape in oscillator "A" and a SQR_SAW_WRD in oscillator "B", now all the magic of this preset is in the FX tab you need the compressor to be in multiband mode and the EQ to boost at around 2kHz then add reverb an delay to taste
The bridge features the main synth of the track, this patch has a wide stereo image, from the default setting, choose a Basic Shape in its second position for oscillator "A" with the voices and detune it so it sounds wider and choose a Basic_Wrd in oscillator "B" with frequency modulation from oscillator "A", in this sound the noise oscillator is fundamental so turn it on and pick the J60 noise then use the direct out mode so it doesn't go through the filter
This preset was one of the hardest to recreate but we can say with certainty that we arrived at the sound we were looking for, in oscillator "A" you need a IHasCanKick wavetable and in oscillator "B" a basic shape in its second position with ASYM +/- at 100%, now you need your envelope 1 to have a attack at around 50 to 70 ms to have that brass sound and the main characteristic of this sound is that LFO 1 is modulating the finetuning of both oscillator.
This kind of glitch sound is introduce to us for the first time at the end of bar eight at around the fifteen second mark, and it works as a transition to introduce a next element o part of the song, we used a Misfit wavetable in oscillator "A" and a IHasCanKick in oscillator "B", envelope 3 is modulating the cutoff filter and the wavetable position of oscillator "B", now in the FX tab you need heavy distortion a compressor in multiband mode and an eq cutting everything below 200Hz and lifting at around 2kHz
We reach the final part of this remake, This pluck-type sound enters for the first time at the end of the first bridge, and it works as a transition to start the chorus, we used a basic shape in its second position in oscillator "A" and Basic Mg in oscillator "B" with some frequency modulation, now for this preset we used a High 18 filter and filter everything below 300Hz, also you need envelope 1 to modulate your levels to get that pluck sound the we added reverb and delay to taste and thats it.
]]>Kaytranada and Kali Uchis released one of the best songs of 2019 with the song "10%", it even won “Best Dance Recording” at the 63rd Grammy Awards, and its an example of why Kaytranada is one of the best producers in the RnB and Dance genre, and with his album "Bubba" he solidifies this status.
If you know Kaytranada you know everything starts with the drums and percussion and 10% is a great example of this, then the bassline is where the soul is at then everything else falls into place, so that's why we couldn't resist making a tutorial on how to achieve his sound, let's take a listen.
This article was possible because all of the presets from this breakdown came from our Future RnB Serum pack and it has have 20% off with the code: BP01
RELATED BREAKDOWNS
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Lets start with the funky bassline, the preset is a mix between and 808 and a electric bass, first you need a Basic Shape waveform in oscillator "A" set it in its 7th position and with four voices slightly detuned and in oscillator "B" other Basic Shape but in its 2nd position and with only one voice, our filter in not being modulated and is cutting everything above 200 Hz, now the part that makes this bass to sound a little like and 808 is the modulation being made by our envelope 3 to the coarse pitch, this modulation is making it hit harder.
To recreate this keys we use a Jno wavetable in oscillator "A" with the wavetable position at 1, on oscillator "B" we have an Analog_BD_Sin wavetable, this wavetable gives body and warmth to the sound while the other one brings brightness and air, envelope 2 ( which its attack should be set around 80ms) is modulating the cutoff of the filter and envelope 1 is modulating the detune of each oscillator, now the characteristic sound comes from 2 things, the first one is that the finetuning of both oscillators in being modulated by LFO 2, and the second one (and the most important) is to activate the portamento and set it on always to get that glide effect at the beginning of each chord.
If you ask us this part of the song gives a lot of movement and just playfulness to the track, once that first arp hits you, you already know this is about to be another Kaytranada classic, and funny enough this patch isn't at all, to make this preset we need an Analog_BD_Sin wavetable in oscillator "A" with 5 voices and the wavetable position at around 50, the oscillator "B" has a Saw wavetable with 7 voices, now to make this patch plucky we need envelope 2 to have a fast decay and to be routed to the cutoff of the filter and then drenched in reverb and delay and that's it.
This string section enters at around the 55 second mark, to fill the void left by the keys, it only last a few seconds but that enough to make an impression, we need a Basic Shape in its second position in oscillator "A" and make sure it has 16 voices so it sound big and wide, the in oscillator "B" use an SQR_SAW_Wrd, now our envelope 1 should have an attack at around 1 second and is going to be modulating the level of the filter and the PMW of oscillator 2.
Now, this final part is quite simple as well but an important part of Kaytranada’s sound, now to recreate the patch yourself use Basic Shape in both oscillators and set 1 in its 7th position and the other one in its 4th, now the important part is to modulate the filter with an envelope in this case number 1 and add a lot of resonance in the filter so it has that characteristic sweeping sound.
]]>
This article was possible because all of the presets from this breakdown came from our Future Disco Serum pack and it has have 20% off with the code: BP01
RELATED BREAKDOWNS
- Miley Cyrus "Flowers" Breakdown
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Lets start with the driving force of the track "The Bass" and i know by itself it doesn't sound that great but that's because is layer with a guitar that makes this progression to sound more organic and less aggressive, to make this bass we need a PMW Weird in oscillator "A" and a Sine wave in oscillator "B" with some FM coming from oscillator "A", both should have only 1 voice and envelope 1 shoud be modulating the cutoff of the filter with a decay at around 380ms.
When we recreate a guitar sound in this breakdowns what we normally do is to use the noise as a sampler and add a one shot of a guitar into it, but on this occasion, we did something different this time we created our own waveforms, the only thing you have to do is import your audio to the oscillators and choose import constant frame size, now to give some movement to the wavetables we use LFO 1 to modulate their position so its sounds as natural as possible.
This brass sound is at the beginning of the song in the first four bars it has a low cut filter cutting everything below 450Hz, after that the filter turns off and you can hear the preset in its full glory, you need an ICanHasKick in oscillator "A" and a Basic Shape in oscillator "B", now to make the characteristic brass sound you need your envelope 1 to modulate the cutoff of the filter and to have an attack between 60 and 100 ms
Once the verse starts this element serves as a layer to give body to the brass sound, so to make this preset we need a Reese waveform and an Anti-Statis in our oscillators give them 5 to 6 voices, and modulate the amplitude of the incoming signal with an LFO after that use your filter to cut everything above 6kHz and crank the drive up to give a little warmth and body to the sound.
I have to be honest, this was my favorite part to recreate, this sound is quite interesting, to make this sound we need a "IHasCanKick" on oscillator "A" and a Basic Shape on oscillator "B", after that give each oscillator 6 voices to make it sound wider and use envelope 1 to modulate the level of the oscillators.
