1:45 Oops! The keyboard shown is actually an _Oberheim dual-manual 8-voice_ synthesizer, not to be confused with the _Oberheim OB-8._ The _8-voice_ was a partially modular synth introduced in 1975, and Jimmy Jam did indeed use it during his tenure with The Time as well as his later production work alongside Terry Lewis. The _OB-8_ was introduced in 1983. To further complicate matters, Jimmy Jam has used _both_ of these synthesizers extensively. Introduced in 1979, the OB synth family were much more compact than their monstrously huge modular predecessors (Oberheim's 2-voice, 4-voice, and 8-voice). The OB family included the OB-X, OB-SX, OB-Xa, and finally the OB-8. Incidentally, the OB-X is the source of those legendary fat synth lead chords on _1999_ by Prince. Introduced in 1983, the OB-8 became the flagship final member of the OB line, and was probably the last Oberheim synthesizer model introduced without MIDI. Like Roland and other synth manufacturers, Oberheim had its own proprietary communication standard that allowed an outboard Oberheim DSX sequencer and an Oberheim DMX drum machine to be connected to the OB-8 and synced together, providing similar functionality to the universal MIDI standard that came a short time later. Jimmy Jam used the OB-8 for many of his signature synth bass lines as well as lead, horn, and solo riffs. He preferred the Oberheim-stye pitch and modulation controllers over the pitch and mod wheels found on the keyboards of most other synth manufacturers. The OB-8 has wood-grain sides and looks very similar in appearance to an OB-Xa. It is much more compact and looks nothing like the modular Oberheim dual-manual 8-voice monster that is shown in the video at 1:45.
The favourites!: ►Cheryl Lynn - Encore ►Howard Johnson - Knees ►Alexander O'neil - A broken heart can mend ►Janet Jackson - When I think of you ►Human League - Human
You can't go wrong with any of their productions, but your list is certainly in the upper echelon of their song credits!!! They still sound great because they were ahead of their time, and still seem to be!!!
their instrument style, to my ear growing up in the 80s & 90s, around various genres, has a strong influence from 80s new age and UK new wave music. listen to their "Human" by The Human League, and hear it all come back full circle to UK new wave rock, a genre that was very romantic and r&b esque. Prince did it too. this style, mixed with Janet Jackson vox, made a killer combo that's sounds timeless today Roland D50 is king of that sound I wish I could transcribe the chords quicker of my favorite R&B/Jazz songs, I can do the bass parts easily, but these chords go beyond maj or min, then I get lost, frustrated, I put projects off for months in between, hard on myself, takes the fun out of me playing and expressing my emotions about ex-girlfriends I need to get out of my heart, into song.
Apparently, both Jimmy Jam+Terry Lewis and Teddy Riley (Guy's "Let's Chill" and The Winans' "A Friend") used this same D-flat major chord and transition. I wonder if that was the go-to chord of New Jack Swing in 1988-1991. I like it.
It is simple and powerful, Db Major, Eb Maj, F Minor, then you can use any avenue to land on Ab Major and start again. It has the perfect amount of lightness and seriousness of a NJS progression.
Wow, my search for this video is over. I have long being hoping for exactly this. The chord progression, all the information. Thanks God for you🙏🇿🇦🇿🇦. Don't have proper words to say
The Music produced by this legendary duo is even more fresh and innovative than it was in the 80's. Why? Because is REAL Music. The (c)rap (s)hit hop and du(m)bstep will NEVER last ,it is just random noise for depressed dumb kids. I really hope that Music as a whole and especially "black" (that was called back then) Music will regain the quality and the fun it had. There is some hope since the last daft punk,bruno mars,jamiroquai ,even justin (ugh...) timberlake have a disco-funk feel in their new hits. I bet that if some crazy music mogul would take all the disco-funk-soul Music of the 70's and 80's and would take a few young musicians making some nice videos this Music will reach the top of the charts again. This is melodic,elegant,timeless,immortal modern Music.
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis personify the chops, music knowledge, and creativity needed to make great songs and productions during the 80s and 90s. For example, "Tender Love" was produced in less than a week which is an R&B classic, regardless on which side of the pond you lay your head at. With Jam and Lewis, you normally get classics, while productions today often come up with disposable music even though it is theoretically sound and catchy. I believe the larger issue is cultural, very few artists and producers today aren't musically educated and rely heavily on production software and seeing what sticks VS Song Concept ->>>> Piano ->>>>> Chord Structure ->>>> Lyrics THEN Programming. The Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis sound is organic, yet whimsical, the sound you'd hear when you'd go through "Alice In Wonderland", "Wizard of Oz", or some other ethereal plane. Right now I'm humming out Janet Jackson's "Come Back To Me" which is one of their best!!! I agree that music execs need to take a chance on a more organic and acoustic sound, that is why I enjoy Bruno Mars quite a bit.
