Can someone explain how the sequencing is done in this 80's track?

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I'm trying to figure out how to make music like this but everytime I do it just loops and sounds repeatitive. How would you suppose it's put together? How many bars of the bass is used? Drums? Leads? Can't figure it out. I'm trying to make this type of 80s music. Any help is greatly appreciated thanks!
https://youtu.be/RidTf0JbnTo

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I don't think there is any hard rules for this kind of music; synth-heavy pop in the 80s was born out of more experimental/adventurous bands (e.g. Cabaret Voltaire, Wendy Carlos ...), so it wasn't as formulaic as modern EDM.

One starting point to consider is that since the sound design was a lot more static (i.e. no wild automation of filters or other parameters), there probably was more melodic variations. I think that in most modern (EDM) productions, each synth has one specific role to play, maybe even just one pattern placed at specific points in the track. In 80s music the synth parts were probably approached more like band members (since they were most of the time played, not sequenced): the same few synths were present in most of the track, and they could play different arpeggios or melodies, sometimes even switching roles between lead and background.

As for the modern take of this kind of music (synthwave, new retro wave, outrun or whatever you prefer to call it), I think the same approach works, the difference lies mostly in the mixing techniques used (e.g. the approach of compression and eq is probably quite different).

One thing I find useful to study a specific genre, is to import tracks in a DAW and try to recreate their structure (either by using time markers, or creating fake tracks and clips for each parts).

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Back then they didn't expect to be able to sit down and program for 5 minutes and have a complete song. Program by steps the whole way through and expect to play some of it "live".

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Step sequencer and playing ability ... drums and bassline will be sequenced. Everything else is played.

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Lots of step by step programming in this song!
At that period lots of synth pop artists used the Roland MC-8 and MC-4 sequencers.
The step-record sequencer In Motu DP9 works the same way (I don't have seen other software replicas).
Hope it helps!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_ ... rocomposer
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_ ... rocomposer

http://cdn-data.motu.com/site/images/dp ... record.jpg

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Thanks so much for the replies guys! Here's another perfect example of the kind of music i would like to learn to make.
Professor Zonik Zynth slams it hard on this one. I really want to make music like this! Check it out! 8)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8O0UJJWeLHs

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As drakmanisio said :
One thing I find useful to study a specific genre, is to import tracks in a DAW and try to recreate their structure (either by using time markers, or creating fake tracks and clips for each parts).

Listen carefully at each element and try to build a similar song, alway compare to the original. If you listen carefully you're be able to differenciate the sequenced parts from the played. First build the rhythm (bass and drums) with all the variations and folow the structure of the example song "intro, part A-B and so on... Jump to each part with help of markers" Be patient it take time to program each drum instrument, you can't do this kind of music if you stack loops, find old drums machines réplicas (roland cr 78 tr 606 and 808 linn drum) or samples from this machines. For the synth sounds roland juno 106, roland jupiter 8, oberheim obx-a replicas and eventualy e-mu emulatorII or fairlight sound banks can be welcome. You can find very good virtual instruments also for for free.
Good luck!

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People playing keyboard synths with arpeggiators live. It's all in the skill of the player. A classical/theory/piano education goes a long way to making perfect pop. You could easily replicate it note by note in any modern sequencer, but that would kind of defeat the point.

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Back in the 80's, I played everything in by hand, with very few exceptions. Something doesn't sound right? Play it again! With quantize, of course. And since audio recording was difficult to come by, everything was sequenced live over MIDI. That means that you had to have a synth for every single sound in the song, all being controlled live in real time by the sequencer (Vision in my case). The synths were all fed into a big mixer and often additional sub mixers, and the effects mostly consisted of a delay and a reverb on the effect sends of the main board.
Incomplete list of my gear: 1/8" audio input jack.

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Hermetech Mastering wrote:People playing keyboard synths with arpeggiators live. It's all in the skill of the player. A classical/theory/piano education goes a long way to making perfect pop. You could easily replicate it note by note in any modern sequencer, but that would kind of defeat the point.
In both youtube example videos ve can hear music with much parts programed with something like the roland MC-4 sequencer...Its painstakingly programed note by note, with the modern DAW you can do that more easely! You have played parts and played arpegiatted parts to. Of course you need musical skils to program or play music, it helps a lot!
Taking music lecons it's great however you can learn so much when you try to imitate a song you like and gain skills like that. What's the problem in writting music with a computer, I can writte down lots of music without touching a keyboard (about 6 hours of theâtre music last two years)! And I like that...Most of 80s synth pop bands used to play with sequencers tapes drum machines on stage and played few parts over recorded and sequenced material.

Meilleures salutations, j'aime beaucoup Debussy mais également Pierre Henry! :-)

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