Blinders is a guy who rose to fame off of his remix for Axwell, which has racked up over half a million plays. So I shot him some questions about how he want about making it, as well as some production questions in general.
Production Tools & Techniques
Can you tell me what DAW you typically use for making music? Have you ever used different ones?
It’s FL Studio 11, but sometimes I try to use Ableton and Logic as well.
As someone who probably uses a lot of samples for his music, can you tell me how you go about organizing your samples folders?
I try to collect and put the best samples in a special folder. Otherwise, it would take too much time to find something on my computer.
A lot of new producers have a hard time getting their heads around compression. When do you think is a good time to reach for a compressor? Do you use it a lot?
Not too much; really seldom if it’s necessary to use. I use compression on some vocals and samples when I want to dull the attack of a sound a little bit.
Can you tell me about some of your favorite plugins for the following:
Compression: I know that, maybe it’s not the best stuff, but I use FL Studio Compressor!
EQ: It’s also one from FL Studio, called the “EQ 2″, and for me it’s amazing!
Distortion: When I want to add distortion on synths, then I produce on Sylenth, and use Sylenth’s distortion. Sometimes, I also us Fast Dist by Image Line.
Reverb: Check out the Lex Reverb; it’s huge!
Delay: I think the best for me is NastyDLA.
Track Breakdown – Center Of the Universe
What was the first thing you did when you opened up a project to start working on this remix? Do you have a set way of starting a remix?
It was the bassline! I heard it in my head when I listened to the original track. Then I tried to find some good idea for chords. But when I’m starting on a new track, it all depends on my ideas. Sometimes it can be percussion, and sometimes a lead melody. It’s always about what’s in my mind.
Did you feel the need to process the vocals in a particular way on this remix, or did you just use the stem in the same way you got it?
I asked Axwell for dry vocals, and then I decided to add my own effects on it. I did also a couple of backround vocals, such as looped “universe” word.
There are a lot of saw synth leads on this remix. What were some of the things you did to make them cut through in the mix?
I had a lot of layers on it so it was a bit tough to mix. But I mainly focused on EQ to make it perfect all together.
What synth did you turn to for the bassline, and why?
I used 3 synths. A guitar sub bass and 2 Sylenths for more of a synthetic spirit.
Did you use any master buss processing for this remix?
No, I didn’t.
What would you say were some of your most used plugins on this remix?
Sylenth Sylenth Sylenth, haha.
