How to avoid making (distinctly) contemparary sounding music? (going for a 1980s-1990s sound)

How to make that sound...
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sfd wrote: Tue Nov 12, 2019 1:34 am He's aiming for a soundtrack. Not a synthpop tune. "There must Be An Angel" isn't so synth-y at all :-)

I'de be interested in hear somehting like "1984" or "Sounds Like A Melody" made with Proteus, M1 and / or DX7 :-D

Either way, Starting off with a soundtrack project by looking for synths is starting in the worng end.
:wink:

You're right, of course. I'm more thinking like Bones did, as in covering a wider era, basically 1982-1987 (the songs, DX7 and PPG) and 1988-1993 (Proteus and M1). [And just so you know, I once did a cover of 1984 using the Proteus 1. :D ]

Honestly, I'd start out buying a PPG software synth (the electric pianos of the DX7 would also be suitable, but mostly for movie genres we'd hope to forget... :wink:). That way, it'd be easy to start coming up with themes that would work well for the synth and time (yes Bones, I know I'm referring to the mid 80's :D).

Speaking of which, I recall Wolfgang Palm had true PPG clones in his store before, and now there is only the one I pointed to above. I don't know if it covers all of the old synths' territory. Does anyone know?

Also note el-bo's long post. A lot of good pointers and thoughts in there.
Thu Oct 01, 2020 1:15 pm Passing Bye wrote:
"look at SparkySpark's post 4 posts up, let that sink in for a moment"
Go MuLab!

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BONES wrote: Tue Nov 12, 2019 4:57 am Read the first post before you start digging yourself a deeper hole. In case it's too hard for you, I'll copy and paste the relevant portion below (emphasis is mine):
... reminiscent of music of the early 1980s - late 1990s, with 2001 being the cutoff point.
Or do you not understand that the turn of the century came directly after the late '90s and before 2001? More likely you saw "early 80s" and didn't bother reading any further. (Done that plenty of times myself.)
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BlackWinny wrote: Mon Nov 11, 2019 2:03 am Omnisphere and Korg M1 are excellent for what you're after.

Tell already what you really have yet as instruments and as effects.

What you will mainly need to focus in addition is effects having a good "80s analog color".

But do you have some reference more precise than simply the 80s-90s for the soundtracks you want to make? Pop songs with (or without) lyrics? Disco ambiences? Synthwave styles? "Easy listening"? Post-prog rock? Instrumental rock? Electro? Ambient? New Age? 80s jazzy styles? Lounge? Could you mention several musicians or bands (and even, why not, tracks or albums) that you have in mind and which would be your inspirations about the style of music and the sounds that you want to produce? Because it will probably give us a much better clue to give you suggestions of instruments and effect (and techniques and tips).
Sorry for the late reply, and you're right, I should have been more specific. I would like for my soundtrack to be...

The most like:
Ambient, instrumental,electronic music/drum and base, and and definitely leaning more towards soundtracks (i.e. music used in films and video games) and maybe pop (the instrumentals of pop music anyway).


The least like:
Not rock music or jazzy music either.


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Specific samples to give you idea of what I'm going for:

90s music samples:
(not sure where these are from)
https://sndup.net/4b3m/90s.mp3
https://sndup.net/9gdw/roof.mp3







1984:
The Terminator Soundtrack
(really the whole thing, but I'll post some of my favorite songs:

https://sndup.net/9p3g/sarahhh.wav


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfZnNzrwtNg
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(from From 1:00-4:00, specifically)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzd_ekcf7a4









2000:
Tom Tom Club:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnaw-LaVVvw


2001:
From the Playstation 2 Videogame: Stretch Panic
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https://sndup.net/6cr8/2001.mp3
https://sndup.net/4hdb/2001(2).mp3
https://sndup.net/53kp/2001(3).mp3
https://sndup.net/5m6r/2001(4).mp3







Misc:
This isn't really 1980s, per se, but it reminds me a lot of synths/sci-fi movies from that time period and are the kinds of sounds I'd like to recreate:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVNjq_gRFLE




So... basically like a cross/fusion between all of music I posted, but the two 1990s samples especially.
Last edited by tmelram on Thu Nov 14, 2019 11:02 pm, edited 6 times in total.

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mumpcake wrote: Tue Nov 12, 2019 2:48 am I suppose it depends what type of soundrack. John Williams, Hans Zimmer, Danny Elfman, Trevor Rabin, Vangelis, and John Carpenter have all done soundtracks and they all sound quite different.
yellowmix wrote: Mon Nov 11, 2019 11:26 pm That is a very wide time range and lots of technology was introduced at various points. There were also many styles and trends of music. You could do the 1980s versions of 1950s doowop and rockabilly. 80s guitar tones. Or the 80s style key change. 80s style reverb. You could do 80s style mixing and mastering, but then would you remaster it to current standards like many 80s songs have been?

Maybe listen to some Synthwave and get a sense of what works towards your vision and what doesn't.
Please read my post above. I added more info on specifically what music style I'm going for.











sfd wrote: Tue Nov 12, 2019 1:34 am He's aiming for a soundtrack. Not a synthpop tune. "There must Be An Angel" isn't so synth-y at all :-)

I'de be interested in hear somehting like "1984" or "Sounds Like A Melody" made with Proteus, M1 and / or DX7 :-D

Either way, Starting off with a soundtrack project by looking for synths is starting in the worng end.
Well Spectrasonics was heavily sampled in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and Omnisphere is great for that... In fact I'll post a song that's almost entirely Spectrasonics samples from 2001:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRhJnjXjrvY




[/b] Also, I was also interested in what to avoid. I already mentioned trap music definitely too contemporary and dubstep, as well.
But what specific musical trends can you think of that immediately give away the fact that something was made well after 2001?

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