(above Photo Cred: Dani Bastidas)
French duo Parallelle pull back the curtain on 11th Avenue, their upcoming album on their Lisbon-based label FOLDER. The record draws from the spirit of late-night jazz lounges and analog studio energy, pairing live instrumentation with refined dance production. Known for their hybrid performances at Coachella, Burning Man, and Pacha Ibiza, the brothers continue to blend musicianship and club culture in a way that feels personal and tactile.
In this feature, Parallelle open their studio to share the instruments and processing behind their sound. The focus is on character—warm bass movement, tight vocal treatment, and subtle analog percussion that gives 11th Avenue its pulse.
Below, they walk through the tools that defined their workflow and the decisions that kept the soul of the project intact.
TRK-01 Bass by Reaktor
The main element of the track is a TRK01 Bass baseline from Reaktor (Native Instrument). We love this one as it combines analog-style low-end tone shaping as well as deep modulations which makes the baseline feel alive.
We like the Slappy sound because it is designed to feel like an almost live bass player. We changed to FM Sound and to make it behave like an actual club bass, we kept the attack to 0, to have an instant transient, the decay is mid-short (around 350 ms) and the sustain narrowed down to keep the snap.
By nudging the filter down and lower resonance, we kept the lower frequencies making it more dubby and low-end pure. Lastly, we kept the modifier’s drive mid-high to keep some movements and weight.
Vocal Chain
We recorded the vocals in a fully soundproof vocal booth using the Lewitt LCT441 Flex condenser microphone.
The raw take then went through a precise processing chain to preserve the natural warmth while enhancing intimacy:
UAD Teletronix LA2: A smooth gentle compressor, to push out the voice.
FabFilter Pro-Q: High-passed everything below 80 Hz to clean out sub rumble, and the picks in the 5 to 9 k Hz (to decrease the resonance, especially the Sss and Shh).
iZotope RX8 De-noise: Removed subtle room and mic noise transparently.
Waves L1 Limiter: Controlled the vocal dynamics without coloring the tone.
PuigTec EQP-1A: Added weight to the low mids to bring out the rich, deep character of the voice.
Kramer Tape / DR: Introduced subtle harmonic drive in the low end to make the vocal sound warmer, rounder, and sexier.
Prophet Rev 2 by Dave Smith
We have been using the Prophet rev 2 in so many of our tracks. It is a poly synth that includes lots of warm pads and bass and evolving texture with amazing modulations possibilities.
So we took the U1 P85 preset also called “Racer”, repurposed it like a Prince-style hat / percussion sequence, almost like a rhythmic analog shaker layer. We set Attack to 0 for instant transient, modulated the Decay to feel human and dynamic, kept Sustain high to let it breathe, and added Noise + Shape on Osc 1 to get that gritty air and funk edge.
Hot Takes And OPinion On Teh Production Scene
Hot Takes
#1
Keep the soul in the music, no matter the genre.
#2
Less is more. Fewer stems, but every sound should have a purpose.
#3
House music is coming back.
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.
