Pierce Fulton

In a skype interview with Sonic Academy Pierce Fulton states " I'll use Sylenth for some bass layers..."

Heard 23:52 into the video

In an interview with Sonic Academy Pierce says he uses Nexus for "some lead layers or some chords or maybe little plucky things..."

In an interview with Sonic Academy Pierce goes on to say "I've been using Surge a lot..and that's really good for fundamental synthesizer noises..."

In an interview with Sonic Academy Pierce describes the Xfer Records OTT Multiband Compression Plugin, "...you can throw it on a bassline...
its very subtle but it works really well... He then talks about the plugins features and how he used it in his Dadalife remix.

In this video Pierce Fulton is seen using a Sausage fattner plugin.. Check it out!!

Used for the intro of "Kuaga", as mentioned in this August 26, 2020 Reddit reply for an AMA.

SwagOnABudget: How did you make the sort of shimmering high end effect in the very beginning of Kuaga? It’s definitely a big source of inspiration

OfficialPierceFulton: that was a combination of 2 things: I took 1 chord, which I believe was built off the root note of the song, and put a nice high-end focused reverb on it and rendered that as a single audio file with the FX on it. I then took a chop of that reverb tail and repeated it in a kind of syncopated rhythm to create this like endless atmospheric pattern. On top of that I believe I used a plugin called Alchemy from Camel Audio/now Logic/Apple for the soundscape type sound, prob just a random preset and muted the more tonal layers and left the twinkling stuff.

Used for Keeping the Little Things, as mentioned in this August 26, 2020 Reddit reply for an AMA.

RrentTreznor: Hey Pierce. Really enjoying the new record. Especially This is What Gets Me Home. I was curious what were some of your go-to creative FX plugins that you utilized on this record?

OfficialPierceFulton: thank you! that one is one of my favorites as well :) I honestly used this Max for Live plugin LFO a lot on this album. It helped give it tons of subtle randomization and human (via computer haha) feel. I also used the new Output plugin called Portal a bit, really cool creative granular delay kinda thing.

Mentioned in two September 23, 2014 Reddit replies for an AMA.

Reply #1

julianveloso: Pierce i've always been a huge fan of your music, i really love your sound, it doesn't sound like anyone else..

I wanna ask you a couple of questions:

1. The main lead, bass and backing saws in your feel good remix, how do you make those? how do you process them?

2. What do you use to make that square-ish sound that plays in your breaks and has like a tape stop effect? it basically plays along the pads and it's like a 5th or a 7th i can't tell..

3. What do you use for your saw pads & pianos? (if kontakt what kontakt)

4. Recommend me a nexus expansion that you really love for leads and pads.

5. Thanks a lot for this!

OfficialPierceFulton: thanks a lot!

1. The drop elements are actually all just Sylenth and Nexus. But I do a lot of layering so the lead is 3 channels, bass 4, and chords 3. Usually 1 layer that is more dominant and the rest suppliment for each group.

2. so those weird leads are both Sylenth, one single voice square and another single voice saw, just super harsh due to distortion and compression. In reality they're so bold sounding because they're not processed that much, just really in your face. And also that tapestop is actually not an effect its just portamento in the same amount on both channels that glide at the same time for two separate voices of harmony.

3. Saw pads are usually either Diva, Sylenth, or Spire and pianos are kontakt but I process them like crazy. One thing I've been doing with my pianos is adding a Maserati GTi from Waves in addition to my compression, eq and FX because it adds this weird almost multiband-compression sounding timbre which is really nice.

4. weirdly of all the Nexus expansions I've tried, the older dubstep ones are my fav. I use the leads from dubstep vol 1 and 2 quite a bit.

Reply #2

sausage fattener is so great. anyone who says it's not is lying haha. As for saturation/distortion/reverb....I use the Maserati GTi from Waves for saturation, distortion I like Ohmicide and reverb I'm a fan of the Logic platinum verb.

Mentioned in two September 23, 2014 Reddit replies for an AMA.

Reply #1

I'm weird with busses...because I taught myself how to make music in Logic, busses were a foreign concept to me for a long time. Instead I'd just add reverb individually to the channels I needed them on which isn't necessarily "good" but it works for me. Now I do bus all my drums besides my kick and compress them so they are a bit more upfront in the mix and sound tight. I think my drum bus is just a CLA-2A compressor and an EQ, nothing crazy. I've also been doing sends for my bass sounds to an Ohmicide distortion so that they can be crispy but not compromise the original signal.

