Badass synth parts in songs (starting with this one)

Neonlights84 · Post by **Neonlights84** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 4:03 am

Nice stuff thestreets! Anyways, one of my favorite patches ever is in the Faint's "Paranoiattack..." its the buzzy lead sound used a couples times...

Other ones i really enjoy include New Order's bass patch on Blue Monday, Yazoo's pro one intro to "Don't Go", the Bravery's arpeggio on "honest mistake" and all of the synth bass work on Nitzer Ebb's That Total Age".

ShadowsWithin · Post by **ShadowsWithin** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 7:58 am

love his lead sound and he's a monster of a player. i'd kill to have that sounds just to play around with, i have somthing very similar but it doesn't have that expressivness his does and it's a lot more treble-y

Micke · Post by **Micke** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 3:46 pm

discointellect wrote:If I had any sort of musical credibility whatsoever I'd like to lose it right now by stating that I love the synth parts in "Garden Party" by Marillion. Yes, Marillion.

Marillion performing "Garden Party" live in april 1983:

Looks like Mark Kelly used the SCI Pro One for the synth arpeggio and solo in this live version. On the album version though he played the solo on the Minimoog.

Another difference between the album and live version is that on the former he used a pipe organ sample on the Emulator I for the organ chords featured in the second part, whereas in this live version he plays the chords on the Korg CX-3 organ.

MrFrodo · Post by **MrFrodo** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 4:17 pm

I've got a whole bunch. For now, I'll have to go with the original Styx recording of "Fooling Yourself (Angry Young Man)." When I first heard that record during the mid 90's, I was so sure Dennis DeYoung was using a Moog. "Much to my surprise,"

I discovered it was a combination of the ARP Odyssey and the Oberheim 4-voice.

Interestingly enough, that combination of ARP and Oberheim is key to another alltime favourite synth offering, "A Remark You Made" by Weather Report, released (as it turns out) in 1977, the same year as the Styx song.

Update: I also like the synth/organ/mellatron mix on Yes' Close to the Edge album and (what I've heard of) Rick Wakeman's solo debut, Six Wives of Henry VIII.

After that, you can tack on Jerry Harrison's Prophet pyrotechnics on Talking Head's "Burning Down the House" and "Sax & Violins."

Micke · Post by **Micke** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 4:37 pm

Joey wrote:
As for my choices:

Gary Numan - Berserker - The ridiculously huge bass pads that play through the entire song. I believe they were done on an OBXA?

Could be the OB-Xa or a combination of OB-Xa and PPG, they used lots of PPG Wave w/waveterm on that album.

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean - The pads that play the chord changes throughout the song, I believe they were done on the Jupiter 8?

That's four tracks of Yamaha CS-80. Performed by noone less than VSE member Bill Wolfer!

Orchestral Maneouvres in the Dark - Enola Gay - The sort of squareish melody that plays through the verses is just genius, corny as h**l, but it sounds so good even so.

That part sounds like an organ to me. I think it was played on the Elgam Symphony combo-organ. The Korg Micro-Preset is responsible for the solo parts later in the songs

Tears for Fears - Shout - The paddy synth lead that comes in on the chorus, sounds like an D50 or M1.

The song was recorded in the summer/fall of 1984 well before either of those existed. The part you're thinking of was performed on a Fairlight CMI.

Vangelis - End Titles (From Bladerunner) - The bassline in that song is so great, one of the best synth bass patches I've ever heard. The whole song is a masterpiece actually.

Prophet 10!

theplateauxofmirror · Post by **theplateauxofmirror** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 4:07 pm

Joey wrote: Radiohead - Everything in its Right Place - The possibly prophet 5 pulse wave melody that plays through the entire song, such a gentle sound, yet its sounds so powerful.

I think that sound is incredible as well. I can't think of a better way to start off an album than that. it just hits you as weird, soft, and strong all at the same time.

gcoudert · Post by **gcoudert** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 5:09 pm

Does anybody know how Swedish band Secret Service achieved that 'voice' sound on "Flash in the Night" (1981/2)? I still find it amazing. I think they used a Minimoog, ARP Odyssey and Prophet 5 on the "Cutting Corners" album, but that sound is just unique.

