Last year Point Blank returned to the International Music Summit in Malta where their Head of Curriculum, Ski Oakenfull, shared one of his famous track deconstructions. This time Ski turned his focus to one of dance music’s biggest legends, the late Avicii, breaking down his track ‘SOS’ ft. Aloe Blacc.
The collaboration between the producer and singer is the ultimate feel-good anthem blending melodic plucks with beefy kicks and infectious vocals. ‘SOS’ marked the first posthumous single from the Swedish artist as well as his second number one and has since gone on to rack up over 400 million streams on Spotify alone. At Point Blank, one of the many things they specialize in is teaching budding artists how to produce, mix, master and release tracks just like this one. Find out more by checking out their line of courses. Want a closer look at the project’s MIDI files? you can download the pack including bass, piano, lead, arpeggio and more for the price of your email here.
First of all, Ski lays down the foundations of the track by programming a number of different beat patterns and effects into Ableton Live 10 using his Ableton Push 2. He then pulls back the curtain on some of the music theory behind the track delving into the chords and melodies used throughout the song’s verse, pre-chorus and chorus. Ski figures out the song’s key signature by looking for the most dominant note in the track which is known as the ‘tonic’ note or key centre. After all the chords and topline, notes are locked down Ski drops in the Aloe Blacc vox on top before creating his own TLC ‘No Scrubs’ mashup.