Reply #2

sausage fattener is so great. anyone who says it's not is lying haha. As for saturation/distortion/reverb....I use the Maserati GTi from Waves for saturation, distortion I like Ohmicide and reverb I'm a fan of the Logic platinum verb.

Mentioned in this September 23, 2014 Reddit reply for an AMA.

sausage fattener is so great. anyone who says it's not is lying haha. As for saturation/distortion/reverb....I use the Maserati GTi from Waves for saturation, distortion I like Ohmicide and reverb I'm a fan of the Logic platinum verb.

Mentioned in this September 23, 2014 Reddit reply for an AMA.

LonALKA: Yo Pierce! How do you go about PANNING YOUR SYNTHS and creating so much SPACE - your productions are so wide but seem to have no phase issues when played back in mono?

OfficialPierceFulton: I'm pretty sloppy with it so I guess a lot of the non phasing is luck haha. I do use the S1 Imager from Waves a lot, also the spreaders on Logic like the sample delay and Stereo Spread plugins. I only ever spread small arp/lead elements and detuned chords.

Mentioned in this September 23, 2014 Reddit reply for an AMA.

RobNerja: 3. Finally, What are your go to sample packs for drums when you begin a new project? Do you have stock drum samples that you know you can trust or do you look for new samples at the start of every new project?

OfficialPierceFulton: 3. The vengeance ones have always been nice for fundamental drums, electroshock vol 1 and 2 more specifically, but I also just like to find random unknown sample packs and see what happens. For example I found a vintage disco breaks one and have been using them as fills for a while now.

Mentioned in this September 23, 2014 Reddit reply for an AMA.

RobNerja: 3. Finally, What are your go to sample packs for drums when you begin a new project? Do you have stock drum samples that you know you can trust or do you look for new samples at the start of every new project?

OfficialPierceFulton: 3. The vengeance ones have always been nice for fundamental drums, electroshock vol 1 and 2 more specifically, but I also just like to find random unknown sample packs and see what happens. For example I found a vintage disco breaks one and have been using them as fills for a while now.

Mentioned in this September 23, 2014 Reddit reply for an AMA.

My kicks are actually 4-5 layers of samples I've collected, swapping out diff layers depending on the track.

Usually 1 top main clicky sounding kick with no low end, a separate low end kick that's relatively short (and usually pitches down sort of, so I dont worry about it being in key) so I can mix my sub bass around it. Then I sometimes have a tonal kick, like something acoustic so it doesn't sound so digital; that can sometimes be 1 or 2 layers. Might not be the "correct" formula for kicks but it's what works for me, I like having a shorter kick and stronger sub bassline, I've found that adds the most power for my style.

Synths are mainly Spire, Sylenth, Nexus, Diva, Synplant, kv311 synthmaster, Serum (Steve Duda's new one), amongst other strange ones I've picked up over the years.

Mentioned in two September 23, 2014 Reddit AMA replies.

September 23, 2014, 04:08:50 PM EDT

Synths are mainly Spire, Sylenth, Nexus, Diva, Synplant, kv311 synthmaster, Serum (Steve Duda's new one), amongst other strange ones I've picked up over the years.

September 23, 2014, 04:43:25 PM EDT

kasum: Kauga is so well produced, how many layers to make up those thick thick chords at the drop?

Also any plugins you like that you feel give your sound a more "professional" sound.

OfficialPierceFulton: honestly I use the same plugins as everyone else. sylenth, spire, nexus, diva, etc. its just about the processing and way your melodies work I think. Needs the right balance of simple and complex (as dumb as that sounds) but the chords for kuaga are 2 layers, then 4 layers of bass and 1 layer of lead and another arp. Pretty simple.

Mentioned in several Reddit AMA replies.

September 23, 2014, 02:29:46 PM EDT

julianveloso: 3. What do you use for your saw pads & pianos? (if kontakt what kontakt)

OfficialPierceFulton: 3. Saw pads are usually either Diva, Sylenth, or Spire and pianos are kontakt but I process them like crazy. One thing I've been doing with my pianos is adding a Maserati GTi from Waves in addition to my compression, eq and FX because it adds this weird almost multiband-compression sounding timbre which is really nice.

