For this project I’d like to emulate some of the sounds like Stephan Bodzin as I love his work and his aesthetic. Hence the need to do some research into how he got the sounds on his album, Powers of Ten (Bodzin, 2015).
A live set by Stephan Bodzin:
Most of the information that I can find online has been what Bodzin uses for his live shows (McGlynn, 2021). Although his main setup is confirmed by Stephan’s Equipboard profile (2024), though it is important to note that on Equipboard that this profile is “This is a community-built gear list for Stephan Bodzin.”
What does he use?
- Moog Sub37: Serves as the foundation of his music and live set. Used to play basslines and is used as the timing master for the Matriarch and the Mordor (ibid).
- Modor DR-2 Drum Machine: Is a digital drum machine using DSP synthesis rather than samples to produce the sounds. There is no sample memory, it’s all synth based (Modor, 2024).
- Moog Matriarch Semi-Modular Synthesizer: Is a “patchable 4-note paraphonic analog synthesizer” (Moog, 2024).
- Ableton Live: Live (Ableton, 2024) is used to trigger sounds and MIDI, including drums and basslines. It also serves as the hub for syncing his hardware synthesizers and drum machine.
Stephan’s music
It is safe to say that his main genres are trance and techno. More on the melodic side when talking about techno. This can be heard in the opening track on Powers of Ten, “Singularity” (Bodzin, 2015). Where there is a main melody line throughout the track. You can hear the analog Moog Matriarch used to full advantage. It’s almost organic in the way he plays with both the filter and the pitch to generate interest in the main melody as it evolves across the track.
In the title track “Powers of Ten” (Bodzin, 2015) Stephan uses a technique where the main rhythmic sound that is heard across the whole track is modified with adding in noise and changing both the filter cutoff and the filter resonance frequency.
I’m also interested in the kick he has used in this album. It has a sound that really cuts though his mixes. This was harder to find, but thankfully over at KVR Audio’s forums there was a solution (KVRAudio, 2016). From this site it sounds like it is a saturated 808 kick with some EQ and compression. And I can confirm that this works to create a kick that sounds right.
How I’m going to create some of these types of sounds
Since I don’t have these specific pieces of hardware, I’m going to use a combination of Ableton Analog, and a series of LFO’s to modulate the filter cutoffs and the resonance frequencies (without syncing them to the tempo, to make them more organic).
For the drum sound, while I have used 909 kicks for some of the tracks as they work better, I’m going to add 808 for some of the other tracks. The method found online works to create something that is indistinguishable from his kick when mixed.
I have a friend who will let me borrow his Sub37, so I’ll use that to track and record some of the bass sounds (I’ve looked for a VST/virtual instrument to do this and there are none available).
While I don’t think I’ll copy his style completely, even looking at how he has created his tracks is giving me ideas to further my own tracks.
Bibliography
McGlynn, D. (2021) Stephan Bodzin: How I Play Live. Available at: https://djmag.com/longreads/stephan-bodzin-how-i-play-live (Accessed: 12 November 2024)
Modor (2024) MODOR Digital Polyphonic Synths | DR-2. Available at: https://www.modormusic.com/dr2.html(Accessed: 12 November 2024)
Moog (2024) Matriarch | Moog. Available at: https://www.moogmusic.com/products/matriarch (Accessed: 12 November 2024)
Ableton (2024) What’s new in Live 12 | Ableton. Available at: https://www.ableton.com/en/live/ (Accessed: 12 November 2024)
Equipboard (2024) Stephan Bodzin | Equipboard. Available at: https://equipboard.com/pros/stephan-bodzin(Accessed: 12 November 2024)
Bodzin, S. (2015) Powers of Ten. Available at: Apple Music (Accessed 14 November 2024)
KVRAudio (2016) Stephan Bodzin kick. Available at: https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=469969(Accessed: 8 January 2025)