• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

80's recording tips

P

punkbassistfc

May 25, 2007
775
0
Melbourne, Australia
#1
Hey guys,

I really want to get into recording my solo material. I was wondering what kind of production techniques i should use to make my sound similar to 80's feel good tracks such as "we built this city" Jefferson's starship, "Girls just wanna have fun" cyndi lauper, "Here i go again" whitesnake, "surrender" Cheap trick, "Anyway you want it" Journey.

Its for a pop new wave project.

Cheers heaps for your time
 
#8
agreatheight said:
REVERB!
Click to expand...

DIGITAL REVERB! forget all that spring stuff, grab a yamaha rack unit and let that baby reverberate! Digital delay is also very important. And don't forget the chorus pedals!

I'm a big fan of yamaha's 80's gear in general. The quintessential 80's synth sound (IMHO, well, in addition to the analog Roland Juno) is from a DX-7. Totally ridiculous digital synthesis based on frequency modulation, i love mine. Their drum machines can be snatched up off the 'bay at super low prices now too... I've got an RX8 and RX5... the RX5 originally sold for over 2 grand, mine cost $85. Of course you can do a lot more with a freeware version of fruity loops, but it's fun to have ancient technology around. Limitations can be awfully inspiring!

There's lots of great 80s tricks out there to mess around with. Reverb on the drums (preferably on electronic drums) is great, as well as the classic phil collins gated snare. I know next to nothing about recording, but i have a secret love for all that stuff.
 
#9
As for synths. You can get a lot of that stuff modeled.
DX-7, Oberheim Matrix 12, Prophet 5, Prophet VS, Fairlight CMI, PPG, Kork M1,
Linn Drum Machine, Drumulator, Emulator. The samplers were mostly grainy 16 bit or worse.

Fx Yamaha RX 7, SPX-90, Lexicon PCM-70, 280 and 480L.

Now here's where it gets expensive. SSL mixing boards. Lots of that Trevor Horn stuff was done on them. Don't forget 2" tape!

You can now fake most of this using plugins but listening to the production styles carefully and trying stuff out is the thing.

The high end productions used high end stuff. Same as today. If you want to go indie 80's, by all means use a quadraverb and an 8 track cassette.:)
 
#10
Gated verb, drums tuned for no resonance to get that cardboard sound, bass buried in the mix, synthy sans-sampling leads/pads, every pop song had a guitar solo wankfest, that about sums it up + everything drowned in reverb. Don't go there!

J/k, there was a lot of awesome production in the 80's but there were some cliched trends as noted above.
 
#11
bkbirge said:
Gated verb, drums tuned for no resonance to get that cardboard sound, bass buried in the mix, synthy sans-sampling leads/pads, every pop song had a guitar solo wankfest, that about sums it up + everything drowned in reverb. Don't go there!

J/k, there was a lot of awesome production in the 80's but there were some cliched trends as noted above.
Click to expand...

Ain't that the truth. Learning some simple 80's tunes can become a pain because the bass is often barely audible in the rhythmic mishmash going on in the lower register.

Some great music from the 80's but man I'm glad that's over. First I had to survive disco only to have that replaced with punk and 80s pop.
 
#12
pull the bottom heads off the toms, and jam sennheiser 421s into 'em, pointing up at the skins. Really close to the head. Gate them all, compress 'em, and jam into digital delays and reverbs on mixdown. They should sound like they're coming out of nowhere. Gate the 'ell out of the kick and snare too, and shoot the drummer if you hear anything remotely similar to a ghost note coming off the kit. Use a different reverb each for Kick, snare, toms, and overheads. DO NOT use a room mic. Get as much of the drums as possible out of the overheads when mic'ing. Better still, pick up a linn machine and overdub the cymbals.

double all guitar parts and hard pan them.

huff aquanet before cutting vocals. Which should be at least layered three or four dozen times, mostly in whisper and falsetto. Then group compressed until there's ~ 3db dynamic range left. More digital reverb (plate, please) here. Compress the reverb return too. Wide panning on all background vocals. If budget allows, farm out most backing tracks to Mutt Lange. He doesn't work fast, but he's worth the wait.

Bass? Not important. Think DX7.
 
#16
Thanks heaps guys for all your input. I rally am excited about this new project as its something different for me as i play in a pop/punk band Link Removed. But yeah im really looking forward to this. As far as curreent model synths go< what am i looking at down the lower end of the scale? And whats the minumum amount of keys i should get>

Thank you to everyone
 
#19
punkbassistfc said:
Thanks heaps guys for all your input. I rally am excited about this new project as its something different for me as i play in a pop/punk band Link Removed. But yeah im really looking forward to this. As far as curreent model synths go< what am i looking at down the lower end of the scale? And whats the minumum amount of keys i should get>

Thank you to everyone
Click to expand...

I don't know a whole heck of a lot about synths, but if you've got any kind of computer rig set up (particularly if you're going to be recording onto your computer), you might be fine by getting a MIDI controller and using soft synths. Most any of the synths we've mentioned are modeled somewhere, and most could probably be had off of limewire. Other options would be to look into vintage synths... some of the off brands can be had really cheap. My DX-7 was snagged off of craigslist for $250... still in the original packaging from 1983, played maybe 5 times. There are a ton of deals on synths out there.

# of keys is really a personal choice. I'd say you probably want a 49 key synth, or a 61 key... but a lot of people get by with just a 2 octave controller. Depends on what you think you'll need. As far as an all in one synth that's just fun to play with, the microkorg's and alesis ions/microns are both pretty good, though they're relatively limited as far as features go. Both are good starting points, and one thing about synthesis: while unlimited options to tweak can be very useful, it can also really slow you down when you just want to make music. I bought my DX-7 with the original intent to edit my own synth patches... well, that thing is practically impossible to edit on due to the overly complex menu system. Eventually I just gave up and had fun tweaking the existing patches. All I'm saying is that starting out with something simple can be a much easier way to learn the basics of synths.

Some good sites to look at:

www.sonicstate.com (reviews of vintage synths, articles, and more)
www.synthmania.com (some synth reviews and descriptions)
http://synthony.com/ (excellent source of info on vintage synths, i suggest browsing through until you get an idea of which synths you're interested in)
http://www.vintagesynth.com/ (another good one)
 
#20
Roland Jupiter 8 for early mid 80's, Prophet 5 also, Dx-7 for "83 on" Simmons SDS 5 drum sounds, especially tom fills, Rocktron for guitar tones, bass guitar with some chorus with low mids for bottom only , doubled by synth bass, except for the popped notes on the bass. Also out of phase Strat tone, preferably thru a Tri-Stereo chorus rack unit, and a couple AMS reverbs wouldn't hurt. Orchestra hit samples from Akai s 900 sampler or the old Mirage, percussive sequences, airy, Roland D-50 patches...I could just keep going !

Def don't forget the "gun shot" snare sound.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back