Now for the interesting part we need in the Fx tab to have a delay with 1/64 notes, the feedback should be above 50% but the most important part is to use the Tap Delay mode, this will make the effect to start after the original sound is played.
Now for the final part of the track we need to do this bell, this preset needs to be shiny and to achieve this use a Ring wavetable and a Shrats wavetable, use an Allpasses filter and cut all the low end, add some reverb and delay to taste and thats all.
]]>BONUS - You can download all the midi files from the session at the end of the tutorial.
This article was possible because all of the presets from this breakdown came from our Future Funk Serum pack and it has have 20% off with the code: BP01
RELATED BREAKDOWNS
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This amazing synth sound is one of the highlights of Light Switch and it helps to give the song a funky feeling, first we need a Jno wavetable in its fifth position in oscillator "A" and a Jno wavetable in the second position in oscillator "B", now the trick to make this sound right is that our envelope 2 is modulating the sync in both oscillators and the cutoff and resonance of the filter, also we are cutting a lot of the low end with an EQ in the FX tab.
Let's start by saying that this bass is what gives all the groove and rhythm to the tracks that's why is one of the most important elements of the song, to start this preset we use a triangle wave in the sub-oscillator, in the oscillator "A" a Saw Rounded waveform bent all the way, in oscillator "B" we choose a Basic Mg waveform, now envelope one has an attack time of 30ms with a decay of 630 ms and a release of 300 ms and is modulating the resonance and cutoff of the filter.
This was by far our favorite sound to recreate, this swell sound enters as a transition before every chorus, to make this sound we used a Basic_Wrd in oscillator "A" and an ICanHasKick in oscillator "B", now our LFO 2 is making the swell sound by slowly opening the filter and modulating the wavetable position and levels of both oscillators.
Now for the final touches of this preset, we need our envelope 1 to work as an Aux source for our LFO 4 which is modulating the fine-tuning in both oscillators, this will make the finetuning starts to be modulated slowly and gradually increase its velocity.
We find ourselves in sampler territory again, if you read our Harry Styles "As It Was" breakdown you already know what we did but in case you haven't read it, here it goes again, first you need to record a palm mute guitar in a C note then imported it into the noise oscillator and enable the pitch tracking and the one-shot mode, after that, we used an FM_Freak in oscillator "A" and an FM_SPlat in oscillator "B", envelope 1 has a short decay to make it sound plucky and is modulating the level of the oscillators and the cutoff of the filter.
Now for the last element of the song we have a pad that enters in every chorus, the choir pad that you can first hear at 0:20 is an ambient sound that fills the mid-range of the song, and uses a Harmonic Subtle in oscillator "A" and a PMW Restricted in oscillator "B", now the trick to make it sound atmospheric are 2 things the first one is to use your LFO 1 to slowly open the filter and the wavetable positions of the oscillators and the second one is to drenched in reverb.
One last thing before we end, if you are wondering how we make the flanger style guitar that plays in the chorus I'm sorry to disappoint you but we had to record it, and here it is.
So if you read all the way through and you find yourself here at the bottom, we would like to share with you all the midi information from the session so you can make your own remake or remix, just go nuts and enjoy it.
]]>BONUS - You can download all the midi files from the session at the end of the tutorial.
This article was possible because all of the presets from this breakdown came from our Dreampop Serum pack and it has have 20% off with the code: SP01.
RELATED BREAKDOWNS
- Dua Lipa & Elton John "Cold Heart" Breakdown
- Charlie Put "Light Switch" Breakdown
- Miley Cyrus "Flowers" Breakdown
Let's start with the most recognizable part of the song the main synth riff, to recreate this preset we need a Matrixy C64 in oscillator "A" with one octave up with 5 voices and in oscillator "B" we need a DS Saw and Tri with 9 voices, envelope 3 has a decay of 400ms and is modulating the noise oscillator, the cutoff filter and the wavetable position of oscillator "A", in the FX tab add a little high end with the EQ and add reverb and delay to taste and that's it.
Now is time to recreate the running bassline, let's start by choosing an ICanHasKick in oscillator "A" with 1 voice in oscillator "B" and use an SQR_SAW_Wrd wavetable in its first position, now use a Band 12 filter with the cutoff at 90Hz so you can have a boost in the low end, and envelope 1 should have a decay of 700ms and should be modulating the level of the 3 oscillators.
Now for the fun part of this preset in the FX tab add some distortion with a multiband compressor cutting all the high end and finally with an eq boost everything below 2 kHz.
The time has come to use Serum as a sampler, what we did first was to create the sound of the main guitar of the song with a telecaster then we run it through some pedals and just recorded a C note with a long tail, after that, we imported it into the noise oscillator and enable the pitch tracking and the one-shot mode, then to add a little body to the sound we use a Sine wave in oscillator "A" and an FM Freak in oscillator "B" both with FM modulation from the noise oscillator, now for the final touches we routed the velocity to the level of all oscillators so you can have the little variations and nuances like a guitar player would.
We warned you that this tutorial was going to be a little different, yes we know that recreating the sound of a guitar in a synth is hard if not impossible and that's why we are using serum as a sampler but this time we are also creating are own wavetables, first you have to add your one shot like we did with the other guitar (record a C note of a palm mute add it to the noise oscillator and enable pitch tracking and the one-shot mode)
Now that that is done let's create some wave tables to improve our sound, the way we like to do this is to drag it onto our big wave editor, first we click the pencil in the oscillator this will open the table edit in there you will import your one shot using the option fixed frame size, after that use LFO 1 to scroll your wavetable position as shown in the image above.
Now let's return to the world of synthesis and let's leave the sampling alone for a minute, this sound enters in the pre-chorus to recreate this pad we have used a Basic Shape wavetable in its second position in oscillator "A" and an MB Saw wavetable in oscillator "B" with the position being modulated by envelope 2 the cutoff is being modulated by envelope 2 also which has decay around 1.5 seconds and a release around 1.5 seconds, the cutoff a is set to around 200 Hz with resonance at 15%, the sound is drenched with chorus, reverb and delay effects.
This pluck sound plays every time Harry sings "you know is not the same as it was" harmonizing the vocal melody, to be honest, its quite a simple sound To start making this preset, we use an FM Freak in oscillator "A" and a basic shape waveform in its first position in oscillator "B" this oscillator has some frequency modulation coming from oscillator "A" at around 10% this will make it sound a little brighter and airy.
Our envelope 1 is very important because it is modulating the levels of our oscillators and the cutoff of the filter and the shorter the decay in this envelope the pluckier the sound is.
