Inner City - Big Fun - How Was It Made?
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- Опубликовано: 16 мар 2023
- A deep dive into Inner City's classic - Big Fun
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How Kevin Saunderson made Big Fun - • How Kevin Saunderson M...
Further reading:
www.factmag.com/2014/09/02/ke...
www.muzines.co.uk/articles/the...
articles.roland.com/big-fun-i... 
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One of my favourite tracks of all time. It still holds up after all these years and is an absolute jam.
Yep :)
Definitely.
Sounds awesome on a Void setup
I bought some old ex-hire musical equipment in London many years ago and amongst the pieces were an Ensoniq Mirage with disks that had 'Big Fun' and 'Good life' written on them. It contained the samples of the sounds you mention. There was also a sequencer, a Korg SQD-1 with disks of the same titles and another set of disks that said 'Strings' and 'Nude' and 'Dance' (These I discovered were tracks by Derrick May). So I think a lot of the sounds you mention other than the 'Lately Bass' from the DX-100 came from the Mirage.
there needs to be a person at youtube in charge of keeping these videos unmolested by "rights owners"
Hearing the intro of this song just gives me goose bumps. OMG back in the 80's when you hear this song playing you know is time to get on the dance floor if you're still not dancing. I' am 55 now but OMG I so want to go back in time 35 years ago.
He used a Ensoniq Mirage sampler which is most likely where the strings came from, The voice/synth parts in Good Life comes from one of the disk that came with the Mirage sampler
"Bowed Strings" (factory diskette C06) :)
Can we all take a moment to appreciate the fact that so many TAL VSTs are free
As a few others have said, the strings were definitely an Ensoniq Mirage factory disk. I don't know if you've ever used one, but they were a bit odd - each disk had three banks of sounds, each with an "Upper" and "Lower" half because the whopping 128kB sample RAM was segmented into two 64kB chunks. There's a very profound technical reason why, which mostly comes down to "cheating" the hardware limitations of the voice chip. Each of these banks, all six, could have four Programs which just set how the samples were laid out (kind of) and the envelope, filter, and LFO settings.
Anyway, the envelope responded to Note On and Note Off velocity, and on the strings disk (factory disk SD101, Piano, Choir, and Strings IIRC) playing softly gave a gentle attack and releasing quickly gave a sharp release. You can actually play it in by hand on a real Mirage with a bit of practice and absolutely nail the sound.
Given that they were 8-bit machines with very low sample rate - the strings samples are at about 25kHz - they sound quite bright and clear, and really cut through a mix. It's a flavour that not everyone will like, for sure, but it really does stand out.
We don't really need a crowd to have a party, just a funky beat and you to get it start it all....we'll dance the night away!🎉🎉🎉🥳🥳🥳🥳
It's amazing how much effort is required to get close to the sound of those old hardware synths and samplers. This was a really good emulation Guy!
Thanks!!
This is such useful and important work. Chronicling music history and production techniques and transferring them to today. Thank you!
Wow, thanks!
Couldn’t agree more with this comment! Love this channel for exactly this reason!!
Great vid! I remember loving this track and working to "reproduce" the sound as a teenager in the 90's, with limited analog gear and an Atari ST! A sampler was waaaaaay out of my budget...now I realise that was the answer! But I still had (big) fun trying 🙂
Nice!
Even as a scrawny teenager, I can remember being blown away by Inner City.......then I heard Ahnongay, and I realised Kevin Saunderson is a bona fide genius! 🙂
Yep :)
You didn't mention my favourite part of the track when the vocal goes all echoey and distant near the end.Turns what the masses in UK saw as a pop tune(think it got to number 1 in charts)but those in the know as a genius production.
Got to be in my all time top ten.
Banger job! Recreating this favourite of mine accompanied my whole career as a bedroom producer.
You cannot believe how much I enjoyed your video; took me straight back to the day! What a great job! Thanks for taking the time and publishing.
[3.01] the string is a sample that comes from the Akai S1000, one of the stock factory string floppy discs that Akai supplied with the sampler. STRING-C2
How can this track be 35 years old???? Loved it then and love it now.
Please do Plastic Dream - JayDee.
🙂
It's on the list ;)
@@GyuBeats PLEASE!
