DECONSTRUCTED: Travis Scott - MY EYES (FLP & STEMS) (Patreon)

"MY EYES," is our latest remake from Travis Scott's "Utopia," a track that reflects on Travis's personal struggles, fame, and the Astrofest tragedy. This was one of our most requested deconstructions from the album due to its futuristic and complex instrumental, consisting of 2 distinct beats. In this breakdown we have separated these beats into 2 separate projects and discuss the beats below.

BEAT 1:

The first beat with a tempo of 119 BPM features a sample from The Japanese House and has uncredited vocals from Sampha and Justin Vernon. This was the simpler, slower beat from the song with a more somber tone to reflect the emptiness in Travis's life amidst material success.

This beat consists of a basic drum line drowned in reverb, layered with a dreamy retro synth pad. We recreated this synth using Serum. The pad sonically feels like a sine wave patch, but we came to realise it was really a big synth with a heavy low-pass-filter and added noise and FX. We were very nitpicky in making this sound as close as possible so I definitely recommend saving it if you like the sound.

BEAT 2:

At 2:09 we have a beatswitch and speed up to 147BPM. The music nerd in me wants to point out that this is called "accelerando". We also add more interesting layers coming in. Here's some useful parts:

We added a rumbling synth bass coming in from Omnisphere called "Cut Me Real Deep Wobble". This was the same preset used in our remake of "The Hills" actually. It's a powerful bass that can add lots of movement and anticipation to your mix. Highly recommend. Travis also clearly liked the sound as it plays throughout the entire second beat instead of switching it to an 808. This is uncommon and gives the beat more of a party vibe.

We have a pulsing sawtooth synth from Serum that concentrates on the upper bass to low mid frequencies. This preset adds a lot more movement and lays the groundwork for the beat. Incorporating pulsating sounds like this can be beneficial for adding rhythmic energy.

Mid to high end, we have 2 bitcrushed synth keys to add additional harmonies and rhythms to the beat. The bitcrushing effect enhances the depth and richness of the sound, a nice touch.

Finally, for the drums, we spent a long time looking so that we could proudly say we found all of the exact samples. And we did. Interestingly, this beat has two different kicks in the same pattern, each sidechained to the bass. These are the rack kick and the BWB Wave 6 Kick (4). You can find them in the files attached below.

Anyway, I hope you find this project helpful. It's always exciting to dig into these tracks and share what we discover. Your support means we can keep doing this and bring more such deep dives your way.

Cheers,

Aiden