One of my favourite recent projects was creating a remix of the song ‘Senses’ by KINGDØMS. I made this for a remix contest being held on Metapop. Unfortunately, yet predictably, it did not win, however I really enjoyed creating the end section which is a blend of orchestral/percussive with electronic music.
I’m going to run through the end section of this song explaining any interesting instrumentation I’ve used and show you how the separate elements (electronic, percussive, orchestral and FX) which are not generally mixed, combine to sound quite nice. ↓↓↓Ending of the Remix ↓↓↓
Electronic Sounds (Synths)
The main pad you can hear is a patch I made in serum around a year ago, and I generally use it and tweak it slightly for each song it is used in. I find this really compliments a piano sound. Software instrument pianos usually sound quite lifeless to me, so this moving pad really helps it come to life and sound a little bit more acoustic.
It is a simple sine wave which is slightly warped which gives it a constantly moving vinyl kind of sound. An envelope controlling the filter cutoff means it starts bright but then rolls off to sit better in the mix. Another envelope controls a tube distortion effect. This is to give extra attack to the start of the chord, however as the chord goes on, the distortion falls back leaving it clean. Two LFOs control the fine pitch which reinforces the warped vinyl effect and the level of the oscillator. This gives a natural tremolo. There is also a simple chorus on this pad to give width.
The LFO synth you can hear at the start is a very simple double saw wave oscillator with an LFO controlled filter cutoff. I would normally have a rounder start to the LFO so it wouldn’t have such a harsh attack and when the filter is completely open, you wouldn’t be able to hear the attack of each note, however I wanted this to be a sharp and super punchy LFO synth. To increase the punchiness there is also a lot of multi-band compression.
In this remix I decided simplicity would be best to blend with the acoustic instruments. So, for the three countermelodies that come in on the second round of the chords I just used three separate square wave patches. The only difference between the three of them is they are EQ’d slightly differently to give them more space in the mix. I also use a simple super saw patch to fill up frequencies and build excitement with a filter sweep near the end.
I used two EXS24 instruments as plucks in the electronic section as you would not generally find them in a traditional orchestra, and they have been heavily processed whereas the rest of orchestral instruments had not. These instruments are Tibetan singing bowls and a Chinese guzheng zither. If you haven’t mucked about with DAW software instrument sounds, I would recommend you do, because they really help with creativity and expanding your pallet of sounds.
Two synths that were not as simple are the two named ‘MEDUZA 1’ and ‘MEDUZA 2’. I built these synths trying to emulate the sound the producer Meduza has been creating recently.
‘MEDUZA 1’ involves a wave called ‘bipole_harmonic’ which is one of Serum’s custom wavetables. The envelope triggers the cutoff filter (however I liked the brightness of no filter, so I removed it for this track), the noise oscillator, which is just bright white noise, and also the low pass filter of the chorus so over time the chorus gets darker.
For the synth basses, I used a simple moog style saw bass with a low pass filter. Underneath this there is a separate simple sub-bass that fills up the majority of the low end. Every other low instrument is EQ’d out of this area, so the nice mono low end isn’t muddy. In my sub-bass, I tend to use a multi-band compressor so every note in the sub is as strong as the others. This helps fatten up the low end, even in octaves that aren’t generally as strong.
I used two KSHMR samples of Hans Zimmer style brass stabs and put them into a sampler to give a really strong punch near the end of the song. Again, the low end is EQ’d out and they are panned hard left and right. ↓↓↓Remix with Just Synths↓↓↓
Orchestral Instruments
Software instrument orchestral sounds don’t sound very good. Unless you have access to Kontakt libraries or Spitfire Audio it is very difficult to make orchestral sounds sound acoustic. That is why whenever I use strings or even larger ensembles of acoustic orchestral instruments, I keep the orchestration as simple as possible. Software instrument sounds don’t sound very good when you try to write complex quick melodies. This is because the natural attack of the samples used are quite slow, so if you change the attack to be quicker it will sound unnatural. I find the best way to use software instrument sound libraries such as Logic’s EXS24 sample library is to create simple ostinatos and pedals. That is what I’ve done in this end section.
The piano sounds not bad as there is a low pass filter (I used a separate EQ than the main piano EQ so the filter wouldn’t affect how the piano sounds when it is bypassed) and as said before, along with the synth patch I made it is a good blend. There is also a pedal starting with a separate piano which is drenched in reverb. I like this effect because in the overall mix it is something you don’t really pay attention to, but without it in there the mix doesn’t sound as good.
The glockenspiel sounds pretty good just like most plucked or hit instruments sound. When the violin comes in you can hear it isn’t a live violin, however because it played hard and sharply it doesn’t sound too terrible. I try to keep my pedals short and sharp, so it drives the song on while adding tension, but you don’t lose out by hearing horrible sounding string and brass samples.
The simple bass line played on cellos, double basses and tubas sits under the rest of the mix so you can hear the bass line, but you can’t really hear roboticness of the samples.
↓↓↓Remix with Just Orchestral↓↓↓
Percussion
I decided to programme the percussion myself as I’m not really a fan of using pre-made loops. There are a couple of cymbal swells that start off this section which is just a splice sample. The snares that then come in are all programmed with the same MIDI and then individually humanised. I used five different Logic drum-kits for the snare samples. Using 5 different kits helps make the overall part sound less robotic. They are also panned to different places. This allows room for other important parts and blends the mix better.
I then programmed a taiko part. I did this by taking various taiko hit samples, including rims and rolls, and then placing them where I wanted. Once this was done, I panned them so the percussion would bounce around a stereo field. Due this being a section of the song where tension is building, the intensity of percussion increases. This is done by simply adding more hits. You can hear simple stomps, stadium claps, floor tom patterns (this was done just like the snare drums; however, each kit had a different drum part to play) and marching snare hits.
This all combined makes a pretty natural percussive line that adds drama to the track. If the percussion was mono, it would not sound as impressive or as acoustic as it does.
↓↓↓Remix with Just Percussion↓↓↓
FX and Foley
There aren’t that many FX in this section compared to how many I normally use. This is probably because the track is already completely full of instrumentation and synth movements that brings its own ambience.
In my opinion, the foley in the last section is the most important aspect of building the tension. I used a Greta Thunberg speech during the middle of the song, so I used nature samples to build tension at the end. If you haven’t tried using natural foley, you should, as it adds an extra level of interest quickly and easily without distracting from the main substance of your track. The two different tracks of birds and one track of wind all fades in together and continues to grow (building the tension) until the end. Not only does the volume grow, but the reverb mix grows as well. This effect is similar to a filmmaker panning back and up to show the size of something. While the mix gets louder (camera panning up to see how tall the object is), the reverb increases and gives more room (camera steps back to allow the whole object into the shot). I find this technique really useful for building intensity without having to add too much substance.
↓↓↓Remix with Just FX and Foley↓↓↓
As you can hear, the 4 individual sections don’t sound too impressive, however, put together, they gel well. You don’t tend to hear orchestral and electronic music together, but in my opinion, they complement each other perfectly.
You can listen to the complete track below, as well as on my website.
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