Gorillaz Synths Projects

The sounds and stylings of Gorillaz.

What it is:
Ten Ableton Live projects featuring MIDI tracks, effects chains, drum racks, and more to nail the sounds of Gorillaz.

How we use it:
Learn the sound design behind Gorillaz's work.

Why it's cool:
From the patches to the parts, each session provides a foundation for building your own track.These are the Ableton Projects used to create the three selected songs from Gorillaz. Gorillaz are the worlds most prominent virtual band, a term used to described a band represented by fictional characters. Behind the animated quartet’s music are a team of musicians, producers and collaborators, all lead by musical mastermind Damon Albarn. Albarn started his music career in Blur, who recorded eight albums that progressed from britpop to electronic art rock as Albarns musical interests expanded. Following the dissolution of Blur, Albarn formed Gorillaz with artist Jamie Hewlett. Gorillaz took a six year break following 2010’s concept album ‘Plastic Beach’ and 2011’s iPad recorded ’The Fall’, and returned to release ‘Humanz’ in 2017 and ‘The Now Now’ this year.

Virtual Band, Real Instruments

Being a virtual band, much of the groups image and promotion focuses on the four animated characters that officially comprise the band, and although these guys are sometimes depicted with musical instruments, they generally don’t offer much insight into the gear used on their records. Albarn’s studio, called 13 Studio, is based in West London and hosts a huge array of recording gear, including a Neve VR 72 desk and a wall fully stocked with keyboards, synthesizers, and old tape delay machines.

13 Studio’s synth collection include several Moog synths, such as the vintage Moog Prodigy, the powerhouse Moog Voyager and the modern Moog Little Phatty. There are several vintage Korgs such as the MS-10 and MS-20, as well as a VC-10 Vocoder. Albarn also seems to like Prophets; his studio has a Sequential Prophet-5 and Prophet T8; he also used a Prophet-6 for the Gorillaz’ 2017 tour. He also has two Roland Space Echos: the RE-201 and the RE-501 Chorus Echo, and it’s likely that Albarn uses these for much of Gorillaz’ spacier track. I’ll dive into songs from several of the groups albums in chronological order, and recreate some of my favourite Gorillaz sounds with software synths.

Contains the following Ableton Projects:

• Andromeda
  
• Broken
  
• Clint Eastwood
• DARE
  
• Empire Ants
  
• Glitter Freeze
  
• Humility
• Lake Zurich
  
• On Melancholy Hill
  
• Plastic Beach
  

The synth patches from Gorillaz Synths Sounds, featuring the vintage synth emulations used to recreate ten of Gorillaz songs.

This download contains all the presets used to recreate the following tracks:

Arturia Mini V3

• Andromeda Bass
• Andromeda Lead
• DARE Bass
  
• Empire Ants Bass
• Empire Ants Lead
  
• Glitter Bass
  
• Glitter Lead
  
• Lake Zurich Bass
  
• Lake Zurich Pluck
  
• Plastic Beach Arps
  
• Plastic Beach Bass
  

Arturia Farfisa V

• Broken Organ

Arturia Prophet V

• Andromeda Pad
• Broken Glide Lead
• Empire Ants Choir
• Humility Pluck

Arturia Solina V

• Clint Eastwood
• DARE Lead
• Lake Zurich Lead
  
• Melancholy Hill

Compatibility
Compatibility:

• Ableton 9.7 Standard
  
• Arturia V Collection 6
  
• Arturia Mini V3
  
• Arturia Farfisa V
  
• Arturia Prophet V
  
• Arturia Solina V