We reached the final part of the song and of the tutorial on how to make "As It Was" by Harry Styles, and unfortunately we found ourselves needing to sample a church bell to get this sound right, so if you read the tutorial by this point I think you know how to do it, so now that we have our one shot ready in our noise oscillator, use an FM_ Freak in oscillator "A" and an FM_Splat in oscillator "B", with a decay in envelope 1 at around 350ms.
So if you read all the way through and you find yourself here at the bottom, we would like to share with you all the midi information from the session so you can make your own remake or remix, just go nuts and enjoy it.
]]>This article was possible because all of the presets from this breakdown came from our Dark Synthwave Serum pack and it has have 20% off with the code: DS01.
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The song opens with a brass type sound with a quite catchy melody, to make this preset we need an ICanHasKick in oscillator "A" the wavetable position around 60 and the warp knob is set in mirror and it is at 100%, for oscillator "B" we are using a Basic Shape in its second position. Now what makes this preset to sound brassy are 2 things the first is that the attack time in envelope 1 is at 60ms and that envelope 3 is modulating the cutoff filter and the attack is also opening at around 20 ms.
Now for the swiping bass that only enters in the first chorus, we used a Basic_Mg in oscillator "A" with a little FM modulation and in oscillator "B" we have an ICanHasKick, now to make the sweeping sound we need 2 things the first one is our envelope 2 to modulate the cutoff and the resonance, the resonance should be at around 40%.
Now the second thing you need is to go to the FX tab and we are going to boost some frequencies and sweep them with envelope 3.
This stabbing kind of bass is fundamental for synthwave and we have done it a few times in other tutorials but this one has a particular modulation making it sound as if were sidechained, to do this first we need a Basic Shape in oscillator A"A and an ICanHasKick in oscillator "B", now our envelope 1 is modulating the cutoff of the filter with a short decay at around 680 ms, now to do the sidechain effect route LFO 1 to you amp which is in your global tab and that's it.
This bell-type sound enters after the first chorus, in this part of the song everything but the voice has a high pass filter that is slowly opening, and this sound adds contrats because it sounds like its underwater which means a lot of the high end has been cut, in oscillator "A" we use a Harmonic Subtle one octave up and in oscillator "B" a FM_Splatn now our envelope 2 is modulating the cutoff filter.
This was my favorite patch to recreate, to create this preset start with oscillator "A" in a Basic Shape waveform in position 2 and for oscillator "B" use a saw wave, now our filter should be set in Formant III, all the parameters in the filter are being modulated by LFO 2 to give the patch a little movement, LFO 3 is sidechaining the sound and after that just add a 1/4 delay at around 40%.This patch was so fun to make, so for this presets we used an SQR_SAW_Wrld in oscillator "A" and an ICanHasKick in oscillator "B" the finetuning in both oscillators is being modulated simultaneously by LFO 1 and LFO 2 at different rates making the detuning a little more random making the characteristic sound of this preset.
]]>This article was possible because all of the presets from this breakdown came from our Dark Synthwave Serum pack and it has have 20% off with the code: DS01.
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Let's start by saying the obvious, we know is impossible to recreate a guitar in a synth all the nuances of the guitar player get lost, even with the best guitar vst out there it just doesn't sound natural, but as you know we are Serum lovers by heart and the whole point of this remakes is teaching you new things in Serum, so we decided to sample a one-shot we made of a telecaster we have, we run it through some pedals and amps to get the tone right and load it into Serum.
When you drag a one-shot into the noise oscillator (always try to make sure the sound you are imported is in C3 so it stays in tune) enable the one-shot mode and the pitch tracking as shown in the image above this will make the sound playable in different notes and not just C3 also if you want it to sound a little more organic and less robotic route the velocity to your level, at the end we added an ICanHasKick wavetable in oscillator "A" and a FFT_Add_3rds in oscillator "B" for a little body and that was it.
The bass is actually quite simple, in the verses is only giving movement and a little groove once the bridge and the chorus enter it only plays the root notes so it's not quite complicated, to make this patch we use a Basic_Mdc the wavetable position is at around 120 and the sync at 2.5 in oscillator "B" we have a Sine wavetable with some FM modulation, both oscillators have 4 voices so the sound it's a little bigger, now our envelope 2 is modulating the filter cutoff and resonance and that's it.
To make this sound we needed two layers one that added the body and some kind of more mellow sound and one with a lot of harmonies and air, so let's start with layer one.
For this patch oscillator "A" is using a MB saw wavetable with a little bend modulation coming from LFO 1, oscillator "B" is using an Analog_BD_Sin with some FM modulation, now the filter has some comb filtering making the patch sound more bright.
Now, this layer complements the first one to perfection since the first one gives all the brightness this one gives the body and warmth to the sound, in oscillator "A" we use a BottleBlow with LFO 1 modulating the wave table position to give some movement, oscillator "B" is using a Dist Sub Dskperc, now envelope 3 is modulating the cutoff so nothing above 6 kHz passes.
This pad is a classic sound used in many songs in this instant is being used in the bridge and in the chorus it's actually just the B note being sustained but it gives some disco retro vibes to track, to make it we started with an ICanHasKick in oscillator "A" with the wavetable position at around 100, in oscillator a "B" a DQR_SAW_Wrd wavetable is being used, now to get that sweeping effect envelope 3 is modulating the filter Band 12 opening it slowly so it sound as natural as possible, now a trick i use to make the patch sound wider is to modulate the pan with the LFOs.
Now the time has come for the final synth, in this, presets we used two Jno wavetables the one in oscillator "A" is in its first position and the one in the oscillator "B" is in its third position, now the main characteristic of this sound is that the resonance in the filter is quite high and also to make it sound wider and bigger we use a lot of hyper dimension and chorus in the Fx tab, also use the compressor with multiband mode on.
]]>This article was possible because all of the presets from this breakdown came from our Bedroom Pop Serum pack and it has have 20% off with the code: BP01
RELATED BREAKDOWNS
- Wallows "Are You Bored Yet" Breakdown
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As we said before the instrumentation is quite simple, so let's start first with the bass, we need a PMW Maths 2 in oscillator "A" and a sine wavetable in oscillator "B" give them 6 voices to each one so we have a nice wide sound, and get some FM modulation in oscillator "B" to add some extra harmonics, our filter is being modulated by our envelope 2, add a little distortion and compression in the FX tab, then use envelope 3 and route it to the mastertune with around 10 ms this will give the characteristic sound of a organic bass instead of being one made by a synth.
All the following instruments are just keys with some different setups, the first one that pops into the song is in the first verse and if you ask me it has a killer melody, we use a sinewave in oscillator "A" and an FFT_Add_2nds in the 50 wavetable position in oscillator "B" with some FM modulation coming from oscillator "A", the sub-oscillator has another sinewave with one octave up this is what going to give us a toy box kinda sound, now with the filter cut everything above 3Khz and use a little tape stop saturation.
