Track Teardown of nell - Mr. Carmack

"nell" - Mr. Carmack

Album: Drugs EP

Genre: Electronic, Hip Hop

Style: Dubstep, Trap

Released: 2014

Background Information

"nell" is a track produced by Mr. Carmack and is part his 2014 album, Drugs EP. Aaron Carmack A.K.A Mr. Carmack is a writer/producer and DJ from Hawaii (originally from San Francisco) who produces hip hop and trap in a progressive way (Mad Decent, 2018). This track uses a lot of samples from "Bust Ya Head Open" by Nell, hence why the track is named "nell". The Drugs EP was one of two albums released in 2014 and was released by Mr. Carmack himself.

Arrangement

Time Signature: 4/4 BPM: Approx. 156

The track is 117 bars long consisting of an intro, 2 versus, 2 choruses, a bridge, and an outro. As this song is more of a dance song that is focussed on the beat, there aren't any main vocals and only vocal samples are used. The track is similar to a ABA form but also includes a bridge as well as an intro and outro.

The song begins with the intro, where a rising synth lead starts the track accompanied by the soft pad. The short bowed double bass melody then joins along with the gun shot effects to end the intro at the end of bar 6 (0:08-0:09). The bass and the gun shot effect help build the tension to then link to the first verse.

The 8-bar long first verse is introduced at bar 7 (0:09) with the main vocal sample and the snare hits. The bass melody still plays but the soft pads have been cut out. An atmospheric vinyl effect also joins to help fill in the empty space in the mix. The snares are hit on every beat which creates builds tension and plays throughout the verse. Towards the end of the verse, there is a snare fill and this helps to let the audience know that a new section is about to start and that the first verse is ending (end of bar 14, 0:20-0:21), which then leads to the first chorus of the track.

The chorus starts at bar 15 (0:21) and introduces the kick into the mix. All instruments from the first verse are played and with the kick, it adds more energy to let the audience know this section is the chorus or the main drive of the song. The snare hits are more relaxed here compared to the first verse as they are played on the third beat and also have small fills, and transforms this section going from hitting every beat (from the first verse) to only hitting the first and third beat. There are also some audible whispers that play throughout the chorus and are triggered on the second and fourth beat, which still helps the track to hit every beat. The chorus goes for a length of 16 bars as the first 8 bars are being looped with a laser sound effect ending each loop. In the second loop at bar 23 (0:34), some fast sequenced hi hats (mainly heard in trap songs) are introduced, so to differentiate the loop from the first one. The snare fill at the end of bar 30 helps to close the chorus section to then lead to the second verse.

At bar 31 (0:46), the second verse begins and the kick drops out. The kick being cut out helps the audience relax a bit but the snare hit is brought back to hitting every beat to again to still keep the audience on their toes.The soft synth pad as well as a harsher synth pad are introduced and played throughout the verse, which differentiates the first verse from this second verse. This also applies to the different vocal sample being used in this verse as well. This verse goes for 8 bars and ends at the end of bar 38 (0:57-0:58) with the same snare fill used at the end of verse 1, which the audience would know that it leads to another chorus.

The second chorus at bar 39 (0:58) brings back the same instruments used in the first chorus. Again, it is 16 bars long with the same 8 bar looped with the laser effect ending each loop. In the second loop at bar 47 (1:11), the sequenced hi hats don't play but there is a quiet rise of a synth which lies low in the mix until the last few bars of the chorus (around bar 51-52 (1:17) is where it becomes more audible). Because this new instrument hasn't been heard before, it helps audience to identify that there is a new section coming through. Towards the end of the chorus, the laser effect is triggered and is then delayed into the next section which is the bridge.

The bridge at bar 55 (1:23) introduces the synths and is 32 bars long. The snare hits, the kick, the double bass melody, the vocals are cut out and a trumpet-like synth lead is introduced first as well as the soft pad. A low arpeggiating synth lead also plays to maintain the rhythm of the song as well as to act like a bass line for this section. The vocal sample can still be audible but because the synths are the main focus of this section, it has remained low in the mix. The laser effect is triggered at the end of every 8th bar and in bar 67 (1:42), there is an audible low synth that enters the mix which then rises in level in bar 71 (1:48), where it can be heard clearly. Also at bar 71, the same whispers from the choruses appear also by a another pad. The whispers play on the 2nd and 4th beat and the pad plays a jumpy rhythm that plays on every beat, which both help to build tension. Towards the end of the bridge (bar 86, 2:11) the snare fill appears again as well as the laser effect to end the bridge and to bring the chorus back in again.