Oh dear god...how very depressing. My youth really is disappearing into the distance!
Today we use 10 plugins to get 12bit sampler grit. In the 90ties we used 10 outboard boxes to make 12bit sampler sound hi-fi 😂
This is quality! I've always loved that big fun stab sample. It's a proper warehouse/rave classic. Huge respect to Kevin Saunderson a true pioneer in the scene. And thank you for the sample pack! You definitely have a new sub.
Thanks!
He has another track that got radio play here called Good Life, very similar to this one and came out about the same time I thought. It sounds like it even has the same sampled chord and for sure the same 909. I think I read somewhere he was even on Top of the Pops! He's got a lot of other classic tracks, he's definitely one of the pioneers. Great job recreating it! Keep up the great work!
Yeah Good Life uses the same sample I think
He really put that sample to some good use. Itś also on Truth Of Self Evidence (as Reese & Santonio) and Talk To Me (which is a pretty obscure track but really worth checking out).
I've always loved this track. And definitely always preferred it to Good Life which every compilation album seems to prefer
Love love love this Guy! Let's go raving! I reckon I could do an all nighter on green tea and vibes :-)
Let's do it!!
Man I remember around the time you first started putting these vids out, super impressive to see how fast your channel has grown. Extremely well deserved! Will check out that sample pack and your latest tune! 😎
Thank you!
Only stumbled upon your chanel… more more more!👌😄👏
I hope that one day you will recreate the classic and exceptional track "Hold that sucker down" by the O.T. Quartet.
Please do one on “Merck” by Balil! The Black Dog is an another great act of the early nineties.
Brilliant episode as usual. THANKS.
You missed mentioning the sound will have been developed in a studio using faders, EQ, bus, master bus, FX etc To me, that sound was developed in the studio, likely on an API ? at Metroplex studios in detroit.
Yeah maybe. Tbh the actual sound of the mix is quite distorted so I'm not sure it was done in a studio...
This is brilliant! I'd love to see an episode on American Dream (Jakatta)
I love that tune! I'll put it on the list :)
From what I can hear in the original 'String' riff vs. your initial attempt is an envelope on the filter. Put an ADSR envelope on the filter and tweak the attack and release settings. That should get you that sound where the filter is closing slightly when the note is triggered.
On the TAL-Sampler you could do it using the 'ENV 2/ VCF' section, set the attack to a time under around 100ms, and in the Filter section turn the 'ENV' knob anti-clockwise to get the filter to close (rather than open) from it's initial cutoff point. Adjust the cutoff so that its open to begin, and maybe add a little resonance.
Great videos btw :)
Love this tune!
Thank you for these vids! Keep em coming
Fabulous content!
Awesome! Love these deconsrtuctions. Even more please.
Great video as always. You're a Don 🙏
Love your videos mate. Keep up the good work!!
Amazing!
great content and timetravel mate 👍
Quality. Big ups for this ✊🏻
Brilliant work and will work with you as soon as I recover from injuries
I'm so humble by the synthesis.its fantastic for real
Yo! Keep up the good work what great videos! I think your own stuff is sounding classic too ❤🔊
Appreciate that!
Awesome track!
Nicely done. Your track also sounds great!
Have you made a video about your studio? Is it shed/log cabin? Expensive? Much insulation? Cheers
Absolutely love this! Your continued journey into production is so enlightening, thanks for all your effort. Your new release is excellent and if my life through the mid to late 90's was worth making a movie about, Lark Descending would be the sound track! Good to see all your hard work starting to pay off in so many ways now. (oh yeah, and if you ever get the urge to deconstruct TC1991 or TC1992 Funky Guitar I'd be over the moon mate)
Such a kind comment, thank you!!
Great work matey. Your track, the Lark Descending is also great. Very nicely produced but more importantly, a nice listen musically.
Ah thanks so much!
36 years old? I can't believe it. It holds up so well, now I feel like a fossil.
superb!
You should absolutely be proud of The Lark Descending, it is awesome. Thanks for these videos 🙂
Wow, thanks!
There was quite a bit of de/reconstruction just in the opening with how that stab was treated. Impressive.
