Aiden
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The Making of Future & Metro Boomin's 'TYPE SH!T' (FLP + STEMS + SF2)
🕑 Added 2024-11-28 12:02:48 +0000 UTC...and How To Spend Over 400 Hours on a Remake.
You can now access Soundfont (.SF2) files. These soundfonts will allow you to use all sounds from this remake, regardless of your DAW or the VSTs you own. Scroll down for access.
What’s up, guys!
Aiden here. Hope you’re all doing well.
I really appreciate your patience since my last post. I’ve been working hard on some exciting new projects, including our latest breakdown of Future and Metro Boomin’s Type Sh!t from their collaborative album WE DON’T TRUST YOU.
To keep the algorithm happy, I’ll be censoring the title and referring to it as Type Sh!t throughout this post.
Type Sh!t also features other major names in hip-hop like Travis Scott and Playboi Carti on vocals, along with Mike Dean and D. Rich on production.
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Tea Break ☕
Here’s a theory: I don’t think Metro Boomin played any role in producing Type Sh!t. After analyzing the track in detail, it’s clear he played more of a “DJ Khaled” role, curating the track by bringing in D. Rich and Mike Dean for production and Future, Travis Scott, and Playboi Carti for vocals.
In remaking the track, I’ve been able to attribute every element of the production to either D. Rich or Mike Dean. Their distinct styles and sounds dominate the track, leaving little evidence of Metro’s involvement.
This idea ties into something else I’ve been thinking about. In Drake’s track 'Push Ups', he calls out Metro with the line, “Metro shut your hoe ass up and make some drums.” It makes me wonder if Drake was hinting at the same thing I’ve noticed—Metro might be shifting toward a curator role rather than directly handling production.
It’s quite possible that Metro’s contribution here was more about vision and coordination than hands-on production. What do you think? Does this change how you see the track?
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A Remake Horror Story:
This remake is unprecedented for me. I’ve never spent more than 80 hours on a single remake, let alone over 400 hours on such a deep dive. The time and resources invested were crucial for my growth as a producer:
Expanded my sample library from 60,000 to over 260,000 samples.
Invested heavily into VSTs like Xpand!2, Purity, Calliope, and the latest collections from Korg, Roland, and Arturia.
Refined techniques for isolating, identifying, and synthesizing sounds, learning where and how to look for specific elements.
This remake is for a sponsored video set to release next week, and I’ve reinvested all sponsorship earnings into the project. If I started again today, it would take a fraction of the time. The process has elevated my skills, making songs like this firmly within my range. Every hour and dollar spent has been an investment in improving my work going forward.
Before we dive into it, how does one even spend 400 hours on a remake?
It comes down to a combination of perfectionism and an unwavering search for sounds that are nearly impossible to find.
Most weeks, I was putting in around 100 hours of work—spending more time remaking this song than not. Madness. The image below shows the number of projects created during this process:
The main project took a whopping 262 hours, with the other projects accounting for the rest. Here’s how I managed it:
When stuck on a single sound, I created a separate project to focus solely on that element.
This approach gave me a clean slate to experiment freely, reduced CPU strain, and kept my workflow (somewhat) organized.
Once a sound was perfected, I exported it back into the main project.
Every sound in this remake was its own unique and mysterious piece of the puzzle:
Incredibly rare D. Rich drums
Synths, arps, digital and analog brasses
808 layers, basses, tubular bells, and more…
This remake was a monster.
THE REMAKE
We have two separate sections in this track to discuss, each with its own unique instrumentation: “Part A” (Main Section) and “Part B” (Interlude). Type Sh!t follows an alternation structure (A-B-A-B-A), which is common across many genres, particularly in modern hip-hop.
Part A is highlighted in green, while Part B is purple.
PART A
DRUMS:
The drums in Type Sh!t are a mix of classic D. Rich samples, which have been tweaked in key ways. The clap and snare include several variations under the same name, but the exact samples are listed below:
Closed Hat: [Hat] Shawty Redd.wav—Offset 5%
Open Hat: [OpenHat] D Rich (Long).wav—Offset @2%
Short Hat: [Perc] Bankroll Fresh.wav
Percussion: [Perc] Triangle.wav—Offset 27%
Clap: [Clap] Maintain.wav
Snare: [Snare] D. Rich Generic.wav
Vox: Vox - Polo Chant.wav
In recreating these drums, I reached out to Polo Boy Shawty, a producer from Illinois who has worked with artists like Lil Uzi Vert and Chief Keef, and collaborated with D. Rich on the pack Gucci Mane In 06. Polo played a significant role in locating many of the exact drum samples for this remake. Thank you, Polo.
