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Introduction
Introduction
In the 1980s, technology was evolving within music as well as outside of music. Video games were being invented. The release of the Nintendo GameBoy and NES, the rise of Sony Walkman and Trinitron TVs, the popularity of Casio calculator watch, and the craze for the Video Home System or VHS. Musically, technology that was being invented in the 70s was now being further developed in the 80s. Such as synthesizers that massively changed music and reverbing microphones.
Production Technology
Production Technology
Roland TR-808
The TR-808 founder Ikutaro Kakehashi, approached musician/engineer Don Lewis to create drum machines. The Roland TR-808 was a popular drumming machine that was used in the 1980s.
The TR-808 came to market in the '80s which is also the same year its competitor the Linn LM-1 (manufactured by Roger Linn) touched down. The difference between the two stems from the TR-808's generation of sound through synthesis vs. being pre-loaded with samples. It was one of the first drum machines to allow users to program rhythms instead of using preset patterns.
Within Marvin Gaye's 'Sexual Healing,' the Roland TR 808 is used in the opening rhythm. It is a classic sound and isnt paid enough attention too.
Drumming Machines
Drumming Machines
A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. Popularly used in the 1980s when electronics were adapting.
Limitations of drum machines would be Smaller drum machines can be quite fiddly to program and generally aren't as good for playing live, as the tiny knobs can be difficult to tweak. Larger units are better for performance but take up a lot of room – something to consider if you have limited studio space.
What Artists Used Drumming Machines in the 1980s?
The Linn LM -1 was the first drum machine on the market to use digital samples. It ended up defining the sound of ’80s music and was practically inescapable for a time. It was utilized by the likes of ABC, Devo, and, notably, Michael Jackson, who used the Linn LM-1 in his track ‘Thriller’. Other artists such as Human League used electronics as a part of their signature style, as well as Prince in 'When Doves Cry'. The opening to his hit song straight away strikes the listeners.
What songs use layered vocals/Reverb?
In David Bowies 'Heroes' towards the end of the song, layered vocals begin to creep in. In my opinion, it gives off a call-and-response, which dates back to the 1950s. As Bowie sings his line, the layered vocals either respond or repeat what he said. Human League is another band that incorporates layered vocals in their hit 'Dont You Want Me' as they used multiple singers, especially within the chorus .
Layered Vocals
Layered Vocals
It involves taking multiple vocal recordings or takes and placing them in your mix to add depth, dimension, and character. Each vocal layer typically features the same singer or singers performing the same or different parts, which are then mixed together to create a cohesive and captivating sound. Artists from the 80s, such as Kate Bush, Marc Bolan, and Queen's 'Bohemian Rapsody' are famous for using multiple vocals. The immense sounding vocal harmonies that formed passages like the middle section of Bohemian Rhapsody were sung by the three men, who layered each vocal line together at least three or four times, etc. Around this time, the commercial availability of electronic instruments like the synthesizer and vocoder also enabled artists to explore robotic vocal textures and new means of vocal expression. Artists additionally use reverb and harmonies to create distortion and chaotic vocals.
https://www.izotope.com/en/learn/a-brief-history-of-vocal-doubling.html
Compositional
Compositional
What made synth/electronic popular in the 1980s?
In its second phase in the 1980s, the introduction of dance beats and more conventional rock instrumentation made the music warmer and catchier and contained within the conventions of three-minute pop. Synthesizers were increasingly used to imitate the conventional and clichéd sound of orchestras and horns.
n deciding to use the CR-78 for "Heart of Glass", the choice was made to combine the sound of the drum machine with the sound of actual drumming. This reflected the hybrid nature of the song, the combination of a drum machine that was typically used in the context of dance music with the actual drum sound that was a traditional aspect of rock recordings. In combining these elements, the sound of the drum machine was first recorded on an individual track. To synchronize the actual drum play with the drum machine, the drums were also recorded on separate tracks, with the bass drum recorded separately from the rest of the drums.
Synthesizers and electric sounds
Synthesizers and electric sounds
In the early 1980s mass-produced digital synthesizers, such as the Yamaha DX7, became popular, and MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) was developed. In the same decade, with a greater reliance on synthesizers and the adoption of programmable drum machines, electronic popular music came to the fore.
