Disintegration

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NIN, aggressive synths, and the sound of falling apart

I love the textures and sonics that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are able to create in their productions. The Nine Inch Nails collaboration with David Bowie on “I’m Afraid of Americans” is a particular favourite of mine – it’s intense, aggressive, and full of atmosphere. I wanted to capture some of that intensity for the Identity album.

This is the penultimate track on the album. The song came together from a bass idea I recorded in Voice Memos in May 2025. Once I started production in August, I built layers of synths (Omnisphere and UA Anthem), drums (a blend of Logic Drum Machine Designer, Superior Drummer, Battery, and Butch Vig Drums in Kontakt), and electric bass guitar. The vocal was recorded at the end, then chopped into three separate tracks for unique processing on the verses, pre/post choruses, and choruses.

On the album, “Disintegration” is the low point. After the introspection of “X‑9”, the protagonist hits a wall – the search for connection has led to frustration and a sense of futility. Everything feels like a lie and everyone is seen as a liar, and the music reflects that collapse.

Special Recording Notes

  • Analog instruments: Recorded in Logic at 24‑bit/96kHz.
  • No external processing during recording – captured dry to leave flexibility for later.
  • Vocals: Pitch and sibilance corrections via Melodyne.
  • Hardware Voxbox: Ran the lead vocal through my Manley Voxbox as a hardware insert (settings provided earlier).
  • Synths:
    • Omnisphere 3 – emulations of Access Virus Indigo, JD‑800, JP‑8, JX‑8P, JX‑10, Korg 707, Moog Matriarch, Prophet 5, Prophet 6, Prophet 12, Reaktor, and Yamaha TX Stack Strings (TX802 & TX816).
    • UA Anthem – 5 tracks.
  • Drums: Blended from multiple sources:
    • Logic Drum Machine Designer (“Hollywood Haze” preset)
    • Superior Drummer (“Nashville Slam” & “Stonewood” kits)
    • Battery 4 (“Glowstix Kit”)
    • Butch Vig Drums (Kontakt instrument)
  • Bass:
    • Electric bass (3 tracks: DI, MXR Synth Bass Pedal, and OC‑3 octave pedal)
    • Synth bass tracks (derived from MIDI generated by FlexPitch on the original electric bass track)
  • Session size: Over 65 tracks/channels in the Luna file.
  • Recording environment: All electronic or electric – the biggest challenge was getting all the tracks to sit well and balance with one another.

Special Mix Prep Notes

  • Clip gain: Adjusted every vocal region to around -18 dB RMS before any processing.
  • Melodyne: Used for both pitch correction and the sibilant tool.
  • Hardware Voxbox: Ran the lead vocal through my Manley Voxbox as a hardware insert.

Special Mixing Notes

  • Processing:
    • Vocal sections:
      • Verses: Dry, direct, and gritty with some distortion.
      • Post‑choruses: Variety of processing – distortion, tremolo/panning, granular synthesis (Omnisphere Granular engine on the “Not your supplicant” line), delay, chorus, and high & low pass filters.
      • Choruses: Brighter and more open with added ambience (reverb).
    • AMS DMX 15‑80 S: Modified “Vocal Doubler” preset – new to me and very effective.
    • Moog Multimode Filter: Used on post‑chorus vocals.
    • Black Box: On each group submaster (Drums, Bass, Synths, Vocals).
    • Drums:
      • 1176AE on parallel drum bus (“Parallel Drum Crush” preset)
      • Raw (“Super Charger” preset) on a drum bus send
    • Vocals (parallel compression):
      • 1176 Rev A into LA‑2A Silver on verse and post‑chorus vocal tracks
      • Fairchild 660 (“Lead Vocal Parallel” preset) on a send of the chorus vocal track
  • Reverb:
    • UA Lexicon 480L (“Dialog 2” preset)
    • Spitfire Audio Air Studios Reverb Essentials (“The Hall” preset) on chorus vocals
  • Mix Bus processing: Black Box (“16 Mix Bus 1” preset), SSL G Bus Compressor (modified Default setting), Fairchild 670 (Modified “Stereo Bus” preset), ATR‑102 (“Classic 250 Smooth Master” setting).

Special Mastering Notes

  • Target LUFS: -13 @ peak
  • Ozone settings:
    • Vintage Tape: “Clear Character” preset
    • Equalizer: Slight boost of +0.8 dB @ 11.227 kHz (Shelf)
    • Imager: 0‑152Hz = 0.0, 152Hz‑2.7kHz = 20.3, 2.7kHz‑12kHz = 30.0, 12kHz‑20kHz = 43
    • Vintage Compressor: “Smooth Opto” preset – threshold -18.6 dB, ratio 1.5:1, attack 28.6ms, release 46.9ms
    • Maximizer: IRC IV “Modern”, threshold -5.8 dB, ceiling -1.5 dB, Character 2.60
  • Dither: POW‑r #2 when converting from 24‑bit to 16‑bit.

Audio Examples

🎧 Granular processing on the “Not your supplicant” line – isolated track

🎧 Same section in context with all other tracks

PDF

  • 📄 Lyric sheet
Disintegration lyricsDownload

Identity is now available on all streaming platforms (such as Spotify), or you can also listen to it on Bandcamp.