Shed some light on some of the techniques used in this track?

[IELMusic]

I realize this song is several years old, but I've always loved it and never quite been able to recreate some of it's sounds as closely as I'd like. In particular, I'd like some help recreating these sounds:

- That really distorted crunch that plays at the beginning of each bass note (it's definitely separate from the actual bass synth, because there are a few instances where it plays without the bass.) I'm also curious about the blippy-sounding percussion as well.

- The hats that come in with the drums @ 2:20, more specifically how they were processed. I have plenty of hat samples that sound similar, I just can't get them to sound that... metallic, I guess?

- That bell-like synth that starts at @ 0:12 and plays throughout the song. I can make bells easily with FM synthesis, but I can never get them to sound this dark and simple, they always get too metallic, and the frequencies of the actual notes always ring kind of awkwardly.

- That pad that comes in during the second verse. It sounds kind of like an accordion. I can get something similar with FM, but it's always too noisy.

Any help at all would be appreciated

[IELMusic]

Nobody has any ideas at all?

[iain_morland]

I feel that by thinking in terms of FM synthesis, you're overthinking this. The bell-like sound is a Rhodes electric piano, to my ears; and the accordion sound is probably a reed organ. No synthesis!

As for the hi-hat sound, that's probably a combination of playing style, micing choices, and EQ. And the actual choice of hi-hat!

The distorted bass is harder to put my finger on but I guess it's drum hits through a stereo widener or doubler, together with a distortion pedal or plugin.

[IELMusic]

Thanks, I'll give those a try