In response to this thread.
Hello r/edmproduction. I thought I'd make this post as a way of giving back to the community. This post is going to be dissecting the style of Rustie, a Glasgow producer associated with Warp Records, LuckyMe and Hyperdub. Rustie's style could be likened to acts such as Hudson Mohawke, Zomby, Nightwave, Danny Brown, Cashmere Cat, Sam Gellaitry, S-Type and a few others I'll list down below.
I think it's easy to say that Rustie is an incredibly artistically and aesthetically powerful producer, from his extremely textured work to his energetic blasts of energy to his 80's synthpop and dubstep fusions to tracks that are just massive. I'm writing this post in hopes of helping other producers here (as well as myself) dive deeper into Rustie's production style.
Disclaimer: I'm not really that talented. But, I promise I will make this guide to the absolute best of my ability.
This is my first guide so I apologize if it's bad. I will correct any mistakes immediately. Well, let's just jump right in.
Table of contents:
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Biography and a quick Discography
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A quick description of Rustie's music
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Production Techniques
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Sample Packs + Rustie's own Samples
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Compositional Techniques
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Who Rustie has influenced (artistic impact)
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Afterword
Biography
Rustie, or Russel Whyte, was born in Glasgow in 1983. He first started getting into music with his first instrument, a guitar. He also bought his first set of decks at 15. This mirrors Hudson Mohawke, who also was DJing at around 15 and was winning a few DJ competitions. Rustie picked up a copy of Fruity Loops from his brother when Rustie was around 20 years old. Before that, Rustie said he had been in a rock band. This rock band background explains why there are so many progressive rock influences on Glass Swords and EVENIFUDONTBELIEVE.
From this interview
What drives you to write music? How did you get into it?
Rustie: I got into producing through DJ-ing and being into dance music since I was 15. My brother got a computer with Fruity Loops on it when I was 20 or something and I started messing about on that. I’ve always been into music. Before I got into DJ-ing I was into rock bands and stuff, I used to play the guitar. My family are into music. My dad plays guitar and my mum collects albums, rock bands and stuff.
Rustie first started gaining attention when he released the Jagz the Smack EP on Stuff Records, which sounds like a hybrid between Hyperdub and Flying Lotus. Rustie brought a fresh sound of Boom-Bap electro. Mixing in a hip hop groove with some wonky, synthesized sounds. You can hear a lot of the Boom Bap influence on the song "Crooked" from the Jagz the Smack EP. After that, Rustie had some successful single releases with Joker - "Play Doe" and remix of Zomby's Spliff Dub.
From there Rustie went on to release the Sunburst EP in 2010 on Warp Records to high praise. Sunburst had a mixture of all the things that was making Rustie great at the time. Electronic Hip Hop fusion with Progressive Rock influences on "Neko," plastic-y synths, glitchy samples and Dubstep influences on the track, "Dragonfly," "Beast Nite" and "Hyperthrust" had some synth-y electric guitar-esque riffs mixed in with Street Fighter samples and gritty basslines.
Then, in 2011, everything changed. Rustie dropped the single "Ultra Thizz/Dreamzz" on Warp Records, which would lead up to Rustie's debut album, Glass Swords. Glass Swords was released to critical acclam. He won the Guardian's first album award in 2011.
A reduced interpretation of Rustie's Glass Swords: Cheesy R&B, Trance keyboards, dirty south hi-hat patterns, pitched vocal chops, prog rock riffs and IDM soundscapes. Songs like "After Light," "Ultra Thizz," "Death Mountain," "Surph," "City Star," "Crystal Echo" and "All Nite" are heavy, energetic blasts of energy. Whilst songs like "Glass Swords," "Ice Tunnels," "Globes," "Flash Back" and "Ice Tunnels" are toned down pieces meant to be momentary breaks to all the craziness (in a good way).
Rustie released Green Language on Warp Records in 2014. The album recieved mixed reviews. Some said it was too mainstream, and others commended Rustie on his attempts to reach a wider market. Rustie had a lot of guest vocalists in an attempt to make a crossover, producer curated album with more mainstream appeal. A lot of the instrumentals on Green Language were either ambient soundscapes, or trap influenced balls of energy. I personally liked Raptor, Velcro, A Glimpse and Attak (feat. Danny Brown). Green Language didn't quite have the lasting charm of Glass Swords, but was still an alright album nonetheless. Green Language was meant to be a more "coherent" album, similar to Hudson Mohawke's album Lantern, which was HudMo's attempt at a big coherent project.
