How to Make Industrial Screeches

Another level of screeches is getting a lot of chaos in there, and I use both chaos options for that. First Lorenz, in Hz, very fast, 10x, so it runs at 1000 Hz, and I assign the X to both coarse pitches. Then I put LFO 2 on Rossler, Hz, 100 times 10, so also 1000 Hz, and assign its X to global main tuning. Make sure it's bipolar.

Now I assign macro one to all of these aux sources, and I can go from zero chaos to a lot.

A lot of distortion is what really makes them powerful. Hard clip, drive all the way. I have mine saved as a default preset so it always loads up like this. Then I add it again, with an equalizer in between to roll off the highs a bit.

Distortion generates overtones, extra harmonics. If you already have a lot of highs and then you distort it more, you just get an extremely bright high end. It gets almost too noisy.

This is a trick in Serum 2 that I haven't seen anyone else do yet. Add the reverb on Hall and set the size and decay. Then automate the mix by active voices, take it down and change the curve. Now it's not playing the mix when I'm playing a note, and once I release the note it opens up the reverb. Change the rise and fall of the source and you get a reverse ducking reverb effect. It leaves room for the dry sound and then opens up afterwards. The speed is basically the rise.

To enhance this effect, add a compressor on Single. I really like the factory 1176 Punch preset without gain, with the threshold down more. Then another compressor on multiband, threshold down, and add below for that upwards compression. Make sure it's not doing the lows too much. I change the crossover so anything below 240 isn't getting upwards compressed as much.

For that maximum destruction vibe, add harmonic content. The first way is a bell curve on a frequency, to add a little bit of tonality. It's very common to get a very chaotic screech that doesn't sound like much. Boost it in front of the distortion and you get that extremely raw effect. It's literally just that. Then a bit of a pitch envelope on the coarse pitch of both makes a huge difference.

You can enhance the tonality more with a filter in front of the first distortion. I have mine on a phaser and add drive, automated with the same envelope that goes to the pitch. Or try the new Comb 2 filter in Serum 2 with resonance and the frequency up. Just don't use too much resonance with the cutoff too low, or the combs ring out.