Cà faisait un petit moment que nous avions le producteur québecois NULL404 dans le viseur d'Electraumatisme et le dernier album sorti a atteint la qualité requise pour qu'il fasse partie des sélections hebdomadaires. Alors on en a profité pour le passer à la casserole des Kitchen Notes.
It's been a while since we have the Quebeck producer NULL404 in Electraumatisme's sight and the latest release reached the required quality to be part of our weekly selection. So we took advantage of this to make him go thru the hell's Kitchen Notes.
Gears and software
What gears/softwares did you use for The bad Place ?
I’ve used quite a bit of analog gear, as well as some of the more “preset sounding” instruments from Reason 7.
In “ego.death”, I used Moog Mother32 to make the bass and the acid synth sequencer part
In most of the tracks there is somewhat an usage of the MS-20mini whether it be a pad/textures or more of a lead synth. First one that comes to mind is the synth work in “vigilante” or the pads in “day_zer0”.
There are a couple of synth layers from the Volca Keys in “nobody’s home”.
Most if not all of the drum programming comes from the elektron model:sample.
Your favorite gear(s)/software(s) ?
I really like the drum sounds of the Roland r8/r8m.
This is one of the kits that I keep on the elektron. There is something so satisfying in tweaking a loop until the drum samples really feel in tune with the rest of the song’s atmosphere. This is usually the drum sound I go with to brap and have fun.
Any evolution in your setup ?
I now do all my songs with the intention of being able to perform them live. I wasn’t before and I don’t want to create songs that can only be “karaoke” versions once you play them live.
I guess you could call it an evolution in some way, yeah. :p
Sound Design
Do you use/tweak presets ?
I do use presets, with the intention of having parts with the “cliché sounds”. Although I always tweak it a bit cause the rest of the track is already pretty distorted.
Do you design you own sound ? On which synth/plugin in particular ?
I do design my sounds, that is what synths are for! I usually use the MS-20 to experiment and chop the recordings to layer/edit.
I have no issues with plugins, but I've never bothered to install one. I don’t know.. Maybe next time?
Writing/composing method
What
would be your main writing/composing method ? Do you start classical
rythm/bassline then arrange around it ? Do you already have structure in
mind ? Do you improvise, record sessions then select ? ...
I kind of see it like “painting” on a blank canevas.
I usually start by experimenting with the Analogs and start a loop, kind of like the background of the song. Once in a while I might accidentally make a good sequenced bassline. Then I usually start finding my “main” rhythmic sound, which gets tuned to the song’s atmosphere.
The lyrics either come out as I am making the loop and when they don’t, most of the time because of strange rhythms. I write an entire text in another mindspace and fit it in the track like some strange puzzle. It’s as fun and rewarding as it’s frustrating.
Producing/mixing method
Do you produce/mix in the box or do you use mainly external gears (effect/comp/eq...) ?
In the box. I do have some external effects but they always end up being noisy 😈.
What is your most painful / enjoyable step in track production ? Sound design, arrangement, mixing, mastering ?
Enjoyable is ALWAYS the drum machine, also sound design.
Painful has to be the mixing process of some songs, I don’t make it easy for myself sometimes with the layering 😝
NULL404's tips
There is no “good” sound, but you should record all of them because it might synergize with something you will record later.
It might sound strange. but I do like to abstain from listening to music while I am working on an album.
Contact info
#null404 @fuckjmz
#industrialmusic #hochelaga
