Diplo is an American DJ, songwriter and record producer who mainly produces EDM, Dubstep and Reggaeton music. He is the co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer. He’s also a member of the supergroup LSD, electronic duo Jack Ü and Silk City. He founded record company Mad Decent, as well as co-founding the non-profit organisation Heaps Decent. Diplo has collaborated with major artists like Sia, Justin Bieber, Ellie Goulding and Beyoncé. In this series, we will take a deep dive into how to write and produce music like Diplo. Let’s get started!
Vocal Processing
Diplo is a master at creating simple but memorable vocals in his music. A very unique feature of Diplo’s production techniques is the extensive use of vocal chopping, an easy but highly effective way of producing rhythmical vocal patterns. Moreover, he smartly re-pitches the vocals to create a unique artificial sound. This can be done by layering the original vocals with a few vocal layers. Then the pitch of each layer can be transposed at musically relevant intervals (+5, +7, +12 semitones, …) to create the harmonic effect and highlight of a track.
Example: Major Lazer – Watch Out For This (Bumaye)
Using Vocals as an Instrument
Diplo is known for pushing sounds, instruments and vocals into entirely new territory. He produces monumental new sounds by taking an instrument, sonically tweaking it to an almost unrecognisable shape, and then reintroducing that sound in an entirely new way into the song. He uses vocals to produce lead ‘synth’ sounds that sound nearly like a distorted flute on a few of his best known tracks. This can be achieved easily by transposing vocal phrases and chops with pitch transpositions. Or you can replay them with a sampler at much higher pitches. You can combine this with pitch-bending to produce unique melodies with interesting pitch changes.
Example: Diplo feat. MØ – Get it Right
’2 for 1’ song arrangements
A major aspect of Diplo’s production style is his ‘2 for 1′ song arrangement style, where two nearly totally incompatible arrangements are blended into a coherent and epically catchy song. This might mean jumps in tempo, changes in time signature, and of course switching between genres. Experiment with a drop at 65 BPM, then switch to a ‘B Section’ at 130 BPM for the best possible results. This switch can also be used to change between genres in the same track. Then to add even more energy, experiment with changing the drum arrangement to double time.
Example: Jack Ü feat Justin Bieber – Where Are Ü Now
Conclusion
And there you have it, a list of the writing and production techniques that Diplo often uses. Diplo pushes sound into new territories by focussing on new production and songwriting techniques.
Diplo quotes:
“I’m trying to always do new things because if you stay behind and fight
the future, you are just going to be left behind.”
Explore the possibilities and enjoy!
