A walk-through the Sound of Fractures’ glorious new album
Sound of Fractures, the acclaimed British electronic artist, has released his latest album “Scenes”. Known for blending UK dance music, hip-hop, and soul, Sound of Fractures delivers an emotional journey through nu-garage, jungle, breaks, and electronica. “Scenes” stands out not just for its musicality but also for its innovative fan engagement. By inviting fans to submit personal photographs and memories corresponding to each track, the album becomes a collaborative project, transforming passive listening into an active, shared experience.
His production, covers all elements from UK garage right through to electronica, jungle and breaks. There’s a thick vein of emotion throughout his productions, a deeply personal element that even goes as far as sampling his daughters heartbeat.
We asked the talented UK producer to take us through some of his production tips and tricks for his new album “Scenes”
DIVA BY U-HE
Diva is a synth that is built on replicating some of the analogue classics such as Mini Moog and the Jupiter.
I love this synth. It’s in everything I do, and no matter how often I try to move away from it I always come back. As a pure sound source I don’t think there is much better out there at emulating analog warmth. The main sound that I started the song with is built on an arp preset, which I then played around with. In particular the Diva arpeggiator works really well with the trimmers tab setting’s ‘Oscillator Voice Detune’ section which gives interesting life to the sounds, almost like its continuously evolving and changing which I love and feels a lot like the imperfections you get in physical hardware.
TAIP by Baby Audio #1
TAIPE is a tape saturation plugin that has a really unique way of interacting with the input signal by using AI to create a unique response to the input, rather than applying the same processing to any sound… you can see a theme here, I love analogue, but also the flexibility of working in the box.
I use this plugin all other the place, it’s so flexible with really simple responsive controls. I use it to bring warmth and life to synths and also even EQ them using the ‘shape’ and ‘presence’ sliders to help fit them in the mix. The glue compression is great on drum busses if used carefully and I even use it on the master bus at times. In this track it’s on the drum bus and I’ve used it as if I was tracking my drums to tape or resampling them; it glues in the kick and snares and the compression adds a subtle pump and groove to feel to the percussion.
Try using it on everything.. no I’m serious. See how sounds respond to it, it’s a really creative tool. It’s especially great as a response to using anything from sample packs or presents, it’s like it de-polishes sounds (if that’s a word). It can be especially useful on busses as the way it responds to multiple sounds is really interesting and realistic, its really great as a glue that if you like music by people like Jamie XX, Caribou or Overmono and don’t own lots of expensive gear you can use it to find those cool warm textures you need in your music.
Sketch Cassette 2 by Aberrant DSP #2
Sketch Cassette is a tape emulator but in a very different way. It’s simple and cheap and has loads of character.
I work in DAWs using mainly all plugin synths, and what I find is that saturation plugins like Sketch become an extension of the synth, they are a part of crafting the sound for me, but also just getting something vibey going as if I was picking up an instrument. I use it mainly on synths and instruments after the reverb as a way to EQ them and make them more interesting. I turn the hiss off and play with the preset tape models, usually with the wow and flutter rates turned down, it gives a slow modulation and life to it that doesn’t sound like a cheesy lo-fi effect. What I find is it helps instruments sound great in the mix, it’s not about working on the sounds in solo but more in context of the rest of the track.
Use it on instruments to make them sound like samples or like real recordings, don’t push it too far in terms of making it sound exactly like a cartoon version of tape : reduce the modulation depth and rates and then switch between the different tape models and play with the plugin mix (a great addition to any saturation plugin) and see where in the main mix it takes the synth or instrument. If you have degradation issues like harsh frequencies and distortion then pull it back using the mix and use something like Soothe to help control the harsh frequencies.
Crystallizer #3
Crystallizer is referred to as a Granular Echo Synthesizer, but essentially it’s a brilliant creative delay tool.
This is a classic that I find is sonically unbeatable. In this track I use it on pads and all of the ambient palette that’s happening in the background. I’ve taken some vocal samples chopped them and found little interesting moments I like, I loop them and then run them through a couple instances of the Crystallizer in tandem. It gives them movement in and sits them back in the mix so they are not in the way, but gives you a tonal and emotional bed to build on. I love the presets and flick through them like I’m looking for a synth preset and then edit. Anything with detune, or Grantacular in the title are usually great! Play with a couple of them in tandem and reduce the mix and they blend and build on each other in really interesting ways. You can also drive it and use it to make your samples and synths more unique, its almost like a way of creating the sound rather than just adding delays to it.
Get creative with this. It’s got the ‘splice’ and ‘recycle’ settings which do a much more interesting version of reverse delays, and it also has a gate and threshold which allow it to respond to changes in the input signal in interesting ways. It’s really cool for ambient vibes to get you started when you don’t know what chords to play, you can create tonal and emotional beds using samples that can be really interesting to write on, whether you are making electronic music, or trap. I like plugins that are fun to play with and unpredictable as I think the best things often happen by mistake and this is really cool for that. Ive even build percussion parts and other rhythmical elements that can drive the track and add groove in unique ways.
Tip #1: Sample the world around you. Being you is the only thing you can count on, so put it in your music
Tip #2: Taste is everything. Choose your sounds well, don’t spend hours trying to make something cooler, if anything try and make them worse, it’s more likely to help you find a way to stand out.
Tip #3: Drums need life and character, if they are too polished you’re not doing it right.
Tip #4: Emotion is still how I connect; it’s making people feel something that makes it sticky.
Tip #5: Embrace beauty in the imperfection, if you want to create something sustainable then you need to find a way to build identity into the music, it’s how people will remember you over the others and then want to dig deeper.
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The post HOW IT WAS MADE: SOUND OF FRACTURES – SCENES appeared first on Magnetic Magazine.