KVR Audio

10cypher · Post by **10cypher** » Wed Dec 22, 2010 7:14 am

Thanks very much for the info!
Can you name some of the eurodance projects you produced? Something well known?
I found interesting info about the gear used by "Mr. President" producer Kai Matthiesen here "http://www.discogs.com/Mr-President-4-O ... 8345?ev=rr" :
According to that notes, hi was using Waldorf, Oberheim Matrix, Deep Base nine, Roland JD800, MKS50 (rack A-Juno), Akai S1100, Korg M1, Korg 01, Yamaha TG77, Roland R8M, etc. .

joansanmiguelmoragas · Thu Dec 30, 2010 10:24 pm

10cypher wrote:Hi all! No other production technique info at the 90ties eurodance please?

The korg x5d from 1995 was used for making this pre-supersaw sound that you can hear in "Scream/NEW LIMIT/1995". Maybe a cheesy song in the US but a #1 hit in all the Dance scene in Spain. I can admit that the voice of the main singer (and her english pronounciation) are a bit weird, but that eurobeat saw-like lead sound made people jump on the dancefloors!
There was also an extensive use of Alesis quadrasynth to produce that hi-nrg basslines, at least in italy, spain, france and germany.
A great eurobeat song produced in spain at that time was "Hands Of Fate/Wintermute/1996", and of course "Pont Aeri/1999".
It's very strange because in Europe (excepting the UK), the R&B soud of the US was considered a very dull thing. Everybody liked trance, eurodance, italodance and so on, and it was very difficult to go to a disco where people danced this strange hip hop r&b music.

deleted · Post by **deleted** » Mon Jan 03, 2011 4:27 am

DELETED

10cypher · Post by **10cypher** » Mon Jan 03, 2011 8:36 am

joansanmiguelmoragas>The korg x5d from 1995 was used for making this pre-supersaw sound that you can hear...

thanks very much for info, I also think that the Korg X3 was maybe used for some of the sharp eurodance leads (maybe also used by Masterboy?).
Typical eurodance projects (at the "golden" eurodance middle 90ties era) for me were just for example 2Unlimited (they started with something what was more the rave/acid house), Snap, Masterboy, Mr. President, 2 Brothers on the 4th floor, Twenty for seven, Pharao, Imperio, Fun Factory, Maxx, Captain Hollywood proj., Corona, DJ Bobo, E-type, Ice MC, La Bouche, Real McCoy and many others...
The typical eurodance sound is IMHO after 1993 and pre-1997.

MrHope Go to http://VintageSynth.org and look at the Synth Timeline for a good idea of which synths were used when...

thanks for info, but it does not tell much info about the usage in the genre (eurodance) and for exact type of sounds (leads, basses, pads, etc.)[/quote]

I found out this till now:
Leads (sawtooth, pulse): Alpha Juno, Juno 106, Oberheim Matrix 6/1000
digital leads: U-110/220 and JD-800/990, maybe also Super JV-1080

Strings: JD-800?

Pads: Korg 01, Wavestation, D50, Yamaha SY(99)?

Basslines: Yamaha DX7, DX100, Roland SH101

Piano, choir: Korg M1, Roland U-110/220

Organ: Korg M1, Roland U-110/220

Drums: TR-909, often samples from Akai S-1000/1100
The TR-808 seems not to be used very often - there are some eurodance tracks with 808like percusions, but often there were just the Kick, Snare, HiHats, CrashCymbal and HandClap + some "wooosh" (like reverse cymbal) fx samples.

Acid line: TR-303, Deep Base Nine (but acid lines were IMHO not very often in eurodance)

What kind of sound was Waldorf Microwave used for ?

living sounds · Post by **living sounds** » Mon Jan 03, 2011 11:08 pm

They used what was around at the time. Samplers, synths, romplers. And the usual console, FX, outboard. The Microwave I was popular, too. The Roland early 80s synths. A variety of FM synths.

I think it started earlier, like late 91. Songs like "Rythm Is A Dancer", "What Is Love" and "It's My Life" came out in early 92. It was over by 95/96, when the hardcore rave sound entered the mainstream.

I can easily create a similar sound in my studio (since most of my gear was already around at the time). I don't actually feel the need to though, Eurodance was pretty crappy - but todays mainstream music is, too.

