Decoding Nine Vicious ‘Emotions’: What Defines His Signature Production?

What should you know about Decoding Nine Vicious ‘Emotions’: What Defines His Signature Production? Read our comprehensive breakdown in this feature article.

The melodies in Nine Vicious tracks convey isolation. Producers often build overly busy chord progressions, but Nine Vicious tracks use sparse two-chord patterns or repeating three-note motifs. Dark trap melodies here rely heavily on the Natural Minor (Aeolian) and Phrygian modes. Centering your root around D minor or C# minor yields the bleak harmonic weight heard throughout EMOTIONS.

To craft authentic ambient synth pads, look to sound selection VST presets inside Arturia Analog Lab, Serum, or Spectrasonics Omnisphere. Search for unstable analog strings, muffled choir pads, and CS-80 brass leads. Add pitch drifting to these patches. A subtle wow-and-flutter modulation via plugins like RC-20 Retro Color or tape emulations destabilizes the pitch just enough to feel worn down.

Avoid bright, pristine highs. Cut frequencies above 7 kHz on your main melodic pad using a steep 12 dB/octave low-pass filter. This dark frequency shelf carves out space for vocal textures while preventing melodic elements from competing with your hi-hat top end.