by Native Instruments

Why contrast matters in sound design: longstoryshort’s approach with Kontakt

Effective layering in sound design and layering sounds in music production is about finding complementary sounds that work together to create a cohesive result. The best producers understand that great layering involves contrasting sounds that combine the best of different elements to create something truly unique.

Longstoryshort exemplifies this in his latest IN MY MIND EP which you can listen to below as we work our way through the interview, following an international tour. His signature sound blends atmospheric, emotional cinematics with gritty, distorted bass design and heartstring-pulling, melodic elements.

At the heart of this approach is layering contrasting sounds to achieve a result greater than the sum of its parts.

Jump to these sections:

We cover everything from intense basslines and light melodies to unique spins on classic sounds, and how adding cinematic elements can elevate any track.

We’ll also dive into specific techniques he used while producing this EP. Let’s get started!

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Creating a balance between intense basslines and lighter melodies isn’t easy. How does Kontakt help you control and blend those extremes?

Kontakt is my main go-to for organic sounds. I’ve found after writing a ton of music, my favorite stuff I do has a balance between some sort of beauty and aggression, a contrast that I find works incredibly well for dance music.

Kontakt is sort of my weapon of choice for a lot of organic sounds that tend to feel real, and add emotion to the mix. Organic and its impurities is where it’s at!

When layering samples in Kontakt, keeping things clear is key. What’s your approach for making sure all those layers stay distinct and hit right?

I like to put a ton down, and remove later.

A lot of the times when I’m working, I will speed-run numerous ideas, put down everything that sounds good to me at the moment – and delete or move it around the project.  If it’s not adding anything, so be it. Speaking of layering, one of my favorite moves with Kontakt is to browse some of the libraries like Straylight and Pharlight – you can get impressive drone notes and atmosphere quickly.

Try picking one that works well with a higher note – something like C4-C5, and then something that works well down an octave from there or two. Play the drones at the root note of the scale and then play your chord progression only with a nice fat Reese bass underneath – EQ out the drone notes low end and anything that gets in the way and you’re already off to a great start for an atmospheric, moody songstarter.

Now fire up something like Una Corda and play the chord progression, and you’re off to the races.

Sampling often involves flipping familiar sounds into something new. How does Kontakt help you put your own spin on classic genre elements?

I’m often using Kontakt as an expressive instrument more than a traditional sampler to be honest. As much fun as it would be to take a day and sample something around the house and build a library around it – I’ve got to get records done.

That said – Kontakt is far too good at creating organic, expressive sounds for me to ignore! That said, there are incredibly good libraries for free I’ve found online – stuff like Pianobook where artists and composers lend their recording and sampling skills to provide a huge collection of sounds.

That’s a great place to explore if you’re looking for inspiration – considering Kontakt is the standardized multi-sampler out there, it’s only right there’s a ton of stuff out there for it ready to explore.

You bring in both cinematic and bass-heavy dance elements on IN MY MIND. How does Kontakt help you merge those worlds in a seamless way?

Going back to the contrast of beauty and aggression – I’m using Kontakt to set the mood, set the emotion of the record.

Pharlight is one of my go-to libraries for this kind of thing and it’s found tucked in as a droning atmospheric note behind the majority of the record.

Each track on the EP has its own feel. How does Kontakt allow you to shift the vibe from one track to another while keeping things cohesive across the project?

My music shifts from organic, pretty/beautiful sounds into synth-y, more aggressive sounds.  I’m constantly leaning on Kontakt for a few things:

The first is a quick and easy way to reach for complex atmospheric sounds and ways to “fill” the atmosphere and set the tone.

Secondly, quite often I’m experimenting when I’m seeking inspiration – big fan of Slate and Ash Cycles for those little moments that aren’t exactly easy to place on what they are exactly – but chopped up bits that sort of move throughout the song and set an emotion in an interesting way.

And finally, I love the Spitfire libraries, not only for texture but strings and brass. Using the dynamics maps, it’s nice to be able to have easy control of the timing of these elements – which is SO important for dance music since everything is so rhythmic.

After working with Kontakt on IN MY MIND, are there any specific sampling techniques or takeaways you’re excited to bring into future projects?

I’ve gotta say – on IJUSTWANNA I used that above technique I discussed before with just layering up some drone notes – it was Sportmode’s idea actually – and just having the atmospheres layered up playing steady while the chord progression just plays on the Reese – and it’s just such a quick way to get a monster vibe.

We ended up leaving it almost exactly as it was when we initially did this – and I usually overthink my chords and harmonies – but it was a nice reminder that sometimes that’s all you need to get a strong vibe.

Wrapping it all up

We’d like to extend a special congratulations to longstoryshort for the release of his outstanding EP and for completing a career-defining tour. Check out some of the highlights on his Instagram below!

What truly stood out in our interview is the role of intentionality in sound design. It’s about being meticulous and strategic in finding sounds that not only complement each other but also create a more dynamic result.

Kontakt is an invaluable tool for this, offering a vast array of organic sounds that can be layered in interesting ways. Whether you’re layering texturally dense strings with a synth pad or combining a highly detailed piano like Una Corda with a synthetic pluck using wavetables, it all comes down to being intentional. That’s the key takeaway from our recent interview with longstoryshort.

Check out Kontakt to incorporate these techniques into your own production workflow and elevate your game today.

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