September 23, 2014, 04:08:50 PM EDT

My kicks are actually 4-5 layers of samples I've collected, swapping out diff layers depending on the track.

Usually 1 top main clicky sounding kick with no low end, a separate low end kick that's relatively short (and usually pitches down sort of, so I dont worry about it being in key) so I can mix my sub bass around it. Then I sometimes have a tonal kick, like something acoustic so it doesn't sound so digital; that can sometimes be 1 or 2 layers. Might not be the "correct" formula for kicks but it's what works for me, I like having a shorter kick and stronger sub bassline, I've found that adds the most power for my style.

Synths are mainly Spire, Sylenth, Nexus, Diva, Synplant, kv311 synthmaster, Serum (Steve Duda's new one), amongst other strange ones I've picked up over the years.

September 23, 2014, 05:07:26 PM EDT

travvers: How do you make those arps in Kuaga ? They are amazing

OfficialPierceFulton: the lead/arp thing is a Spire arp that i wrote in the sequencer from scratch and then the second arp is Surge by Vember Audio and I just wrote that on midi notes.

September 24, 2014, 12:41:19 AM EDT

ATP6135: Hey man, thanks so much for doing this AMA! You were in Ottawa, Ontario for LIC but unfortunately i missed it :(. My questions is about your latest track Kuaga, its probably got the thickest sound(s) I've ever heard in a track for a long time! How do you go about mixing your synths, more or less those big chords you had playing?

OfficialPierceFulton: the chords are actually only 2 layers, one really thick/centered synth and one wide/detuned synth. Most of the power comes from the bass which is about 4 layers. one of those "less is more" situations, I got the melody really solid before messing with more synth work, usually the best situation.

September 24, 2014, 12:47:10 AM EDT kamikyhacho: What's your favorite VST?

OfficialPierceFulton: i love spire...I owe the Kuaga lead to that but I also love Steve Duda's new one Serum.

September 23, 2014, 04:43:25 PM EDT

kasum: Kauga is so well produced, how many layers to make up those thick thick chords at the drop?

Also any plugins you like that you feel give your sound a more "professional" sound.

OfficialPierceFulton: honestly I use the same plugins as everyone else. sylenth, spire, nexus, diva, etc. its just about the processing and way your melodies work I think. Needs the right balance of simple and complex (as dumb as that sounds) but the chords for kuaga are 2 layers, then 4 layers of bass and 1 layer of lead and another arp. Pretty simple.

November 9, 2015, 05:18:34 PM EDT

TheElectricWarehouse: What's your method for making basslines

OfficialPierceFulton: I usually combine 3 layers of tonal/texture bass with Sylenth, Spire or Nexus and then 1 layer of sub. Tonal bass is usually low cut so the sub takes up all proper low end. I sometimes do some imaging work on a higher freq range of a specific bass element with a lot more lows cut, some people see that as a no-no but I love it. The reason my Surrender remix has such a strong bassline is cuz some of it is widened.

October 17, 2017, 04:04:29 PM EDT

ethanswazemusic: 2. What synth plug ins (or real synths) did you use on better places?

OfficialPierceFulton: 2. I use a looooot of different synth plugins for my music but because this album was mostly recorded material I didn't use as many as usual. I mostly used Omnisphere or NI Kontakt for plugin replications of instruments I couldn't record. That being said, I've been remastering my older music and I'm seeing a lot of Sylenth and Spire so I used to use those ones a lot!

October 17, 2017, 06:37:02 PM EDT

Best plugins: Spire, Omnisphere, and Kontakt stuff. Sample Packs: collect as many weird samples as you can and combine with clean sample. Also Splice has changed the game for samples it's not a shot in the dark buying a whole sample pack anymore.

Ozone 5 is mentioned in this November 9, 2015 Reddit AMA reply.

davi770: 4.) What does your typical master chain look like and how much Limiting (GR) do you aim for on the limiter(s) ? (I know this is kinda case specific but you must have some go-to's)

OfficialPierceFulton: 4. As I said, I have no idea what I'm doing but lately it's like: gain for easy master volume adjustments, Ozone 5 for some EQ, stereo imagine, and occasionally compression, another EQ after ozone to get any weird bits, Waves PuigTec on this weird setting Nate (Audien) showed me once, and then my limiter is a Sausage Fattener totally plain no knobs turned. It's totally messed up but it works for me! I learned from trial and error and never had any formal engineering training.

