Looking for 90's eurodance sounds / techniques

[living sounds]

All the early trance synths if where talking late 90'ies early 2000 2001 would of been the Novation supernova a favourite with the likes of ferry corsten jp8000 and probably the early nordleads and virus classic

That's not early trance, that's the sellout period you're talking about.

[TIMT]

That's not early trance, that's the sellout period you're talking about.

Different strokes for different folks

[living sounds]

Different strokes for different folks

Maybe, but "early trance" happened in the early 90s, the pre-supersaw era.

(the good stuff. )

[10cypher]

yeah. Imho massive eurodance (we called it DANCEFLOOR) era was mainly 1993-1996.
projects like for example MasterBoy, Maxx, Mr President, E-type, Capella, Fun Factory, Pharao, Imperio, etc.

I am talking about saw and pulse leads like those in songs:
Feel the heat of the night (by MasterBoy)
Pain (by Fun Factory)
There is a star (by Pharao)
Set the world on fire(by E-type)
Veni vidi vici (by Imperio) and others from that genre and era

[10cypher]

really does not someone have "first hand" infos about the gear that was used for the main lead sounds (sawtooth, pulse likes) by popular dancefloor (eurodance) producers in the middle of nineties? Roland JD800 or 990? Brand new (at that time) JV-1080? Or older romplers like D50 and D110? or something different?

Any specific examples for the songs? In many cases they used analog synths for this kind of thing, Roland especially. Lead sounds is not what Romplers are best at.

the songs (leads) I mentioned above doesnt sound very analog to my ears.
Did you mean Roland analogs like Juno alpha and 106? IMHO these were used in earlier house-dance tracks like those from Technotronic, Dr Alban,a so. or do you have another infos? thanks

[living sounds]

yeah. Imho massive eurodance (we called it DANCEFLOOR) era was mainly 1993-1996.
projects like for example MasterBoy, Maxx, Mr President, E-type, Capella, Fun Factory, Pharao, Imperio, etc.

I am talking about saw and pulse leads like those in songs:
Feel the heat of the night (by MasterBoy)
Pain (by Fun Factory)
There is a star (by Pharao)
Set the world on fire(by E-type)
Veni vidi vici (by Imperio) and others from that genre and era

Pharao use samples, could be a rompler, but I'd rather guess it was a sampler.

Listening to these tracks, they probably quite often layered a sampled/rompler sound with an analog synth.


In many cases older Yamaha FM-synths is something I'd try as well.

I never even tried out sawtooth leads on my JD990, but it might actually be capable of a passable impression. Still, if I were to try and recreate these sounds my first choice would be an analog synth of the Roland brand. It has a nice alive quality and will cut through the mix.

But why would you want to recreate this cheesy stuff?

[joansanmiguelmoragas]

Well, i can't imagine that the eurodance kick sound from late 1993 to 1996 was made of a 909!They sound totally different!
There was a very typical kick sound , that you can listen to it in:
"The Summer Is Magic/PLAYAHITTY/1994"
"Tonight/KRISS/1996"
"Why Lover Why/JOHN WESLEY/1996"
"Give It Up/SENSITY WORLD/1995"
Where did this kick sound come from? Only listening to it, you can say that a certain song was made between 1993 and 1997. Which preset of which syntesizer came this sound from? It can't come from roland 909!
On the other hand, i'd be glad to know which was the sound that made the eurobeat song "Smile/NEW LIMIT/1994" so famous. I've seen one videoclip of the song "Scream/NEW LIMIT/1995" (which uses exactly the same lead sound) and the keyboardist is playing a KORG, but i can't identify it . Could anyone tell me which korg could that be?

[living sounds]

Well, i can't imagine that the eurodance kick sound from late 1993 to 1996 was made of a 909!They sound totally different!
There was a very typical kick sound , that you can listen to it in:
"The Summer Is Magic/PLAYAHITTY/1994"
"Tonight/KRISS/1996"
"Why Lover Why/JOHN WESLEY/1996"
"Give It Up/SENSITY WORLD/1995"
Where did this kick sound come from? Only listening to it, you can say that a certain song was made between 1993 and 1997. Which preset of which syntesizer came this sound from? It can't come from roland 909!
On the other hand, i'd be glad to know which was the sound that made the eurobeat song "Smile/NEW LIMIT/1994" so famous. I've seen one videoclip of the song "Scream/NEW LIMIT/1995" (which uses exactly the same lead sound) and the keyboardist is playing a KORG, but i can't identify it . Could anyone tell me which korg could that be?

Wow, these songs are among the most awful I've ever heard of the genre, and there's no shortage of bad tracks from that era...


Anyway, it's a pitched up 909 kick sample layered on top of the normal 909 kick.

In the case of John Wesley my guess is they sampled it right from Robert Miles' hit "Children", sounds awfully similar.

