i am AMAZED about how complicated the original mix sounds, and the fact that YOU a real expert with so much gear and technological advance has an issue recreating this thing, this only fact showcases how really GREAT producers and musicians where working in the industry during the 80s, absolutely amazing stuff here to learn about the final sound product.
It also just shows how hard it is to imitate other people. When you're producing an original song, you just want something that sounds good. You don't necessarily have some exact sound you're trying to make like if you were imitating someone else, and even if you do, no one will know if you failed to achieve it if you made something else that sounds good. I'd bet those great producers and musicians would have difficulty exactly imitating other producers and musicians as well.
@@PKSuperStar256 Many things can mess it up. Like maybe the tape did a strange thing when the sound was transferred onto digital. Also the tempo he used for the stems is wrong. It's actually 113.381. And the actual tempo of the original remastered song is 113.333333 (and the threes go on). And the tempo of the official music video is 113.650 (I checked myself.)
The drum fill secret is solved. It's very simple as I mentioned in my previous comment - complicated things are simple usually. I opened the drum track in a wave editor and converted the drum fill from stereo to mono and the result is - the trick was made only by using auto stereo panning effect and gate/room reverb. Really simple. The auto stereo panning effect played the most important key role in that drum fill case. SAW were clever but made miracles in simple ways.
Hi Claudio, Wow, what a fantastic reconstruction. I've only just come across this.. I played a lot of the stuff on this record and you’ve got so much of it dead right or very close! Nice one! Just for the record: Congas - I think are a Roland 727.. and Linn 9000 yes. Kick and snare - Would be Linn 9000 I'm pretty sure, but the snare sounds like it has a clap mixed in on the backbeats and a couple of fills..? Toms - Is a preset (ElectroDrm?) on the Roland Alpha Juno I believe. Phil used an auto panner on many of the records, so I’m pretty sure the toms were put through that, and maybe the sample was reversed on the other side, or possibly just sent to a gated delayed reverse or gated reverb patch..? Bass - Is TX816 / DX7. I think it’s a patch I called Frab Bass from a bass cartridge of my edits that I gave to them once I started working there. Brass - Is a Fairlight CMI preset. (Brass 01?) Violins - The sample is in octaves, (called Violins 01 I think?? Didn’t have to look too far for these did I?) Guitars - Both the stub part and the blingy chords are both CMI presets again. Fantastic work Sir. I must check out your other reconstructions, this is truly a proper piece of work. Cheers Ian
I am always amazed by the layers of sounds that one doesn't realise make up the composite sound. Claudio, your recreations are a marvellous musical education and I thank you sincerely.
Hi Claudio, the reason why you can't find the bass patch is because they programmed it themselves in the studio! In an interview they said they actually hid their custom cartridge so bands wouldn't steal it (especially Dead or Alive). The drums were also sequenced and sampled using the Linn 9000. Espen Kraft might possibly have a copy, but I don't know (I asked him a year ago or more). They programmed most of their bass patches themselves, and they never released. There's also the possibility they were actually using the DX7II or maybe a DX7IIFD, because some of them were put on a floppy disk. But putting that aside, you did a fantastic job! I never realized how complex the arrangement was, especially the percussion. Oh, and they did use the D50 all over that album, but more so on other tracks.
I mean eyebrow let me give you a couple of artist tips here cause you want like upfront Lee goes like right in your face sleepwalk, so I see a lot of artist recording this far away from the microphone and that is something that you really really don’t wanna do because if if you’re vocal is hitting that red then you’re clipping your vocals pretty much just at that pointI usually just kinda keep my vocal from hitting the yellow because I like to keep my stuff together you pay your vocal 50 or 30 or whatever sounds best to you. Usually I just go with her heart rate I don’t know why people stop doing that it actually made the vocals for the 90s and early 2000 even fool than what they do today.
And in the best way to kinda do that if you want to pull up the CLA to a compressor, one of the best plug-ins was that man, the COA to a ad a boost in a mid kinda have more what kind of more stuff to tear plug in already I mean or unless you want to use that rebar you canbut again it’s mainly up to it like you wanna use CLA to a compressor or is that HB that
The original toms comes from Roland Alpha Juno 2, or the module version of it-MKS-50. And maybe for the string melody , and synthbell, and guitar, maybe even the brass is from Roland U-110?
