Re: Back to the eighties - getting a New Wave soun

andreh · Post by **andreh** » Tue May 29, 2007 12:22 pm

Michael-Most of these songs sound more current than 80's music due to your production techniques. In particular, the frequent use of filtered synth sweeps defies the genre; more static-sounding synth lines were common then. Also, little touches like gated snare verbs, short delays on bass lines, and thin sounding kicks are missing.They're cool songs, though, and I think you could get them closer to the mark without changing much arrangement-wise (though they could use that classic british-sounding clean electric guitar sound playing single note lines, ala Depeche Mode, and your back-beat bass lines should go) - listen closely to the way some classic 80's pieces are mixed and see how you can emulate them.Andre

mixopenta · Post by **mixopenta** » Wed May 30, 2007 3:45 am

I was also thinking along the lines of submitting to this listing...but just when I started, I came to remember how much I hate that decade I agree with andreh on every point. Although you've been able to sweep the filters since 1968-69 (and probably earlier), it wasn't for some reason used the way we use them today, which really didn't become a flavor until early, to mid 90's.Sound-wise I think generally productions were very "hollow", and the "rule" was to mix drums and vocals very loud and everything else in the background like a distant fog, with the occasional clean guitar with tons of chorus and reverb popping up. It was also popular to put each instrument in its own space, so prepare for a lot of CPU usage, for almost each instrument having its own designated reverb, and especially the gated reverb on drums, and why not gated reverb, followed by a looong mellow plate, and a killer chorus gadget on a clean strat... I also seem to recall that the kick usually had its energy around 100-200Hz, whereas the bass resided below 100Hz, and was boosted somewhere in the low midrange - around 500Hz. Hence most productions appears as kind of thin today.Before CD's became popular the frequency range was not extended in the degree we are used to now. Vinyl's didn't have the same kind of forgiveness for very low and high end, so think cutting lo end around 70Hz and be careful with frequencies above 12-14Khz.The songs themselves will definitely do as representing the 80's though.Hope it helps some. Happy produc'n

ncc1701 · Post by **ncc1701** » Wed May 30, 2007 2:14 pm

Quote:I thought synths back then could do filter sweeps, and I thought pet shop boys went with that. For instance, the Juno 60 almost certainly had some swept effects. OH YEAH! JUNO 60 RULES! WOOOOOOHHH!Sorry. I'm just so excited about this listing and I was my high school jazz band's electronic music expert because I had a Juno 60 at home.Songwriter, I like your stuff, especially "So Long." That one just makes me want to pull on my legwarmers and tie back my perm.

grandmatarkin · Post by **grandmatarkin** » Wed May 30, 2007 5:47 pm

How come your joke songs sound better than my real songs Seriously though, great songs as always. I was thinking... there's this "joke" singing voice that I use whenever I make fun of 80's songs... think of ummm David Bowie singing "Let's Dance". It's really ... gutteral? But although I use it as a joke to amuse my friends and pets, that's actually the way a lot of people seemed to sing back then if memory serves me correctly. Perhaps that would be one step, along with the other ideas posted in this thread, towards getting closer to that leg-warmer sound. Dave

ncc1701 · Post by **ncc1701** » Thu May 31, 2007 3:42 am

Quote: there's this "joke" singing voice that I use whenever I make fun of 80's songs... think of ummm David Bowie singing "Let's Dance". The song I'm working on for this listing requires a male voice, and I'm going to have to direct him to try for Morrissey meets Spandau Ballet meets Tears for Fears meets Simple Minds. But the David Bowie vibe is good too....THE SERIOUS MOONLIGHT...

dgolding · Post by **dgolding** » Thu May 31, 2007 2:24 pm

Juno 60? luxury.. I'm old enuff to have had a Juno 6, and before that, a Roland SH09, and before that.. a Korg S6, I think it was. I remember demo'ing the Korg at a music store I worked at. I had it going thu a tape echo unit to make it sound like it was poyphonic Then there was the suitcase-sized Roland sequencer. Two channels, 64 notes per channel. That was it. Before each show I had to progam in the notes for the each channels. No editing, if I messed up, reset and start again. Ahhh, nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

mazz · Post by **mazz** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 7:06 am

As a recovering 80s Top 40 player, I hear a couple of things that would put this more in the 80s:1. Snare drum is too soft and dry. Loud, wet, gated, snare drums were the sound of the day in most pop music, as I remember.2. The percolating synth sound is as bit too modern, to my ears. The sound of the filter needs to be less resonant and band-pass sounding and more low-pass sounding. The peaky filter sound wasn't as in back then, the filters were more open and less resonant, less sophisticated. A lot of the interesting synth sounds from the 80s were created as a result if modulating the pulse width of a square wave. That was one of the ways of generating interesting, animated timbres from a small selection of waveforms available. Sounds good, keep up the great work!!Mazz