Point Blank Track Deconstruction: LFO – ‘LFO’ w/ Chris Martin

Point Blank are back with another deconstruction, this time with their Course Content Developer, Chris Martin, breaking down LFO’s classic techno track, ‘LFO’. If you’re not familiar with what a Point Blank deconstruction entails, it’s where they take a well-known track, break it down to its core elements and recreate it before your very eyes.

Released via Warp in 1990, LFO has gone on to garner classic status and even helped propel the Warp label to what it is known as today. Sitting comfortably in the techno/bleep techno genres, ‘LFO’ features rhythmic drum machine patterns, experimental glitches, cavernous sub-bases and more. What was supposed to be an underground track for raves and warehouse parties, ‘LFO’ received some mainstream success peaking at no. 12 in the UK Charts.

If you’re looking to learn more about mastering your tracks like a pro, or in-depth insights into music production or DJing, singing, songwriting, music business and more, then check out Point Blank’s London, Online and Los Angeles programmes. Plus, get 25% off their selected London, Online and LA courses before their offer ends on 12th July with the codes: LONDON25, ONLINE25 and LA25.

To kick off the deconstruction, Chris Martin drops some knowledge on the track itself, listing achievements and credits, as well as the vintage pieces of music tech that were used to create the song. Moving onto the breakdown, Chris fires up NILS’ Kawai K1V emulator in Ableton Live and shares some of the music theory behind the track, before recording the chord progressions and melody. Next up he moves onto the beefier parts of the track, using Roland Cloud’s TR-909 plugin for the drums and Ableton’s Operator for the catchy bassline. To finish off, Chris shows how you can create the 8-bit speak and spell voice the track is famous for.