There are few producers and DJs these days who have transcended to the level of megastars in the dance music world, and an even smaller number of those who go out of their way to share what they’ve learned about the art and craft of production and DJing to the younger generations.
Laidback Luke is one of these rare few, though, and we figured there would be no better way to celebrate the release of his latest track, which was released on Dim Mak, a collaboration with MarlonBeats called “One on One.” In this article, we interviewed Laidback Luke about his favorite plugins, secret studio tricks, and so much more to get the professional sound he gets in his music that gets signed to some of the biggest labels in the game.
So listen to the track a few times below to acclimate your ears to what he’ll be talking about before diving into the latest iteration of How It Was Made: Laidback Luke feat. MarlonBeats “One one One”
Serum
Serum synth, no need for an introduction here as it’s a staple in the dance music world. It’s been ideal for making sounds from scratch easily.
The lead is very much a saw type of shape in essence. LFO 1 is routed into both Oscillator A & B and the noise generator. But note that LFO 1 is also routed into the Wave Table position on OSC B. This gives some nice movement in the individual note. LFO 1 is also set to the Cut Off, so it sounds open but then closes immediately, giving the lead a crisp attack with a warm feel.
Many producers use Serum and are well versed in it. Feel free to take over the exact settings from the screenshot so you can have the “One on One” lead yourself. But here’s something extra you need to know about it:
CableGuys ShaperBox 3
A lot of people still think ShaperBox is an idle Kickstart. But it can do way more than that. I use it for destructive reasons but also for FX.
I had put this on a bus channel on the lead to give it an extra stereo, almost ping pong delay effect. I have a side chain compressor on the bus channel triggered by the lead. So when the lead hits, the FX get triggered away, to pop up in the empty spaces in between.
Most of the time I don’t have a tactic to use ShaperBox but if I think a sound needs something different, I’ll skip through the presets and see what hits best for my sound. After that there’s plenty of options to adjust. One thing I love about ShaperBox 3 is the abundance of wet/dry control. You can go all out, and then always dial back to make it subtle.
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Laidback Limiter (shameless plug)
My own plugin! I mostly market this as a tool to get your DJ Mashups sounding loud and professional quickly.
In “One one One” I however used this on the bass line channel. With the multiband clipping that’s on the plug-in, you can also add a specific flavor of distortion to a sound.
The beauty of the Laidback Limiter is that the volume won’t change when you clip. So you can dial your clipping/distortion in, without any bias. This is a unique feature and comes in very handy when adding flavor to your sounds.
Scaler EQ
Scaler EQ is an EQ that only works within the various frequencies of the actual key of your track. It also works as a regular EQ, but the power is in emphasizing your root-notes.
I used this in the mastering process of the track. One thing you’ll notice on a big system is how deep the track hits on the sub frequencies. I added a bit of gain in the sub, right on the key of the track, to give it some extra.
The beauty is that it won’t amplify other, or “muddy” frequencies as it purely focusses on the frequencies that matter in your track.
Making it sound really effective!
The post How It Was Made: Laidback Luke feat. MarlonBeats “One one One” appeared first on Magnetic Magazine.