The ferocious big beat sound of The Prodigy’s 1997 album Fat of the Land has been hailed as a classic of the electronic genre. But, in our view, it’s not just an excellent dance record, but one of the decade’s most significant releases.
The album that birthed the multimillion selling Firestarter and the controversial Smack My Bitch Up, were key strikes in rave culture’s invasion of the mainstream.
The Prodigy had a long-established reputation as a superb, invigorating live act, but wider exposure led to their expressive frontman Keith Flint terrifying middle England, and besieging the homes of everyday folk via Top of the Pops.
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Preceding the album by 8 months, the single Breathe became the band’s most successful single (at least before Firestarter was released) but its development took quite a while.
“It was an instrumental for ages,” The Prodigy’s chief musical director Liam Howlett recalled in an interview with Addicted to Noise. “We were playing it on stage and the guys were just dancing to it and stuff. It was just like an instrumental track. And I thought that it was so obvious to put a vocal on it.”
It’s Breathe’s distinctive opening and recurring 2-bar, guitar-sampled riff which we are going to examine and try and re-build here.
As we will discover, we can create an interesting facsimile using our own software, using many of the identifiers from the original track, but without the initial samples, it’s difficult to re-create note for note.
Therefore, think of this as an opportunity to take the spirit of the track in a different direction, using a slightly mutated sound of your own choosing.
Though some speculated that Liam Howlett had in fact sampled the theme from the iconic James Bond music cue (undoubtedly because of the twangy guitar sound), in reality, it stemmed from a recording of the Prodigy live-band member, guitarist and contributor, Jim Davies. His processed and mono guitar sound was tracked to DAT, leaving Howlett to extract a couple of notes and re-mould them.
“I just got him into the studio and he played a couple of notes,” Howlett told Addicted to Noise. “I just took those single notes and basically put them through the sampler. I constructed the riff, in other words. Everything you hear on the track is basically from my head. All the riffs are mine. I’ve never sampled a whole riff of someone else’s stuff. A lot of people get confused ’cause when they hear ‘sampler,’ all they can think about is sampling other people’s tracks, you know. It’s not like it used to be, like with Pump Up The Volume, when it was just built around someone else’s track. This is actually rock music written on electronic equipment, you know? With Breathe, I made the riff.”
Breathe is, therefore, a very sample-heavy production, reliant upon sampled material at just about every turn. Thin Lizzy’s Johnny the Fox Meets Jimmy the Weed supplies the drum break, while Wu-Tang Clan’s Da Mystery of Chessboxin’ provides the identifiable whiplash effect, used throughout.
Rather than get caught up in the wormhole of samples, we’re going to examine how we can recreate the opening riff ourselves, with workarounds that might provide an simple alternative for achieving a similar sound in a different context.
How to get the sound of Breathe in your DAW
You may be limited by the tools at your disposal, but the good news is, you can create something similar with a basic soft synth or sampler, a DAW, some distortion effects and EQ.
The preferable choice for your synth or sampler will be anything that has a band-pass filter. Don’t worry if this isn’t something you have, as you can adopt EQ to acquire similar results. It’s preferable to be able to control your filter cutoff using velocity, although once again, there an alternative solution, which we’ll come to later.
If using a synth, we are looking to create a fairly sharp wave upfront, so while you can use conventional subtractive-style synths, try using a modulated pulse wave, or better still, some form of sync, bright digital or FM tone.
Alternatively, use a sampler (which is what we are choosing to use here). We are using the EXS24, which is the stock sampler from Logic Pro.
The beauty of this approach is that we can select a sound source which will pave much of the way for a similar sound.
Step 1: As a starting point, we have selected the ‘Clean Electric Guitar 1’ patch, from the default EXS24 library. It’s a clean sound, which is played/sampled by using a pick or plectrum.
Step 2: In order to easily work with this sound, create a simple 2-bar loop or cycle, which will make it easy to audition the sound.
For reasons of copyright, we have used a loop which is slightly different from the original, but we have kept this rhythmically the same. Also note that all of the notes have been entered in step time, and are set to the same velocity value of 70. We will return to this later to make further adjustments.
Step 3: Returning to our sound, we’ll start by making some filter settings. One of the luxuries of working with the EXS24 sampler, is that we can employ two filters, which on this occasion we’ll assign in series.
