Build gigantic grime stabs and bass in Reason

Mr Virgo shows us how he put together Holy Grime’s awesome, apocalyptic sound

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To get his big, bold brass tones Matt layers several patches in a Combinator device in Reason. “This is like a low-tone synth saw sound, and I’ve layered it with two brass sounds just to give it that rich depth, so it’s basically three sounds in one!” he explains.

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The stab still isn’t big enough for Matt’s taste, so he adds another element: “I’ve layered it with a deeper horn just to give it that impact. The device I used in Reason was the NN-19 sampler, this is just a one-shot sample. The fourth layer just gives it that depth and chunkiness.”

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To add character to the top end, he adds a staccato brass patch from NN-19, which is reverb courtesy of Reason’s RV7000 effect unit (‘ALL 1st Impressions’ preset). “I mould all these brasses into one sound, to give it that dynamic.”

04 Holy Grime’s

bassline starts with a dirty sawtooth-esque patch created in Thor, which is run through Reason’s Scream 4 distortion device’s Acid preset. Matt layers this with a sub provided by SubTractor. “It just gives it that rich, deep depth” he enthuses.