KVR Audio

lavoll · Post by **lavoll** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 8:40 am

what production tricks, instruments to play, fx to use etc. can you think of to achieve a real kitchy 80s synth pop ballad sound?

kaden · Post by **kaden** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 9:04 am

'80s ballads were all about DX-7s. Everything else was just gravy.

Yup, there's gonna be people here saying Fairlights, or D-50s, or Wavestations, or Bielfusses, but they're just name dropping to be cool.

6 op FM, and you'd better have a lot of 'em. I remember a quote from Dave Paitch about a bassline on the Thriller album, where he referenced having 10 TX-816s (8 DX-7's in a rack mount) triggering along with his Polyfusion modular.

The mind boggles.

Of course, back then there was only about 6 different genres of music, and you were allowed to use the same gear for all of them.

K

McLilith · Post by **McLilith** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 9:26 am

kaden wrote:I remember a quote from Dave Paitch about a bassline on the Thriller album, where he referenced having 10 TX-816s (8 DX-7's in a rack mount) triggering along with his Polyfusion modular.

That's a total of 480 operators! I'm not sure what he did with all those, but with proper programming, a 480-partial additive synth is certainly a possibility. That's about the easiest way I can think of to use that many operators on the same instrument voice.

If he actually used all that just for one massive instrument voice, I'd like to know more about what he did, and to know exactly which sound on the album was created by that combination. I'd really like to hear what it sounded like.

I slightly disagree with kaden about the other keyboards he mentioned. A lot of hit songs relied on those keyboards for some "signature" sounds. It certainly wouldn't hurt to have some of those sounds on any song that is supposed to have an 80's style.

Finally, don't forget to use a lot of dramatic reverb and some echo effects. I seem to remember that being a trend at that time.

later,
McLilith

Lunch Money · Post by **Lunch Money** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 9:28 am

Weren't heavily-gated drums fairly common?

brianbrian · Post by **brianbrian** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 9:30 am

If you have cash to burn...buy a Lexicon 480L or 224XL for your verb/echo needs. Other than that, try to EQ things very cleanly and crisply and use lots of gating. Be sure to put too much stereo chorusing on all guitars and don't put too much sub-bass anywhere in the mix. Use cheap drum-machine tom fills too!

visa tapani · Post by **visa tapani** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 9:34 am

brianbrian wrote:Use cheap drum-machine tom fills too!

Yeah, it's all about the toms!

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 10:14 am

kaden wrote:Of course, back then there was only about 6 different genres of music, and you were allowed to use the same gear for all of them.

BRILLIANT!

ksn · Post by **ksn** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 10:34 am

kaden wrote:Of course, back then there was only about 6 different genres of music, and you were allowed to use the same gear for all of them.
K

no need to add anything to this : it just shows the reliability of your opinion and your advices

LBN · Post by **LBN** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 1:41 pm

lavoll wrote:what production tricks, instruments to play, fx to use etc. can you think of to achieve a real kitchy 80s synth pop ballad sound?

Can you give a specific example (artist/song) of the type of sound you're after?

kaden · Post by **kaden** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 4:52 pm

kaden wrote:
Of course, back then there was only about 6 different genres of music, and you were allowed to use the same gear for all of them.

no need to add anything to this : it just shows the reliability of your opinion and your advices

Ok, so there were 8 genres, but they were more social obsessions than musical ones, and I can guarantee you that no one went around asking 'What synth do I use for X genre' or 'What synth do I use for 32nd notes in X genre'.

K

[/quote]

nBeat · Post by **nBeat** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 4:54 pm

OK kaden, let me be so cool and mention the
Prophet 5, the PPG Wave and the Jupiter 8.

nBeat · Post by **nBeat** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 4:58 pm

...add Linndrums and TR-808s (even more cool).
oops I did it again.

jouni · Post by **jouni** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 5:13 pm

nBeat wrote:...add Linndrums and TR-808s (even more cool).
oops I did it again.

Linndrum the ultimate source for 80s sound

Also remember, lots of reverb. Especially on the snare. DX sounds (FM7 is good) and Pro-53. Also look for Juno sounds (especially 60/106).

Highly melodic, vocoders. Can't go wrong with that set.

lavoll · Post by **lavoll** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 11:08 pm

excellent suggestions

thx.

i dont really have one song to emulate.. hmm.. but how about "dont you love me baby" - human league?

what do you call that style of singing? and how is it processed?

ksn · Post by **ksn** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 11:20 pm

kaden wrote:

kaden wrote:
Of course, back then there was only about 6 different genres of music, and you were allowed to use the same gear for all of them.

no need to add anything to this : it just shows the reliability of your opinion and your advices
Ok, so there were 8 genres, but they were more social obsessions than musical ones, and I can guarantee you that no one went around asking 'What synth do I use for X genre' or 'What synth do I use for 32nd notes in X genre'.
K

i started making music back then and i can guarantee you that there were those sort of questions about synths of course
anyway back to the subject...

that 80's sound