We are setting filter one to ‘HP 24db Edgy’, which is a 4-pole high pass filter, and selecting filter two ‘BP 12dB Edgy’, which is a band-pass filter.
Between the two filters, you can see the ‘Series’ icon, which needs to be highlighted in yellow.
Turning to the Cutoff and Resonance settings, these will differ from one synth or sampler to another, but as a general guide, aim to set the high-pass filter cutoff to around 30% and resonance to 45%, with the band-pass filter cutoff set to around 25% and resonance set to 50%. Be sure to listen and audition your sound, and don’t overly indulge the resonance.
If you have drive or distortion available within the filter circuit, you could certainly apply this at this stage, although it’s not essential, as we will add distortion to our signal chain at the end of the process.
Step 4: Ideally, we want to use two envelope generators, with one applied to amplitude/volume, and the other applied to filter cutoff. If you only have one available, you can use the same envelope for both elements.
Beginning with the amplitude envelope, engineer a small amount of sustain, preceded by a quick attack and snappy decay. If you have a second envelope, for filter cutoff modulation, apply settings for a quick attack and decay with zero sustain.
Step 5: Returning to our note editor, we now need to implement two different levels of velocity value.
If we refer to the original track, this begins with the on-beats being a higher velocity than the off-beats, although there is nothing to stop you altering this to suit your own track. The velocity value pattern in the original also changes, once it reaches the second bar.
We are going to start by changing some notes to a velocity of 100, leaving the opposite notes set to the previous velocity of 70. The differences in velocity value will allow us to control the degree of filter modulation, which we’ll route in the next step.
Step 6: Using your synth’s mod matrix or modulation routings, assign velocity to both filter section’s cutoff controls. Once you have a assigned the source and target, you may need to experiment with the amount of modulation. In our case, we have assigned a modulation value of around 25-27% but again, this will differ from one synth to another. You may also note that there is an indication of modulation, within the filter section, as seen in our example by the appearance of an ‘orange curve’ above the cutoff control.
When you now audition your 2-bar loop, the changes in velocity value should instigate a change in the cutoff of each filter, replicating a similar sound to the original track.
Step 7: To further enhance this effect, try applying a small degree of filter cutoff modulation, using the filter envelope as a modulation source. A small amount of modulation should enhance the effect even further.
Step 8: If the synth or sampler that you are using allows the application of distortion within the filter section, you may already have convincing results. However, the application of overdrive or distortion on the backend of the signal chain, will likely add another useful element.
If you listen very carefully to the original, you can hear a slight grainy-ness in the original sound. This may be down to the original sampling process, and a reduced sample rate, or merely noise from distortion. Either way, try experimenting with a bitcrusher, as this will allow the introduction of a similar texture.
Alternatively, add a healthy dose of distortion; something aggressive, such as Soundtoys’ Decapitator would be ideal for this and can be cranked quite hard, to achieve impressive results.
As with the programming of any synth sound in a contemporary DAW, there are a number of ways of approaching sound design in order to achieve similar results.
If working with a conventional subtractive-style synth, armed with more usual waveforms, experiment with different combinations. A sync tone, or reedy PWM pulse would be ideal starting points for this sound. Many modern synths provide metallic or glassy sources, which may prove to be worthy fodder in this context.
You can also experiment with different filter types. While high-pass and band-pass filters are the ideal option, you can also explore formant filters, which can provide wonderful colours.
Be aware that each filter and synth will require its own specific set of values. You can also use heavy EQ curves, to limit the sonic bandwidth, much like a band-pass filter.
One issue that may present itself, particularly with less capable soft-synths, is the lack of ability to route velocity to the cutoff control of the filter. Another method for achieving the same result, would be to automate the cutoff within your DAW. But be sure to create steps for each note, rather than a slope between values, as the cutoff changes.
Learning how to create impressive sounds from the past masters is a valuable route to understanding how to get the most out of your synthesis. However, it is also a superb springboard for individual creativity, and while it can be highly rewarding to try and recreate an existing track, try to take your sound exploration in a new direction which will be entirely unique to you. Then you can release your track without stepping on any copyright-toes.
Take a deep breath… now get creative!
