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Catching Flies, a multi-instrumentalist and producer, first came onto my radar in 2019 with his debut album Silver Linings, which absolutely blew up and was one of the standout albums of that year. His unique blend of live instrumentation, phenomenal songwriting, and club-friendly elements like beats and percussion really showcase that he is, in every sense, a modern musician making cutting-edge music. In a genre that can often be formulaic, he breaks the mold, creating some of the most unique, texturally rich, and emotionally resonant tunes around.
It’s no surprise that he’s signed to major labels like Anjunadeep, one of the most influential imprints in the melodic house world right now. With his latest single, “Falling Apart,” recently released on Anjunadeep, we wanted to celebrate by dissecting what he does in the studio—the tools he uses, the secret weapons that give him such a distinctive sound, and some quick tips you can apply to your own productions to help you get signed to similar labels.
So, before we dive into the latest breakdown of how it was made, take a listen to the track below to acclimate your ears to the magic he’s about to share. Catching Flies, Falling Apart, out now on Anjunadeep.
Serato Sample
Serato Sample is… a sampler! I love it because it is very intuitive and quick and the ‘Find Samples’ button chops up random bits of whatever audio you put into it. I find the random element to this super useful for finding happy accidents and allowing for chance. It also allows you to quickly change the pitch/filter/attack/release of any given chop individually, which again, leads to a very fast and streamlined workflow. All of these things are super important to me when making music.
I had a recording of some strings that was around 80bpm. They were originally for a downtempo, ambient Piano track. So I threw them into Serato Sample and sped them up to 126bpm, clicked ‘Find Samples’ and the synth stabs you hear at the beginning of Falling Apart appeared! I love taking sound out of it’s original context and putting it in something it wasn’t meant for – that’s where I tend to find exciting results. I then put a little high cut filter on them to make them sound less like strings, and some delay (Fab Filter’s ‘Timeless’ delay).
You can quickly select chops you like using the ‘Favourite’ button, and get rid of ones you don’t. So by the time you’ve done this process a few times, you have a load of sample chops you like at your disposal. You can get really creative with the ‘Time Stretch’ and ‘Reverse’ options which allow you to manipulate individual sample chops in interesting ways at the click of a button.
Output’s ‘Portal’
‘Portal’ by Output is a Granular FX plugin. It is an amazing tool for making little glitchy sounds, drones, and generally adding interesting textures to drums, synths, vocals…
I used ‘Portal’ in Falling Apart by putting it on the Synths. I’ll usually run a couple of different presets and bounce the audio out, and then go through and listen for parts where something interesting happens. I like for the Synth sounds to have subtle changes throughout the track. Although these may not be obvious to the listener, I think it subconsciously keeps things interesting to the ear, and also gives a sense of synths feeling more organic, ‘real’ and analogue.
The presets on ‘Portal’ are wicked. Presets are your friend. I used to shy away from them because I thought it was cheating and lazy, but these days I’m much more like ‘if it works, it works.’ I need things to be quick and spontaneous when creating and too much endless tweaking can destroy that process.
TransX (Waves)
TransX, by Waves, is a transient shaper plug in. It makes things sound punchy, in short. What’s really useful is that it is multi-band and therefore lets you focus on a particular area of the frequency spectrum – so you can be very precise with it.
I used it on ‘Falling Apart’ on all the hats and snares to give them extra bite and punch – which makes thing sound good on big systems – i.e in the club. I pushed the attack more than I usually would because I wanted the hats to almost sound too punchy.
Quick Fire Tips For Making Music Like Anjunadeep
Tip #1: I layer everything multiple times. Sometimes I’ll have a synth part playing on 10 different versions of Serum. Or 10 different Hi-Hat sounds. It creates depth and originality to your sounds.
Tip #2: Presets are your friend. I used to shy away from them because I thought it was cheating and lazy, but these days I’m much more like ‘if it works, it works.’ I need the creative process to be quick and spontaneous to get the idea out before I lose it.
Tip #3: Use plugins for things they are not supposed to do. Put autotune on your drums, or a Guitar plugin on your vocals, for example.
Tip #4: Automate your drums with reverb, delays, etc. It helps drums sound more natural, like a real drummer, rather than a 4 bar loop. It keeps things interesting to the ears and helps with tension and release.
Tip #5: I always combine organic sounds with electronic sounds. Layer strings with a synth for example. Again, you get interesting results and everything feels warmer and textured.
Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