These keys are the only element in the bridge and they are quite simple to make, first you need a Analog_BD_Sin in oscillator "A" with five voices slightly detune and with a little bend and to give a little movement use an LFO and modulate the panning and the level, now oscillator "B" has an Anti-Stasis with four voices and some FM modulation at around 40% this will give a more bright sound to the patch, the filter is cutting everything above 2.5Khz and envelope 1 has a natural decay of 3.5 s
For the final part of the breakdown, we have the chords that play in the second verse or bridge whatever you want to call it, so we need to start with another Sinewave in oscillator "A" also being slightly bent, now you are wondering why all these patches seem so similar and thats because the changes are very slightly in this case this preset is more bright than the others and this comes with oscillator "B" and the FM_ Freak wavetable it uses, it has up to 50% of FM modulation and the filter its cutting everything above 5Khz letting pass more high end that the other sounds, and thats it.
]]>This article was possible because all of the presets from this breakdown came from our Bedroom Pop Serum pack and it has have 20% off with the code: BP01.
RELATED BREAKDOWNS
- Clairo "Pretty Girl" Breakdown
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For making these chords we need it two layers to make it work, one that will give us a little shimmer and treble and the other who is going to give the body and warmth to the patch, so let's start with the first one.
I recreated this layer using an FM_Splat in oscillator "A" with the wavetable position at 12, that's why this patch gets that distinct shimmer and brightness, on oscillator "B" we have a Prime wavetable this one give a little more body to the sound but without losing the higher frequencies, envelope 2 is modulating the cutoff of the filter the decay should be slow so the filter closes slowly giving a more organic feeling, LFO1 and LFO 2 are modulating the fine-tuning of the oscillator giving them a more analog feel.
Now, this layer is the one giving all the warmth to the chords, first we need a Basic Shape in its third position on both oscillators, now in oscillator "B" we need it to have frequency modulation coming from oscillator "A" this will give a little more color and harmonics to the sound, now to get a little more of that analog feel we need to detuned slightly, so we use an LFO to modulate the semi tuning on both oscillators.
This bass is what gives all the movement and groove to the track, this patch is quite simple but not less important, we used a ICanHasKick in oscillator "A" this wavetable has a lot of high harmonies that's why we choose it because when we apply some FM modulation to oscillator "B" is going to give a lot more body to the sound, oscillator "B" is a sinewave with some FM modulation as we explained before, the final touch is envelope 2 modulating the cutoff and the resonance of the filter.
This bass that appears at the beginning of the song and in the middle of the chorus, to be honest, is quite funky and it shouldn't work with the vibe of the song but it totally does, in oscillator "A" we are going to need a Sweep20 with quite some FM modulation coming from our oscillator "B" which has a Basic Shape wavetable in its second position being bend all the way, now this characteristic bass cant be done without a high resonance in the filter and the filter closing a little bit faster by our envelope 2.
This brass sound enters in the second verse its actually quite subtle but it makes quite the difference because it accentuates some notes of the bass, giving a little more groove to the track, first of all, to make a brass type of sound you need to have your attack between 50 -100 ms, then the wavetables you choose its whats going to gave your sound the vibe you are going for, so we used two very basic wavetables in our oscillators and then route envelope 1 to the filter and that's it.
Clairo keep the surprises coming as the song is about to hit its last chorus, she added another funk element to the track with this amazing lead, making a counter melody with the vocals it just sounds like perfection, we used a basic mini in its first position in oscillator "A" and a Sweep20 in oscillator "B", now the trick here to get the vibrato effect is that LFO 1 and 2 are being routed to the fine-tuning of both oscillators and our envelope 3 is increasing the velocity as the time passes as you can see in the images below.
Go to the Matrix Tab and in your aux source add the envelope you want to use to increase the vibrato slowly.
]]>This article was possible because all of the presets from this breakdown came from our Bedroom Pop Serum pack and it has have 20% off with the code: BP01.
RELATED BREAKDOWNS
- Clairo "Pretty Girl" Breakdown
- Harry Styles "As It Was" Breakdown
Let's start as always, with the bass, this organic sounding bassline runs through a little distortion making it sound similar to electric bass, to start this patch we need a Jno wavetable in oscillator "A" with a sync at around 20% in oscillator "B" we have a Analog_Bd_sin with some FM modulation coming from oscillator "A", our envelope 2 is modulating the cutoff which is cutting everything above 300 Hz, now to get some extra harmonics in the FX tab we use the distortion in HardClip at around 60%.
If you ask us the most emblematic part of the song has to be this melody, once the first note hits your ear you already know you are about to hear an amazing song, and funny enough this patch isn't that complicated showing that not everything has to be that hard to make to be brilliant, to make this preset we need an acid wavetable in oscillator "A" with the sync at 2.5% and the wavetable position at around 200, the oscillator "B" has a Sine wave with FM modulation coming from oscillator "A", now to make this patch plucky we need envelope 2 to have a fast decay and to be routed to the cutoff of the filter and that's it.
To create this patch you will need an Analaog_Bd_Sin with sync at around 2%, in oscillator "B" we use an FM_Splat the wavetable position is around 120, envelope 1 has an attack of .5 ms and a decay of 1.34 s with a small release of 630 ms, this envelope is modulating the cutoff of the filter.
This patch is making the same melody as the vocals in the chorus, and its a great way to add an extra layer, to make these bells to sound shiny we used a Ring wavetable in oscillator "A" the wavetable position should be at 150 and in oscillator "B" we are using an ICanHasKick with the wavetable position at max, both oscillators are going through the filter "Reverb" with the Filter KeyTrack on.
Now for the final part the string pad at the end of the chorus, For this sound, I started with an ICanHasKick in oscillator "A" with the wavetable position at around 100, in oscillator a "B" a basic shape in its second wavetable position and also is being bent by our LFO 2, now to get that sweeping effect envelope 3 is modulating the filter opening it slowly so higher harmonics comes through, also we used use tons of reverb and chorus effect to get that washed out sound.
]]>This article was possible because all of the presets from this breakdown came from our Cyberpunk Serum pack and it has have 20% off with the code: DS01.
