Remaking the brass synth from the 2024 song "This Will Destroy Me" by My Head Is Empty can be an exciting challenge for any synthesizer enthusiast. Here’s how you can create the "This Will Destroy Me" brass patch and play this iconic sound on most hardware or software subtractive synthesizers (Serum, Vital, Pigments, Prophet, Korg, Moog, etc). We've included the preset download directly for your convenience, but we strongly recommend you use our programming tutorial to recreate it yourself.
Original Audio
My Head Is Empty’s “This Will Destroy Me” features a rich, cinematic brass-style pad that serves as the emotional foundation of the track, immediately establishing its melancholic atmosphere from the opening moments. The sound combines multiple detuned saw oscillators with subtle pitch drift to create a warm, swelling texture that mimics the organic imperfections of a brass ensemble while maintaining a distinctly synthetic character. A low-pass filter with slow modulation and generous reverb creates the pad’s expansive, enveloping quality that fills the sonic space with both intimacy and grandeur. You can hear this signature brass pad enter at 0:00 and sustain throughout the entire track, providing the harmonic bed for the sampled Hitchcock film dialogue.
Original Performing Instrument
Unknown
Our Remake of The Brass Synth sound
This audio clip is how close we've matched the original tone of the brass synth from the song "This Will Destroy Me" by My Head Is Empty, giving you a reference point as you design your own synthesizer preset. Play it as often as you need to familiarize yourself with the nuances of the sound.
Synth Patch Programming Recipe
Getting Started
- Start by initializing your synthesizer to a plain saw with no filter, modulation or effects. For soft synths use the "init"/"default" preset or the the button to reset allx parameters to their default factory values.
- No two synths are exactly alike, so treat the values below as approximate, and use your ear.
- Percentage values (e.g. 50%) represent the relative position of a knob or slider within its full range. The full range of each parameter may differ from synth to synth, so use your ear.
Voices
- Voice Mode: Poly 3
Oscillator Setup
Oscillator 1
- Mix: 42%
- Wavetable: Basic Shapes
- Wave Frame: Saw (position 107)
- Routing: Filter 1
- Random Phase: 61%
- Phase: 87°
- Unison Voices: 2
- Unison Detune: 5%
- Unison Stereo Spread: 100%
- Morph:
- Wave Morph Amount: 76%
- Wave Morph Type: Squeeze
Filter Settings
Filter 1
- Model: Analog
- Style: 24dB Slope
- Blend: Low Pass (0)
- Cutoff: 50% (331.252 Hz)
- Resonance: 29%
- Drive: 10%
- Modulations:
- Env 2 → Cutoff
- Mod Wheel → Cutoff
- Mod Wheel → Resonance
Envelope Settings
Envelope 1 (Amp)
- Attack: 120 ms
- Sustain: 100%
- Release: 629 ms
- Attack Curve: Logarithmic
Envelope 2
- Attack: 709 ms
- Decay: 1.08 s
- Sustain: 82%
- Release: 2.11 s
- Routed to:
- Filter 1 Cutoff (33%)
Random LFO Settings
Random 1
- Style: Perlin
- Sync: Tempo
- Tempo: 1/4
- Destinations:
- Voice Tune (amount 45%)
Effects Processing (Ordered)
Eq
- Low Cutoff: 112.615 Hz
- Low Resonance: 21%
- Low Gain: -3 dB
- Band Cutoff: 93.456 Hz
- Band Resonance: 22%
- Band Gain: 4 dB
Reverb
- Mix: 39%
- Size: 71%
- Chorus Amount: 5%
- Chorus Frequency: Default (0.250 Hz)
- Time: 2.284 s
Modulation Matrix
- Envelope 2 → Filter 1 Cutoff 33%
- Random 1 → Voice Tune 45%
- Mod Wheel → Filter 1 Cutoff 29%
- Mod Wheel → Filter 1 Resonance -25%
- Mod Wheel → Reverb Dry Wet 24%
Note: the patch settings may slightly differ in the Syntorial challenge.
Explore More
Preset Downloads
Don't want to learn synth programming now? Use our synth preset as your starting point and tweak it from there. Register an account with Audible Genius and download the presets for free for the following synths:
- Vital
Comments
This recipe is the result of a Syntorial community preset remake request. Need support remaking this sound? Have comments?
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