A year later, Rustie decided enough was enough. He didn't like how Green Language had turned out. So he decided to just drop an album almost out of nowhere. Rustie said that Green Language was too "A&Red" and that he was feeling pressure from management. From this interview. Anyways, Rustie released EVENIFUDONTBELIEVE which got mostly positive reviews (a 7.3 from Pitchfork). EVENIFUDONTBELIEVE was Glass Swords on every stimulating drug imaginable. This album was extremely rough and raw, and you can tell that these songs lacked the "studio quality" that Green Language, or even Glass Swords, had. EVENIFUDONTBELIEVE was Rustie completely embracing his Trance and Rock influences, with Rustie doing some vocals and some guitar riffs (some songs say "feat. Rustie").
Short description of Rustie's musical style
From what I've read in interviews, Rustie is heavily influenced by Progressive Rock, video games, 90's RnB, Trance, Happy Hardcore, Electro and Boom Bap. Rustie is sort of like HudMo, if HudMo's music took even more adderall. Rustie's songs have a lot of Trap or Hip Hop style drum patterns or sometimes Dubstep's infamous half-step pattern. Rustie utilizes lots of video game samples, R&B vocal samples and glitchy cuts in his music. So, a mix of Trap, Boom Bap, Grime, Trance, Rave, Dubstep, UK Garage, 90s R&B, Juke, Progressive Rock and Happy Hardcore. Yeah, he has a lot of influences.
Fun fact: Rustie said that he and Nightwave did most of the vocals for the songs on Glass Swords and that Rustie played the riffs on a midi controller.
Another fun fact: Rustie was in choir for a few years, so that explains why he can sing.
Who is singing on Surph?
Rustie: That’s me, through a bunch of effects. And my girlfriend does some backing vocals as well.
Also:
Are you planning to ‘Glass Swords’ live?
Rustie: Not like live live, with a full band but I’ll probably do it live with a little bit of improvisation, with guitar and keyboards. But I don’t think I could ever do it totally live [laughs].
Production Techniques
Rustie uses Ableton and ITB soft synths in order to get that 80's synth sound. He said that the entire album was recorded on a PC with a midi guitar, midi keyboard and a microphone.
From what I've heard, Rustie is using lots of automation to make his sounds evolve throughout the song. This is most present on songs like "Flash Back," "Ice Tunnels," "First Mythz," his remix of A.G. Cook's "Beautiful," and "Death Mountain." Probably some EQ automation, volume automation and some well placed panning automation here and there.
Another interesting thing I've noticed about his music is his use of sidechaining. During the breakdown of "Death Mountain," you can tell that the kick is more heavily sidechained to the Trance-like synth leads, but the sidechaining becomes more subtle during the drop. "First Mythz" has Rustie utilizing sidechaining more heavily at the drop which is around 1:37. From what I infer, Rustie is sidechaining his kicks heavier during the breakdowns or drops (depending on the context and intensity of the song) and having his kicks more subdued during verses and main instrumental parts leading up to the drop.
For his synths you are going to want to get a sparkly, kind of Lo-Fi vibe which can be achieved with a number of VSTs. A few of the ones I'd recommend are: Image Line's Harmor, Synth1 (almost perfect for his 80's synth leads and gritty basslines), Dexed, TAL-U-No-62, TAL Elek7ro, FM8 or Massive, but any synth will work if you know how to use it well enough.
I'm not an expert in synthesis, but I can tell that Rustie is using supersaws on "Big Catzz" and "Slasherr." Big Catzz sounds like it has a few layers to it: a supersaw with possible a Saw-Square combination (with the saw wave being louder) and perhaps a higher pitched lead added on top around 1:35. Slasherr sounds like he took a bunch of supersaw chords and either used the LFO for their rhythmic stuttering pattern or he maybe just bounced them to audio and did micro chops while fading in each chop to lead in and out.
Rustie also utilizes a lot of the techniques that gave Future Bass its sound. Supersaws, lots of Claps sometimes being pitched to different notes, Marimbas and Kalimbas, 808 drums, rough hi-hats, metallic Snares, R&B vocal samples, chiptune-like tones and high-pitched staccato sounds.
His saw lead stabs sound like they are slightly detuned, unisoned, chorused, low-pass filter modulated, reverbed, chorused again and brightened to infinity with lots of white noise on top + lots of voices. The whole 80's sound was about abusing chorus, and Rustie is heavily inspired by 80's and 90's era music. His bass stabs almost sound like pitched bass guitar hits at some points.
To make his chords sound huge he spreads them across a few octaves and uses Major 7th chords. This is evidenced in his song After Light. I tried to recreate the chords to the best of my ability with the proper voicing, although I may be wrong.