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We had so much fun recreating this bass presets, this patch is very bright with lots of high-end and heavily distorted, to create this sound we use a PWM Maths 2 in oscillator "A" in its last wavetable position, it has 5 voices and its slightly detuned, in oscillator "B" we use a Jno wavetable in its seventh position, also we need a little frequency modulation coming from oscillator "A" and to put the cherry on the top we use LFO 2 to add a sidechain to the preset by routing it to the amp in the global settings
The Fx tab in this patch is very important, it won't sound the same without it so let's check what we did, first of all, you need to widen the sound so add a hyper dimension and a chorus, after that, you need to boost everything below 210 Hz and dip about 8 dB in the 400 Hz range, add a lot of distortion and multiband compression and that's it.
We have done similar presets but the few slight changes add another color and characteristics to the sounds, for a start we need a PerfectSQstep in oscillator "A" with a sync window at around 1.4% in oscillator "B" we have a ICanHasKick with some frequency modulation coming from oscillator "A", envelope 2 is modulating the cutoff of the filter and a high resonance it is making that sweeping sound more interesting.
It's important to mention that we added also a lot of distortion and Multiband compression to the sound, the same way we did we the first bass preset.
Now for the lead it is actually a quite simple patch, this buzzy lead start at around 1:45, we use two sawtooth waves one in the sub-oscillator and the other in oscillator "A", in oscillator "B" we use the famous ICanHasKick, and that's practically it, use a lot of reverb and delay in the FX tab as well as some distortion and compression to get that treble sound spot on.
Now for the last part and we must say our favorite, this melody patch that is introduced toward the middle of the song is an interesting sound, we use a Jno wavetable in oscillator "A" and a Ring wavetable in oscillator "B" the characteristic sound of the patch comes from the oscillator and also the high resonance sweep from the filter which is set in High18 which means is cutting everything below 250 Hz, modulate the filter cutoff with LFO and we are all set.
]]>This article was possible because all of the presets from this breakdown came from our Darksynth Serum pack and it has have 20% off with the code: DS01.
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The first thing we have to do when we start a preset is to choose some waveforms, for this type of sound we assume Kavisnky used some kind of analog gear to make the bassline, so first we have to choose some waveforms from vintage analog synth, for the first oscillator we choose a Basic Mini waveform and adjust the wavetable position at 3 and add some FM coming from oscillator "B", now in oscillator "B" use an ICanHasKick with the sync being modulated by envelope 2, the important part of this patch is the sweep being made by the high resonance of the filter and envelope 2 being routed to the filter cutoff.
One of the highlights of the track is the arp and it is a very easy patch to make, to set up this patch first we need a basic shape in its second position in oscillator "A" with seven voices and slightly detuned and for oscillator "B" we need a PWM MG with its sync at around 1.8%, then we need to route envelope 2 to our filter cutoff, envelope 2 should have decay at around 800 ms so it gives that plucky sound we are looking for.
This pad sound is introduced toward the end of the song in the breakdown section and it adds a soothing orchestral atmosphere to the song, We need a SawRounded wavetable in oscillator "A" bend all the way and a Basic Mini in its fourth position in oscillator "B", envelope 1 should have an attack at around 2 s and envelope 2 its going to open your filter cutoff very slowly, your filter should be set at 1.5 kHz, for the final touch add the velocity source to the level of you oscillator so it sounds more natural.
This ascending string melody enters in the breakdown giving a larger than life feeling to the buildup right before the last chorus, to achieve this sound we need a Basic Shape in its fourth position in oscillator "A" with one octave up and sync at 1.5%, oscillator "B" uses a ICanHasKick, both of them are slightly detuned, now that we are set with the oscillator we need envelope 1 to have an attack at around 350 ms and our filter to cut everything below 4kHz, now add some chorus and reverb in the FX Tab so it sounds wide and big and that's it.
]]>This article was possible because all of the presets from this breakdown came from our Darksynth Serum pack and it has have 20% off with the code: DS01.
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If you have read another of our breakdowns you know we always start with the bass and in this case, it's not the exception, so to make this preset we need a Basic Mg in oscillator "A" with two octaves down and a little frequency modulation coming from oscillator "B", now in oscillator "B" we have an ICanHaskick wavetable with one octave down and some sync, our envelope 1 is modulating the levels of all the oscillators and the cutoff of the filter and the final touch is some sidechain coming from LFO1 and to apply it you need to go to your Matrix tab and route it to the amp.
There is just something about this patch that gives life to the track, the way it complements the bassline with subtlety it's just mesmerizing, so to start to make this sound use a ICanHasKick in oscillator "A" and in oscillator "B" use a Basic Shape in its second position with a little frequency modulation coming from oscillator "A", now to make this patch feel ethereal and airy first you need to slowly open your filter we used envelope 2 to do this it has an attack time of 1.6 s after that drench it in reverb and delay and you should be good to go.
This synth melody comes as a prelude to the chorus we used a Sweep20 in oscillator "A" this waveform is what gives a shimmer to this patch and we use another ICanHasKick in oscillator "B", now the main characteristic of this sound is the frequency sweep with high resonance and to achieve this we need our envelope 2 to have a decay of around 1.2 s and route to the filter cutoff and to give it the final touch your resonance should be between 60 and 65 percent.
Now that we come to the chorus the first element that we will recreate is the dark sounding bass, first, you need a Sine wavetable in oscillator "A" with one octave down but the most important part is that you need to have frequency modulation coming from oscillator "B" at around 50%, in oscillator "B" use another ICanHasKick wavetable to give a little brightness to the sound and have envelope 2 with decay at around 3s being routed to the cutoff of the filter, add multiband compression and distortion in the FX Tab and that's it.
The chords synth in the chorus of the song is a relatively simple patch using but the main sound design element of this patch is how it is slightly detuned but first, you need PMW64 in oscillator "A" and a PMW DS in oscillator "B" there is no need for a filter in this sound since in the chorus, there are only 3 melodic elements removing the voice and two of them are basses which makes this element necessarily bright to create a contrast, now for the detuning part, you need to assign your LFO1 to the fine-tuning to both oscillators and then to the same with a second LFO just make sure the rate of both LFO are different as this will give a feeling of randomness to the detuning.
]]>This article was possible because all of the presets from this breakdown came from our Dreampop Serum pack and it has have 20% off with the code: SP01.
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Let's start by clarifying that in this song, in particular, every time the arrangement goes from verse to bridge to chorus, all the elements change, so we will have several types of basses and synthesizers throughout the song, so with that in mind lets start with the bass from the verse.
To recreate this preset we need a Basic Shapes in its second position in oscillator "A" with one octave down and in oscillator "B" we need a square wave, when choosing how many voices you want choose odd numbers if you are making a sound that should be in the center of the mix, envelope 2 is modulating the cutoff which is around 450 Hz and the filter to give a little resonance, and in the FX tab, we use a little distortion and eq to boost the low end.
