It could be said that every decade has defining moments in music production, however the 80s saw the mainstream adoption of MIDI, sampling, and other digital technologies. So it’s fair to say that the 80s laid the foundation of many of the technologies we use today. However, there are 5 technologies that defined the sound of the 80s, read on to see our choices.
Yamaha DX7
Although we’ve singled out the Yamaha DX7 as a defining sound of 1980s music production, the Yamaha DX featured numerous iterations of synths from the monster DX1 and TX816 (8 DX7s in a rack) to the low cost DX100 and TX81Z.
In essence we are talking about FM synthesis, which was a defining part of the 80s sound. In the words of Yamaha, “Released in 1983, this digital synthesizer with its FM sound engine revolutionized the global music scene.”
Everything from Whitney Houston and Chicago ballads using the E Piano 1 patch to bands like Aha and Howard Jones using the Yamaha DX Bass patch. To be honest it’s easier to say who didn’t use a DX7 or a derivative of the synth in 80s music production.
To understand why the DX FM synthesis was so remarkable one needs to put it in context. Sampling and sample based synths had not really made an impact and so synths were mainly limited to conventional analogue techniques for making sound. This is great if you want huge lush strings or pads, but if you need something with bite and edge then at that point they weren’t really up to the job.
Then the Yamaha DX7 arrived and suddenly we were given bell like electric pianos, marimbas, clanky basses and other sounds of this ilk, they were also good as things like bowed strings. The downsides were two fold, FM synthesis wasn’t up to the task of making lush pads or brass like a Jupiter or a Moog. Although some tricks were used to try and ‘warm up’ the sound using reverb and chorus. Secondly, FM was perceived as hard to program, perhaps this is why the presets were so ubiqutous? One study claims that “the DX7 E Piano patch was heard in up to 61% of #1 hits on the pop, country, and R&B Billboard charts in 1986.”
Anyway, I carved out a niche for myself as a synth programmer in that period, helping other artists to create or modify patches.
Roland D50
The Yamaha DX was such a huge sucess for Yamaha it put a dent in Roland’s synth sales for a few years. Their response in 1987 was the Roland D50, and like the DX, Roland capitalised on technology with the Roland D-10, D-110 (rack mount), D-20, D-5, and the low cost MT-32 sound module.
Much like the Yamaha DX, the D50 was used on countless songs in the 1980s, patches such as Fantasia, Staccato Heaven, and Pizzagogo are prime examples of the sound that made the D50 so popular.
What made the D50 so popular was it’s abilty to create sounds with edge but also some warmth. In some ways it was regarded as the best of both worlds, the sound of digital and analogue in one synth, although the synth was digital.
This was achieved by using partials (small samples) to acheive the sound and then mixed with effects. It was very effective, although rather than being the best of both worlds, it was a compromise. It had neither the grunt of FM synths or the warmth of more conventionial analogue synths. The D50 was still a hugely popular synth and appeared on countless tracks throughout the 80s. Again, much like FM, LA synthesis wasn’t easy to program so many avoided doing so, instead opting to use presets or buying expansion cards.
With all that said, the Roland D50 has left a mark in the history of synths and rightfully so. The brilliant presets crafted by Eric Persing and Adrian Scott were key to this and even today have stood the test of time.
Linn Drum
As I wrote in a recent article, until the Linn Drum, the sound from drum machines was pretty woeful and not close to the sound of a real drum kit. Roger Linn changed all that with the Linn LM-1 and then the LM-2 and Linn 9000.
Heard on everything from Prince, Frankie Goes To Hollywood to classics like Don Henley’s Boys of Summer, the Linn Drum owned the music produciton landscape in the 1980s.
A combination of sample based sounds and a cool sequencer made the Linn Drum the choice of hit makers. Selling for around $5000 in the 1980s it was reserved for those who had the money and became the must have drum machine for the music production rich and famous, including people like Jan Hammer and Herbie Hancock.
Prince is often regarded as the master of the Linn with many of his tracks showcasing the Linn in all its glory, including; Let’s Go Crazy, When Doves Cry, and 1999.
As the 80s progressed and sampling became less costly, virtually every manufacter on the planet created sample based drum machines, at a fraction of the cost. They were more powerful and sounded better than the original Linn Drum, but it didn’t matter, the Linn is the undeniable king of drum machines.
Gated Reverb
Digital technology was not only powering synths but also effects units, nowhere more so than in reverb units. Whilst digital reverbs helped create fantastic halls, rooms and other spaces the most striking use of digital reverb in the 80s was gated, or non-linear reverb.
First created in 1979 as an ‘accident’ by Producer Hugh Padgham when recording Phil Collins’ drums for Peter Gabriel’s third album. Achieved using the combination of a talkback mic and a compressor/gate, this effect soon made its way onto other songs such as Phil Collins’ In The Air Tonight, characterised by the roar of reverb suddenly coming to an abrupt stop.
When AMS released the RMX16 digital reverb hardware unit, it included the ability to create the sound without having to use convoluted and expensive set-ups, soon gated drums were on almost every track of the decade, from artists as diverse as Duran Duran, Kate Bush, and Bruce Springsteen.
It wasn’t long before low cost reverb units offered the gated drum sound at a fraction of the price. This meant the sound of gated snares, toms, and other instruments made their way onto almost every track made in that decade.
Sample Stabs
Another sound that defines 80s music production is stab sounds. It’s often thought that this was reserved to just orchestral and brass stabs, but given the short sampling time afforded in early equipment, stabs extended to guitar chords, strings and more.
Made popular by acts such as the Pet Shop Boys, Yes, and Janet Jackson, stabs gave powerful truncated blasts of instruments or ensembles. The early days of sampling used expensive samplers like the Fairlight CMI and Emu Emulator, and the iconic stab sound was called the Orchestra Hit. This is because it’s a sample of an orchestra hit, in fact it’s Stravinsky, first played in 1910, the sound was sampled by the team at Fairlight. A version also appeared on the emulator.
Over the decade it appeared on tracks like the Pet Shop Boys’ It’s A Sin, Yes’ Owner of A Lonely Heart, and Janet Jackson’s When I Think Of You. As already said, the idea extended out to things like guitar chord stabs on tracks like Rockit by Herbie Hancock.
As with other technologies in the 80s, soon everyone was making more affordable sampling keyboards, all of which included their own version of brass, orchestal and guitar hits.
Summary
Given the huge developments in music production that happened in the 1980s, choosing just 5 is hard. Did we make the right choices or are there others you would have added to this list?