In our new video series The Breakdown, we shoot artists and producers in the studio showing us the gear and techniques behind some of their best tracks.
For this edition, we packed up our video cameras and visited jump-up DnB don Turno in his Bedford studio space, where he showed us how he uses resampling and talked up the importance of templates in Logic Pro. In the video above, Turno opens up his DAW and runs us through the project file for his latest single, Melia, showing us how he made the ambient intro passage to this atmospheric DnB roller.
How Turno made the ambient intro to Melia
“The track is kind of ambient. I wanted to capture the ‘concrete jungle’ vibe for it,” Turno tells us of how he built his track around inspiration from The Shard Climber, George King. “There are quite a few different elements layered up. I even have his breathing in there.”
“It starts with George’s breath. I had to double this up,” he explains. “In context it gives that meditative, trancey state.” The breath sample is layered up with a vinyl crackle too; a trick Franko uses regularly to add texture.
The next layer is an ambient cityscape recording. “It’s subtle, you can’t really hear it, but, again, it adds to the whole ambience of the intro and helps to paint that picture even more.” A chorused white noise further thickens up the ambient textures.
Alongside the ambient textures, Turno uses filters to bring in the main pads and loops of the track, so they build up towards when the drums come in. “It gradually adds tension,” he explains. “You don’t get everything all at once. You start to feel the presence of all these sounds.”
The pads themselves are run through Output Portal’s Grain Swells preset, which adds texture and movement. A low-level, filtered arp line underpins the pads too, slowly rising towards the drums.
The pads themselves are run through Output Portal’s Grain Swells preset, which adds texture and movement. A low-level, filtered arp line underpins the pads too, slowly rising towards the drums.
Turno on the track he wishes he'd produced
Turno also opened up about the one track he wishes he'd produced, "Benediction" by Hot Natured & Ali Love. Describing the song as a "pure masterpiece", Turno praised the track's less-is-more approach. "I could probably count on one hand how many elements there are in this track," he continued. "The vibe it gives is absolutely amazing."
Turno's latest single Melia is out now.
Find out more about Turno's music production tuition platform, Ethos, on their website.