[joansanmiguelmoragas]

Oh thanks!
This was the most danced music in Barcelona posh discos, menorca and all sites of The costa brava in Spain. All the people loved it. In fact , when you put one of this songs at a pub currently, people dance it as if it was the greatest hit. ¡¡Commercial and happy music is the best!!
There were other songs like "Cyberdream/IMPERIO/1997" (similar to miles "children"), Ecuador/SASH/1998" and Hero/PAPAYA/97 which were also super hits in posh discos of spain.

[living sounds]

Oh thanks!
This was the most danced music in Barcelona posh discos, menorca and all sites of The costa brava in Spain. All the people loved it. In fact , when you put one of this songs at a pub currently, people dance it as if it was the greatest hit. ¡¡Commercial and happy music is the best!!
There were other songs like "Cyberdream/IMPERIO/1997" (similar to miles "children"), Ecuador/SASH/1998" and Hero/PAPAYA/97 which were also super hits in posh discos of spain.

I know some of them (or I know the band but not the song), but most of these seem to have been more popular locally indeed.


What I still want to know is who was behind this project:



The sonics (of the studio version) are great, but the whole presentation is totally bereft of any subtleties at all, it makes Lady Gaga seem positively sophisticated.

[joansanmiguelmoragas]

Of course!
This song (The Game Is over/LADY GEE) was made in 1995 but released in 1996 by an italian sub-Label from Milano called "LUP records", that belonged to the Promoter company "New Music International", also from Milano. The composers/producers were D.F.X. and Peter Lipari. The same year, LADY GEE released the song "Feel Sexy Tonight".
This was a very common style of house in Europe during the middle-last nineties, and there were very similar songs like:
"Beachball/NALIN & KANE/1997", from Germany
"Real Vibration/EXPRESS OF SOUND/1996" from France (Very famous)
"Singin'In My Mind/BOYS'R'US/1996", from France, that also released a new
version in 1998.

[living sounds]

Of course!
This song (The Game Is over/LADY GEE) was made in 1995 but released in 1996 by an italian sub-Label from Milano called "LUP records", that belonged to the Promoter company "New Music International", also from Milano. The composers/producers were D.F.X. and Peter Lipari. The same year, LADY GEE released the song "Feel Sexy Tonight".
This was a very common style of house in Europe during the middle-last nineties, and there were very similar songs like:
"Beachball/NALIN & KANE/1997", from Germany
"Real Vibration/EXPRESS OF SOUND/1996" from France (Very famous)
"Singin'In My Mind/BOYS'R'US/1996", from France, that also released a new
version in 1998.

Somehow I missed that in the discogs, thanks!

Beachball, Realvibrations and Singin in my mind are classics.

This one is cool, too, but somewhat more commercial:

[10cypher]

hi all

does someone know instruments used in Snaps hit Rhythm?
I guess Korg M1 for the piano. IMHO, also the Roland U220 was often used in dance-house tracks. And maybe Roland SH101 for the bassline?
It sounds still beautyfull. Maybe also a lot of analog stuff was used?strings sound like some kind of ARP synth to me.
Also a great bass sound is in 2Brothers hit Never alone. Maybe also a bit of overdrive was often added?
It also seems the D50 was really really popular - at least till 95-96 it was often on the stage of many dance artists - for example Masterboy or Scooter.
I was thinking of D50 more like a dreamy pad machine, does someone here have it and knows what type of dance sounds it is also capable of?
Masterboy was also probably using the Korg X3 (at least they had it in clip). Maybe their perfect sawtooth like leads also comming from it?

greetings

[10cypher]

Hi all! No other production technique info at the 90ties eurodance please?

[Lorenz @ XARC Mastering]

I have been producing Eurodance and German Rave in the 90's. It was not the area were analog synths got used heavily for sure - digital stuff appeared more than ever before and has been used mainly. This includes Korg Wavestation, Korg M1, Korg Prophecy, Quasimidi, Oberheim OB-8, Quasar, Technox modules and Raven. JX8P (organs!!), D-50/D-55, SY-77, SY-33,DX 7. Many more Romplers have been used as well (Romplers have been huge at this time).

The kickdrums at this time I've created with a sampler. Load a 909 Bassdrum, then simply give it a different pitch-ADSR-curve. Attack is pitched 5 notes up, decay is normal, Sustain is 5 notes below and flowing down as it runs out on release. This way you get the typical high kick, solid body, and deep end. The typical 90's eurodance bassdrum.

I am still producing 90's Rave in my spare-time, just for fun btw. It's difficult to find good VST's "emulating" the old hardware indeed. Using many multi-layer samples nowadays.

Just for fun and if it helps anyone to create good old 90's Eurodance / Rave, I share my personal and 80% self-created bassdrum collection with you: http://www.xarcmastering.com/glossary/t ... kicks.html

Hope that helps a bit to get started:)