How to make music that sounds like Bicep in Ableton Live

Want to capture Bicep’s signature sound? Use modulation to create organic movement in your tracks.

This guide shows how to recreate Bicep’s distinctive feel in Ableton Live using three simple sound design tricks that require no complex setup.

Key Techniques to Sound Like Bicep

• Use Envelope Follower to map groove to synth filters

• Gate vocal samples with sidechained hi-hats for rhythm

• Modulate attack and portamento with LFOs for breathing leads

• Layer groove from analogue drum loops for a natural feel

• Prioritise movement over rigid timing

What Makes Bicep's Music Feel So Alive?

Bicep’s tracks have subtle, shifting movement. The magic comes from their use of modulation, groove and reactive processing, not just melodies or sound choice.

How Can You Use Envelope Follower to Add Groove?

Let one sound modulate another for dynamic results.
Apply Ableton’s Envelope Follower to an analogue drum loop. Mute the track, then map its movement to a synth's filter cutoff.

• Load a drum loop

• Add Envelope Follower and mute the track

• Map modulation to the synth’s filter cutoff

• Adjust the gain for the right feel

The filter pulses in time with the groove of the drum loop, giving your sound natural motion.

How Do Bicep Chop Vocals Without Slicing?

Use a noise gate triggered by a groovy hi-hat sample.
Rather than slicing samples manually, Bicep sidechains a 909 hi-hat sample to a noise gate on their vocals.

• Insert a noise gate on the vocal

• Sidechain with a swung hi-hat sample

• Adjust attack, hold and release for the right rhythm

The vocal opens and closes rhythmically, driven by the hi-hat pattern.

How Can You Make a Lead Synth Sound Like It's Breathing?

Modulate the synth’s attack and portamento with LFOs.
This technique mimics the movement of Bicep's leads, such as in the track Atlas.

• Map an LFO to the synth’s attack

• Map another to portamento

• Use slow, unsynced rates for variation

• Adjust depth for subtle motion

The result is a synth line that moves naturally, shifting between plucky and sliding notes.

Why Do These Techniques Work So Well?

They create movement and groove that evolves. Instead of everything being grid-locked, these techniques introduce variation, timing and feel that reflect the emotion behind the music.

Top 5 FAQs About Bicep’s Music Production in Ableton Live

1. How do Bicep use Ableton Live in their production process?
Ableton Live is the core of Bicep’s setup. They use it to record, sequence and arrange their hardware jams. All their synths and drum machines are routed through a large audio interface into Ableton, which acts like a multitrack recorder. It also handles MIDI sequencing and sample playback, both in the studio and during live shows.

2. What is Bicep’s typical production workflow?
They begin with hardware jams, looking for a strong musical idea or mood. Once they find something that feels right, they build a simple loop and expand it using just a few key elements. They focus on emotional impact, keep things minimal and refine tracks slowly over time until they still feel exciting after a break.

3. How do Bicep approach sound design for drums, pads and samples?
Bicep uses analogue drum machines and plays beats live on an MPC to keep the rhythm loose and human. For pads and textures, they sample sounds from cheap keyboards or old records and process them with pedals and filters. They treat samples like instruments, carefully shaping them until they sit perfectly in the track.

4. What hardware, effects and plugins do Bicep use?
Their studio is a mix of classic gear like the TR 808 and SH 101 with a few smart plugin choices like Valhalla reverb and Soothe2. They use pedals and modular filters for colour and rely on Ableton’s built-in tools to tie it all together. They also build custom Max for Live devices to help spark new ideas.

5. What is Bicep’s mindset when building tracks?
They focus on the emotional feel of a track rather than technical perfection. If something doesn’t feel right, they move on or try a new direction. They take their time, trust the process and avoid overthinking. Both members have to be fully into the idea for it to move forward.

Final Takeaway: Movement Is the Message

To sound like Bicep, don’t quantise everything. Let modulation and timing shape your tracks. These three techniques, Envelope Follower, gated samples and modulated synths, bring that breathing, reactive quality into your music.