Pierce Fulton

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 August 26, 2020 Reddit AMA reply.

VegaFLS: What will a live music setup consist of for Leaving Laurel? DJ equipment or live instruments? Love love loveeeee Take Your Time

OfficialPierceFulton: Well Gordon and I were going to have our first DJ shows right after the COVID quarantine began in the US. We always knew we wanted to do a live show but felt like it would have to be something to do later on down the line (for some reason). Thankfully, we were quarantined together in the same house that inspired the project so after a week or two of confusion and stress about COVID, I decided to buy a drum machine (Elektron Analog RYTM) to just encourage us to play instruments together again. We set up that, Gordon's guitar and Juno 106 and a Moog Sub 37 we were borrowing from a friend and Anjuna asked us to do a livestream on their Twitch at the same time. So we did our first Live from the Hut. We've done 3 of these livestreams without much preparation and just depending on our improvisational skills we've held onto (somewhat) from playing in bands in our youth. You can check out our first 2 live show livestreams below and I'm actually finishing up the export for the 3rd one we did last week today.

[...]

Leaving Laurel - Live from the Hut (April 2020)

Leaving Laurel - Live from the Hut 2 (June 2020)

Borrowed from a friend, as mentioned in this August 26, 2020 Reddit AMA reply.

VegaFLS: What will a live music setup consist of for Leaving Laurel? DJ equipment or live instruments? Love love loveeeee Take Your Time

OfficialPierceFulton: Well Gordon and I were going to have our first DJ shows right after the COVID quarantine began in the US. We always knew we wanted to do a live show but felt like it would have to be something to do later on down the line (for some reason). Thankfully, we were quarantined together in the same house that inspired the project so after a week or two of confusion and stress about COVID, I decided to buy a drum machine (Elektron Analog RYTM) to just encourage us to play instruments together again. We set up that, Gordon's guitar and Juno 106 and a Moog Sub 37 we were borrowing from a friend and Anjuna asked us to do a livestream on their Twitch at the same time. So we did our first Live from the Hut. We've done 3 of these livestreams without much preparation and just depending on our improvisational skills we've held onto (somewhat) from playing in bands in our youth. You can check out our first 2 live show livestreams below and I'm actually finishing up the export for the 3rd one we did last week today.

[...]

Leaving Laurel - Live from the Hut (April 2020)

Leaving Laurel - Live from the Hut 2 (June 2020)

Mentioned in three Reddit AMA replies.

November 9, 2015

ebandym: Yooo pierce, what software did you get started with and which ones do you use now the most?

OfficialPierceFulton: I started on Reason and then moved onto Logic which I've stuck with ever since. Started on Logic 9 and have moved on to Logic X but I also use Ableton for all of my warping and some processing stuff because I love their stock plugins.

October 17, 2017

This live show is something I've been thinking about for quite some time...Electronic music is extremely difficult to perform live but if you embrace technology instead of saying like "I'm gonna just play all my stuff on guitars and drum pads" you can get really creative. I'm using a big combination of midi and audio, MIDI is being used for some of the synthesizers/drum machines and all of my lighting so that some information can be sent to the synths without me fumbling on the spot, I have an MPC sampler for triggering sounds I can't recreate with the gear I have at hand, 4 guitars/bass/small stringed instruments running through loop stations and other FX pedals and I'm just using Ableton to launch loops, go from song to song seamlessly and control my lights. My goal for the show was to create the same experience I have when I bring a friend into my studio and show him/her how all my gear works. Create loops, build stuff on the spot, and reimagine existing songs. So as a result it's going to ebb and flow between playing guitar and singing some of my more standard sounding songs, recreating elements through loops of my more heavily electronic songs, and my biggest concern was never letting the energy die. I've seen some electronic music performed live that just starts and ends each song and it feels super weird, it's dance music so I do want to keep the dancing in mind. I still have a crap load of rehearsing to do but it's going to be really fun and people who like my new music or my old music will be very engaged.

The thing I'm most proud of is I have it organized where I can play any order of songs I want at any given moment (although I currently have a lot of them flowing by key so they transition nicely) and I can build upon any part of any of my songs for 5 minutes or for 30 seconds. My biggest concern was not being tied to some sort of timed thing, everything from the lights to the BPM changes between songs and stems used to create the loops are completely at my control. Basically if a crowd wants Kuaga for an hour and a half I could totally do that lol.

August 26, 2020:

ExAstris23: Hi Pierce! What's your go-to method for adding movement and interest to your tracks?

OfficialPierceFulton: lately I have a great trick. If you're using Ableton and specifically Live 10 Suite that comes with Max for Live there's a wonderful tool called LFO. It's a pretty versatile LFO that you can apply to basically any parameter in Ableton. You can hear it a lot on my new album when things gently ebb and flow or have complete randomness. I put it on a lot of synths filter cutoffs and resonance so it feels like someone is gently adjusting those parameters the whole song. I also like it because each render or listen of the song can sound slightly different, which keeps things fresh in my ears.

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.