‍Steve Lacy has a way of making songs feel effortless: soft layered vocals, warm keys and guitar parts that sound like they were recorded at 2am in a bedroom. "the feeling", the lead single from his third album Oh yeah?, is exactly that — loose, intimate and full of little details.

This time, I'm doing a cover of the first two minutes of the song, recreating the vocals, electric piano, bass, guitar and strings from scratch (the drums are sampled from the original). Watch my performance video and then read the step by step production tutorial below!

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THE FEELING VOCAL PRODUCTION

The vocal is built from five layers: a main vocal carrying the lead line and four harmonies that come in and out to thicken the chorus. Instead of one big stack all the time, each harmony only enters where it adds something, which keeps the arrangement breathing.

For the chain, I used Auto-Tune Pro for subtle pitch correction, followed by Virtual Mix Rack for some analog console color. CLA-2A smooths out the dynamics, and two instances of FabFilter Pro-DS clean up sibilance before FabFilter Pro-Q 3 shapes the tone. The key ingredient here is Doubler, which widens the main vocal and gives it that subtle double-tracked feel so typical of Steve Lacy. All five layers share the same Ableton Reverb and delay sends, so they sound like they were recorded in the same room. You have the full tutorial on the youtube video!

Listen below to the vocals on their own: notice how the harmonies come in behind the main vocal and make the chorus feel wider and warmer.

Steve Lacy 'the feeling' - Vocals

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THE FEELING ELECTRIC PIANO SOUND

The electric piano is actually two synths playing the same MIDI: Arturia DX7 V for the classic FM attack, and Arturia MiniFreak V with my own preset "Steve Lacy EP" adding warmth underneath. Layering them gives a richer, more organic sound than either one alone.

On the MiniFreak, both oscillators are set to Two Op. FM, the same kind of synthesis behind classic digital electric pianos. Oscillator 2 is detuned by just 5 cents, which adds a gentle, chorus-like movement between the two. A low-pass filter rounds off the harsh FM highs, and a short envelope with a fast attack and quick decay gives each note that soft, plucky electric piano shape. Finally, a reverb on the FX section adds a bit of space. Download this preset on my patreon!

Steve Lacy 'the feeling' - MiniFreak V "Steve Lacy EP" preset

Here's the electric piano soloed, with both synths playing together. Listen to the bell-like FM attack on top and the soft body underneath.

Steve Lacy 'the feeling' - Electric Piano

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THE FEELING BASS SOUND

The bass is a combination of two layers. The main one is a real bass guitar running through Guitar Rig 5 with the "Autofilter Bass" preset. The chain starts with an Autofilter that follows the dynamics of each note, giving the bass that rubbery, slightly funky movement. A Tube Compressor evens out the playing, then the Bass Pro amp with its matched cabinet shapes the tone, and a Skreamer at the end adds a little grit.

Steve Lacy 'the feeling' - Guitar Rig "Autofilter Bass" preset

After Guitar Rig, Waves Maserati B72 adds weight and saturation, and a light chorus at around 40% wet gives it a slightly wobbly, lo-fi character. Underneath, Arturia Mini V4 doubles the bassline with a synth bass, filling the low end and giving the bass a rounder, more solid foundation.

Listen to the bass on its own: the bass guitar gives the attack and the groove, while the synth bass underneath fills the low end.

Steve Lacy 'the feeling' - Bass

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THE FEELING GUITAR TONE

Here's a little trick: the guitar is an acoustic guitar, but instead of keeping its natural sound, I ran it through Guitar Rig 5 with the "Country Git Clean" preset. That turns it into something between an acoustic and a clean electric, bright and twangy, which is exactly the kind of in-between texture Steve Lacy loves.

The chain is a Twang Reverb amp, a Fast Comp to keep the strumming even, and a Control Room Pro cabinet with a 2x12 American cab miked with a Con 67 condenser. Then a Treble Booster on the "Crispy" setting adds sparkle, and a Twin Delay with the "Vince Gill Delay" preset adds a soft slapback that fills the spaces between the vocal lines.

Steve Lacy 'the feeling' - Guitar Rig "Country Git Clean" preset

Here's the guitar soloed. Listen to how the twin delay adds a little space without washing out the clean, bright tone.

Steve Lacy 'the feeling' - Guitar

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THE FEELING STRINGS

In the last part of the section, Arturia Augmented STRINGS comes in to lift the arrangement. I started from the "Beautiful Swell" preset and tweaked it a bit. What makes this plugin interesting is that it blends two layers: Layer A uses real sampled ensemble strings ("Random Swells") plus some extra atmospheric samples, while Layer B adds synth textures, a granular engine ("Bow Traveller") and a wavetable synth ("Sumseed").

The result sounds like real strings but softer and more blurred, so it sits naturally next to the electric piano without sounding too cinematic — just a warm layer that makes the song open up.

Steve Lacy 'the feeling' - Augmented STRINGS "Beautiful Swell" preset

Listen below to the strings together with the bass, and hear how they open up the low and high end of the arrangement at the same time.

Steve Lacy 'the feeling' - Bass & Strings

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And that's all! Help me continue making all this free content by supporting me on my Patreon page, where you can download the full Ableton project, stems, MIDI and presets. Write me your feedback on YouTube too!

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