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Earthquake is an interesting production! It’s clearly influenced by grime/dubstep, yet it’s much quicker, at 153bpm.
The bendy synth on the drop almost plays the role of a crazy bassline, but it sounds fresh and radio- friendly. The lead vocal successfully falls somewhere between spitting and singing and the overall vibe is party-friendly and at the same time a little dark and solemn.
Let’s recreate Earthquake’s intro synth. Synapse Audio’s Dune (version available on the Computer Music covermount DVD or free trail downloadable from the SA site) is great for oscillator syncing - it lets you sync Osc 2 to Osc 1, and it sounds thick and shiny. It even has a patch, 106: Sync Lead RH, although that preset isn’t quite right for the Earthquake sound, and we much prefer to start afresh. To initialise, just select Bank B - the first preset slot is empty.
