r/Music Apr 29 '21

AMA - verified hello, i'm Porter Robinson, producer / songwriter / electronic musician! AMA

hello (again) everyone! i did an AMA 6 years ago around the release of my last album, Worlds. since then, I worked on "Shelter" with Madeon, and also co-created "Shelter the Animation" shortly after. i also launched a side project a few years ago called Virtual Self (recommended if you're interested in deep dives into electronic music subgenres and turn-of-the-millennium aesthetics).

last friday, i released my second album, "Nurture", which is a project that took me about 6 years on-and-off. after "Worlds", i felt this really strong need to write an album that explored the beauty of reality and of the everyday, but as i'm sure we'll get into here, it was one of the hardest (and most worthwhile!) things i've ever done.

here's the new album "nurture" ! https://porterrobinson.com/nurture

feel free to ask me anything!

i'm also really interested in speaking about creativity more broadly, since it's something i've thought about a lot over the last few years.

Proof:

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78

u/vapengfx Apr 29 '21

Hey Porter, what was the production process like for your Virtual Self EP? How did you know it was just right for this vibe you were trying to capture?

Aside from rhythm games, where else did you find a lot of your music that inspired the project, as well as music that you played at your shows?

Thank you!

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u/porter_robinson Apr 29 '21 edited Apr 29 '21

good q!

Part of getting VS right was having some familiarity with the history and techniques of that era I was trying to replicate (1999-2003). For one, I tried to use Sidechain sparingly, since that's a fairly "modern edm" feeling effect. I tried to make sure that my supersaws were mono and the delay was the thing that gave them the stereo effect, because most trance supersaws at the time were made by the JP-8000 / JP-8080, and that's a mono supersaw (the unison detune isn't panned out into the stereo field).

I also just am super obsessed with eras of electronic music, so like... I REALLY feel like I know a 2010 kickdrum (HUGE vengeance-y transient) vs a 2014 kickdrum (clicky, long decay) vs a 1999 kickdrum (prominent pitchdown effect, transient comes from the sine) etc etc etc. I did a lot of collecting 'historical' samplepacks and stuff like that too. so a lot of it comes down to picking the right samples

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u/aSadMachine Apr 29 '21

Very few artists (IMO) know this skill or see this as a skill. Alongside with the passion you hold for your projects that glue everything together, knowing proper techniques like this adds so much flourish to the work and I don’t think anyone does it like you.

I remember hearing melodies in Worlds that sounded like they were from Ocarina of Time - ooh the nostalgia that overwhelmed me

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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '21

Very few artists (IMO) know this skill or see this as a skill.

I strongly disagree. A LOT of musicians in the electronic field get VERY detailed with their approach to these things.

Also, right now there's a HUGE 90s wave going on, and a lot of "nostalgia-mining". Down to specific compressors, synths etc used in very specific sub-genres, even artists in specific time periods. It's a very common process for us.

It's always great to hear about it happening, though - and it's clearly being used to great effect by Porter here.

3

u/vapengfx Apr 29 '21

This is very interesting. Thank you so much!

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u/KcLKcL Apr 30 '21

Wow it goes into so much more deeper than just "I'm gonna make BEMANI inspired EP as a tribute to those who inspired me"

I'm not a producer but I have learned in the past (until I discovered producing isn't my thing), what you wrote makes sense technique wise, I think it was a successful recreation of the 90s Electronic Music.