Sample Packs and Rustie's own Samples
Both Rustie and Hudson Mohawke use a lot of heavily distorted bass drums, which are mostly present on his EVENIFUDONTBELIEVE record in Rustie's case. Glass Swords seemed to utilize a lot of Hip Hop Kicks ("Flash Back," "Surph," "Hover Traps" and "Death Mountain"), acoustic sounding snares with an almost metallic quality to them ("Death Mountain," "After Light" and "Cry Flames"). His hi-hats are simple Dirty South hi-hat samples and occasionally Rustie likes to use 808 drum kits ("Crystal Echo").
What you want to look for in drum samples depends on which era of Rustie you're inspired by. If you love his early work (Jagz the Smack EP, Zig-Zag, Spliff Dub Remix and his Sunburst EP) you might want to try layering some Boom Bap drums with some crisp newer drum samples.
If you love Glass Swords, then I'd recommend taking either 808 or some Hybrid Trap drums and layering them with some acoustic sounding drum samples.
If you love Green Language, then basically any basic Trap kit will do.
If you're more of an EVENIFUDONTBELIEVE kind of guy, then you should be combining heavily distorted bassdrums (possibly Happy Hardcore drums) with some Hybrid Trap snares used by the likes of Sam Gellaitry, whereisalex and S-Type.
Sample Pack recommendations for Splice Sounds users. I've put the type of samples that correspond most to Rustie in parenthesis:
Decap Drums That Knock Vol. 1-3 (Drums, but mostly Kicks and Snares)
Electric Mantis Sample pack (especially the Snares)
Singular Sounds Future Bass pack (perfect for Future Bass, although you can probably download this pack for free somewhere else)
Future Bass & Chill keys by freakyloops (Perfect synth sounds)
SteLouse Sample Packs Vol. 1 & 2 (Drums, percussion, some synths and FX)
KRNE sample packs Vol. 1-3 (Drums and percussion)
Just Blaze Meow The Drums (Drums, but mostly Kicks)
Zaytoven Drum Kit (Drums and chants)
Rankin Audio Future Beats & RnB 2 or Rankin Audio Future Soul (Snares and hats)
Loopmasters Hip Hop Instrumentals Vol. 2 (some instrument samples and drums)
Sonic Mechanics presents Boom Bap Breaks (Drum breaks with a few ok Claps)
Medasin Microdose Vol. 1-3 (Kicks, Snares, Chords, 808 Subs and Hats)
Black Octopus Downtempo Delights (organic sounding drum samples)
Black Octopus Leviathan (Kicks and some Snares. Probably more Glitch Hop territory)
Black Octopus Skyfall (Loops, Kicks, Snares and Hats)
Loopmasters presents Atlanta Chill Vol. 1-3 (acoustic drum samples + some drum machine breaks and loops)
Black Octopus - The Golden Hip Hop Principle Vol. 1 & 2 (melodic one shots)
Capsun Pro Audio - Grime Revival (Drums, synth shots and vocal samples)
Primeloops - Hybrid Trap (Snares)
W.A. Production Future Bass & Trap Ammo (Drums and percussion)
Modular Techno (synths)
Dirty Stacked Kicks (Kick drums)
Sounds of KSHMR Vol. 1 & 2 (great for most subgenres of EDM in general)
Wave Alchemy Claps and Stacks (try looking for distorted 707 and 909 claps in here)
The Raw Cutz Super Pack (some fantastic Hip Hop drums and melodic oneshots)
If you aren't a Splice Sounds user:
AAKHU Essentials Kit
Stones Throw Drum Kit
Metro Boomin Kit HULKx Trap Pack Mid 2016
Nodusk Future Waves, Nodusk Future Bass Drums, Nodusk Future Vocal Chopsand Nodusk Future Bass Movements
Noir Sound Drumkit Vol 1
Samples Rustie has used
Rustie used the Navi sample of "Hey! Look! Listen!" in Hover Traps.
He also used an R&B sounding vocal hit from a Roland preset(?): 169 Aaah!
Rustie sampled a small hook/vocal phrase from the song My Love Is Like...Wo by Mya
In Glass Swords (the song itself), Rustie used a choir-like synth very similar to the choir sound in the tweakbench tapeworm vst at 1:42
Compositional Techniques
I've already mentioned voicing chords around several different octaves, but we'll get into a bit more here. Rustie uses lots of "standard" chord progressions, but voiced in interesting ways. "After Light" is in the key of Emin and has a i-VII-VI-v progression (Em-DMaj-CMaj-Bm) with a suspended chord thrown in. I don't think the type of chord progression matters so much as what kind of chords you are using.