The snareclap was particularly challenging in this remake. I spent 85 hours comparing thousands of snares and claps to locate the original sounds.
I found many samples that closely resembled the original snareclap, but none were perfect. Some of the closest matches included:
Free Wop snare
Cardo-MADMANVANDAMN snare
But all of these samples fell short in one way or another.
I was confident the snareclap came from D. Rich, since he programmed the rest of the drums. So, I went all in:
Purchased every D. Rich kit I could find (even got scammed in the process).
Bought kits from producers in his circle.
When that didn’t work, I bought kits from producers who worked with others in his network.
While that might sound like a stretch, sharing kits is common in producer networks. By that point, I was too invested to settle for a sample that was just “close enough.”
Since this remake is a sponsored video on YouTube, I’ve already reinvested the entire sponsorship earnings into the project and these kits. It felt like a very Mr Beast move.
The image above shows the extracted snareclap sample from Type Sh!t, displayed through Fruity Parametric EQ 2.
A breakthrough came when I compared the original snareclap to the Out The Freezer snare from 1phoeniix & Venexxi’s 'Trapstash Vol. 1'. These producers appeared to be connected to others in D. Rich’s circle. As shown in the image above, this sample matched perfectly with the original’s spectral distribution—except it was missing any information above 16kHz. Weird.
So, I took a shot in the dark and Googled “D. Rich Out The Freezer.” To my surprise, I found the track Out The Freezer by Street Money Boochie, produced by D. Rich!
Here’s what happened:
The snareclap used in Out The Freezer is the exact same sample used in Type Sh!t. Both songs were produced by D. Rich, and he reused the same snareclap.
In the mastering of Out The Freezer, a brickwall low-pass filter was applied at 16kHz. This technique, commonly used in EDM, removes the highest frequencies to enhance clarity but can make mixes feel less full.
1phoeniix and Venexxi ripped this snareclap for their drumkit, but I didn’t use their version since it was a lower-quality, ripped sample. However, it confirmed my suspicion: the snareclap in Type Sh!t was indeed produced by D. Rich.
I’ll continue this story in the full breakdown on YouTube, but one thing’s for sure—that song Out The Freezer is a BANGER and an underrated gem.
808:
Remaking the 808 was one of the most challenging parts of this project. D. Rich has a vast collection of 808s, made by layering multiple 808s and adding effects like pitch automation and distortion to create a unique sound.
The image above depicts the pitch curve of the extracted Type Sh!t 808. As you can see, Melodyne has mapped a significant pitch bend in the sample, indicated by the pitch line.
Having a pronounced pitch envelope made the 808 stand out, as most 808's typically have a modest pitch bend at best.
This narrowed down the selection process to only a handful of 808s that had the same zero crossing alignment, where the waveforms line up consistently across the entire sample.
The best candidate with zero crossing alignment was, unsurprisingly, the D. Rich 808. This 808 is featured in other tracks he produced, like I Can’t Save You (Interlude) from Heroes and Villains. Its perfect alignment with the original strongly suggested the 808 in Type Sh!t was likely another D. Rich sample.
While the D. Rich 808 was sonically similar, it appeared to be a distorted version of the sample used in Type Sh!t. As shown in the image above, the distortion is evident in the sharper transitions and angularities of the waveform, compared to the smoother, undistorted signal of the original.
After days of searching for a sample that matched perfectly, I decided to recreate the 808 myself. This process started with a closer inspection of the Type Sh!t 808.
At the start of the sample, the Type Sh!t 808 displayed a strong presence in the low-mid frequencies, as shown in the image above.
Towards the end of the sample, the mid frequencies diminish, transitioning into a sub bass. The distinction between these two layers was essential in identifying both components.
After a long and tedious process of comparing 808 samples, I finally landed on a combination of the OG Spinz 808 and the Plugg Sub, using volume curves and pitch automation to replicate the characteristics of the original.
The final form matched perfectly.
