Subtronics has a complex relationship with studio monitors: “I’m superstitious. Every speaker sounds a little bit different”When I visited Subtronics’ studio in his new home perched on a rolling peak of the Hollywood Hills, I expected to see hundreds of dancing lights and colourful knobs primed for the kind of eclectic, intense sound design that fuels his aggressive and diverse interpretation of dubstep.
Instead, the only studio gear was his MacBook Pro and two PMC Micro Main 27 monitors. His computer is suitably stocked with plugins, but for Subtronics, real name Jesse Kardon, the speakers and a properly tuned room are the most important aspects of his creative process.

READ MORE: Kelly Moran on prepared pianos, the Prophet 12, and why compression is overrated

“I’m superstitious. Every speaker sounds a little bit different. When I use my ears following one pair of speakers, that mixdown sounds universally one way. Then I use my ears on a different pair of speakers, that mixdown sounds far better or far worse,” Kardon says. “So it really is about trying to find the pair of speakers that when I use my ears and tune it to how those particular things sound, I get a better mixdown overall. Especially when working with such detailed music where there’s such fine-tuned, tiny little things, really good speakers can help you hear all of it, and I get hyper-obsessed.”
Kardon released his new album, Fibonacci, in two parts, each made on different monitors. The first part, Oblivion, was made almost entirely on Barefoot Footprint01s, which are the same speakers he’s used for the bulk of his catalogue. This part largely consists of his celebrated heavy dubstep sound, captured by tracks such as Lock In and Oblivion.
Image: OhDagYo
Kardon made part two, Infinity, which completed the album on 5 December, with PMC MB2S XBDs. Given that those speakers sell second-hand for $18,495 on Reverb, he describes them as such:
“They are unlike anything I’ve ever heard in my life. They are four or five tiers above what I was used to.”
The PMCs were recommended by an acoustician and mastering engineer named Matt Davis. He also helped Kardon tune his Philadelphia studio to achieve a “hideously flat response curve” that reaches down to 17Hz.
“[You can hear] the most unbelievably minute things that the audience would never in a trillion years pick up on,” Kardon says. “Like the low-end attenuating speed: how quickly it can make a low-end thump happen and disappear.”
Image: OhDagYo
With the ability to deduce all those intricate details, Kardon’s intention for Infinity shifted subconsciously towards more subtle music. Songs such as Antidote and Contour begin with extended instrumental or vocal passages that build into deep, minimalistic drops or beat patterns primed for dancing rather than raging.
“My usual insanely, punchy, harsh, intense kick drums— I could hear all their imperfections all of a sudden. They sounded blown out, real squashed, and I wasn’t particularly happy with them,” Kardon admits. He adds that the shift in audio quality has such a strong effect on the final product because he approaches every song as a blank canvas; he experiments with sounds and follows what interests him in the moment. Or, as he puts it: “I’m just goofing around. I try and follow that lead and develop it into whatever it sounds like it needs to be. So, doing that on those speakers led me to a different result.”
Other than the influence of the tech, the musical dichotomy befits Kardon’s intent with the two-part album: to create a project that demonstrates evolution. Kardon has undergone considerable evolution both personally and professionally over the last few years.
He married his longtime partner, Sonya Broner, who is also a bass artist, releasing and performing as Level Up. His touring profile has developed to where the week of the album release, he plays six shows at the illustrious Los Angeles venue The Shrine (when we speak, five of them were sold out). He has a new home in LA after living much of his life in Philadelphia (he still feels he cosmically belongs there, and the only reason he didn’t bring the PMCs was that they’re each almost six feet tall and weigh nearly 200 pounds).
Image: OhDagYo
Kardon acknowledges his fortunate position to be able to afford such speakers. But another core element of evolution on this album — especially Infinity — is his courage to take more risks with his music. In this case, that meant focusing less on showing off technically and being more honest with his feelings.
“I really wanted to write songs that hit you on an emotional level. I’ve always tried to do that, but I’m putting the most effort into it that I ever have,” Kardon shares. In that pursuit, he had to work through the severe pressure of what his audience of millions may want from him after so many years. “I was specifically ignoring what’s popular, but I really like it, and I had so much fun making it. It feels freeing to not give a fuck.”
He broke through external expectations for his sound, but Infinity is still filled with his production hallmarks. On the title track, right when the drop takes a hard left turn from house to dubstep, he throws in one of his hallmarks: a frequency-shifting fill that places obscure, disparate sounds together in a way that somehow just works.

“There are a bunch of different concepts and principles that make a sequence of sounds satisfying to the brain,” Kardon says enthusiastically. “One thing I go by is ‘loud, quiet, loud.’ It’s just so effective. The other thing is spanning the frequency spectrum. You want to scatter it all over the place so it becomes dazzling, and then it all comes back together. It’s harnessing the dynamics and the power of juxtaposition.”
When it comes to creating the various sounds at the different frequencies and volumes, he often experiments with stock Ableton plugins. Despite his reverence for his five-figure monitors, he willfully admits many of his best songs have been made on laptop speakers with stock plugins. Black Ice, his collaboration with REZZ, was little more than a square wave squashed by Xfer’s OTT and the same drums he employs throughout his discography.
“It was so minimal effort. It’s just the idea was a good idea, and it was executed simply enough. There wasn’t bullshit getting in the way. I wasn’t overcomplicating it. I wasn’t overthinking it,” Kardon recalls.

Subtronics has always stood on the soapbox for not needing expensive gear to write good music. “Facebook ads saying ‘You just need this one thing’ are scams. It makes me so sad because there are so many aspiring producers who get tricked. Early on, I saw ads for VSTs, and I thought, ‘I suck, and if I buy that, I won’t anymore.’ That’s just not how it works.”
Kardon is still getting used to the PMC Micro Main 27s in his new studio, but whenever he releases a new song, whether it’s a headbanger’s dream or something more heartfelt, there’s a strong chance any producer with a MacBook and a DAW has all the same tools in hand.
The post Subtronics has a complex relationship with studio monitors: “I’m superstitious. Every speaker sounds a little bit different” appeared first on MusicTech.