Rustie tends to use lots of Major 7th, Minor 7th and Suspended chords. He's really great at rhythm in his chord progressions ("Slasherr," "Surph," "After Light" and A.G. Cook's "Beautiful" Edit).
Rustie's melodies seem all over the place, but the reason is most likely because he plays them in with a midi guitar. A lot of his melodies sound like rock riffs ("Beast Nite," "Neko," "Ultra Thizz," "Crystal Echo," "City Star" and "Cry Flames"). In After Light, the intro melody follows the format A-B-A'-C format. Ultra Thizz utilizes Call and Response (which I am not personally good at). Raptor utilizes mostly the same melody throughout. Death Mountain has a lower pitched vocal chop(?) playing a melody independant to the higher-pitched vocal chop, but these two aspects of the songs work together to enhance the overall vibe.
His earlier work like Zig-Zag seemed to focus on repetitive melodies with the second part of the drop being a slightly pitched down version of the main melody (with some chords behind it) leading into a breakdown where the synth feels a lot less gritty and the song has less parts happening at once. There is some subtle sub-bass during that breakdown. Things get kinda crazy around 2:06 with lots of an arp playing something very reminescent of the main melody with the actual main melody coming back in at 2:17, which gets sped up for the second drop. All Nite and Attak have small little portamento saw melody motifs playing with the vocals.
Surph repeats the same melody (or two-note chord stabs) almost completely throughout the entire song, but Rustie uses some automation on the synth + changes the surrounding parts to give off the illusion of change. The parts being added are Nightwave's vocals, the bass stabs and drums. He lowpassed the melody around 1:20 and then the melody became front and center during 1:45, where it seems that the synth is louder and has some of its higher frequencies back.
Who Rustie has influenced
I don't think Rustie gets nearly enough appreciation for his contributions to the Electronic music scene. First off, if it wasn't for Glass Swords (and HudMo's Butter) I doubt that Future Trap would be what it is now. Flume may have brought the sound to the mainstream, but Rustie and HudMo were the ones who practically invented the "Future Bass" sound (not to be confused with Future Beats).
Rustie also helped lead the Wonky Hip-Hop (or "Aquacrunk" as Rustie calls it) movement alongside producers like Flying Lotus, Ikonika, Starkey, HudMo and Lunice. Rustie's special brand of Wonky was influenced by Crunk, Chiptune, Electro, Boom Bap, Grime and Instrumental Dubstep. Wonky Hip Hop in general is Hip Hop mashed together with some Dubstep and IDM influences. Wonky is heavily inspired by Madlib and J Dilla.
Rustie's BBC Essential Mix and HudMo/Lunice's sideproject TNGHT both help spearhead the trap movement and bring it to the mainstream (obviously alongisde RL Grime, Carmack and many others). I'd argue that TNGHT is the Daft Punk of Trap, paving the way for many incredible producers in its stead (Mura Masa, Ekali, KRNE and more).
Rustie has influenced a lot of different producers. Wave Racer's "Rock U Tonite" is heavily based on Surph. It even has the low-passing during the vocal sample phrases and being brought back for the more energetic parts of the track.
SADKEY's "Ought" is basically a mixture of Raptor and Big Catzz.
S-Type subtly includes some Rustie-esuqe flare in his song "Billboard".
Sam Gellaitry borrows influences from Rustie in "glacier", "zircon caves", "Odyssey" and "1959".
Deon Custom is very heavily influenced by Rustie and Hudson Mohawke with the songs "Razors", "Royal" with KRNE and "Tell Me" from Deon Custom's album, Ametrine which is heavily inspired by Glass Swords and Butter.
Afterword
Rustie is an incredible artist. He's evolved and improved exponentially from the Jagz the Smack EP to Sunburst EP to Glass Swords. Rustie's extremely unique style has essentially spawned the genre known as Future Bass and Rustie certainly helped impact the trap scene with his Essential Mix and the song "City Star." I think Rustie is an absolute beast when it comes to production, with a lot of nuance to his work that we may not have noticed during our first listen. Whether its the heavy dubstep basslines of "All Nite" to the Progressive Rock inspired "Cry Flames," Rustie has proved himself to be a versatile and skilled producer that can truly paint scenes with his music.
Well, that's all. Hope you enjoyed and found some use in this guide. If this guide turns out to be good, then I'll probably do more (most likely on Sam Gellaitry, Porter Robinson, Cashmere Cat, HudMo or Mura Masa).
I hoped I could help some people out a bit.
Cheers
Submitted January 21, 2017 at 01:24AM by ThomAngelesMusic https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/comments/5p8s6h/a_dissection_of_the_artist_rustie/?utm_source=ifttt