TRIANGLE SUB:
This is where the plot thickens… The extracted bass stem I’ve been showing you was taken from the very end of the song. At every other point, the bass audio looked like this:
As shown above, the extracted bass appears warped throughout most of the song, likely due to interference from an auxiliary bass layer—a supportive layer that complements the primary bass, which in this case is the 808.
When analyzing the extracted bass audio in full, I identified points where the auxiliary bass layer played in isolation.
The image above shows the extracted bass audio during Playboi Carti’s verse, where the 808 cuts out at times, leaving only the auxiliary bass.
When analyzed through a visual EQ, I identified the auxiliary bass as an analog triangle sub, recognizable by its unique presence in the upper harmonics (see below.)
In my research on Type Sh!t, I discovered that Mike Dean not only mixed and mastered the track but also contributed additional production to the mix.
"Additional Production
D. Rich & MIKE DEAN"
Source: Genius Lyrics
I believe the triangle sub was added by Mike Dean in post-production for two reasons:
1. Its warm, analog sound aligns with Dean’s use of hardware synths, adding texture and movement to the bass.
2. D. Rich’s production style typically avoids overcomplicating mixes by layering additional basses on the 808. His approach focuses on clarity and simplicity, making it unlikely he introduced this element.
This layered bass feels like a deliberate choice by Dean to add grittiness and low-end movement to the mix.
Mike Dean is well-known for his use of hardware synths, particularly Moog synths, to craft analog bass sounds. To replicate this, I recreated the triangle sub using Arturia’s Mini V4—a VST modeled on the Minimoog. This patch perfectly captured the auxiliary bass layer.
TUBULAR BELLS:
The tubular bell melody is the centerpiece of Type Sh!t. This signature sound was as hard to find as it was essential to this remake.
Fortunately, the bells had distinct spectral and imaging characteristics, which I thought would narrow down the possible candidates (or so I thought…).
Above is a vectorscope, showing how the tubular bells move through the stereo field. The straight line represents the bells playing in mono, while the oscillation from left to right indicates panning modulation. The consistent rate of oscillation suggests it’s driven by a triangle LFO.
Based on this, creating the bell likely required a plugin capable of:
Mono bell presets
Panning modulation options
Customizable LFOs
This ruled out VSTs like Nexus, Xpand!2, and FLEX, leading me toward more expansive, modular plugins like Omnisphere.
I reviewed Omnisphere’s Bells and Vibes category—hundreds of presets. Nothing. The same went for Analog Lab V, Philharmonik, and all stock FL Studio instrument plugins.
I even revisited the VSTs I’d already disqualified (Nexus, Xpand!2, FLEX)—still no match. While I found many bells, including some tubular ones, none matched the original.
This long, soul-crushing search did have one silver lining: I was absolutely certain that I didn’t have the plugin. 💀
Let's take a step back. D. Rich is based in Atlanta, the birthplace of plugg music. He works closely with the plugg scene, and his production has likely been influenced by it.
This realization led me to try the notorious plugg VST, Purity. After loading it up, I found the closest match yet.
The Digi Tubular preset was remarkably close to the original. Every other bell I tested had a different timbre profile, or “spectral fingerprint.”
However, this preset was in mono and shared the exact timbre profile of the original.
Tubular bells have unique spectral fingerprints compared to other instruments due to how their shape and material affect their vibrations.
Unlike most instruments that produce clear harmonic tones, the vibrations of tubular bells create partials (frequencies above the fundamental) that are unevenly spaced. This gives them their inharmonic sound and distinct character.
It’s highly unlikely that two unique tubular bell patches would share the same spectral fingerprint.
This would have been a slam dunk for me—if Purity hadn’t baked white noise directly into the Digi Tubular preset.
My theory:
The spectral fingerprints of the Digi Tubular preset and the Type Sh!t tubular bell match perfectly.
Given the inharmonic nature of tubular bells, this is highly unlikely to be a coincidence. It strongly suggests they were derived from the same source.
This raises the question: what was the origin of the Digi Tubular preset? I turned to Purity’s user manual, which describes its sounds as:
"based on well-sampled PCM wave data including a lot of sound of hardware workstations, sound modules, drum machines, vintage analog synths and even modern digital synths."
