STEMS: Inside Rewrote’s “Getupandance”

Each week on STEMS we ask an artist to break it down for us. By stripping one of their tracks down to its individual components (known as stems), we get a rare glimpse into the artist’s production process.

This week’s STEMS brings us a brand new track premiere from the M|O|D Collective’s Brooklyn mainstay Rewrote. Rewrote is best known for his bass-heavy hypnotic style, a trap-rave swagger that slaps you in your face. His new single “Getupanddance” is more of what we love, blending an infectious dancehall commandment—”get up and dance!”—with pounding house claps and synthes.

Read below as Rewrote breaks the new track down, and explains the process behind each stem:

Vocal Chop:

I found this old Rastafari sample that I liked and manipulated it to fit the tempo and feel. Even if it’s a roots reggae sample, I do my best to mess with it so it’s more fitting in the context of the genre. Since this track has a half-time feel and a housier section, I tried to find a good middle ground in terms of chopping the vocal to my liking.

Synths:

I like using vintage modules and Chicago house-style chords that keep the overall sound grounded in old styles with a new twist.

I also like to add some synth strings for texture, in addition to sound effects like the sound of metal on metal scraping to create swells and background space.

Drums:

I like layering a lot of old drum machines to create a (somewhat) new sound that is still reflexive of old sounds and grooves. I’m hooked on the TR-909 drums, but a lot of the old Roland machines are still relevant in the modern ear.

I always create thick polyrhythms that overlap and come in and out throughout the song.

Clap:

I like having synths and things in higher frequencies be dry in the mix, whereas usually the clap I like adding a little reverb to space out the mix. I layer a bunch of claps on top of each other, and add different kinds of reverbs to each one to create a good, thick clap. Then I put very light delay on the whole group so it sounds more uniform.

Effects:

The hoover is a component of house music and techno that’s almost as old as the keyboards and synths. Some techno enthusiasts think that hoovers are a little passé, but I like how it simply accentuates the offbeat, which makes the downbeat that much stronger.

Some of the swells and other white noise effects I have in this track started out as hoovers that I added white noise oscillators to in order to make it atonal so the keys don’t clash.

Put them all together and here’s what you get. The premiere of “Getupanddance” by Rewrote:

Album art by Carly Loman.

Follow Justin on twitter at @Justinstaple

Previously On STEMS: Inside Spirit Guide’s “Bronze”