Comments like this get on my nerves 🤦🏽♂️ people can’t even listen to music freely without people like you judging them. Not everyone grew up on the music you did. Music has been around for how long now? It’s not fair for you to say “real music” because there’s no such thing. Music was bound to change regardless. Imagine how many songs sound the same now... and why is that? Because there’s only a limited amount of chord progressions. At this point, if you were to play a chord progression on the piano, you would automatically think of a song. If you don’t like “Hip-Hop”, simply don’t listen to it. The same thing people rap about now, people sing about it in a filtered way. Now, people are unfiltered about it.
Hello sir, congratulations on your post. I'm a fan of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Could you give me some sample packs inspired by them? I'd love to know ...
Hellow sir, I really appreciate your posts. I would like to know if you have a production breakdown of any Chuckii Booker arrangements? He played good bass guitar but was also a great keyboard player and help produced some great jams for the group " Troop". "Turn Away" and "Spread My Wings" are amongst my favorite late 80s RnB tunes.
Bro I really appreciate your vids!!...you really helped me a lot with understanding the approach of the music that i grew up listening to....keep up the work!!
Thank you for the lesson and break down, wonderful! have you done anything on the early music production that was done on Prince/Time music when Terryville and Jim my where with Morrison Day?
Thanks Xenig, I am not sure where to find that particular sheet music, but I do have many of their transcriptions on my website: www.virtuallysmoothpiano.com/sheet-music.html
You are welcome, I plan to do more, Babyface, Teddy Riley, Devante Swing, stay tuned!!!
1:45 Oops! The keyboard shown is actually an _Oberheim dual-manual 8-voice_ synthesizer, not to be confused with the _Oberheim OB-8._ The _8-voice_ was a partially modular synth introduced in 1975, and Jimmy Jam did indeed use it during his tenure with The Time as well as his later production work alongside Terry Lewis. The _OB-8_ was introduced in 1983. To further complicate matters, Jimmy Jam has used _both_ of these synthesizers extensively. Introduced in 1979, the OB synth family were much more compact than their monstrously huge modular predecessors (Oberheim's 2-voice, 4-voice, and 8-voice). The OB family included the OB-X, OB-SX, OB-Xa, and finally the OB-8. Incidentally, the OB-X is the source of those legendary fat synth lead chords on _1999_ by Prince. Introduced in 1983, the OB-8 became the flagship final member of the OB line, and was probably the last Oberheim synthesizer model introduced without MIDI. Like Roland and other synth manufacturers, Oberheim had its own proprietary communication standard that allowed an outboard Oberheim DSX sequencer and an Oberheim DMX drum machine to be connected to the OB-8 and synced together, providing similar functionality to the universal MIDI standard that came a short time later. Jimmy Jam used the OB-8 for many of his signature synth bass lines as well as lead, horn, and solo riffs. He preferred the Oberheim-stye pitch and modulation controllers over the pitch and mod wheels found on the keyboards of most other synth manufacturers. The OB-8 has wood-grain sides and looks very similar in appearance to an OB-Xa. It is much more compact and looks nothing like the modular Oberheim dual-manual 8-voice monster that is shown in the video at 1:45.
The favourites!:
►Cheryl Lynn - Encore
►Howard Johnson - Knees
►Alexander O'neil - A broken heart can mend
►Janet Jackson - When I think of you
►Human League - Human
You can't go wrong with any of their productions, but your list is certainly in the upper echelon of their song credits!!! They still sound great because they were ahead of their time, and still seem to be!!!
their instrument style, to my ear growing up in the 80s & 90s, around various genres,
has a strong influence from 80s new age and UK new wave music.
listen to their "Human" by The Human League, and hear it all come back full circle to UK new wave rock, a genre that was very romantic and r&b esque. Prince did it too.
this style, mixed with Janet Jackson vox, made a killer combo that's sounds timeless today
Roland D50 is king of that sound
I wish I could transcribe the chords quicker of my favorite R&B/Jazz songs, I can do the bass parts easily, but these chords go beyond maj or min, then I get lost, frustrated, I put projects off for months in between, hard on myself, takes the fun out of me playing and expressing my emotions about ex-girlfriends I need to get out of my heart, into song.
Their sound is indeed timeless and elegant!!!
Jam & Lewis are my favorite music production team!😎🎶🎼🎵
Jimmy used a lot of oddball keyboards on top of the piano and OB-8. thats why you hear so many different sounds.
Apparently, both Jimmy Jam+Terry Lewis and Teddy Riley (Guy's "Let's Chill" and The Winans' "A Friend") used this same D-flat major chord and transition. I wonder if that was the go-to chord of New Jack Swing in 1988-1991. I like it.
It is simple and powerful, Db Major, Eb Maj, F Minor, then you can use any avenue to land on Ab Major and start again. It has the perfect amount of lightness and seriousness of a NJS progression.
Wow, my search for this video is over. I have long being hoping for exactly this. The chord progression, all the information. Thanks God for you🙏🇿🇦🇿🇦. Don't have proper words to say
Thanks a lot for these videos. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis are one of my favorite producers of all time, and they have inspired me to learn more theory.