Now if you are wondering how we did the slides and the pitch bend, the trick is to do it inside your DAW, in this case, Ableton, but first, you have to enable your Mono and Legato in Serum, and after you have done that you need to overlap the notes you want to slide to get that effect and to do the pitch bend you need to draw it manually on your midi.
The bridge bass is a classic monobass with a high resonance sweeping and to achieve this sound we will need a Basic Shapes in its second position in oscillator "A" and a Jno wavetable in its fifth position in oscillator "B" now to give it a little more body and warmth we need a saw wave from the sub-oscillator and the secret to get this type of sound that is very popular in Synthwave and Synthpop is to use an envelope to slowly sweep the cutoff, in this case, is envelope 2 but you will also need a high resonance to get this characteristic sound.
This bass is huge sounding and pretty much the driving force behind the amazing chorus of the song, even though this sound is pretty quite simple first we need a Basic Mg in oscillator "A" and a Basic Mini in oscillator "B" and like the last preset our sub-oscillator it's going to give warmth and body to the sound with a saw wave after that we need envelope one to have a short decay to give that plucky sound just set your decay around 600ms and route it to your cutoff and that's it.
I have to be honest, this was my favorite part to recreate, this sound is quite interesting, this track has a clear tendency to retro synth sounds, but this particular preset is a little different from the rest, to make this sound we need a BS2_Acid on oscillator "A" and a MiniBass on oscillator "B" this has a bit of pulse width modulation (PMW) our envelope 1 is modulating the cutoff that cuts everything above 2 kHz and what makes this sound so special is the vibrato that is given by LFO3 modulating the fine tuning of both oscillators at a speed of sixteen notes.
This patch resembles a little more to a keyboard than a synth, nonetheless, we made it using Serum showing the wide range of capabilities and flexibility it has, start by setting your oscillator "A" with an FFT_SQUEAL wavetable and a Basic Mini wavetable in its third position and one octave up, envelope 2 its slowly closing our cutoff we add a little resonance to that, drench it in reverb and delay and use an eq to cut everything below 200Hz and you got it.
This sound is as classic as they get, this is your typical brass sound use in countless songs from the 80s, its more likely that you already know how to do it but in case you dont we will show you how to do it.
First you start with a saw wave in oscillator "A" and a square wave in oscillator "B", now to trick to get this sound right is that the envelope that its going to open your filter should have an attack between 50ms and 100ms depending in how fast you want it to open, this is what is going to make that classic brass sound we all love.
Now for the last synth, we have this sound mixture between digital and analog, if we have to guess which synth they use while producing the song we will bet it all in a Yamaha DX7, to achieve this sound we need a PWM Maths 2 in oscillator "A" and add Frequency Modulation to taste, in oscillator "B" we have a PWM_Mdc, now set and envelope with a long decay and release to close the filter and add an eight-note delay and that's it.
]]> This article was possible because all of the presets from this breakdown came from our Dreampop Serum pack and it has have 20% off with the code: SP01.
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Let's start with the bass preset, this sound can be heard immediately when the song starts, it is the constant drive of the track since once this progression begins it does not stop until the end, to recreate it we used a Basic Mg in oscillator "A" and a Basic Shape in its second position in oscillator "B" to give a little more body to the sound our sub-oscillator has Triangle wave, our envelope 2 is modulating the filter cutoff so it closes fast with a decay time around 250 ms, and the filter has its resonance around 25% and its drive at 20%, add a little distortion and multiband compression in the FX tab and you are all set.
More than a lead this synth sound is a counter-melody that accompanies the vocals in the chorus, it works as a secondary melody giving a more complex texture to the track, for this synth sound we use a Jno wavetable in oscillator "A" with a ASYM -/+ at 99% (this bends the wavetable giving it a more characteristic sound) in oscillator "B" we are using a Basic Shape wavetabe in its second position with one octave up, now there are 2 elements that make this sound so lush, the first one is that our LFO 2 is modulating the levels of all the oscillators at around 2.7 Hz giving it a little tremolo effect as you can see in the image below.
The second element is the vibrato effect and to achieve this you need to route any LFO you want to your Master Tune, go to your Matrix Tab and in the source part put the LFO of your choosing, and in the destination put Master Tune and use the amount you want we usually set it in 1 or 2, after that we drenched the preset in reverb.
The only instruments playing at the beginning of the song are the bass and this pad giving a lot of room for Dua Lipa’s vocal to shine, this warm synth patch was made using an Analog_BD_Sin wavetable in oscillator "A" and a Basic_McB in oscillator "B", you need your filter to cut all your high end at around 450 Hz and your envelope 1 should have an attack time at around 500 ms.
The effect parts of this patch are very important because is what makes it sound wide and spatial so you need to drench it in chorus, reverb, and hyper effects.
The last instrument to enter this equation is a wide-chorus synth playing the full chord progression, so to create this sound from scratch we need a saw wave in oscillator "A" and an ICanHasKick in oscillator "B", now to give it that detuned sound we use two LFO at different rates and apply both to the fine-tuning in each oscillator, this will give a feeling of randomness to the movement of the sound, now for the final touch use a filter to cut everything above 4 kHz and add a little resonance
]]>
This article was possible because all of the presets from this breakdown came from our Dreampop Serum pack and it has have 20% off with the code: SP01.
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The main driving force of the track is this impressive arp loop, I am amazed by how this little melody makes the song so recognizable making it impossible not to get excited every time the song starts.
In oscillator "A" we use a Wraith waveform in its 8th wavetable position it has 9 voices slightly detuned, for oscillator "B" we use an FM_Splat waveform its wavetable position is around 120 and it has 5 voices, envelope 2 is closing the cutoff of the filter, and in the FX tabs we have an MG Low 18 filter cutting everything below 3200 Hz and that's it.
Now for the Bass, we need a Basic Mini in oscillator "A" and a Sine wave in oscillator "B", the filer should be cutting everything below 650 Hz and is being modulated by envelope 2, to give the sound a little body crank up the drive and fat knobs in the filter and add distortion in the FX tab.
To recreate the keys sounds from the track we have used an FTT_Add_2nds wavetable in oscillator "A" and a ICanHasKick wavetable in oscillator "B" the cuttoff is being modulated by envelope 2 which has a decay around 2.5 seconds and a release around 1 second, the cutoff a is set to around 2500 Hz with resonance at 20%, the sound is drench with chorus, reverb and delay effects.
In the second part of the chorus this melody begins. To create the patch you will need Serum, I set the oscillator "A" as an FM_Splat waveform in its position 50 and in the oscillator "B" the same waveform but in its position 150, the envelope 2 is modulating the filter and the sound has a lot of reverb and delay, once the oscillators are set, use the amp envelope (the first one) to make it sound plucky by lowering the decay by around 500ms.