ViktorW · Post by **ViktorW** » Mon Jan 03, 2011 11:45 pm

Master of Puppets - 90s Eurodance Remix

I though I'd share with you my one attempt at 90s eurodance, to evaluate and criticize if you wish.
For this little birthday joke I used a DX7 bass, the M1 piano, and drums sampled from a handheld Yamaha QY20.
The mix isn't too good though, drums could be fatter.

I know it's completely blasphemous, it was a birthday gift for a real Metallica fan. Don't stone me to death please. Thank you.

living sounds · Post by **living sounds** » Tue Jan 04, 2011 12:17 am

ViktorW wrote:Master of Puppets - 90s Eurodance Remix

I though I'd share with you my one attempt at 90s eurodance, to evaluate and criticize if you wish.
For this little birthday joke I used a DX7 bass, the M1 piano, and drums sampled from a handheld Yamaha QY20.
The mix isn't too good though, drums could be fatter.

I know it's completely blasphemous, it was a birthday gift for a real Metallica fan. Don't stone me to death please. Thank you.

Sounds more like Italo House to me.

ViktorW · Post by **ViktorW** » Tue Jan 04, 2011 12:20 am

Yes, possibly. I'm no expert, it's all a bit the same to me, and I always called it eurodance. Well then, Italo House it is.

10cypher · Post by **10cypher** » Tue Jan 04, 2011 7:20 am

living sounds wrote:I think it started earlier, like late 91.

Hi! Thanks very much for comment. I agree, there were some tracks of this style before 93 (big hits from Snap, Haddaway and Dr.Alban you mentioned, also not to forget the Technotronic or 2Unlimited), but had a bit different sound. IMHO, the sound was more "analog" - I think that Alban and Technotronic used Roland Juno-106 a lot,and the drums sounds more like dry 909. It had many features common in house and acid.
In about 1993 the sound changed a lot - "laserzip" kick became popular and also other percusions more processed, jumping basslines like o OO o OO o OO o OO o OO (you know what I mean ?

), and sharp sawtooth and pulse leads (used maybe more often that the piano - which was more typical for italo house).
Also, as you said, a bit later (in about 1995), the rave/happy hardcore style bacame to be very popular - typical was sound with almost no vocals (or few words), faster BPMs (150-180), distorted kick, acid basslines, piano used a lot again (often in chords).
Anyway, like someone already mentioned, the audio quality of many eurodance tracks was pretty high - done in well equipmented studios.

D N A · Post by **D N A** » Tue Jan 04, 2011 8:27 am

10cypher wrote: Typical eurodance projects (at the "golden" eurodance middle 90ties era) for me were just for example 2Unlimited (they started with something what was more the rave/acid house), Snap, Masterboy, Mr. President, 2 Brothers on the 4th floor, Twenty for seven, Pharao, Imperio, Fun Factory, Maxx, Captain Hollywood proj., Corona, DJ Bobo, E-type, Ice MC, La Bouche, Real McCoy and many others...
The typical eurodance sound is IMHO after 1993 and pre-1997.

I would include 1993 too. For example Culture Beat - Mr Vain was released in 1993. It was a huge hit - I still love it

2Unlimited in 1992 released their album "No Limit" which contained lot's of eurodance great tunes like: No Limit, Let the beat control your body so I would say 1993 was also a golden era

But overall, I agree with you. I liked this music

10cypher · Post by **10cypher** » Tue Jan 04, 2011 8:44 am

D N A wrote:I would include 1993 too.

I agree

I should write 1993 including.

joansanmiguelmoragas · Thu Jan 13, 2011 10:08 pm

10cypher wrote:
living sounds wrote:I think it started earlier, like late 91.
Hi! Thanks very much for comment. I agree, there were some tracks of this style before 93 (big hits from Snap, Haddaway and Dr.Alban you mentioned, also not to forget the Technotronic or 2Unlimited), but had a bit different sound. IMHO, the sound was more "analog" - I think that Alban and Technotronic used Roland Juno-106 a lot,and the drums sounds more like dry 909. It had many features common in house and acid.
In about 1993 the sound changed a lot - "laserzip" kick became popular and also other percusions more processed, jumping basslines like o OO o OO o OO o OO o OO (you know what I mean ? ), and sharp sawtooth and pulse leads (used maybe more often that the piano - which was more typical for italo house).
Also, as you said, a bit later (in about 1995), the rave/happy hardcore style bacame to be very popular - typical was sound with almost no vocals (or few words), faster BPMs (150-180), distorted kick, acid basslines, piano used a lot again (often in chords).
Anyway, like someone already mentioned, the audio quality of many eurodance tracks was pretty high - done in well equipmented studios.

