Remaking the bells synth from the 2000 song "Bombs Over Baghdad" by Outkast can be an exciting challenge for any synthesizer enthusiast. Here’s how you can create the "Bombs Over Baghdad" bells 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
Outkast’s 2000 track “B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)” from their album Stankonia opens with an ethereal, twinkling bell-like sound that creates an otherworldly atmosphere before the high-energy beat kicks in. This LoFi synthesizer element features delayed, shimmering tones with a slightly degraded quality that gives it a vintage, almost music-box-like character. The bell sound appears in the first 5 seconds of the track, establishing the song’s distinctive sonic landscape before the drums and bass enter. While likely created from processed samples in the original recording, this texture can be effectively recreated using modern synthesizers with appropriate FM and bit-crushing effects.
Our Remake of The Bells Synth
This audio clip is how close we've matched the original tone of the bells synth from the song "Bombs Over Baghdad" by Outkast, 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 all 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.
Note: the patch settings may slightly differ in the Syntorial challenge.
Explore More
- BOB (Bombs Over Baghdad) Music Theory Analysis (Hooktheory)
- Analyzing OutKast’s HIGH ENERGY BEAT “B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)” (YouTube)
- B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad) Song Structure Analysis (Karaoke Version)
- Outkast – B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad) Official Video with Clear Intro (YouTube)
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
