How It Was Made: ManyFew ft. Darah – Wanna Love U – Magnetic Magazine

Will Vance • Jun 17, 2024
We all know the phrase “House is a feeling,” but what exactly needs to happen in the studio to bring that near-cliche phrase to life when making tunes in this genre? A few decades ago, before the era of plugins and VSTs, so much of that “feeling” was imparted into the song through the use of tactile hardware synths and drum machines, so how can producers get that same texture, soul, and vibe in their house music tracks?
ManyFew needs a little introduction. They’ve been making some incredibly groovy and super-soulful house music for about as long as I’ve been following dance music. So when they had a track drop recently, it was the perfect excuse to get them into the mix and see what plugins they use and, more importantly, how they use them when making their house-focused tracks.
So listen to their latest release, “Wanna Love U,” below to acclimate your ears to what they’ll be talking about in their article before diving into the latest iteration of How It Was Made: ManyFew ft. Darah – Wanna Love U.
We’ve been using RePro-5 by U-he to create the bass sound. We love the Repro synth! It sounds so good and perfect if you’re looking for that big sound.
We used a sawtooth oscillator in combination with a square, and then we used the filter to remove the high end of the sound. We were looking for a low-end bass sound. It was important for us to tweak the envelope to get it to sound right, so we basically played around with different settings until we felt it was right.
Try using it for bass sound to start with since it has that fat sound to it. Explore what feels best for you, and use the filter to shape it to get the right amount of low end.
Learn More About This Synth Here
For bus processing, we used the Tube-Tech Classic Channel Mk II by Softube. Its EQ, in combination with the brilliant compressor, gives it a great flavor. On the master bus, we’ve got compression with a low ratio setting, middle long attack, and a bit shorter release.
We bypassed the sidechain’s low cut and tweaked the threshold until we felt it was right. On the eq PE 1 C, we boosted and then attended the same amount. It creates a cool sound. On the ME 1B, we just added some air at the top and a bit of low end around 300hz. On the master bus, it’s important to play around and feel what works.
A bit of compression and some air boost on the EQ is always nice to think about.
Learn More About This Synth Here
Nicky Romeo’s Kickstart 2 is what we used to sidechain the piano on this track. It’s a great plug-in and it gets the job done. We tweaked the mix knob to 65% to get the right amount of sidechain. We felt 100% was a bit too much. The first preset on the plug-in sounds wicked.
Sidechain certain elements to your kick drum is a good trick. This plugin speeds up the process and sounds good.
The TR5 compressor is a great compressor. We usually use it on drums. It’s a compressor you can smash very hard, but it still sounds great!
On the kick drum, we’ve used it to control it a bit and shape it, too, almost like a transient designer. A pretty slow attack setting and a middle long release, combined with a ratio of 4:1, give the kick a great punch.
This is a compressor you can try using on everything. Try it on drums to see the what it does, again try different settings and presets to see what works for you.
© 2024 MAGNETIC MAGAZINE
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