The last chorus comes in at bar 87 (2:12) with the low arpeggiating lead being the main focus in this section. The lower bass synth replaces the double bass melody in this last chorus but the kick and the snare hits are brought back again and play the same rhythms as the previous choruses. The vocal sample is brought back but is lower in level compared to the arpeggiating synth. This chorus again has looped the first 8 bars twice but both loops are identical with nothing being added or changed to the second half of the chorus. This section is brought to an end by the laser effect which then leads to the outro.

At bar 103 (2:37), the outro cuts out the kick, snare hits, vocals and the bass synth, leaving the trumpet-like synth lead and the low arpeggiating lead playing. The soft pad is introduced at the same time and at bar 111 (2:49), the low arpeggiating lead is cut out, with only the soft pad and trumpet-like lead are left to close the track. The trumpet-like lead is cut out at bar 114 (2:54), which leaves the soft pad playing to fade out at (2:57), which closes the song at bar 117.

Breakdown of Instruments

This whole track is sampled by a track by Nell called "Bust Ya Head Open" featuring T-Rone, Big Bo & Denzel Curry, produced by SpaceGhostPurp. The main vocal samples are used in "nell" are from 0:22-0:36 and is then looped. Some of the instruments that Mr. Carmack has also used from this sample were the double bass, the gun shot effect, the vinyl atmos effect and the snare.

Mr. Carmack has turned this track into a jump up trap track by speeding the original song up, and using common trap instruments over the song, such as snares, kicks, etc. The use of synth and melodies also changes this track to a more lighter track in terms of melody, as the original sample is in a low range and doesn't have any high range melodies or leads throughout the song.

The kick and short-bowed double bass melody in this track go hand-in-hand in creating that punchy bass kick. The double bass is a rarely used instrument in trap and most producers would go for 808s or any digital bass synths similar to that. The sample of the double bass from "Bust Ya Head Open" added a more natural and analog sound, which worked quite nicely with the digitally-made kick. The double bass really suits the track because of its unique resonance, sustain, large earthy sound and also how aggressive the bass is bowed, which suits the whole mood of the track. Because it is a large instrument, it also lacks hitting the higher frequencies (Vienna Symphonic Library, 2018), which makes the double bass a great instrument to use on heavy bass tracks.

The kick can be heard in the choruses and it's high SPL is can be easily heard. A lot of compression and processing such as EQs (mainly low pass filter) would be used to deliver the punchy kick. On compression, there would be a high level of gain, a medium attack setting and a low release setting to give the kick a more distorted and punchy sound.

In total, Mr. Carmack has used 6 different synth pads/leads and has used filters to change the tone to then create new synth sounds, which saves him adding other synths. An example of changing the overall sound of a synth using filters was in the bridge section and the last chorus. In the bridge section, the low arpeggiating synth lead had a low pass filter and each note had a short sustained time, whereas in the last chorus, the low pass filter was removed and there was a longer sustain in the notes. The low arpeggiating lead in the chorus also had a sawtooth wave sound compared to the bridge, where it had a similar sound to a sine wave. The trumpet-like synth lead also changes throughout the bridge where a low pass filter is added then removed. Where the bridge begins at bar 55 (1:23), this lead has a high pass filter which then shifts to a band pass filter around the 250Hz range at bar 62 (1:34). The filter then shifts lower to around about the 150Hz range and then begins to slowly sweep to higher frequencies around bar 74 (1:52) then sweeps to lower frequencies around bar 78 (1:59). The lead then slowly sweeps to higher frequencies again from bar 78 until it goes back to its original filter setting, which then leads to the final chorus.

Summary of Teardown

As I hope to produce sample based music as well as creating beats, doing a critical analysis of Mr. Carmack's "nell" has helped me identify how changing an instrument's sound can be used to separate sections and to change the feel of the song entirely. It has also taught me that there are different ways you can sample a track and that not every element needs to be used, which makes it fun to add more instruments to create your own unique song. By breaking down this track, I'll be able to use some of these methods Mr. Carmack has used into my own future production and it has made me appreciate synths and has made me want to use them more in future projects.

References

Discogs. (2018). Mr. Carmack - Drugs EP. Retrieved from https://www.discogs.com/Mr-Carmack-Drugs-EP/master/929217

Mad Decent, 2018). Mr. Carmack. Retrieved from http://maddecent.com/artist/mr-carmack/

Vienna Symphonic Library. (2018). Sound characteristics (Double Bass). Retrieved from https://www.vsl.co.at/en/Double_bass/Sound_Characteristics/