SEEDR makes music for the moments when everything changes.
The latest electronic project of London-born, Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Jessie Jayne, SEEDR’s work fuses cinematic soundscapes with soulful, precision-cut vocals and the infectious energy of drum & bass. It’s a sound equally at home on a sunset drive through the Mojave as it is in the adrenaline-soaked final mile of a marathon – a feeling the artist knows intimately.
Her second single, “Settle“, is a study in focus. Over a shimmering bed of atmospheric synths and liquid drum & bass rhythms, SEEDR’s airy vocals hover, inviting listeners to steady themselves amidst chaos. Drawing on influences from Portishead and Hans Zimmer to Sub Focus and Florence + The Machine, she works in close creative orbit with LA-based producer Noams to shape soundscapes that feel both intimate and epic.
We sat down with both SEEDR and Noams for some insight on how this track came together. Producers of anthemic and vocal-driven liquid drum and bass, pay close attention to this one, because there are some absolutely golden tips and tricks to be discovered here!
SEEDR: In November 2023 I came to Noams about creating a liquid DnB inspired track in order to expand the world of “Evolutionary”. Growing up in London DnB is everywhere and over the last 5/10 years I found liquid DnB fit the right level of emotion in dance music that I was seeking. Since the pandemic I had gotten into running in a big way and I think I wanted to make a song I would put on during my marathon training to help me focus but also acknowledging the hard work and turbulence that goes into making something like that happen. The song had to feel like a journey; not just another pop or DnB track.
Noams and I started our collaboration with the creation of an alternative electronic song, “Sublime” which established a theme of change, evolution, and growth for this EP. We had recently finished “Break the Surface” which was a beautiful spacey liquid DnB track and were both feeling so good about the world that we had just created that we decided to explore this further.
At the time I was listening to a lot of Emily Makis, Hybrid Minds, and Polo & Bryson. There were also two particular tracks that caught our attention which were “New Day” by HL and “Come Down” by Hybrid Minds that I remember we had in our ears when creating “Settle”.
I usually write the hook first but for this i felt it was important for the sound to evolve slowly. As a writer I’m always told to hook people immediately but I wanted to do the opposite here. Noams helped paint a beautifully, deep yearning aural landscape in the intro to which I wanted to ease the listener in with some calming lyrics.
The chorus hook of ‘settle down’ is simple. I was an excitable kid and I remember a teacher at school telling me to ‘settle down’ all the time. I guess that word sunk in and now I think of that phrase often when I need to really focus and get things done. I think the way Noams made my vocal harmonies feel so light helps to really open up the chorus and make it a memorable phrase.
The unexpected drop has become a small signature to some of my music so it was important to include. I love musical surprises. We decided to pull back the production before it to add some suspense. Noams is great with SFX and chose a riser that sounded like a flash memory or plane taking off. I wanted the drop to feel the opposite of the calm aural landscape we had just created, acknowledging that often life doesn’t always work out the way you plan and sometimes you have to ride the turbulence before you arrive at your destination.
Honestly, the lyrics for the drop were written in 5 minutes. I was just mumbling words unedited and made a voice note. When I wrote it I was thinking about a few friends of mine who were going through a stressful time. I kickbox a little too so I think some of the lyrics came from that. Overall I’m super proud of the drop. I think it’s my favourite part because it’s so unexpected. It felt important to come back to the chorus soon after that drop in order to symbolize some sort of stabilization and hope through all the drama.
Noams: I always approach music with experimentation at the forefront. I’ve produced for artists in just able every genre (except country and metal) and I love to take inspiration from all those sides. I also am a fairly “all-over-the-place” person and that definitely comes out in my music. When starting this track, we established some main DnB percussion and then I simply looked for sounds that made me feel like I was floating. We pulled from an array of synths and techniques but a spirit of experimentation was at the head of the entire process.
One thing I love about Jessie is that she trusts me to try crazy things and just go with my gut when producing her music. Not only is it freeing as a creative, but it allows really cool things to happen.
My favorite synth on the track would be the….
Korg Wavestate
The Korg Wavestate is a very unique piece that I use for a lot of emotive applications from live ambient sets to scoring short films. This wave-sequencing synth introduced in 2020 is the next generation of Korg’s wave-sequencing legacy, having introduced this type of synthesis to the world in the 1990s through their Wavestation. Because the Wavestate uses raw samples, it has an amazing ability to create very tactile and organic sounds.
