Enigma Sadeness part1 deconstructed and reconstructed

[CinningBao]

I assume this is appropriate material for this forum..

[HAL76]

I assume this is appropriate material for this forum..

I wouldn´t bet on that

But thank you anyway, the result is impressing and interesting, too.

You have prooved again that you can do a lot today with VSTs - but it will always sound like VST. Sterile.

How long did it take to arrange that?

[CinningBao]

Thanks HAL76

Yeah it would have all been done on tape and would have been imbued with the dusty magic of that era's equipment. I did always think the kick was a bit too 'light' so I left a bit of weight in my mix.

Probably took a day to get the whole thing done. Once I found the noises on the old CDs it was fairly quick. Hardest part was the flute line! I was meticulous about the arrangement; it had to be as accurate as possible.

[HAL76]

Thanks HAL76

Yeah it would have all been done on tape and would have been imbued with the dusty magic of that era's equipment. I did always think the kick was a bit too 'light' so I left a bit of weight in my mix.

Probably took a day to get the whole thing done. Once I found the noises on the old CDs it was fairly quick. Hardest part was the flute line! I was meticulous about the arrangement; it had to be as accurate as possible.

I don´t know if Cretu really recorded to tape at all. He even used a digital mixer. And would tape recording really smooth out that telltale high-end and add so much warmth?

But I was really surprised how close the sounds are - regardless of that - to the original.

Nothing against Belltrees btw - and do you know Paul´s Take on enigmatic productions?

[CinningBao]

I honestly didn't check anyone else's attempts in this regard; I'm not sure I ever do? I just do what I like
and thanks, I try hard to exercise my sound-deconstruction skills

I think the only reason I did it was because some youtuber did a 20 min vid on how amazing the track is, and then he tried a recreation and it was awful. I'd already done mine years ago, and assumed I'd done a better job so it wasn't too difficult to go over it again. Even that joyful chap from Synth Mania only really grazed the edges of the instrument setups and arrangement.

When we can finally physically model a bell tree truly accurately (maybe that anukari thing can?) I'll sleep better

[Uncle E]

Sounds great! Adding some of the snare reverb to the kick might fix some of the sterility that HAL76 pointed out. You can hear the reverb slap on the downbeats in the original.

[NAD]

I watched the video but I don't think you mentioned this. Where are the bell tree samples from?

[CinningBao]

Sounds great! Adding some of the snare reverb to the kick might fix some of the sterility that HAL76 pointed out. You can hear the reverb slap on the downbeats in the original.

Dang! You're right, I remember observing the little late-verb slap on the kick during early analysis. Damn thing slipped my mind for this.

Thanks, and thanks!

[CinningBao]

I watched the video but I don't think you mentioned this. Where are the bell tree samples from?

I just used one I had from the ZERO-G CD1 but it's difficult to know exactly which sample he used. There really weren't that many sample based things around, and memory was expensive (and I expect you already know that). Could be from Roland R8 drum machine or U-20 synth? From digging thourgh my archives there were only a few different bell tree samples used across all the old sample-based synths/drum machines.

[lotus2035]

I enjoyed that thanks, been a fan of this album since 1990 when I was 17.
You reminded me of another post I made on here January 2024, I'll quote it here.

I was flipping through samples in the Waldorf PPG Wave v3 plugin a couple of years back, found one I recognized from a famous 'Enigma' track in the early 90s. Turns out it was a sample of a formula one car whizzing past, used to great effect but not altered in any way, would never have guessed it.

The track in question is 'Knocking on Forbidden Doors', the F1 sound comes in at 16 secs.

[CinningBao]

I enjoyed that thanks, been a fan of this album since 1990 when I was 17.
You reminded me of another post I made on here January 2024, I'll quote it here.

I was flipping through samples in the Waldorf PPG Wave v3 plugin a couple of years back, found one I recognized from a famous 'Enigma' track in the early 90s. Turns out it was a sample of a formula one car whizzing past, used to great effect but not altered in any way, would never have guessed it.

The track in question is 'Knocking on Forbidden Doors', the F1 sound comes in at 16 secs.

Now that's a great find! Thanks for adding to the knowledge
Some of those other album tracks weren't as catchy as Sadeness Pt1 but they were certainly evocative. I think it's probably time to let the the whole album run through, this evening.

[lotus2035]

You're welcome, took me a minute to realize you had the two versions panned hard left and right. Apart from minor differences with the flute and the distorted guitar sound I would never have known. I was amazed years later to find out how many samples were used across that album. Even the so called 'Enigma horn' that opens the album was a tweaked sample of the intro to a Leftfield track.