Julian Jordan Sound Design 🚀

In this tutorial, Niek from The Producer School breaks down the sound design techniques behind the Julian Jordan style - a future house aesthetic built on distorted pluck leads, punchy saw basses, and reverb throws. The video goes step by step through recreating the main lead, two bass layers, and an advanced reverb throw technique using FL Studio's Patcher.

What is the Julian Jordan Sound Design Style?

The Julian Jordan sound design style can be described as future house or future big room - a style built around distorted, punchy pluck leads paired with tight bass lines and driving drums. Key characteristics include:

  • Heavily distorted pluck sounds with a fast attack and tight decay
  • Punchy, filtered saw bass lines with short envelope shapes
  • Mono and legato lead lines with portamento for smooth note transitions
  • Frequent use of reverb throws to create movement and energy around the lead
  • Multiband compression and saturation to add density to every element

This tutorial focuses on recreating these elements from scratch inside Serum and FL Studio, covering the pluck lead, two bass variations, a metallic noise layer, and the reverb throw technique.

How to Make the Julian Jordan Pluck Lead in Serum

Start from an init patch in Serum and follow these steps to build the signature pluck lead:

  1. On Oscillator A, load the Analog BD Sine wavetable. Set unison to around 4 voices and detune to approximately 0.45 - this gives the lead a detuned, slightly wide character.
  2. On Oscillator B, use the default saw wave. Set unison to 5 voices and leave the detune as is.
  3. Shape Envelope 1 into a pluck shape: pull sustain to minus infinity and set decay to around 600 milliseconds.
  4. Open a Moog LP 12 filter and link Envelope 1 to the filter cutoff. Apply Oscillator B to the filter as well by clicking B in the filter section.
  5. Create a very short Envelope 2 - almost invisible in the envelope display. Link it to the coarse pitch of both oscillators using Ctrl + Shift + click to make it one-directional, and set the pitch amount to 12 semitones (one octave). This adds a sharp click at the start of each note and dramatically increases punchiness.
  6. Enable Mono and Legato in the voicing section and set portamento time to around 200 milliseconds for smooth pitch glides between notes.

How to Process the Lead with Distortion and Filtering

Inside Serum's effects section, apply the following processing chain to shape the lead:

  • Sine shaper distortion: Set to around 55%. This sounds harsh on its own but is corrected by the filter that follows.
  • Filter (Moog LP 6): Apply a very soft low-pass filter after the distortion and link Envelope 1 to it. This cleans up the harsh high frequencies added by distortion while keeping the body of the sound intact. Without this filter the distorted frequencies become unpleasant.
  • Multiband compression: Add modem and compression. Raise the gain slightly and adjust the threshold - make sure the gain reduction meter does not hit red or clipping will occur.
  • Gator mode: Enable mono gate mode. When two notes overlap with heavy distortion the result is unpleasant. Gating prevents this by cutting the sound cleanly when a new note starts.
  • EQ: Cut the low frequencies from the lead. You want to preserve the low-mids for body, but the sub frequencies should be cut so they do not clash with the bass. Set the low-cut resonance to around 50% and adjust the cutoff frequency to taste without removing too much of the midrange.
  • Reverb: A short reverb can be applied inside Serum, but for more control in the final mix apply reverb in the DAW using a Fruity Reverb, Full Hollow Room, or any hall reverb. Apply high-cut and low-cut to the reverb return to keep it clean.

How to Make the Metallic Noise Layer for the Lead

Adding a metallic noise layer on top of the pluck lead adds a percussive, high-frequency texture that makes the sound more complex without being distracting.

  1. Enable the noise oscillator in Serum and select the Metal Tick 1 noise type.
  2. Link Envelope 1 to the noise oscillator level so it follows the same pluck shape as the main oscillators.
  3. In the effects section, apply distortion, multiband compression, and a very short reverb - the reverb on this layer should be minimal.
  4. Set the noise oscillator output to mono only so it plays one note at a time and does not stack in a way that creates unwanted build-up.

This metallic tick layer does not make a huge difference on its own, but in context with the lead it adds an extra dimension to the attack.

How to Build the Bass Layers in the Julian Jordan Style

The tutorial covers two bass layers. The first is a saw-based bass:

  • Oscillator A: default saw wave, 3 unison voices, low detune to keep it clean.
  • Oscillator B: same saw wave, no unison, pitched down 3 octaves.
  • Apply the same short Envelope 2 to coarse pitch on Oscillator B only for a click on each hit.
  • Use a German LP filter for Oscillator B - this filter cuts high frequencies aggressively, which is essential to keep a saw bass from becoming messy. Link Envelope 1 to the filter in a one-directional pluck shape.
  • Apply tube distortion linked to Envelope 1, and multiband compression. Enable mono and legato on this bass as well.

The second bass layer is a shorter, more percussive hit:

  • Oscillator A: Basic Mini wavetable.
  • Oscillator B: saw wave with PWM mode enabled in the warp section, set to around 58-59%. Pitch both oscillators down 3 octaves.
  • Noise oscillator: bright white noise, with a short Envelope 2 applied to its level.
  • Route all three (Oscillator A, B, and noise) through the Moog LP 12 filter.
  • Effects: minimal Dimension (about 2% mix), a short reverb with a low-cut applied, tube distortion, multiband compression, and a high-boost EQ automated by Envelope 1 for a bright top layer on each hit.

What is a Reverb Throw and How Do You Make One?

A reverb throw is a technique where the reverb of a sound is automated to swell in at specific moments - usually just before or during a melodic phrase - to create a sense of space, movement, and energy. It is a signature technique in the Julian Jordan sound.

The simple method: add a reverb to the lead channel with a long decay, then automate the wet knob so it briefly opens up at selected moments in the melody. This works well and is fast to implement.

The advanced method uses FL Studio's Patcher:

  1. Route the lead layers to a bus and open Patcher on that bus.
  2. Inside Patcher, add an EQ between the input and the reverb, cutting all low-end to keep the reverb throw clean and high-frequency only.
  3. Add a reverb (Full Hollow Room is recommended for texture). Set the decay long enough that each throw has noticeable tail.
  4. Add a Fruity Peak Controller or LFO tool inside Patcher (such as a Fruity Parametric) to pan or modulate the reverb output from left to right, creating movement within the throw itself.
  5. Automate the Patcher send knob in the main mixer to create reverb throws at specific points in the melody. When the reverb opens, the LFO-modulated effect also opens - so the reverb throw is not just a wet/dry swell but also an animated, moving sound.

This technique adds a creative, unique character to reverb throws that goes beyond a simple wet automation and gives your own twist to the technique.

Tutorial by Niek, co-founder of The Producer School. For more production tutorials, subscribe to The Producer School on YouTube (280K+ subscribers).

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