Mentioned in this November 9, 2015 Reddit AMA reply.

davi770: 4.) What does your typical master chain look like and how much Limiting (GR) do you aim for on the limiter(s) ? (I know this is kinda case specific but you must have some go-to's)

OfficialPierceFulton: 4. As I said, I have no idea what I'm doing but lately it's like: gain for easy master volume adjustments, Ozone 5 for some EQ, stereo imagine, and occasionally compression, another EQ after ozone to get any weird bits, Waves PuigTec on this weird setting Nate (Audien) showed me once, and then my limiter is a Sausage Fattener totally plain no knobs turned. It's totally messed up but it works for me! I learned from trial and error and never had any formal engineering training.

Mentioned in this August 26, 2020 Reddit AMA reply.

therichmanjansen: Pierce! It's Richard from the class :) I guess I have forgotten some of the things you've mentioned to us... but what are some of your favourite methods for processing guitars (DI or Pre-amp). That is, what might be some things you would load into the effects rack to make it sound clean, similar to your Free Fall (2014 version) guitar?

OfficialPierceFulton: Hey Richard! I'd recommend a decent audio interface. I use the UAD Apollo, which sounds great but my brother uses a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 which is really easy to use and sounds totally fine. Record with some good amount of headroom (maybe peaking around -6 generally) and if you're using Logic, their amp designer and pedalboard plugins are actually incredibly good. If you're off Logic look into something like Guitar Rig from Native Instruments, it's quite a workhorse for guitar amp emulation. Other than tone choice, play with your stock EQ and Compressor, try out different presets with "guitar" in the name to get a feeling for what settings a preset would use and try to dial in something in a similar setting by ear. It's cool to use the presets as a guide of where to go but get into the habit of setting EQ and compression by hand every song because each recording will be ultimately different. Also don't be afraid to break the rules, my early guitar recordings might have been CRAZY compressed or EQed in a weird way but I just did what sounded interesting. I'm a big fan of breaking the "rules" but also learning the "rules" to continue your knowledge of this stuff if you're interested in the engineering side.

Mentioned in this September 23, 2014 Reddit reply for an AMA.

Mikemartin123: How did you make the kick ? Nicky Romero plugin or.. ?

OfficialPierceFulton: I actually love Nicky's kick plugin, I've used it on a few upcoming songs but I always use it in combination with the kick samples I know work for my songs.

Mentioned in Reddit replies for two separate AMAs.

September 23, 2014, 02:29:46 PM EDT

julianveloso: 3. What do you use for your saw pads & pianos? (if kontakt what kontakt)

OfficialPierceFulton: 3. Saw pads are usually either Diva, Sylenth, or Spire and pianos are kontakt but I process them like crazy. One thing I've been doing with my pianos is adding a Maserati GTi from Waves in addition to my compression, eq and FX because it adds this weird almost multiband-compression sounding timbre which is really nice.

October 17, 2017, 04:04:29 PM EDT

ethanswazemusic: 2. What synth plug ins (or real synths) did you use on better places?

OfficialPierceFulton: 2. I use a looooot of different synth plugins for my music but because this album was mostly recorded material I didn't use as many as usual. I mostly used Omnisphere or NI Kontakt for plugin replications of instruments I couldn't record. That being said, I've been remastering my older music and I'm seeing a lot of Sylenth and Spire so I used to use those ones a lot!

Mentioned in this September 23, 2014 Reddit AMA reply.

julianveloso: 4. Recommend me a nexus expansion that you really love for leads and pads.

OfficialPierceFulton: 4. weirdly of all the Nexus expansions I've tried, the older dubstep ones are my fav. I use the leads from dubstep vol 1 and 2 quite a bit.

Mentioned in this September 23, 2014 Reddit AMA reply.

julianveloso: 4. Recommend me a nexus expansion that you really love for leads and pads.

OfficialPierceFulton: 4. weirdly of all the Nexus expansions I've tried, the older dubstep ones are my fav. I use the leads from dubstep vol 1 and 2 quite a bit.

Mentioned in this October 17, 2017 Reddit AMA reply.

My best ambient effect is so simple I first did it on kuaga, render a main element with a decent sized reverb tail, cut like 3 beats of that audio out and create a syncopated rhythm of sorts with the audio and then sidechain the living hell out of it. Have that float in the background of your drops and it will never sound flat or bare. Also omnisphere is your best friend if you like ambient.