Hope house sister duo me n ü have developed a dreamy, dancefloor-rooted sound built around detailed production and carefully selected elements.
Photo credit: me n ü – Official
Since emerging in 2023, they have grown their online following while earning support across the dance community, including a FEMMY nomination for Breakthrough Artist.
Their latest solo single, ‘YOUR EYES’, pairs warm synths, hazy rhythms, vocal chops, and a recurring sample. According to the duo, the track was conceived for summer night drives, with pulsing synths intended to reflect the euphoric feeling of falling in love.
To mark the release, me n ü share five studio tips covering panning, arrangement, stock plugins, filtering, and reverb throws.
1. Panning Is Everything
Our secret weapon for creating dynamic, clear mixes is panning almost everything in our project. Since we mix our own music as well as produce it, the mix is an essential part of the finished product.
The way we approach it is by choosing 2–3 core elements that stay in the center. Normally, that’s the kick, the vocal, and one main musical element, like a layer of chords or an extra melody in the drop. Every other element is panned to some degree. Some elements stay static, while others move throughout the track.
Depending on each element’s importance, we decide whether it should sit all the way to the right or left, or somewhere off-center. We also try to keep our projects symmetrical, so there should never be noticeably more information on one side than the other.
Logic is our DAW, so we either use PanMan or manually automate the panning ourselves.
2. The Core Four
This is more of a concept than a concrete tip, but our production philosophy is to identify four core elements and make those the North Star of the song. Those four elements are usually the vocals, drums, one main musical element, and one melody. Everything else is there to support the main characters of the song.
It might sound simple, but with the right 3–4 elements, there isn’t much need for anything else. It also forces us as producers to take a hard look at which elements we’re relying on. Even if this isn’t your style, it’s a worthwhile exercise to try trimming the fat from your productions.
Simplicity isn’t indicative of a lack of talent—it can show taste and confidence in the craft. For us, a lot of our sauce isn’t in the technicalities. It’s in our choice of sounds and, maybe more importantly, our choice of what doesn’t make the final cut.
3. OneKnob Filter by Waves
As far as actual production tips go, this one is simple but super effective.
OneKnob Filter is our favorite filter plugin, and we mainly use it for two things:
We use it to add motion to a song. A lot of the time, we create movement through dynamics instead of adding more production, and this plugin is one of our cheat codes for doing that.
We often filter down our kick drum to mark different sections of a song, and we almost exclusively use this plugin because we feel it adds warmth.
4. Stock Plugins Are Your Friend
Back to a more conceptual tip: don’t be afraid of the plugins that already come with your DAW. Stock plugins are sometimes the best tools on the market, even though they’re available to everyone.
It goes back to the idea that it’s the painter who makes the picture—not the paint. Most producers can go a very long way before needing to invest in third-party plugins. And even when you can spend the money, it doesn’t always mean you need to.
The only EQ we consistently use is Logic’s stock Channel EQ. We’ve tried countless alternatives and always come back to it. The same goes for delay—we primarily use Logic’s Tape Delay.
5. Our Verb Throw Secret
Another concrete tip is how we create verb throws. It might sound silly because it’s incredibly simple, but it works really well and sounds great. It’s especially useful when we’re producing quickly or still in the creation stage and just want a proof of concept.
1) Cut the part of the vocal, snare, or instrument that you want to throw.
2) Drag that section onto a new track directly underneath the original.
3) Add Valhalla VintageVerb, our favorite reverb, and set the mix to 100%. Adjust the decay to control how long you want the throw to last. We usually keep it around four seconds.
4) Blend it back into the track by lowering the volume of the reverb track until it sits naturally in the mix.
Then, experiment until you’ve adapted the technique to fit your own style.
me n ü’s ‘YOUR EYES’ is out now. Stream and download your copy here.
Follow me n ü: Spotify | Soundcloud | Instagram
