How to make the sounds from Harry Styles ‘As It Was’ with DRC

From The X Factor to a Grammy Award winner: Harry Styles has come a long way.

Born in England and heard all around the world, Styles is best known for being in One Direction, the pop band that melted teenage hearts for 10 years. Although they became one of the best-selling boy bands of all time, garnering critical acclaim such as American Music Awards and MTV Awards, Styles and the other group members ultimately went in different directions.

He started his solo career in 2016 and after three albums here we are. ‘Harry’s House’ (2022) was released this year, with lead single ‘As It Was’, shooting directly into the UK and USA charts. Harry Styles is everywhere, and no doubt you will have already heard his music on the radio or bump into it on YouTube, Spotify or other streaming service.

Currently with 188M views on YouTube, this synth-pop catchy song takes us straight to summertime, very much an ‘earworm’ that stays with you for the rest of the day. Underneath the upbeat tuneful melody, there lies some deep, personal undertones within the confessional lyrics. Life cannot be all happiness of course; sometimes the most happy and sad moments come at a confusing crossroads and this song shows it well. Styles sings lightly about the sad passage of time and how life consists of inescapable cycles, and in the official music video dons a very fetching sparkly sequin outfit fit for the ballroom.

Sadly no ballroom dancing (or sparkly outfit!) from Lucas, but he did recreate a whole host of the track’s elements, including VOCALS! Yes! Lucas’ dulcet tones are once again back on the mic – who can forget the last time, with the epic Tears For Fears – Shout’s DRC tutorial ?!

So let’s jump right into this week’s DRC Sound Design Tutorial: ‘As It Was’ by Harry Styles.

Download the Ableton project from this video:
https://www.imaginando.pt/uploads/goodies/tutorials/harry-styles-as-it-was-project.zip

00:00 Music Demo
01:11 Intro
02:07 Patch Construction
20:01 Music
21:23 Final

DRC – Polyphonic Synthesizer:
DRC on App Store – https://apps.apple.com/us/app/drc-polyphonic-synthesizer/id973055710
DRC on Google Play – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.imaginando.drc
DRC for Desktop – https://www.imaginando.pt/products/drc/downloads
DRC Product Page – https://www.imaginando.pt/products/drc

VS – Visual Synthesizer:
VS on App Store – https://apps.apple.com/app/id1560330289
VS for Desktop – https://www.imaginando.pt/products/vs-visual-synthesizer
VS Product Page – https://www.imaginando.pt/products/vs-visual-synthesizer

FRMS – Granular Synthesizer:
FRMS on App Store – https://apps.apple.com/us/app/frms-granular-synthesizer/id1381392223
FRMS on Google Play – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.imaginando.frms
FRMS for Desktop – https://www.imaginando.pt/products/frms/downloads
FRMS Product Page – https://www.imaginando.pt/products/frms

K7D – Tape Delay
K7D on App Store – https://apps.apple.com/us/app/k7d-tape-delay/id1460245991
K7D for Desktop – https://www.imaginando.pt/products/k7d/downloads
K7D Product Page – https://www.imaginando.pt/products/k7d

DLYM – Delay Modulator:
DLYM on App Store – https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dlym-delay-modulator/id1381246923
DLYM for Desktop – https://www.imaginando.pt/products/dlym/downloads
DLYM Product Page – https://www.imaginando.pt/products/dlym

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Our creative hardware projects:
Laser harp – https://www.imaginando.pt/projects/harpa-laser
Turning Vintage furniture into a cranked synthesizer – https://www.imaginando.pt/projects/digital-music-box

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