Gilles

ned-ryarson · Post by **ned-ryarson** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 5:43 pm

i love the phaser type sound ed o'brian gets in radioheads 'talk show host',
even though its a guitar. mite get one of those pedals. think he used a lovetone meatball

Micke · Post by **Micke** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 7:25 pm

gcoudert wrote:Does anybody know how Swedish band Secret Service achieved that 'voice' sound on "Flash in the Night" (1981/2)? I still find it amazing. I think they used a Minimoog, ARP Odyssey and Prophet 5 on the "Cutting Corners" album, but that sound is just unique.

Gilles

Secret Service - Flash In The Night video (1981)

FYI:

Prophet 10 = spacey lead sound & pads
Minimoog = 'sequenced parts' (though played by hand)
Linn LM-1 = drums

The Cancer Years · Post by **The Cancer Years** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 8:37 pm

Neonlights84 wrote:the Faint's "Paranoiattack..." its the buzzy lead sound used a couples times...

I would love to know how they did that sound.

alpha5000dk · Post by **alpha5000dk** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 12:13 am

Micke wrote:
gcoudert wrote:Does anybody know how Swedish band Secret Service achieved that 'voice' sound on "Flash in the Night" (1981/2)? I still find it amazing. I think they used a Minimoog, ARP Odyssey and Prophet 5 on the "Cutting Corners" album, but that sound is just unique.

Gilles

Secret Service - Flash In The Night video (1981)

FYI:

Prophet 10 = spacey lead sound & pads
Minimoog = 'sequenced parts' (though played by hand)
Linn LM-1 = drums

I've always loved that song!
Thanks Micke for the info and the link to the video

bluedad · Post by **bluedad** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 6:02 am

I love that trademark synth sound Steve Winwood used for his solo's in the early 80's..like on 'Valarie', 'While You See a Chance' etc..No idea what he used, though, and won't even begin to geuss.

gcoudert · Post by **gcoudert** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 12:26 pm

Micke wrote:Prophet 10 = spacey lead sound & pads
Minimoog = 'sequenced parts' (though played by hand)
Linn LM-1 = drums

So that was a Prophet 10, then! Thanks for that!

Great band, they were, Secret Service. I've got their 6 LPs (French editions), Russian bootleg CDs, several singles and the "Top Secret" compilation. Catchy tunes, good synth sounds. Whether Ola Håkansson is a good singer or not is a matter of personal taste, but I thought they were great. Sooooo 1980s!

I particularly like "Destiny of love", one of the new (2000) tracks from "Top Secret", the reworked version of "When the dancer you have loved walks out the door", not forgetting "Cry softly".

If you don't know the band, check them out on YouTube or iTunes. "Top Secret" is available on iTunes UK, although they got them mixed up with "The Secret Service Band".

Gilles

Micke · Post by **Micke** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 7:04 pm

You're welcome :D

Yep, the spacey lead sound as well as all the pads on "Flash In The Night" were done on a Prophet 10. This has been confirmed to me by Ulf Wahlberg, the bands synth player.

Btw, a Polymoog and Roland SH-3A were used on Secret Service's first two albums.

Secret Service, Adolphson & Falk and Lustans Lakejer were good synth-pop bands, however my all-time favorite Swedish synth group is without doubt Twice A Man.

Here are some rare video clips featuring this classic synth band;

Twice A Man (Dan Söderqvist, Karl Gasleben and Jocke Söderqvist)

Observations from a borderland (live, 1984)

Distant Calls (live, 1985)

Still in the air (live, 1985)

and here you can listen to a track from Lars Falk's--formerly member of Twice A Man-- 1983 album "Through":

Lars Falk - Hello hello (1988)

cheers,
Micke

Micke · Post by **Micke** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 7:40 pm

bluedad wrote:I love that trademark synth sound Steve Winwood used for his solo's in the early 80's..like on 'Valarie', 'While You See a Chance' etc..No idea what he used, though, and won't even begin to geuss.

I know that he used a Multimoog for the bass and solos on the album "Arc Of A Diver" (1980), including on the song "While You see a chance". I'm not sure though whether or not he used the same synth for the solo on "Valerie"...

On "Arc Of A Diver" Steve was also using a (rented) Prophet 5, Polymoog (on one track only) and a Yamaha CS-80.