I totally agree with you. Actually, for me the term "Eurodance" has always been a very vague label to classify a style which was continuously changing its sounds as synthesizers were also doing so.

I think that we could consider Eurodance as a "Mega-style" and then divide it like this:
- Eurodance "italo-house" from 1989 until 1993, with maybe some
subgeneres like:
Euro-Piano_16'' , from 1989 till 1992, for instance:
. Ride on time/BLACK BOX/1989
. Ritmo de la noche/MYSTIC/1990 , etc
Euro-Organ_2 , from 1991 till 1993:
. Gypsy woman/CRYSTAL WATERS/1991
. Please don't go/DOUBLE YOU/1992
Eruo- Synthlead Juno like , from 1992 till 1994
. Rhythm is a dancer/SNAP/1992
. Rhythm of the night/CORONA/1993
Euro-Hoover from 1991 jtill 1992
. No limits/2 unlimited/1992
. james brown is dead...
and some others
- Eurodance "happy hardcore" from 1994 till 1998 , as you said, with that typical bass sound o 00 o 00 o 00, faster, with a hard kick sound and saw leads or pulse leads :
typical sound: of MAXX, PLAYA HITTY, MASTERBOY, ...
commercial progressive dream house: ROBERT MILES, IMPERIO,
Commercial progressive trance: SASH, DJ QUICKSILVER,..
- Eurodance "auto-tune", i mean , from 1999 until 2005 or so, with plenty of lead vocals modifyed with auto-tune, a different and trancier bass, supersaw leads, a different sound for the kick ...
L'amour tojours/GIGI D'AGOSTINO/2000
I'm blue /EIFFEL 65/1999
sexy/FRENCH AFFAIR/1999
Tu es foutu/IN-GRID/2002
giulia/DJ LHASA/2003
...

- Eurodance "hardcore"

10cypher · Post by **10cypher** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 7:53 am

Hi joansanmiguelmoragas!
I agree that the sound was evolving, but IHMO the new sounds (or used in new way) (like Roland JD-990 Pizzicato, JP-8000 Supersaw) created new genres. I would call almost everything after 1996 just "dance", "mainstream dance" or "eurotrance"

I am especially interested in producing techniques / gear used of that 93-96 eurodance. As I already noted about that typical sound - quite fast - ussually 140-145 BPM, jumping bassline, sawtooth and/or square lead, laserzip kick, female vocal + man rap. I am surprised, that there so few gear/producers information at this topic (that era) on web.

izonin · Post by **izonin** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 10:28 am

Weren't all those synths originally designed for JPOP? Listening to the old records, they definitely have more character/magic than today's pristine tracks.

joansanmiguelmoragas · Sat Feb 05, 2011 11:40 pm

10cypher wrote:Hi joansanmiguelmoragas!
I agree that the sound was evolving, but IHMO the new sounds (or used in new way) (like Roland JD-990 Pizzicato, JP-8000 Supersaw) created new genres. I would call almost everything after 1996 just "dance", "mainstream dance" or "eurotrance"
I am especially interested in producing techniques / gear used of that 93-96 eurodance. As I already noted about that typical sound - quite fast - ussually 140-145 BPM, jumping bassline, sawtooth and/or square lead, laserzip kick, female vocal + man rap. I am surprised, that there so few gear/producers information at this topic (that era) on web.

Hi 10cypher.
I've found more information in SOS magazine from January 1996 about Steve Rodway, the keyboardist and mixer of the eurodance group from UK "Motiv 8". He explains in that interview which gears he used to make the eurodance remix of the song "Common People (Motiv 8 remix)/PULP/1995". I give you the list of synths and what did he used them for:

Oberheim matrix 1000 (lead)
Roland jupiter 6 (lead)
Roland jx10** (brassy leads)
Roland jd800** (leads)
Novation bass station (bass)
Roland juno 106 (bass)
Moog (bass)
Korgwavestation (pads)
Emu morpheus (pads)
Roland u220(cabasa, strings)
Roland tr 909(kick (he call it the "Napoli Kick"), snare, hi-hats)

I hope it to be useful to you

Looking for 90's eurodance sounds / techniques