Watch Point Blank’s Ski Oakenfull Deconstruct Halsey’s No.1 Track ‘Without Me’ in Ableton Live

Point Blank are back with a brand new Deconstruction from their Head of Curriculum and master of Deconstructions, Ski Oakenfull. This time, Ski pulls back the curtain on American singer-songwriter Halsey’s mega-hit, ‘Without Me’, exploring each of the track’s elements. You can check out Ski’s catalogue of deconstructions via the Point Blank YouTube channel and don’t forget to check out their production courses in London and Online for more in-depth tuition.

‘Without Me’, Halsey’s woozy breakup song, was released by Capitol Records back in 2018 and has since amassed over 216 million views on YouTube alone. The track (as you’ll hear in the video) features bluesy guitar riffs, trap-style beats and Halsey’s signature tones. ‘Without Me’ reached No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart subsequently becoming the singer’s first number one record. Without further ado, jump into the deconstruction video and if you’re eager to get a closer look at the project file, you can download it here for the price of your email.

Equipped with Ableton Live 10, a Push 2 and Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol, Ski kicks off the Deconstruction using the Roland Cloud JV-1080 plugin to breakdown the track’s guitar melody. After this, he turns his focus to the future RnB drums and shows how to recreate the track’s skipping hi-hat pattern, before padding the pattern out with the rest of the elements. Ski finishes off the deconstruction by adding in the different basslines and flute melody, then does a run-through with the acapella for good measure.