This was the instrument that created the soaring moment that opens the song and continues throughout the track as well as the skittering arpeggiator that helps with our rise into our chorus. Active use of various parameters as well as the pitch-bend wheel were integral in creating these evolving sounds that created the floating ear candy of “Settle”.
I’ve found that recording audio while adjusting parameters can lead to more interesting outcomes than simply automating a soft-synth. Humans are imperfect creatures, and when you capture those imperfections at just the right time, they can be beautiful. Furthermore, this technique can also give you more space to try interesting things you may not find otherwise. Always record your practice passes because you never know what you may come across a gem… Many times, I’ll relisten to old recordings and find that I get more inspiration from the practice passes than the “genuine” takes.
The next foundational plugin for this sound world was…
Serum by Xfer
At this point, it’s almost boring to sing Serum’s praises as it seems that every electronic song uses this plugin but Mr. Duda really created a powerhouse and I believe that’s why we continue to see this plugin everywhere. Serum changed the software synthesizer world in 2014 when it was first released and by 2018, it had already overtaken Massive as the most versatile soft synth while simultaneously being miles more intuitive than Native Instrument’s Massive.
Many of the synths in “Settle” owe their original beauty to Serum including all the basses, some pads, and all the bridge synths. In session with SEEDR, I want the ability to try new ideas quickly and therefore I try to come in with a palette of sounds that I can use as starting points. Pre-session (or sometimes in session) I’ll go and search Splice for Serum presets that catch my ear or are similar to something in my brain. Each artist gets their own folder and I use these as to keep the flow going.
A preset rarely ever enters the session the same way it will be used in the song, but they assist in getting ideas down and adjusting for taste later. Many of these preset creators also include macros inside of their presets that make automating and trying new creative ideas even easier. This keeps the creativity flowing so the artist can continue to create in collaboration without long pauses to find new sounds.
For the shimmery pad I used a patch called “pad_superbright” by Sample Magic as a jumping off point, added more movement, Portal (a granular plugin I use on every song), OneKnob Pumper, EQ, sidechained compressor, and a filter for more motion. For the Reese bass I used a patch called SMOOTHIE from an Avant DnB Serum Presets pack. The effects rack for that one is mostly volume and filter control as well as a sidechain.
For the bridge, my favorite sounds were the whippy synth that introduces us into the “unsettled” world and the big whompy bass. The former was “TSP_SFW_Bass_dirty_freq” by Splice with a LOT of reverb automation. The wimpy bass is called “BASS – Matt Damon” by Acolyte.me with a few light changes.
Finally, Shaperbox
Shaperbox has become a must-have for my production process as it can add so much movement so easily. This plugin has 10 modules: Time, Drive, Noise, Filter, Liquid, Crush, Volume, Pan, Reverb, and Width that all have individually usable LFOs built in, allowing for a lot of uses. I mostly use the volume and pan modules but have found a lot of cool sounds through exploring presets and simply messing around; trying things out.
For a liquid DnB song like this I want some things to evolve slowly, and others, more quickly. I love to use the pan function on Shaperbox to move something back and forth in space, while also adding a reverb or delay (or a send) after to enhance the special effect.
For example, in the bridge, I wanted to enhance a sense of confusion. We have 2 bendy synths both following their own patterns but for the second, more subtle one, I have a Shaperbox with Time, Volume, Pan, and Reverb. The time was set to simply have a slow down at the end of each 2 bars, the volume was a sidechain-esque curve set to every ¼, the pan was set to oscillate back and forth in the stereo field each bar, and the reverb was opening up over the span of every 4 bars. Through this one plugin, I’m able to add so much dynamic movement at varying intervals which is very helpful in a lot of different situations.
Quick Fire Tips For Making Liquid DnB
Tip #1: Liquid DnB is built on a foundation of the classic DnB kick and snare pattern with quick, varied hats sprinkled in-between, while long chord progressions and reese basses give space for experimentation…
Tip #2: As a producer with no single genre specialization, I always start by using references to identify the tempo and foundational rhythms that are consistent among songs of that genre. These give a solid framework to get creative inside, making sure the root elements keep us grounded in our genre even while we experiment.:
Tip #3: When experimenting, a good habit can be to record, resample, rearrange, repeat… this helps create the unique ear candies that can help your music stand out.
Stream “Settle” here.
The post How It Was Made: SEEDR – Settle [Liquid Drum & Bass] appeared first on Magnetic Magazine.