Stock, Aitken & Waterman bass, brass sounds etc...

[ted1986]

Hi all,

I'm sure many of you have heard of the music producer trio Stock, Aitken & Waterman and many of you will probably curl into a ball with embarrasement when you're reminded of them! I'm curious, what synthesizers did they use to create their rather cheesy 80s BASS and BRASS sounds amongst other classic Stock/Aitken/Waterman trademark sounds which were used to death in the late 80s? I know they definately used the Yamaha DX7 and Roland D-50 along with the Linn drum machine but did they use any other synths in their production?

Any input on this would be great!

Thanks,

ted

[Mooger5]

I´ve got a recent Mix or FM mag where their recording engineer speaks about their *usual* set-up consisting of Linn Drum, Minimoog for bass and DX7 for almost everything else.

[nathanscribe]

This article in SOS:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb09/a ... s_0209.htm

mentions the Linn 9000, DX7 (for bass), Juno 106, Emulator, and Fairlight.

[rockmanrock]

You could go and ask Mike Stock himself on his forum.

Interview from 1987 in Music Technology magazine (excellent mag) is here

[madtheory]

Music Technology magazine (excellent mag

S'funny, I was wondering about this mag the other day! I agree, it was great. Pity that it isn't archived somewhere.

[Mooger5]

I´ve got a recent Mix or FM mag where their recording engineer speaks about their *usual* set-up consisting of Linn Drum, Minimoog for bass and DX7 for almost everything else.

I re-read the article and this was not exact. Sorry. This set-up was used by a Waterman managed producer for Matt Bianco. This is not the usual set-up by which SAW were recognized in the mid-80s. *Early* set-up at best.

[StepLogik]

Synths from top to bottom. Lots of layers for sure. Those guys sure knew how to write a catchy tune.

A young kylie minogue is easy on the eyes as well

[hageir]

I've heard MKS-80 mentioned somewhere..
I saw it in a pic I think.

[mattio]

Synths from top to bottom. Lots of layers for sure. Those guys sure knew how to write a catchy tune.

A young kylie minogue is easy on the eyes as well

...those where the days, I remember this video was all over MTV every day when I got home from school back in the 80's.

[Pro5]

I've been trying hard to convince people that the DX7 and D-50 are *NOT* just about the S.A.W sounds but threads like this don't help ;P

In the UK at that time I was at school and SAW (hit factory) was everywhere.. I hated it, even though I did sing along now and then to some of their tunes, to me it was the 'a*s end' of the 80s in the UK and where music started going wrong (esp related to Synth usage). I can mentally disconnect MY D-50 from that era by clever use of custom sounds. I'm not sure it says in any of those about the D-50 but I did read somewhere that they used it... but very DX-7 heavy in general.

[calyx93]

These guys used the PPG system as well, quite noticeably at times too. DOA's "Youthquake" comes to mind.