How It Was Made: Fei-Fei – PRETTY GIRLS WANT IT HARD

Techno is all about self-expressive attitude, and nobody exemplifies this more than Fei-Fei who has been absolutely crushing the LA underground scene lately. Her latest single, “PRETTY GIRLS WANT IT HARD,” is simply explosive; full stop and is definitely a testament to what can happen when you’re unapologetically yourself (both on stage, in life, and in the studio).

To celebrate the release of this insane new track, we wanted to invite Fei-Fei on to see what plugins she’s using, how she gets her signature vocal timbre, what makes her sound as punchy and warm as it is, and so much more. So take a listen to the single below to acclimate your ears to the sauce that she’s going to be sharing before diving into the latest iteration of How It Was Made – Fei-Fei ‘PRETTY GIRLS WANT IT HARD” which is out now on Headroom Records.

Phosycon 2 (D16 Group)

Phoscyon 2 is my go-to acid beast. It’s my fav 303 emulator by far.

It’s intuitive, fun to use, and easy to program on the fly. It comes with a ton of presets (both patterns and sounds) if you’re looking for ideas and inspo to get started. Once I’ve programmed a pattern and synthesis, I record it live because I prefer touching knobs over automation. It gives it an imperfection which I love. I also like to mess with the cut-off and resonance to breathe life into the performance.

Once I have my main acid line I do several alternate takes where I change the synthesis sound. You can do this to modulate the subtleties in the arrangement or give it a bold shift at the final drop or anywhere you want an energy shift.

Soundtoys Decapitator

Saturation is everything.

I put this on all my basslines and acid lines to give it that extra grungy grit. The bass and guitar presets are great—beefy, dark fat and beefy g are my favs, but try everything to see what works best! Sometimes a guitar preset works best on a vocal and vice versa so don’t be afraid to experiment!

Neve 1073 LB Preamp (w/R6 500 series rack)

This is the single most important weapon in my arsenal. My vocals sound the way they do because of this single piece of hardware. I record all my vocals through the Neve 1073. It makes my voice come alive, I can’t quite explain it, but it gives it so much presence and oomph, you can FEEL IT. That’s the single most important thing to me when I’m recording vocals, making sure the performance cuts right through you, as if you’re in the room with me. It’s by far the best investment I’ve made for my productions. 

The other great thing about having the 1073 in the R6 rack is that it’s super mobile so you can also use it in your live performance set up. I had a pop-punk band called THRILL YOU KILL YOU previously, and adding this to my lead vocal made a huge difference! 

Output Thermal

Distortion is my middle name! I love thermal bc it’s a really cool interactive distortion plug-in. You can turn a really simple vocal or sample into a kaleidoscopic ride to the nether realm. I use it primarily on vocals but you can throw it on anything. It’s great to create a layer to my lead vocals to give it a slightly twisted or tripped out feel. The weirder the better. There’s so many different presets, and once you find one you like, you can endless tweak the parameters. Also recommend recording live to give it that  live performance feel.

Tips for making hyper techno for the hoes

Must have cheeky lyrics, a dash of acid and a dirty beat that makes your heart throb.

To all the pretty girls—play hard, party harder.

Be genre-fluid.

Unleash your inner demon goddess.

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