Ahead of a uniquely stunning new album project – Obscenity State talks us through “Gridlock”
Introducing Obscenity State, the London-based electronic music producer, musician, and AV performer who’s redefining the boundaries of electronica. With her latest track “Gridlock,” Obscenity State invites us into an expansive, ethereal realm, showcasing her unique blend of hypnotic dance rhythms and harmonically rich compositions.
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Drawing inspiration from her background in classical music and a deep love for club culture, Obscenity State’s music is a powerful expression of emotion and thought. Her forthcoming album promises to be a captivating journey through sonic landscapes, pushing the limits of electronic music.
We caught up with Obscenity state to discuss her process creating her new single, ahead of a stunning album project later this year.
Reaktor Blocks Primes
For the Gridlock track and all the tracks on the upcoming Zoroaster album, I wanted a seriously thick, heavy sub bass that would shake the audience to their core. This really comes through when I play live. Reaktor Blocks Primes is a favourite of mine to achieve that satisfying depth. I use Primes a lot in my tracks, it sound is so close to modular synthesis, so I’ll use it for pads, high percussive synths, it’s very versatile. For this sub bass, I built the synth using three oscillators (32” sine, 16” saw & a 16” square) then patching them to the Rounds LFO and Monark filter (all part of the Reaktor Blocks Primes package).
The sub bass, being the driving underbelly of the track, needed to be simple in terms of the part but dynamic with the sound. Alongside the LFO modulation I automated elements like the levels of the Oscillators, the cut off and I added and modulated Ableton’s distortion plugin to heighten the builds in the track. The bass notes are long heavy drones, to create a pumping rhythm I side chain them with the kick using Ableton’s compressor.
I’d highly recommend using Reaktor’s Blocks Primes, a good place to start is trying out the pre-built Blocks – going into edit and seeing how they’ve been built. Then watch some tutorials and have a go at building your own. It’s good to know that it’s not just a standard preset plugin that everybody else will be using. You can go really deep with it and build whatever you want. The first and most complex Reaktor Primes synth I built, was a dual synth that combines granular synthesis with subtractive synthesis, I haven’t stopped using it since.
Valhalla Reverb
The Gridlock track is a special one for me, I wrote it to strike an emotional chord with people. Genres will tell you a bit about a track, I’d say it’s IDM but a better description would be that it’s a driving, cinematic, emotional track with hooky heart tugging melodies- it’s dramatic dance music. To get that range of intensity, the layering of the synths and expansiveness of the pads were key. I wanted it to be a big sound, so I used Valhalla’s Vintage Verb (Concert Hall setting) on most of the synths. With the pad sounds– I pushed the decay time and the mix level of the reverb automating it for the big drops. It’s all about tension and release.
A lot of synths on different tracks were needed to create the big emotional sound I was after. Adding more tracks built the drama but then I’d have to spend a lot of time tweaking the highs of the synths and pads in this track. A lot of this tweaking was done by EQing the synths or adding extra plugins to soften the sound (e.g. chorus or Soothe2). Often to get the right level of space, I like to place Valhalla’s verb directly on the track rather than just using the bus. It’s worth spending some time tweaking the low/high and size settings on the plugin to avoid the build of the tracks getting piercing or muddy.
I’d recommend this plugin for any producer that wants to create a big expansive sound. You can also try it out on a kick to make a massive, pounding techno kick drum, that’s what I did for the intro kick in the Zoroaster track (release date November 22nd).
Non-Synth Plugin – Ableton Compressor
I’ve got loads of non-Ableton compressors but the Ableton one is easy to use and does the job. I use it to side chain most of the tracks to the kick- the bass, the pads, the main melodic synth, all the legato sounds were sidechained. I’ll even put it on the percussive synths after the reverb. For me it’s the defining feature of the melodic build that kicks in at 1 min 20 of Gridlock, the push and pull of the synths, I can have a big expansive sound but keep it pumping and rhythmic.
It’s a lovely shift in the sound during the breaks, automating the wet value so that the rhythmic quality organically opens up to big washes of sound. Sidechaining is a common technique, it really helped me get the right intensity that I was after, I pushed the threshold and overall use of it a lot more with this single and the upcoming album. Sometimes when the sidechaining wasn’t pushing the rhythmic element enough, I’d add Melda Production’s MTremelo after the side chained compressor. I love this plugin because you’ve got shed loads of settings that you can play around with to get interesting rhythmic shifts. My favourite was automating the phase and the sync rate:
The dance music that I gravitate towards is the intense, driving variety. Thick bass and side chain compression gives the music the real punch that i’m after. Adding a dreamier quality to my music with the big pads and melodic hooks creates an interesting contrast. To be a real dreamer, you’ve got to have a lot of driving energy the music I create using these techniques allow me to express the energy and feelings rumbling beneath the surface.
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The post How It’s Made – Obscenity State – “Gridlock” appeared first on Magnetic Magazine.