History is littered with examples of studio ‘mistakes’ serving rather than hindering the creative process, and producer of the moment Fred again.. has just provided another one.
Posting on TikTok, he’s revealed that the bass sound in 2022 single Jungle was actually created not with a synth, but a sample of the “mad noise” that a “dodgy cable” made when he plugged it into his audio interface.
Teasing his followers by telling them that “I realised I’d never told anyone this,” Fred Again demonstrates how, by moving the aforementioned cable in and out of the audio input, he could generate a distinctive low-end throb. This sound was recorded on his iPhone, then chopped-up, processed and re-repitched on the Logic Pro timeline.
“It’s got soooo much detail to it as a sound which I really love,” says Fred, demonstrating that sound design inspiration can come from the unlikeliest of places, and not always our favourite soft synths.
@fredagainagain i realised id never told anyone thisssss
♬ Jungle - Fred again..
The incident calls to mind the story of when Prince recorded The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker using a new custom console. Issues with the power supplies meant that the sound had no high end, but as Prince’s engineer Susan Rogers told Red Bull Music Academy, this ended up forming part of the song’s sonic sonic signature.
“We finished the song, and then we mixed it. He didn’t stop, which was typical of him,” she explained. “I kept thinking, ‘Isn’t he noticing that there’s something weird with this?’ We finally mixed the song. It was like a day later, and then he gets up and he’s all happy, because he got the song then. He goes, ‘That was great. Good’. And then he goes, ‘This console’s nice. It’s kind of dull, isn’t it?’
