Skip to main content
Music Radar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Guitar Amps
  • Plugin Week 25
  • Guitar Pedals
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Artist news
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Software & Apps
  • Drums
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About Us
More
  • Plugin Week A-Z
  • You Oughta Know
  • Fake AI band
  • 95k+ free music samples
  • Wrecking Crew
Recommended reading
Plugins
Plugins Our go-to plugins for adding flavour to our sounds
50 producers
Music Production Tutorials 50 production secrets from the pros
halogen fm
Tech GForce Software makes FM synthesis simple with Halogen FM
trevor horn spitfire audio jupiter
Producers & Engineers Trevor Horn finally dishes out his sampling and drum machine tips
Marshall Jefferson
Samples SampleRadar: 267 free deep house samples
loukeman
Artists Loukeman reveals his favourite plugins and unusual production techniques
Vaughn Oliver
Producers & Engineers “I probably have that on more records than anything else”: Take a peek inside Vaughn Oliver’s studio
  1. Tutorials
  2. Music Production Tutorials

How to make a filthy electro sound in Reason 4

Tuition
By Computer Music ( Computer Music ) published 4 November 2009

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

The mighty Thor

The mighty Thor

Step 1: The key to getting the kind of dirty electro sounds made popular by the likes of Boys Noize, Justice and SebastiAn is distortion. Reason 4 has an excellent distortion unit in Scream 4, which can be used with the software’s synths to create some fantastically filthy noises. Start by creating a Thor Polysonic Synthesizer.

Page 1 of 9
Page 1 of 9
Scream 4

Scream 4

Step 2: Right-click the synth and select Initialize Patch. This will give us a blank canvas to work on. We already know that we want to use a distorted sound, so let’s add a Scream 4 unit right away - right-click the Thor synth and select Create»Scream 4 Distortion.

Page 2 of 9
Page 2 of 9
Making it mono

Making it mono

Step 3: Set the Scream 4 unit to Tube mode. We want our sound to be monophonic, so set Thor’s Keyboard Mode to Mono Retrig - this means we can only play one note at a time, with the envelope resetting on each new note. Switch the Portamento mode On to make the pitch slide between notes smoothly.

Page 3 of 9
Page 3 of 9
Creating the vocal sound

Creating the vocal sound

Step 4: Next, click Thor’s Show Programmer button and copy the cutoff Frequency and Resonance settings shown in the filter section here. Turn the Scream 4’s Damage Control knob fully up. This combination of resonance and distortion gives a satisfying vocal-style synth noise.

Page 4 of 9
Page 4 of 9
Hip to be square (wave)

Hip to be square (wave)

Step 5: We can get an even more vocal-like effect by switching Thor’s saw wave to a square. Also, turning up the Filter Envelope’s Attack time (to, say, 30ms) gives a more interesting start to the sound, as the resonant filter cutoff moves up through a range of frequencies before entering the decay phase, when it moves back down again.

Page 5 of 9
Page 5 of 9
Adding a beat

Adding a beat

Step 6: To get a big, pumping sound, we’ll use sidechain compression. First we need a beat, so we create a basic kick and snare pattern using Redrum’s Hip Hop Kit 03. Place slot 1’s kick on every quarter-note beat (as shown) and turn its Length down to one o’clock. Then put the slot 7’s snare on top of every other kick and turn the Level fully up.

Page 6 of 9
Page 6 of 9
Routing

Routing

Step 7: We want to be able to route this beat to two different places: the mixer, so that we can hear it, and the compressor’s sidechain input. This is done using a Spider Audio Merger & Splitter. While you’re at it, create an MClass Compressor to perform the sidechain compression.

Page 7 of 9
Page 7 of 9
More routing

More routing

Step 8: Flip the rack around and route the output of the Redrum to the Spider Audio unit’s input. Take one of the Splitter’s outs over to the compressor’s Sidechain input, and another out to the Mixer. Connect Scream 4’s output to the Compressor’s audio input, and the Compressor’s audio output to the Mixer.

Page 8 of 9
Page 8 of 9
Sidechain compression

Sidechain compression

Step 9: Return to the front view of the rack and you’ll be see the Gain reduction meter on the Compressor pumping in time with the beat. You can now use the Threshold and Ratio controls to set the amount of compression - for a more aggressive effect, turn down the Compressor’s Release time.

Page 9 of 9
Page 9 of 9
Computer Music
Computer Music
Social Links Navigation

Computer Music magazine is the world’s best selling publication dedicated solely to making great music with your Mac or PC computer. Each issue it brings its lucky readers the best in cutting-edge tutorials, need-to-know, expert software reviews and even all the tools you actually need to make great music today, courtesy of our legendary CM Plugin Suite.

Read more
Plugins
Our go-to plugins for adding flavour to our sounds
50 producers
50 production secrets from the pros
halogen fm
GForce Software makes FM synthesis simple with Halogen FM
trevor horn spitfire audio jupiter
Trevor Horn finally dishes out his sampling and drum machine tips
Marshall Jefferson
SampleRadar: 267 free deep house samples
loukeman
Loukeman reveals his favourite plugins and unusual production techniques
Latest in Music Production Tutorials
ableton
8 things you can do with Ableton Live's updated Auto Filter device
API
Our pick of the very best VCA compressor software emulation plugins for any music project
Plugins Future owns
Our resident platinum award-winning mixer and producer shares 10 of his go-to plugins
mixing desk
“Learning how to mix is almost as important as hitting on your original musical idea”: New to the mixing process? Start here
native instruments
"As nuanced as the real thing, but only if you know what you're doing": The ultimate guide to plugin guitars
Best VST synths
Don't know where to start with virtual instruments? We're here to help
Latest in Tuition
Odin 2
Fantastic (free) plugins and how to use them: The Wave Warden Odin 2
ableton
8 things you can do with Ableton Live's updated Auto Filter device
mixing desk
“Learning how to mix is almost as important as hitting on your original musical idea”: New to the mixing process? Start here
Best VST synths
Don't know where to start with virtual instruments? We're here to help
Guitarists
How to record virtual and live instruments more smoothly by taking stock of your sample buffer
Compressor settings
The ultimate compression cheat sheet – go-to settings to help you make better music

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...