Just before entering the last chorus we have a small bridge that changes the atmosphere of the song, using some supers saws as if it were an EDM song accompanied by some very fat 808s.
For this classic sound we used a Basic Shape in its seventh position in oscillator "A" and a Basic Mdc in oscillator "B", now the key to make it sound big try to give them many voices and open the detuned knob between .20 and .25 also give a litlle boost in the high end with the eq in your FX tabs we raise it around 6dB at 2000 Hz.
- This article was possible because all of the presets from this breakdown came from our Dreampop Serum pack and it has have 20% off with the code: SP01
- You can also get this Ableton Template in our PATREON!
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To make this bass we use a basic mini waveform on oscillator "A" with frequency modulation coming from oscillator "B" and it has 5 voices, while oscillator "B" uses the ICanHasKick waveform in its position 215, both oscillators are being routed to the filter which is using Low 18 filter with high resonance and a cutoff modulated by envelope 2.
Now for the hardest part the guitar preset, If you are not familiar with Serum, I will tell you that this wavetable synth is the best to create your own waveforms, the only thing you have to do is import your audio to the oscillators and choose how you want to import your audio, so that's what I did I imported a Telecaster one shot in my oscillator "A" and a Stratocaster one shot in my oscillator "B", Now to give movement to the wavetables we use LFO 1 to modulate their position so its sounds as natural as possible.
Now two of the most important parts for this preset to sound as organic and natural as possible are the little variations in dynamics and length of the note, to do the first we routed the velocity to the level of each oscillator and the cutoff filter and when we write the notes in midi we gave a little variation to each note as you will see in the image below, now to give variation to the length of the note you need to modulate the decay of envelope 1 with an LFO.
This sound is quite simple, to start you need in oscillator "A" a Jno waveform and in oscillator "B" a Basic Mg waveform, now to make it sound a little dreamy you need to go to the Effects tab and add the hyper dimension, chorus and reverb effects and turn the knobs around 50% each, now for the final touch add the sidechain of your choosing either to do it inside Serum or use a vst like Kickstart.
This sounds like a Wurli, so to make this we need a SawRouded wavetable in oscillator "A" and a Ds Saw and Tri wavetable in oscillator "B", our LFO 1 is modulating the Amp from our Global Tab, the cutoff of the filter is being close by our envelope 3 and to give a little body to the sound we are cranking up the drive knob in the filter.
Now that we are on the bridge, new elements are presented, one of them is a keyboards with a vibrato that is progressively increasing and to achieve this, first, we use a PWM_Mdc in the oscillator "A" and a saw waveform, the trick to achieving this vibrato is use envelope 3 as an Aux Source so the curve of your envelope is what is going to dictate the speed of the vibrato.
Now to do the vibrato effect go to your Matrix tab and choose the envelope that you want to use to modulate the speed of the LFO that is affecting the fine-tuning of your oscillators.
Now for the final part, we are going to recreate the bass in the bridge, let's start by choosing a Basic Shape in its second position in oscillator "A" and use the sync knob around 1.3% in oscillator "B" use a Jno wavetable in its third position, now to make it sound a little reesy we use an envelope to close the cutoff of the filter and add a little resonance now add a little distortion and hyper dimension in the FX tabs and that's it.
If you like this breakdown you can read our tutorials of Blinding Lights, Save Your Tears and In Your Eyes.]]>Also this article was possible because all of the presets from this breakdown came from our Dreamwave Serum pack which has 20% off with the code SP01
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The melody of this synth as simple as it is will get stuck in your head for days making it impossible to forget in the years to come, so to make this sound we used a Basic Mini in oscillator "A" in its fourth wavetable position, oscillator "B" has a Saw wave with one octave lower to give the sound more body and presence, now the important part of the preset is the filter, we used an MG Low 24 being modulated with our envelope 2, now the characteristic part of the sound comes from the resonance in the filter which is around 45%.
Using the same melody as the main synth this layer gives a sensation of movement to the sound, as each oscillator has 8 voices, and being detuned by the LFO 2, making it sound a little ethereal, to achieve this, we used an Analog_Bd_Sin in oscillator "A" the wavetable is being modulated by LFO 1 and in oscillator "B" we have a Basic Shapes in its second position, the filter is cutting everything above 4 kHz and in the FX Tab, we have our chorus and hyper dimension effects around 50% to make it sound wider.This is your classic rolling bass sound, and to create this sound we need Basic Mini in oscillator "A" in its fourth position, and in oscillator "B" we need the same but we are going to bend it to give it a little more treble and turn an octave down, now to make this plucky bass we need to modulate the filter cutoff with our envelope 1 which has a 650 ms decay, also turn the drive in the filter up to give more body to the sound.
Our favorite part to recreate was the lead, It has so many small details that made it a challenge to remake it, but I think we can confidently say that it is almost identical to the original, first, we start with two square waves oscillator "A" has a pulse width modulation (or PWM) at around 80% and oscillator has it at 30% this makes it sound more high pitch, now to get the vibrato right on point with need and LFO modulation the fine-tuning of the oscillator at around 7 kHz and we cut everything above 4 kHz with a Low 12 filter and that's it.
]]>Also this article was possible because all of the presets from this breakdown came from our Nu Disco Serum pack which has 20% off with the code SP01.
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So to make the Derezzed lead sound we use a Pulse wave in our sub-oscillator, a PMW Reso in oscillator "A" and a Saw wave in oscillator "B", all oscillators are being processed by the filter formant II and the cutoff and resonance is being modulated by LFO 1 and LFO 2, LFO 3 is modulating the wavetable position of our oscillator "A", also the filter is at around 50%.
But to get this sound correctly we have to go to the FX Tab, to get that dirty sound, we need to add distortion and put it to the maximum and the final touch is to use a phaser which is being modulated by LFO 2 and just add delay and reverb to taste.
Who doesn't love this song? What a great homage to one of the biggest icons of electronic music, that to tell your story throughout a song made for you by Daft Punk.
First, we need a Pulse wave in the sub-oscillator, a Basic Mini in its first wavetable position in oscillator "A" and a Saw wave in oscillator "B" each oscillator have 7 voices slightly detuned and our envelope 2 is modulating the cutoff of our filter.
In this preset the FX tab is also vital to the sound design, we need to drench the sound with a phaser and a flanger, and modulate the phaser frequency with our LFO 1 and add distortion to get that crunchy sound.
In this track we leave the electronic side and lean more in the organic side of Daft Punk, this doesn't mean we can't recreate them in Serum, so let me show you how.