I've been spending a fair bit of time on WhoSampled recently and it struck me that a awful lot of samples come from the intros of songs. The "jump" link often points to 0:00 in the video uploads. The genius of Kevin Saunderson was that instead of sampling the start of "Let's Get Brutal", he used the very LAST chord (at about the 7-minute mark). As I understand it, Nitro Deluxe used an FM synth with a preset that was very similar to the Solid Bass for that chord, so it's kind of funny that it got layered with another solid/lately bass on the Inner City track. Fwiw, the FM solid bass was also used polyphonically (playing 5ths) for the main groove of Lil Louis' 'French Kiss' in the same year as 'Big Fun'. It popped up all over underground house/techno from '88-'89, and then it was all over the pop charts too.
The bassline in Orbital - Chime is solid bass too.
@@ravecrab It's kind of crazy that if you take the solid bass and 909s from 'Big Fun', 'French Kiss', and 'Chime' and then add three years of evolution, you get 'Saturday Night' by Whigfield. I can't wait for the Gyu Beats reconstruction of that! ;)
LOL! (about Saturday Night) I should do that for April Fools :) Seriously though, I love comments like the above. Good work!
Looks like you had big fun making this
3:38 The whole of ‘Kaos’ by Dr Baker went through my mind then 😂
As a millennial I love this sound, thanks!
6:10 the original also sounds like it was recorded fast and slowed down for the final song. It sounds stretched almost, the delay effect on the plucks makes it very obvious.
I'm experiencing a bit of Mandela Effect, I always thought the strings used pitch bend, but after hearing yours and re-listening to the original, apparently not! 😂
Me too!
There is loads of info crammed into this. I wish these videos were a bit longer 🙂
Another great video. Will you be making the sample pack available to buy for this one on your website?
Went to your site for the first time.. listened to your new track.. really good stuff. Keep up the great work.
I would like to request that you take a stab at Madrugada Eterna by The KLF.. pretty sure all (or most of??) the samples are known.
Wasn't the stab sound a sample from Royal House (Todd Terry) - Party People which was released in 1987. As Big Fun was released in 1988.
Nice 👌
Hi, love your videos, a lot of learning to be had from looking at them. Especially anything from the early 90s. Have you ever thought about doing your remake magic on any of the lesser known tracks that were huge in the underground clubs back in the day? When I say "lesser known" I mean not many people know the actual names of these tracks, but found themselves getting lost in the music in the middle of a crowded room of like-minded people from all walks of life, when the music was all that mattered.....the beauty of dance music!
The likes of Rejuvenation I.B.O or Slam Eterna, both from the same 12" Soma Records and first every release. Would love to see these been done or something from the early Limbo back catalog, like Sublime - The Theme or maybe even Leftfield Not Forgotten or Song of Life (the orig prog house mix from 92, not the ambient version) I could go and on, or anything with a similar vibe from that early era. Thanks as always for sharing knowledge. Keep them coming please.
BTW: Thanks for giving us your amazing Song Of Life (leftism ambient version) track breakdown already. Excellent insight indeedy😉
Peace!
Requiem 🙏
@@davesmasamilf I hear ya. Rejuvenation at it again, amazing track released back in 93 from the Soma stable. This or anything with a similar vibe would be hugely appreciated. Thanks for the backing. Come on guys, I'm sure if there's enough interest Gyu will hopefully work his remake magic on one of these classics for us😉
Another great track breakdown/how was it made, and one of my all-time favorite tracks. Are the full Ableton project files downloadable on your Patreon page and if so what level of membership are they available on? Also, are you still uploading all of the project files for individual download/purchase as I still only see the original 3?
Thanks. 1. Yes, 2. middle (£5 tier)3. Yes, I'm going to pull my finger out and get more up there!
@@GyuBeats Thank you! 😀
Burial next plz!!
Would be nice to see you recreating "Show Me Luv" - Robin S. by Stonebridge.
i have this LP
Have you ever thought about doing a HWIM for Insomnia by Faithless?
The string sounds like one of the ensemble or 'orc' ones from the Kawai K1. Possibly some of the notes reversed to give it that odd attack/sharp cut?
Pretty sure he used an Ensoniq esq-1 on some other stuff but I don't have one to have a noodle on.
