Seven Lions recently released “Cold As Snow,” and producers have already been asking what drove the core sound design inside the session. Instead of doing a full breakdown, we focused this feature on one simple angle. We asked him to identify the single plugin that played the most important role in shaping the record. His reply gives a clear look at his workflow and the tools he leans on when building the melodic and textural elements that define his style.
The goal was to keep the request focused so that the answer functions like a producer reference or a quick studio insight. His response also ties into the wider set of Native Instruments tools he works with on a regular basis, along with the synths and processing he uses to support guitars, reverb spaces, and low end. It is brief, but it gives producers enough detail to understand how one sound became a structural anchor in the track.
The section below is his direct submission, presented as received. It captures the specific plugin choice that helped shape “Cold As Snow” and the decisions behind how he programmed and automated the part.
Seven Lion’s Favorite Plugin On “Cold As Snow”
It’s really hard picking one synth or plugin on this because there was a ton of different techniques used.
I’ll just focus on the main sound in the break section as its the only real lead in the song. The plugin for that was Serum and the preset was from 7skies and it’s called 7 Seconds.
The main thing about it is the amount of automation to make it stay really interesting because it repeats quite a bit. The sound starts out with a stereo panning effect and it slowly goes away and becomes more mono when it becomes the main sound.
I shorten the decay quite a bit when it fully comes in as well so it feels like a rhythmic element that goes with the percusion. A few other MVPs for the track is the Arts Acoustic reverb with the Temple preset. All the spaced out guitars have a ton of that.
I use a lot of Omnisphere and Kontakt in here as well. One of my favorite things on the track is I double tracked a bass guitar and slightly distorted and hard panned them and it makes a pretty cool effect. The low end is all cut and replaced with a synth sub so its not stereo low end but I think it turned out great.
The post Seven Lions’ Favorite Plugin for Shaping “Cold As Snow” appeared first on Magnetic Magazine.