Anthony Gonzalez famously supported this, noting in interviews that he wanted Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming to be a “playground” for listeners. Providing stems (or allowing them to be used in contests) turned the song from a static recording into a living, breathing piece of software.
Use heavy sidechain compression to keep massive synth walls from overwhelming your rhythm section.
M83’s "Midnight City" remains one of the most iconic synth-pop anthems of the 21st century, largely due to its lush, layered production and that unmistakable "shouting" lead riff. For producers and remixers, obtaining the "stems"—the individual audio tracks for drums, bass, synths, and vocals—is the holy grail for understanding how Anthony Gonzalez and Justin Meldal-Johnsen constructed this "synth Sistine Chapel". The Quest for Official Stems
Solo the . You will notice the main arpeggio is not centered. It is bounced left and right with a 20ms delay (the Haas effect), creating a wall of sound. The pads, however, are in mono but soaked in reverb. The stems prove that width comes from contrast, not just panning everything hard left and right. m83 midnight city stems
: Contrary to popular belief, the famous opening riff isn't a pure synthesizer. Gonzalez created it by heavily distorting and pitching his own voice. Stems reveal a complex chain of crunchy distortion, delay, and reverb used to achieve that gritty, human-yet-alien quality.
This version removes Anthony Gonzalez's primary vocal track, providing a clean, untouched backing track for you to build upon.
The vocal was sample-chopped and run through aggressive pitch-correction software (likely Auto-Tune or Melodyne) set to zero retune speed. This eliminated the natural glides of the human voice, turning the performance into a series of stepped, synthetic notes. M83’s "Midnight City" remains one of the most
But in the context of the track? They are perfect. Because the synths take up the low-end and the high-end, the drums sit strictly in the "punch" zone (200-400hz for the kick attack, 2k for the snare crack). They don't fight for space. They simply trigger the transient so the reverb tails can breathe.
The Arpeggios: Hidden in the mix are bubbling synth lines that provide rhythmic complexity, often missed in the full stereo bounce but vital for the song's momentum. The Climax: The Saxophone Solo
| Feature | Detail | | :--- | :--- | | | Released as the B-side to the single on Naïve Records. | | Source | Check second-hand markets (e.g., Discogs) for the physical CD single, or stream/download it from digital music platforms. | You will notice the main arpeggio is not centered
Perhaps the most daring production choice in 2010s indie-pop was concluding a electronic anthem with a roaring saxophone solo. Played by James King of Fitz and the Tantrums, the isolated saxophone stem is a revelation.
Isolating the kick reveals a deep, sub-heavy electronic sample layered underneath a punchy acoustic kick drum. The snare is equally massive, combining a crisp acoustic snare crack with a synthesized white-noise clap. This layering ensures the drums sound organic yet hitting with the clinical precision of electronic dance music. The Gated Reverb Effect