How to make the sounds from Romy (The xx) & Fred again… ‘Strong’ with DRC

Another DRC tutorial; another collaboration! This time we’re looking at the 2022 track ‘Strong’ by ‘Romy & Fred again..’ (Don’t worry, we don’t know why Fred has only two dots on the end of his artist name, either…)

Romy is best known for being a member of the band ‘The xx’, helped no doubt by the group winning the Mercury Prize for ‘Album of the year’ for their debut record ‘xx’ in 2010, catapulting them into the charts internationally. They became extremely acclaimed not only by indie music lovers and industry insiders, but also by a more expansive and general public. The xx are not on any official hiatus as such, but they haven’t released anything new as a band since 2017, and although they say they’re working on a new album, it looks like they’re more focused on their personal solo careers. At the beginning of this year Romy told fans that her debut solo album is well on its way to being finished, and in her words the vibe of the album could be described as “club-inspired, dance-y, emotional”. So fingers crossed for more songs like today’s featured track ‘Strong’.

‘Fred again..’ may not be a well-known name in the British music scene, but he has co-written on an impressive list of tracks, with a plethora of big names such as Bryan Eno, Demi Lovato, Rita Ora, Stormzy, and Ed Sheeran. In 2020 at only 27 years old he won ‘Producer of the Year’ at the Brit Awards, and in doing so became the youngest person to win this category. You might recognize his face from one of the most viewed Boiler Room DJ sets ever, with only Carl Cox, Solumun, and Kaytranada in front of him.

For ‘Strong’, Romy and Fred joined forces to create a very club and trance-inspired track. Romy’s inspiration for the track came from her cousin, who just like her, lost his mother at a very young age. The feeling of the need to be strong and brave is strengthened by the music video, produced by Romy’s wife Vic Lentaigne, where she appears hugging her cousin Luis while singing the song in the middle of a club dancefloor.

With a super seven sounds to cover, let’s jump right into it and get started. You know the drill; open up your DRC and let’s do this!

Download the Ableton project from this video: https://www.imaginando.pt/uploads/goodies/tutorials/romy-and-fred-again-strong-project.zip

00:00 Music Demo
01:50 Intro
02:10 Patch Construction
02:14 Back Pad
05:56 High Strings
09:40 Gated Pad
12:54 Digi Flute
15:58 Bass
18:58 Drone
21:50 Lead
25:57 Music
27:57 Outro

DRC – Polyphonic Synthesizer:
DRC for Mac & Windows – https://www.imaginando.pt/products/drc-polyphonic-synthesizer
DRC for iOS – https://apps.apple.com/us/app/drc-polyphonic-synthesizer/id973055710
DRC for Android – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.imaginando.drc

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