Producing Songs I’ve Never Heard: Nice To Each Other by Olivia Dean [EPISODE 12]
Dreamy pop meets accidental club guitar? Let’s find out
For the first time in this series, I’m working with a song by an artist I’ve never listened to before. This week’s challenge is Olivia Dean’s song Nice To Each Other. I keep seeing everyone using this song on TikTok (I’ve kept it muted of course for the sake of this challenge) and when I did a poll on my channel a couple weeks ago asking which songs people were interested in, this was the clear winner. So here we are: fully diving into the unknown this week.
On first listen, the vocal felt like a straightforward, dreamy pop topline, but Olivia’s voice has these jazzy, blues-tinged textures that immediately stood out. There’s a bit of Kimbra in her delivery - subtle, soulful, and full of character.
🎤 Here’s the acapella if you want to play along and hear what I heard first:
With that in mind, I went with the Splice pack: Serum 2 Neon Pop Patches by Sample Magic when I saw it recommended on the Splice homepage. This pack was mostly Serum 2 presets, so I ended up taking my drum samples from sounds I already had in my library.
I started with a bassline to lay the foundation and mapped out how I thought the sections should flow. From there, I added a pad and some plucks, I wanted something to give it dimension without overpowering the vocal.
But I still felt like something was missing. Then I remembered a guitar preset I saw in the pack and gave it a try. As soon as I started playing with it, the whole production opened up. Was it giving Black Eyed Peas – I Gotta Feeling? Maybe. Was that a good or bad move? I’ll let you decide.
Either way, it lifted the vocal in a way that felt right, so I leaned into it and let it become a defining part of the production.
🎧 Haven’t heard the original yet? Check it out here:
I was not expecting what I heard when I finally listened to the original version. It was way more stripped-down and organic than I imagined - just guitars, drums, and bass. Super laid-back and intimate, which gave Olivia’s voice all the room to shine.
Interestingly, even though the vibe was totally different, I wasn’t completely off in choosing a guitar as a central element. It just turned out that mine was club-coded and theirs was more cozy-bedroom-pop.
What did you guys think of the track? Had you seen this one going around TikTok too?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
🔎 Looking for more?
Find all previous episodes in this series here
Stream my orignal music: https://spoti.fi/4jFkl9y
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