After the definition of MIDI in 1982 and the development of digital audio, the creation of electronic sounds and their manipulation became much simpler. Synthesizers came to dominate the pop music of the early 1980s, particularly through their adoption by bands of the New Romantic movement.
Within the era of the New Romantics, a popular band called 'Blondie incorporated electronics into their major hit songs. Including 'Heart of Glass', where they used the Roland CR-78 drumming machine.“Heart of Glass” was a departure from Blondie’s oeuvre—one that favored the grittier punk-flecked attack of new wave. Parallel Lines producer Mike Chapman recognized the song’s commercial potential and helped the band refine what had been a disregarded older idea. It turned out to be the perfect showcase for their frontwoman Debbie Harry’s unique brand of detached charisma.I
https://www.rolandcloud.com/news/cr-78-the-heartbeat-of-blondie-s-heart-of-glass
Pop Hooks
Pop Hooks
A music hook is a musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song 'appealing to the listener's ear'. The term generally applies to popular music, especially rock, R&B, hip-hop, dance, and pop. It involves what grabs the listeners' attention. In the 1980s, there were some catchy music hooks that drew listeners' attention. Within contemporary music today, artists such as Lady Gaga use pop hooks along with modern electronics.
Ritchie Sambora
Bon Jovi-Livin On A Prayer
A motivational anthem for the working class, “Livin’ On A Prayer” captured the economic hardship of the era. It focused on a fictional couple Tommy and Gina who try to hold on to their faith as they struggle to make ends meet. The audience would call out the lyrics, 'Whoa we're halfway there, OOH LIVIN ON A PRAYER, take my hand we'll make it I swear' The lyrics are about standing together as humanity, and therefore it a catchy chorus to belt the lyrics.
The song is famous for Richie Sambora's use of an unusual talkbox effect in the song's primary guitar riff. A talkbox is an electronic device, essentially a tube plugged into an amp and speaker—that allows a guitarist to "speak" notes through his mouth. In the opening bars of "Livin' on a Prayer," when Sambora's guitar almost seems to be saying "a whoa whoa, a whoa whoa," that's actually Richie Sambora shaping his guitar's notes into "whoa" sounds using his mouth.
https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/living-on-a-prayer/music.html
Recording Techniques
Recording Techniques
Examples of Sampling
Yellow Magic Orchestra was a Japanese electronic music band formed in Tokyo in 1978 by Haruomi Hosono, Yukihiro Takahashi, and Ryuichi Sakamoto. The group is considered influential and innovative in the field of popular electronic music Their album Technodelic, released in 1981, is an early example of an album consisting mostly of samples.
Additionally, 'My Life in the Bush of Ghosts released in 1981 by David Byrne and Brian Eno is another important early work of sampling, incorporating samples of sources including Arabic singers, radio DJs, and an exorcist. The album was based heavily on samples from their expressions of faith and religion. American radio evangelists, exorcists, and Arabic singers feature on the album’s original tracklist, all backed by the funk rhythms, spikey guitar lines, and Eno-led sound experimentation of Remain in Light, made even more strange and abstract.
https://www.seren.bangor.ac.uk/arts-culture/music/2021/02/13/my-life-in-the-bush-of-ghosts-and-the-history-of-sampling/
Sampling
Sampling
Sampling came into its own in the latter half of the '70s and early 1980s with the emergence of hip-hop. DJs from New York would make samples on the fly while they played a show. This was done by precisely manipulating vinyl records. The most popular example of this was the use of breakbeats.
In the 1980s, samples were incorporated into synthesizers and music workstations, such as the bestselling Korg M1, released in 1988.
The LMD-649 was the first PCM digital sampler, capable of playing and recording PCM samples with a 12-bit audio depth and 50 kHz sampling rate, stored in 128 KB of dynamic RAM memory. That sample rate was double that offered on the Fairlight CMI series I at the time, contributing to a higher fidelity in sound samples. The Yellow Magic Orchestra used it for extensive sampling and looping in their 1981 album Technodelic.
Limitation of Sampling
The main limitation of sampling music would be that Musicians, painters, designers, and other creative fields are all protected by copyright. Copyright protections allow creators to protect their work from reproductions, stealing, and sales as a few examples. Sampling is one such way that infringes on a creator’s original work.