Awesome video man. JJ and TL are one of my biggest production duos as well.
This is nice
I never heard the instrumental to this
Thanks
The Music produced by this legendary duo is even more fresh and innovative than it was in the 80's.
Why? Because is REAL Music.
The (c)rap (s)hit hop and du(m)bstep will NEVER last ,it is just random noise for depressed dumb kids.
I really hope that Music as a whole and especially "black" (that was called back then) Music will regain the quality and the fun it had.
There is some hope since the last daft punk,bruno mars,jamiroquai ,even justin (ugh...) timberlake have a disco-funk feel in their new hits.
I bet that if some crazy music mogul would take all the disco-funk-soul Music of the 70's and 80's and would take a few young musicians making some nice videos this Music will reach the top of the charts again.
This is melodic,elegant,timeless,immortal modern Music.
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis personify the chops, music knowledge, and creativity needed to make great songs and productions during the 80s and 90s. For example, "Tender Love" was produced in less than a week which is an R&B classic, regardless on which side of the pond you lay your head at. With Jam and Lewis, you normally get classics, while productions today often come up with disposable music even though it is theoretically sound and catchy. I believe the larger issue is cultural, very few artists and producers today aren't musically educated and rely heavily on production software and seeing what sticks VS Song Concept ->>>> Piano ->>>>> Chord Structure ->>>> Lyrics THEN Programming. The Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis sound is organic, yet whimsical, the sound you'd hear when you'd go through "Alice In Wonderland", "Wizard of Oz", or some other ethereal plane. Right now I'm humming out Janet Jackson's "Come Back To Me" which is one of their best!!! I agree that music execs need to take a chance on a more organic and acoustic sound, that is why I enjoy Bruno Mars quite a bit.
+john lerner all those artists you named are basically imitating that sound.....
+LivingForce : yes sir, i listen to Janet Jackson's Come Back To Me too. I love their arrangements, it was so smooth.
Comments like this get on my nerves 🤦🏽♂️ people can’t even listen to music freely without people like you judging them. Not everyone grew up on the music you did. Music has been around for how long now? It’s not fair for you to say “real music” because there’s no such thing. Music was bound to change regardless. Imagine how many songs sound the same now... and why is that? Because there’s only a limited amount of chord progressions. At this point, if you were to play a chord progression on the piano, you would automatically think of a song. If you don’t like “Hip-Hop”, simply don’t listen to it. The same thing people rap about now, people sing about it in a filtered way. Now, people are unfiltered about it.
Hello sir, congratulations on your post. I'm a fan of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Could you give me some sample packs inspired by them? I'd love to know ...
Wonderful insight!!!! Thank you for posting this!!!!
Really would learn how to play prince The Father Song which is incorporated into computer blue. Is there anyway you can do a tutorial please.
they are LEGENDS - which they did more sounds of blackness LP tho
Indeed, very true!
Thank you so much, I have Babyface is uploading as we speak, and I have more in store for all the big names!!!
Hellow sir, I really appreciate your posts. I would like to know if you have a production breakdown of any Chuckii Booker arrangements? He played good bass guitar but was also a great keyboard player and help produced some great jams for the group " Troop". "Turn Away" and "Spread My Wings" are amongst my favorite late 80s RnB tunes.
James Nared Not yet Jared, but I can look into it and see what I can do! Thank you for watching!
All those keyboards are worth more now than they were when they came out because of those amazing vst
Thank you ... trying to learn to play my own music on keys for my videos..🌷
Not that Juno pictured🤦♂️Maybe Juno 60 or 106.
Love
Force's Md's - Tender love
Bro I really appreciate your vids!!...you really helped me a lot with understanding the approach of the music that i grew up listening to....keep up the work!!
Thanks a lot and they are definitely one of my favorite production teams as they've influenced so many in the world of music!!!
Thank you for the lesson and break down, wonderful! have you done anything on the early music production that was done on Prince/Time music when Terryville and Jim my where with Morrison Day?
anyone know VSTs of the synthesizers they use?
Dexed for DX7, Roland Cloud D50, Obxd for OB-8 and Tal-Uno62
good stuff bro! what about baby face and LA Ried?
Great video and great music.
Do you know where is possible to find Jimmy Jam Terry Lewis sheet music (especially alexander o'neal-sos band-change)?
Thanks Xenig,
I am not sure where to find that particular sheet music, but I do have many of their transcriptions on my website: www.virtuallysmoothpiano.com/sheet-music.html
i love this. Definitely buying your lessons tonight!
+Terance Amalanathan Thanks! Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis lessons are available for download here:
www.virtuallysmoothpiano.com/flyte-time.html
Hey great video sir.
E Major?
Dope
What workstation would you recommend I buy today to get a sound close to what jimmy jam and T Lewis had.
Jewelian Bristol the Roland D-50 is what they used.