How It Was Made: DROELOE – A Matter Of Perspective

Dutch electronic artist, DROELOE, released the final album as a group A Matter Of Perspective before one member of the duo Hein Hamers left to focus on his own endeavors. Vincent Rooijers carries the torch for the project now, producing and performing for the group (when there will be performances again). A Matter Of Perspective combines three previous EPs with seven new songs, creating a riveting blend of classical, future bass, pop, dubstep, ambient and electronica all in one larger anthology LP. It served to close the page on one chapter in the DROELOE and allow Rooijers continue with a fresh slate. They also reimagine some of their previous hits, for more organic touch to them.

Ever since their official debut in 2016, the DROELOE have been one of the staples of the bitbird family, releasing EPs, singles, compilation contributions and eventually an album with the label.

We wanted to get a different perspective on this album and asked Rooijers to break down the production process for the album in a new How It Was Made feature. He discusses the ideas behind the record and hardware used to help shape this LP. Pick up your copy of the album here and stream it below.

Background On A Matter of Perspective

Seeing that a lot of the work on this anthology album was already released, much of the creation process was tying everything together on a conceptual level. It’s noteworthy though, that I recorded sounds myself – even more than with prior work. The last few shows I did before the lockdown, where I incorporated more live instruments on stage, were probably the inspiration for this. The trumpet plays a big role in a track like “Open Blinds,” for instance. Apart from that, it was a very interesting process to remake some of the tracks that were already released. 

I bounced everything to stems to make sure I was only able to resample elements from the original instead of diving in midi and tweaking sounds that already existed. I wanted to add new sounds and a new context for that matter, and I mostly used the stems for reference material or background context while I only kept a few very recognizable elements intact. “Remixing” my own track like that felt quite cathartic and gave me a different outlook of the time when I made the original version.

1. Beyer Dynamic Headphones

I made everything, including all the work prior to this anthology album, on my Beyer Dynamic Headphones, which funny enough deceased shortly after I finished the last track “Treasure Map.” I did also listen to the mixes on reference speakers like my crappy speakers in my living room, on car speakers, on my phone, etc, but I just knew my headphones so well that I did most of the mixing and mastering on them. I recently bought a set of Audezee LCD-XC headphones and can’t wait to get to know them!!

2. Serum

When it comes to synthesis, I love Serum, the wavetable flexibility is amazing and I love some of the effects it has internally. I don’t use any hardware synths, I would love to but I just haven’t decided which one would benefit me the most. I do own a Virus, but I haven’t used it yet because I lost the power adapter, and I keep forgetting to order a new one. Maybe one day.

3. Shure Beta 98H/C trumpet clip-on mic

For trumpet, as well as on the road as in the studio, I use the Shure Beta 98H/C trumpet clip-on mic, and I’m super enthusiastic about it!! It sounds really clean and doesn’t pick up room noise that much, and I keep it clipped on constantly while working on new music these days. It’s so nice to just pick up my trumpet, press record and start playing instantly, instead of walking to a mic, having to think about the distance to the mic and levels in general. Slowly but surely I’m building a room (which I can’t even call an actual studio yet) in a way that everything is in arm's reach and picking it up doesn’t have an impact on the flow or momentum of my working process.

4. Arturia Keylab 49 Essential

For everything midi I used the Arturia Keylab 49 Essential in a way that I always use the “capture midi” button in Ableton, I mostly start improvising over a segment on loop, and as soon as I’ve found something that I think works, that button makes my life so much easier. Thank you to whoever came up with that feature!!!

5. Macbook / Ableton

I’ve made everything from this album on my MacBook in Ableton. It’s great, I’m very flexible in where I can work on music and I actually love to work on something outside of a traditional studio setting! The only thing that I noticed lately is that at least the last couple of projects, demanded more CPU power than my MacBook could provide, so I’m going to do some research on different options to counter that pretty soon. But, I will probably always keep using a MacBook when I’m on the road.

I hope you enjoyed this small insight into the production process of our Anthology album A Matter of Perspective. Have a great day!