Source: PURITY User Manual
Given this, it’s likely that the developers of Purity sampled the same sound source used in Type Sh!t, but added white noise to avoid potential copyright issues.
Purity’s developers have kept the exact sources of its sounds a closely guarded secret. However, their reference to sampling hardware synths, combined with the fact that Purity was released in 2004, significantly narrowed down the pool of possible sources.
This revelation brought me closer than ever to uncovering the true origin of the Type Sh!t tubular bell.
To ensure my next purchase contained the bell, I searched through my older sample libraries.
Out of thousands of bell one-shots, only two matched the spectral fingerprint:
KILL BELL (11)
BWB DIRECTWAVE2 BELL (2)
Both samples were mono, but the DIRECTWAVE2 sample also featured the same panning modulation as the Type Sh!t bell.
Confident I was close, I reached out to BWB on Instagram to uncover the origin:
BWB confirmed that the DIRECTWAVE2 bell originated from a tubular bell soundfont.
With this lead, I searched databases like Musical Artifacts, downloading and analyzing all the SF2 files containing tubular bell patches.
During this process, the name Korg repeatedly surfaced. When I opened a Korg AG-10 SF2, I discovered another perfect spectral match to the Type Sh!t bell.
This led me to investigate Korg’s digital product line further, eventually uncovering the Korg Triton Extreme VST.
Among its presets was EXP TubularBells—a name I had encountered on a list of presets reportedly used by D. Rich.
When I loaded the preset, it was a perfect match in both tonal character and spectral fingerprint, confirming it as the original source of the Type Sh!t tubular bell.
BELL PAD:
The bell pad served as a secondary layer in the instrumental. It was a subtle element, making it harder to pinpoint, even after extracting the instruments.
One effective trick for isolating wide elements like pads is to focus on the side channel. Pads often occupy the stereo field, with much of their sound residing in the sides rather than the center.
You can use a plugin like Fruity Stereo Shaper on the master channel to isolate the side signal, making it easier to pinpoint subtle pad layers like this.
After an extensive search, I finally located the original preset: Roland’s JV-1080, the 074 Heavenals Bell.
Finding this preset was a nightmare. Imagine trying to track down a specific bell sound from a plugin you don’t even own. It’s like searching for a needle in a haystack, without even owning the haystack.
That said, I was starting to get a feel for D. Rich’s preferences. He loves Roland plugins, almost as much as he loves Korg plugins.
HIGH SYNTH:
Speaking of Korg, we’re now entering the stage where D. Rich couldn’t help but use the Korg Triton for nearly every sound.
Midway through Part A, a high pad appears, playing a dark, descending line.
In technical terms, this can be described as a rolling, descending motif.
This pattern is fairly common in hip-hop, which often favors simple, highly repetitive ideas like this. Definitely a nice touch to develop the instrumental.
The exact preset is found in the Triton Extreme: MassiveKillerPad, converted to mono on the mixer.
BIG BRASS:
Alongside the high synth, a heavy brass shot enters midway through Part A, adding depth and development to the arrangement.
The Triton Extreme boasts a wide array of brass presets, but the TrueStereoBrass stood out immediately.
Its spectral and imaging profile matched the original sound almost perfectly.
While most presets required little to no processing, the brass had an overly heavy low end.
To address this, I used RC-20 to tighten the bass and enhance the tone, allowing it to sit better in the mix.
The final result is a powerful brass shot that enhances the mix without overpowering or impeding it.
PART B
Now, let’s dive into the second half of Type Sh!t. This section leans heavily into Mike Dean’s style, featuring modular pads, arps, and basses crafted on hardware synths like the Moog and Juno. Meanwhile, foundational elements such as the choir and analog brass still feel like D. Rich’s work, reflecting his affinity for the Korg Triton.
To maintain continuity, some elements from Part A, like the drums and high synth, return to keep the two sections connected.
Every sound in this section was meticulously chosen and confirmed as an exact match with the original track. Since the hardware synths used by Mike Dean don’t rely on factory presets, the sounds were recreated by carefully matching their unique settings with software counterparts.
CHOIR:
When Travis Scott takes over on vocals, the track shifts to a more cinematic vibe that reminds me of the outro in Highest In The Room.
The first element I identified was a rich yet unobtrusive choir. While it wasn’t “loud” in a technical sense, it had a naturally strong presence in the mix.