Trevor Horn
Trevor Horn is an Englsih music producer and was given the name "The man who invented the 80s" The Fairlight CMI, a highly advanced digital sampler, synthesizer, and workstation, first released in 1979 but popularized in the ‘80s, was one such sampler. Incredibly expensive, it allowed musicians like Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, Trevor Horn (Art of Noise), and others to sample any sound into it and have real-time pitch control over it. Horn was nicknamed 'The man who invented the 80s' due to his experimentation with sound with artists such as The Pet Shop Boys, Grace Jones, Freddie Goes To Hollywood etc. From which he produced some of their most famous albums.
The cool thing about the Fairlight CMI is that it allowed musicians, engineers, and producers to look at a graphical waveform of a song’s sounds. Users could identify—much like in a contemporary DAW (Digital Audio Workstation)—where a vocal track went off-pitch, then record a replacement sample and paste it in.
https://www.izotope.com/en/learn/a-brief-history-of-pitch-correction-in-music.html
Vocal Processors
Vocal Processors
A vocal processor can modify the voice with a multitude of effects to change its pitch, range, clarity, or special effects. Any musician knows the importance of vocals on a track. They need to be in perfect harmony and on key. In addition, mistakes and flaws in vocals are the easiest to spot.
In the early 1980s, the French musical instrument company Publison released the Infernal Machine 90, an early hybrid digital signal processor and sampler. In addition to its pitch shifting/harmonizing capabilities, the Infernal Machine could apply delay and reverb to sounds put through it, as well as reverse and loop samples. It was a highly capable and cutting-edge machine for its time, allowing users to change pitch without affecting the time signature. But compared to the Harmonizer, the Infernal Machine is incredibly rare and expensive
Fairlight CMI
Notable Music Producers Of The 1980s
Notable Music Producers Of The 1980s
Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones' career has encompassed the roles of composer, record producer, artist, film producer, arranger, conductor, instrumentalist, television producer, record company executive, magazine founder, and multi-media entrepreneur. With three blockbuster albums—Off the Wall in 1979; Thriller in 1982, the best-selling album of all time; and Bad in 1987. Jones and Jackson charted a route from innovation through overwhelming success to what some saw as self-parody. Jones became the consummate African-American maestro of 1980s Los Angeles. Produced the top-selling album of all time (Michael Jackson's Thriller) and at least one other of the top 30.
As well as being a successful producer, has supported Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s and famously orchestrated the 1985 charity sing-along “We Are the World.” The song was for charity and written by Lionel Richie wrote “We Are the World” with pop icon Michael Jackson to raise money for African famine relief; the song generated some \$50 million in donations and received a Grammy for song of the year.
In an interview, Jones stated the importance of being a producer and what skills are required "As a music producer you have got to be extremely proficient with music. If you expect to have the kind of confidence you’ll need as a producer in the studio, you must be proficient in your core musical skills in addition to being able to handle all of the organizational and relational demands placed on the producer."
https://blog.discmakers.com/2010/12/quincy-jones-tools-for-success/
Nile Rodgers
Nile Rodgers
Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. is an American record producer, guitarist, and composer. The co-founder of Chic, he has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 500 million albums and 75 million singles worldwide. One of Rogers's major producing hits was David Bowie's 'Let's Dance'. The song was written by Bowie and produced by Nile Rodgers and appears on the album of the same name, Let's Dance. It was released as the album's first single in 1983 and went on to become one of his biggest-selling tracks.
Not only has Rodgers worked and inspired almost every artist under the sun, but he’s also linked up with Roxy Music’s Bryan Ferry on a plethora of occasions over the last few daces. The two men have built up a strong working relationship, which started in 1984 on Ferry’s Boys & Girls record and most recently in 2014, Rodgers hopped on the album Avonmore, with him and Johnny Marr playing the guitar across the effort.
Nile Rogers's style of playing as well as style of producing, he doesn't drown his sound in effects, but he maintains a simple, sophisticated signal chain into his Hot Rod Deville. He uses a Pedaltrain Classic 2, loaded up with an Eventide PowerMax Power Supply.
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