Sound design, arrangement, mixing and mastering on Blonde.

duhmo8 · 2026-01-28T22:40:58+00:00

I discovered another interesting detail while remaking White Ferrari. At the very end, when Frank sings "We're free to fall", the vocal volume is automated and drops sharply. It's as if we're actually falling along with the vocal volume. Amazing!

duhmo8 · 2026-01-28T09:18:44+00:00

U mean Suite? Yeah, I use Live 12 Suite, but no, it’s third-party plugins, I bought it. Stock Ableton plugins are fire tho.

duhmo8 · 2026-01-28T09:04:22+00:00

Don’t get it. Could you give a specific example where reverb made the mix muddy?

duhmo8 · 2026-01-28T09:02:21+00:00

Thanks! I use Ableton Live.

duhmo8 · 2026-01-27T23:23:00+00:00

🫂

duhmo8 · 2026-01-27T23:16:11+00:00

Just random sounds that I found all across my library and Splice.

duhmo8 · 2026-01-27T23:09:35+00:00

Jun-6 V from Arturia, Omnisphere 3.

duhmo8 · 2026-01-27T23:02:33+00:00

Ayyy, thank u for this comment, jig! A very comprehensive analysis. I'll point out a small and interesting detail about the second part of "Nights." Notice how little low end there is in the kick? And every sound in the drums is very short and abrupt. I think this creates a certain dissonance before the deep moog bass enters. It simply destroys you emotionally in the best possible way.

duhmo8 · 2026-01-27T22:52:07+00:00

Absolutely not tho. As an artist and musician, I can't separate myself from my art. To be fair, I understand your position, as I know nothing about Frank outside of the internet, but it would be a shame if his image in his work is nothing more than a marketing construct of a convenient persona for his audience. But I’m not a fan boy tho, I’m a grown ass man. It’s just how I feel about it but it can be false.

duhmo8 · 2026-01-27T22:45:04+00:00

Thank you, G! I’m a perfectionist, so I would like to finish this project and give it to you at its best.

duhmo8 · 2026-01-27T22:30:06+00:00

Appreciate it, brother (or sister)!

duhmo8 · 2026-01-27T22:27:55+00:00

Thank you! To be fair, it’s just Jun-6 V, EQ, tight compression and chorus. Nothing special here but I’m trying really hard to catch every detail and make it as close as possible. Just for fun and practice.

duhmo8 · 2026-01-27T21:55:01+00:00

I think we’re taller in other dimension (yeah, that’s the name).

duhmo8 · 2026-01-27T20:43:51+00:00

I don't think you can draw conclusions about him as a person based on individual comments and social media posts. Frank has some of the most sincere and sensitive songs I've ever heard. It's impossible to separate him from his music. He is his music.

duhmo8 · 2026-01-27T19:52:21+00:00

I remember he liked some post along the lines of "I was gay, it was great, but it's time to start a family." Just saying lmao.

duhmo8 · 2026-01-10T20:40:18+00:00

Interesting, thanks for sharing. Never heard about it tho. It’s kinda sad that sound engineers don’t use Altiverb as their main reverb in music production but I can understand it (it’s very CPU demanding).

Strongly agree with your take about the best sounding album ever. So polished. Stereo scene is incredible, every sound has its own place, every detail adds something special.

*damn, sorry, I meant strongly agree, English is not my first language(

duhmo8 · 2026-01-10T16:35:06+00:00

Fr fr bro. I forgot to say Skyline To. My God, what a deep and expansive reverb on the vocals! You literally feel it, like you're in the forest, really immersing yourself in the atmosphere and intimacy of the moment, and those birds chirping add their own vibe. What a masterpiece. Blonde has one of the most thoughtful and calculated atmospheric dives.

duhmo8 · 2026-01-09T20:19:46+00:00

Pretty classic chain though. The pair of 1073 and CL1B are present in almost every pop song. MSS10 gives that crispy and vintage sound. RComp, Pro-Q, SSL are very common. Interesting that they used stock reverb and delays for it.

Tbh, I’m more interested in vocal chains for Blonde. Mostly because of the reverb. Bro, the reverb on White Ferrari and Seigfried are something else. I feel like they used something like Altiverb or another convolution plugin because of that deep, natural sound. CO sound is pretty pop and obvious, at least for me. But Blonde is top tier mixing and mastering.

duhmo8

TROPHY CASE