Butter fingers
Butter fingers was the first track I finished after locking myself away in Italy, and it underlined something I’ve learned the hard way: the full-scale creative block rarely comes from harmony, instrumentation, or arrangement alone. Those choices can create snags — sometimes big ones — but they’re usually solvable. What actually stalls me is a reluctance to recalibrate how I work: habits that feel comfortable even when they’re not serving the music.
Resolving the four stuck pieces in Umbria loosened that grip. Back home, starting something new felt direct and light. The difference wasn’t which plug-ins I used; it was the order of decisions. Instead of my usual drums → bass → harmony workflow, I led with an abstract vocal vibe. That single shift reframed everything. The final vocal is sparse and atmospheric, but it set the tone for the whole track: minimalist instrumentation, restrained harmony, and percussion designed to sit around breath and consonant shapes rather than compete with them.
Vocal-first decisions (Ableton):
Short phrases into Simpler with random start offsets; tiny Transpose/Formant moves for character.
Reverb into Delay (not vice-versa) so the ambience has definition; feedback automated to “open” in key moments.
Light HPF to clear fog; narrow EQ dips for sibilants; a touch of Saturator pre-FX so harmonics read on small speakers.
Gentle Auto Pan and slow LFO on a filter for motion you feel more than hear.
Percussion & groove:
Built around negative space — fewer hits, placed with intent.
Transient shaping to keep taps crisp at low levels.
Sub stays in a single lane; no counter-melody. Hats and FX tails sidechained just enough to breathe with the kick and vocal.
Cohesion & arrangement:
Two shared returns (short room; modulated slap) to create one room signature.
Low-mix saturation on groups (10–15%) and gentle bus compression (1.5–2:1, ~1 dB GR) to tidy movement, not flatten it.
Section shifts via density (micro-adlibs in/out), not new layers.
It’s a simple piece, and it was a joy to make. Changing the process — not the plug-ins — is what cleared the path.