{"id":38248,"date":"2025-10-23T15:51:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T19:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/?p=38248"},"modified":"2025-10-23T16:06:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T20:06:17","slug":"nest-acoustics-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/nest-acoustics-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"NEST Acoustics on sound design in Serum, the meaning of making music, and more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEST Acoustics is a sound design expert, content creator, and plugin developer who’s known for his ability to make Serum come alive.<\/strong><\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

He’s also known for NEST Academy,<\/a> his platform that brings production courses, community engagement, and production resources directly to those who are eager to elevate their sound design chops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In celebration of the release of his Serum Presets Vol. 1<\/a><\/em> pack, we had the opportunity to sit down with NEST Acoustics for an exclusive interview to get insights into his sound design approach in Serum,<\/a> perspectives on artistry, and more\u2014read on for highlights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explore Serum 2 presets crafted by leading sound designers and producers on Splice.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Serum sound design tips from NEST Acoustics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What do you like most about using Serum?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

NEST Acoustics:<\/strong> What I love about Serum is that it has this old-school ’00s software feel of exposing the most ridiculously technical functionality within a user-friendly environment\u2014it\u2019s not simply a raw ‘make-it-yourself’ platform, but it\u2019s also not a hyper-modern streamlined presentation. I halfway expect clippy to pop up to give me hints on what to type into the wavetable math function input bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The end result is that it\u2019s insanely fast to get wonderfully characterful sounds, but it’s also fully capable for tweaking and fine-tuning anything you could imagine. It’s creatively lubricated and<\/em> detail oriented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s the best way for a beginner to start using Serum?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I would say start by pulling the sustain down on Envelope 2 (so it\u2019s not the primary amplitude envelope), and then experiment with modulating anything you can imagine: warp modes, FM amounts, filter settings, wavetable position, pitch, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You don’t necessarily need or want to stack all the modulations at once, but just swap them out or play around with combinations\u2014hearing a nice one-second decay on a parameter allows you to really feel its impact in a dynamic context rather than just turning a knob and hearing it sit still.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Synths come alive when parameters are changing. You almost never just leave something static; it\u2019s the journey from point A to point B that creates the identity and makes you go, \u201cHow in the world did this start out as a simple saw or sine wave?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are some of the most overlooked or creative ways to use Serum?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In terms of overlooked, using the insert FX version of Serum is so outrageously slept on. If you load Serum FX as a MIDI-controlled effect, you can run your external audio in to cross-modulate with the entirety of Serum\u2014it’s fully MIDI controllable, so we\u2019re talking things like key-tracked comb filters on your snare drum or FM-ing a sine wave via a vocal. Plus, with Serum\u2019s full modulation matrix, the possibilities are endless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are some of your favorite Serum presets, made by yourself or others?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Ironically, I\u2019m terrible at remembering my own presets, so it\u2019s almost always easier for me to just sketch a new sound from scratch quickly. The presets I share are in-session sounds that I’ve later refined, polished, and bottled up. It\u2019s nice because almost all of my presets are born out of real-life production sessions, so there\u2019s a real sense of usability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, one preset of mine that I always remember and love is Heartware.<\/a> I don\u2019t know what happened there, but it just speaks so deeply to me and makes everything sound like a great idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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NEST Acoustics on artistry and community<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You have a very colorful sound as an artist\u2014can you tell us about your influences?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

My influences are a broad canopy that I would say are tentpoled by J\u00f3nsi (Sigur R\u00f3s), M83, and Skrillex. My sonic philosophy is something along the lines of asking myself, \u201cHow can I apply the nerdiest bass music sound design techniques in a way that someone like Jim-E Stack would use?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n