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We’ll start with the beats

1

Even though Ryan already had some samples ready, he normally kicks things off with the beats which is what we’ll do. There’s a lot going on – so much so that Logic is struggling – but we’ll focus on the kick. 2

And as he does every time, Ryan start with a bit of low cut at around 40Hz to stop the kick and the bass fighting each other. Then a little bit of a notch out at 300Hz which got rid of a “bit of the woody knockiness” plus some roll off at the top. 3

A second kick channel is used to bring in an identical kick drum at the end of certain phrases, on which Ryan applies a filter to cut some of the low end. This gives an audible indication that the song section is ending. 4

The clap is made up of five samples, which Ryan admits “is quite a lot” but does go on to add that the track was started five years ago, and back in those days he did things a little differently. 5

One of the claps – notably the top one as shown above – has more of a live feel, while others are more 909-like, just different parts of that classic clap’s frequency range. Another has more of a snare sound’s body and the final delivers more top end. 6

All of the claps are grouped together and sent to a compressor to gel them together. Ryan does this with many sounds with more than one layer including kicks.