For the lead part, we are recreating a flute sound so we need a Sine wave in our oscillator "A" and a Analog_BD_Sin in our oscillator "B", if you notice our oscillator "B" is only working to give some Frequency Modulation to our oscillator "A" giving to the sound more harmonics to work with, everything above 2.2 kHz needs to be cut by the filter and add a little resonance on that frequency as well.
The other part to get this sound right is in our envelope 1, the presets needs to have an attack around 320 ms and a decay of 2.65 s, and the last touch is a little modulation on the level of the oscillator "A" with our LFO 3
Now for the organ type sound we need a Sine wave in the sub-oscillator, a FFT_Add_2nds in oscillator "A" in its wavetable position number 30 and a Basic Mini in its second position in oscillator "B", the cutoff of the filter should be at 450 Hz and the resonance around 25%, now go to your FX Tab and the Hyper Dimension effect at 50% to get it to sound wider and bigger.
If you have already arrived here and you haven't get our free serum pack inspired by Daft Punk called "Around The World" get it now.]]>- Just a reminder that all the presets from this breakdown came from our Synthpop Serum pack and it has a discount of 20% off with the code: SP01.
- - You can also get this Ableton Template in our PATREON!
RELATED BREAKDOWNS
- The Weeknd "Take My Breath" Breakdown
- The Weeknd "In Your Eyes" Breakdown
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This bass unlike the bass in their songs "In Your Eyes" and "Blinding Lights" is not a synthesized bass therefore we will try to recreate it as similar as possible with Serum.
We start with an MB Saw waveform on oscillator "A" slightly detuned and on oscillator "B" we use the waveform FFT_Add_2nds with one voice and its WT position at number fifteen, also the sub-oscillator has a Saw wave with one octave down.
Envelope one is controlling the filter cutoff, and LFO 1 is being routed to the amp in the global tab in the matrix working as a sidechain and ducking the sound every quarter note.
This pad is the melody of the song and I think he did a magnificent job as it complements the bass in a very harmonic way
To start we need a basic shape in the oscillator "A" in its waveform number two and in the oscillator "B" we use the same basic shape in its waveform number three both oscillators have twelve voices to make it sound extra big and lush
Our envelope 1 has an attack of 350ms so it opens a little slowly and a decay of 640 ms so it fades naturally, one of the most important parts of the sound design of this pad is that LFO 3 is modulating the detuned of both oscillators and for the final touch in our FX tab we drenched the sound with reverb.
To be honest these keys didn't need much sound design, Oscillator "A" is using a Saw wave wavetable with seven voices and Oscillator "B" is using a Basic Mg wavetable at position thirty and has 4 voices, the important part is that envelope 2 is modulating the filter cutoff making it sound a little plucky also we have a ping pong delay set pretty hard in the FX taband a little bit of detuning coming from LFO 1.
In the fourth and eighth bar of each chorus he uses this 80s kind of bell to filled the space he is not singing anymore and this sound is so reminiscent of Synthwave and Synthpop it just makes the whole song to have an aesthetic cohesion.
In oscillator "A" we use a saw wave with the sync mode at 1.4% for our oscillator "B" we use a PMW Weird wavetable with its wavetable position at 256, this oscillator is going to give to the sound a lot of shimmer and thats it drenched in reverb and delay and you got it.
In the last verse of the song The Weeknd changes the pad for an arp, and for me this little change in the arrangement its just magic it makes it sound more vibrant.
To do this we need we need a hypa wavetable in oscillator "A" and a square wavetable in oscillator "B", what makes this sound so distinctive is that the decay of envelope 1 is at 430 ms making this sound shorter and perfect to be arpeggiated, this envelope is also modulating the filter cutoff around 2kHz
All the presets came from our Future Bass Serum pack and they have a discount of 15% with the code FB01.
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If you have read our previous articles, you may have already noticed that Flume loves to use Sinewaves for their introductory synths, always with small variations between them, this time it's a little darker with a lot of body and very little treble.
This patch only needs oscillator "A" using an Analog_BD_Sin wavetable, the cutoff of the filter should be at 800 Hz and our envelope 1 has a 5 ms attack, a 1.2 s decay, and a 14dB sustain and is modulating the wavetable position of oscillator "A" and that's it.
We love making this patch, its quite simple when it comes to its waveforms but the magic is in the modulation, if you hear closely you will notice that the patch has some kind of shimmering effect and also is being sidechained and right now we will tell you how we achieve this.
First, we need a basic shapes waveform in oscillator "A" in its second position, and in oscillator "B" we need a saw wave, give four to six voices in each oscillator and detune them a little, everything is quite standard, now we need envelope 1 to have an attack of 435 ms and a sustain of 0 dB, now for the shivering part, our LFO 3 is modulating the level of both oscillators at a rate of 32 notes.
Now we explained before how we use sidechain inside Serum, but let's show you this time, first, you have to make a sidechain form in an LFO (in this case its LFO 4) then you have to go to the matrix and apply it to the amp that it's in the global tab, like in the image below.
This was a challenge not because of the preset but because of the melody, so I'm going to teach you a tip that helps me to get that melody right, first, you need to insert the track you want to remix or remake in an audio track, then use the warp mode in complex pro and slow it around 20 to 30 BPM, this will make you hear each note with more clarity making it easier to recreate it.
Now for the sound design part of the arp you will need a squarewave in oscillator "A" and a sawtooth wave in oscillator "B", this time its the filter that is giving the characteristic sound to this patch, set the filter to Low 18, the cutoff to 1750 Hz and the resonance to 50%, now in the FX tab use a compressor with the multiband option on and bring up a little of the highs frequencies.
This preset took several failed attempts until we struck gold, to make this wobbly synth we need a PWM C64 wavetable in oscillator "A" and a Basic Mini in oscillator "B" both need to have only one voice this is important we will explain why later after this image.
Now the trick to make this sound wobbly its to use an LFO (in this case LFO 1) to modulate the size of the reverb but this effect is more noticeable when both oscillators only have one voice.
We love making this sound, we tried to emulate a Wurlitzer and I think we got pretty close, we started with a sinewave in oscillator "A" and a Kream wavetable in oscillator "B".
Now the trick to make this sound it's in LFO 3 that is modulating our level in both oscillators and the cutoff of our filter at a rate of 16th note, our filter it's LB 12 which its helping cut both the low end and the high end of the frequency spectrum.
This lead its quite simple but it plays an important part by giving the song a melody at the end to wrap thing up.
We use a Basic _Mdc in oscillator "A" around the middle of its wavetable position and for oscillator "B" we use a squarewave and our LFO 1 it's acting as a sidechain of the level of both oscillators and the cutoff of the Cmb HL6 filter.