I wondered if the string sound was one of the presets on the Ensoniq Mirage. The vocal "Doo-do-doos" that appear on Big Fun and Good Life are from the Mirage. It's probably more likely that the string sound was sampled (along with the Nitro Deluxe chord) from a vinyl record (God knows which one!) directly into the Mirage. That (8-bit?) sampler made everything sound crusty.
@@AutPen38came here to say this. The Ensoniq Mirage was the first ‘affordable’ polyphonic sampler and I couldn’t believe how many iconic samples I found when I scoured the Ensoniq sound library diskettes that came with mine. Strings of Life, Good Life, Todd Terry classics it’s all in that machine plus that raw 8-bit sound !
@@upexe I recently got hold of a bunch of samples from the Mirage and it's been fun trying to match the factory sounds to some of my favourite tracks from '88-'89. I particularly love playing the vocal Ahs and Doos from 'Good Life' and 'Big Fun' and the menacing Stacked Strings from 'Rock to the Beat' (which in a roundabout way ended up on D-Shake's 'Techno Trance' too). I'm now fairly sure that the strings in 'Big Fun' are the Bowed Strings from the Mirage disks.
Tip: The old samplers were new back then and therefore didn't sound noisy.
So no reason to turn up the Hiss control on your Tal VST.
You should take a look at the sampler's frequency response. ;)
My Akai S 3000i, for example, goes from 20hz to 18kHz, hence the powerful sound.
Every good mastering engineer cuts off the frequencies from 19 or 20 kHz during mastering in order to give the bass range more power.
Kevin's sound is therefore also based on the technical circumstances of the time, which you should take into account in your modern 20hz to 20khz DAW.
Greetings from Germany
There's quite a bit of quantization noise on 8 and 12 bit samplers, though.
i know Kevin has admitted he sampled Nitro Deluxe for the Big Fun/Good Life stab sound but i've seen at least one video that makes me think the original patch came from an FB-01 or one of the other 4-OP Yamahas in the mid-80s
ruclips.net/video/zeMsNRhpC-c/видео.html
It's definitely an FM sound. It's very similar to the Lately Bass that was all over house music in the late '80s and early '90s, but played in polyphonic mode. Lil Louis' 'French Kiss' used the same technique (probably on the TX81Z). You can get halfway there by just playing a minor chord with the BASS 1 preset on the DX7, but the TX probably had a preset that was much closer.
Can you do a a lesson on using tal sampler ? i just bouught it, but keeps asking for tal libary, it did not come with libary.
great video, didn't finish it all, but am i tripping or song is panned to left?
Maybe a little, I'm not sure why but I will try to fix it
I would LOVE to hear you do Water From a Vine Leaf by William Orbit off of Strange Cargo III.
That's one of my all-time favourites! I'm definitely planning to make that video :)
@@GyuBeats awesome, can't wait!
Amazing track, William Orbits stuff is class, some great releases on Guerilla Records during the early 90's. Would also love to see WFAVL.
Fantastic video, but is it just me or is the output from the Mac all panned way to the left?
Thanks, yeah sorry about that, I've sorted it now
We nerf the link to your new tune!
I have the full stems
My favourite Kevin Saunderson track "Funky Funk Funk" maybe isn't influential enough to deserve one of your videos but it's a proper banger. The big filtered noise hit in that hits the same spot as the crashy noise in Lil Louis' "The Original Video Clash". I see there's a new upload of Funky Funk Funk - ruclips.net/video/yIvYfuX674U/видео.html
3 decades?? no, no, no....feels like yesterday...
would you like to re-made c&c musicfactory or neneh chery/yousun'dour- 7 seconds???
"Strings of life" ...please..
Bthelick has had a go at that. It's a really complicated piece of music with some very strange discordant bits that are hard to mimic with modern equipment. I can't even get it quite right with the proper samples (from the Mirage, Emulator, and - I think - a Kurzweil piano).
It only just occurred to me how much u sound like Tom Rowlands from the Chemical brothers lmao
hehe :)
You’ve a fancy shed
I know, I'm a lucky man
Great stuff! So impressed with your knowledge and ability to fly through all those gorgeous vst’s and apps …. I just cant get ablton to make a bloody noise … i need to make my Fat boy jim album before i reach 60 🫣🤣