Produce Flume-Style Beats with Sample Focus Sounds

Want to make beats that sound like Flume? You should start by experimenting more.

Flume’s production style is based on resampling, layering, glitchy textures, and heavy processing. That comes down to testing and experimenting – over and over again.

If you've ever wanted to make a track inspired by his signature sound, our latest Sample Focus YouTube video (watch here) takes you through the entire process in Ableton Live, using free sounds from Sample Focus.

In this blog, we’ll break down key takeaways from the video.

This will show you:

✅ Crafting metallic snares like Flume and SOPHIE
✅ Building lush chords and basslines
✅ Processing vocal chops for a warped effect
✅ Creating an epic drop with glitches and silence

Step 1: Metallic Snares – The Flume & SOPHIE Influence

Flume’s sound often features sharp, metallic snares, which were also a signature of the late SOPHIE. Here’s how to achieve that effect:

1. Start with a clean snare sample – We used a vintage Roland snare from Sample Focus.
2. Apply a flanger – Set a very short delay time and high feedback to give it a metallic resonance.
3. Add a grain delay – Use random pitch modulation to create that glitchy, unstable sound.
4. Layer with a reverb – A long-tailed hybrid reverb adds depth and space.
5. Resample and tweak – Once processed, resample the snare and adjust the attack/release to fit your groove.

🔥 Pro Tip: If you don’t want to design snares from scratch, Sample Focus has a huge collection of metallic drum hits you can layer and tweak.

Step 2: Crafting Chords & Bass for a Lush Sound

Flume’s music often features warm, detuned chords with a slightly off-grid feel. Here’s how we built ours:

• Chord Progression:
  • Used Ableton’s Wavetable synth with a soft pad preset.
  • Chords: F# - A# - F (but feel free to experiment).
  • Pan layers left and right for a wider sound.
• Bassline:
  • Took the root notes of the chords and assigned them to a resampled Reese bass.
  • Used OTT compression to bring out harmonics and make it feel bigger.

Step 3: Vocal Chops – The Warped, Formant-Shifted Sound

Flume is known for his pitched, stretched, and modulated vocals. Here’s how we processed them:

1. Start with a vocal sample – We grabbed an acapella from Sample Focus.
2. Pitch shift – Lowered it by 3 semitones for a deeper tone.
3. Warp Mode: Texture – This preserves time-stretching artifacts, giving it a grainy effect.
4. Formant shifting – Use Auto Shift in Ableton 12.1 to move formants dynamically.
5. Add reverb & delay – Automated hybrid reverb and spectral time delay for movement.

Step 4: Buildup & Drop – Dynamic Tension

Flume’s drops feel unexpected yet highly structured. The trick? Contrast, silence, and glitchy textures.

1. Buildup:
   • Used a high-pass filter sweep on the vocals.
   • Gradually increased white noise and reverb to create tension.
   • Added an autopan with an increasing rate to create a rhythmic stutter effect.
2. Drop Elements:
   • Metallic snares from Sample Focus layered with glitchy percussion.
   • Resampled synth chords played at double speed for a jumpy, energetic feel.
   • A sudden break in the beat (silence) right before the main section hits.

🎛 Key Effect: Spectral Time Delay – This effect creates an evolving, time-stretched decay that gives the drop a dreamy, stretched feel.

Final Words

This project wasn’t about copying Flume’s exact style—instead, it was about understanding his sound design techniques and applying them in new ways.

• Experiment with resampling – Chop up your own sounds, reverse them, and pitch shift freely.
• Use Sample Focus – It’s a great resource for rare sounds without spending hours designing from scratch.
• Embrace imperfection – Flume’s style thrives on unexpected textures and raw, unpolished sound design.

Watch the full Flume-style beat breakdown on our YouTube channel (click here) and try these techniques in your own productions.