The exact sound comes from the Triton Extreme’s The Choir preset.
The The Choir preset provides a solid foundation for the interlude and aligns seamlessly with the new chord progression.
The piano roll illustrates how the choir part evolves over time, starting with simple triads before spilling into the upper octaves. This progression adds a sense of tension-building to the interlude.
ANALOG BRASS:
The analog brass comes in with the choir, reinforcing the chord progression. The exact preset used here is the Triton Extreme’s ‘Bright Tuba’.
The brass adds warmth and depth to the mix, filling out the low-mid section.
The piano roll shows how the analog brass mirrors the choir’s chord progression, focusing on simple, sustained notes in the lower register, grounding the mix and balancing the choir.
STEREO BASS:
Throughout Part B, a stereo bass plays continuously, crafted by Mike Dean. This sound resembles a Reese bass, with detuned oscillators creating its wide stereo spread.
The bass was built using a main saw oscillator and two triangle oscillators pitched +1 and +2 octaves, resulting in a thick, dark bass.
The image above shows the Mini V4 interface, displaying the oscillator settings that shape the stereo bass.
The second image provides a close-up view of the extracted bass waveform. The width of the waveform demonstrates that the original bass played in stereo, created by the detuned layers in the Moog patch.
SYNTH BRASS:
To bolster the analog brass, Mike Dean added a resonant synth brass layer on the Juno, which I recreated on the JUNO-106 VST by modifying the PD PolyBrass preset.
I created multiple variations of this preset with different cutoff envelopes. The long attacks and decays in the filter create an undulating effect, making the sound feel alive and breathing. This technique can be highly effective in adding life to your mixes.
ARPEGGIATOR:
The detuned synth arp is another contribution from Mike Dean. It likely originates from a microKORG, or perhaps the exact microKORG VST used here, as the preset required minimal tweaking to match the original.
Starting with the “Electronica” program, the saw oscillators were fine-tuned to +9 and -9 cents to replicate the sound.
The arp plays a chaotic melody, deviating from any consistent pattern and playing at irregular speeds, suggesting it was performed manually by Mike Dean.
This complexity made programming the MIDI especially challenging, as each note had to be entered manually.
Recreating this MIDI took me two full days because the arp was buried under multiple layers, with vocals masking it using side-chain compression. Additionally, the tail and added reverb in the original audio caused MIDI analysis tools like Melodyne and RipX to mistake it for a sustained pad synth.
Even after using advanced stem-extraction tools, side channel isolation, and EQ enhancement, the arp remained a diaphanous cloud of noise.
This left me with no choice but to program it manually—not ideal.
SFX:
Phew, okay. Onto the last sound. Shoutout to you if you’ve read this far. You’re a real music nerd, and I respect your grind.
This is another Roland preset that I suspect came from D. Rich. It’s from Zenology, a modified Reso Bs 21 preset.
I needed the sound to focus solely on the resonant sweep, so I added RC-20 for a strong high-pass filter and to lift the tone.
The final result matched perfectly.
Summary:
So back to the initial question: How does one spend 400 hours on a single remake?
Truth is, two months ago, I didn’t have the skills to remake this song. I lacked every plugin and sample used in the original, and uncovering a single sound meant painstakingly analyzing every plugin I owned—only to realise I didn’t have the right one. Finding even one sound in a day felt like a major success. Most days, all I discovered was where a sound wasn’t, leaving me with more questions than answers.
Wrapping up this project has been a big relief for me. While I’ve loved breaking the song down and uncovering its secrets, it’s been frustrating to have my output come to a standstill. That said, with these new techniques and plenty of other projects underway, I plan to release more content rapid-fire after the video version of this drops.
The breakdown above only scratches the surface of all the moving parts in the project. For a deeper dive, explore the attached project files and stems below. For a quick and compatible option, you can load the SF2 files into FL’s Soundfont Player or use DirectWave for more advanced editing.
I hope you enjoyed this breakdown—video coming next!
Thank you for your support. You make this crazy job possible.
All the best,
Aiden
Comments
Chase Williams
still waiting for the video...
Lewis Thompson
Super impressive man! Can't wait for the vid
Aiden
Appreciate it! I don’t have a set day, but working on that now and will be out asap.
Lit408
Great remake bro. Just wondering when the video will be out