Dear Dr. Mix, for the past 2 years I've been feeling pretty bad but I recently found your channel and your enthusiasm makes me feel a little bit better. Thank you.
damn that original bass is so clean considering its 3 decades ago....There's sounds in there you feel rather than hear which is the genius of production.....So complex but sounds simple i always tell people when they say ..."it's so easy".....You do it then...Amazing job man.....I'd love to hear something like love and pride, love cats or the reflex re made i always loved those kind of tracks....Again Bloody brilliant work sir
There's a reason for the greatness of the arrangement. It was produced by Stock, Aitken, and Waterman (SAW). They produced some of the best music out there. They were huge back then.
Are you kidding??? They were called the hit factory because the factories basically made the same song over and over again. Massive geniuses but musical garbage…
Yeah, every SAW song sounds pretty much the same. Revolutionary production techniques, but very little creativity - they were literally an assembly line that got the artists in, recorded and produced as quickly as possible, using the exact same production techniques every time.
I believe the background conga percussions are from an Roland TR-727, also the cabasa. I don't have the original, but the virtual version sounds pretty close. Nice work!
Holy cow! I had no idea the original mix was so complex. Thanks for breaking it down so I could regain an appreciation for the song. Happy New Year to you, too!
pick me up off the floor As a musician, a 1980s material/valley girl, and having a smidge of knowledge about music production, I'm speechless. The amount of sound acumen, theory, and serious familiarity with the different instruments and their various facsimiles that went into this is masterful and fascinating. Especially after 12Tone's analysis which gave me a whole new appreciation for the piece
its always hard to emulate the originals sounds perfectly because even if you had the exact same synths, They probably made some tweaks to the parameters LFOs, and so forth. Plus also, alot of those sounds are going through a neve or SSL console and outboard gear and even effects the engineer is using also. But overall, Doctor mix, You did a really good job recreating the original track because you always pick up on some sounds I always miss in songs.
Me encantan tus vídeos Doctor pero lo que más me gusta es esa energía positiva que desprendes. Ojalá hubiera más gente así en el mundo. Un saludo desde Palma de Mallorca, España.
I love it, do you think maybe you could recreate Two Tribes by Frankie Goes to Hollywood?? I feel like there is a lot of production that went into making that song, and it would be cool to see it recreated
Hey Doc', sorry for my english. If we look "arround" of your videos, who are amazing, what an incredible vibe you give us everytime. Keep like that Doc' ;). Regards from Belgium ! Ced
Love it. Really good recreation. While listening to the bass line, it reminded me of another 80s classic Trapped by Colonel Abrams. I can't remember which came first. But both have similar bass line patches. Both have jazzy synth leads. To me they're so similar I think the DJs at the old school discos used to pair these two in a mix.
O-M-G ... I remember performing this live back in 1988; and I ended up doing the vocal part too - what was I thinking!!!! Great recreation Claudio! Best Regards, Axel.
Finally, a Stock Aitken Waterman track you have given your recreation treatment to! I haven't read all the comments (yet!) but I have been lucky enough to discuss elements of this track with the original mixer, Pete Hammond, particularly the toms which a lot of people have already commented are from an Alpha Juno (or "a little Juno synth" to quote Pete) but I haven't been able to locate the exact ones, the nearest I've got is to some that sound more similar to those used at the beginning of This Time I Know It's For Real (possible idea for a future recreation?) . Pete advised that he used a simple 200 ms delay on them with a small room reverb on the delay (he mentions about recreating the AMS RMX 16 "nonlin" patch these days so I presume that's what he used back then)
I never knew that I would enjoy the reconstruction of this song this much even though I never liked the song in the first place and it was produced long b4 I was even born, but you are something special... Thank you Doctor Mix ^^
Claudio mi fai cominciare questo 2022 con dei ricordi incredibili: non sai quante volte l'ho suonata in discoteca e devo farti i complimenti per aver riprodotto questa base con le stesse sonorità. Di nuovo complimenti e buon anno.
The very first keyboard I owned back in the 80s when I was a kid, was a Casio. I got fascinated to hear the DEMO track was this Rick Astley’s supertune! Fantastic job Claudio!
This is excellent! I never heard guitars on the original version, it’s somewhat of a revelation. I guess SAW (the hit factory) mixed them out somehow. Song request for next deconstruction would be Taylor Dayne’s Tell It To My Heart, another late 80’s guilty pleasure.
Man, your work here in RUclips is amazing. This song probably took you a long time to reconstruct, tnx a lot. Your charisma is contagious 😊 Tnx for showing the keys back there. I was dying curious to know them all 🤣
I mean, let's be honest and I'm gonna go out on a limb here - and this might have been controversial in the 80s but is surely accepted today? - Mike Stock and Matt Aitken were arrangement geniuses (and I don't use that word lightly) and extremely decent musicians to boot. I was probably a rare breed in my teens, dissecting these mixes and just being blown away by that sound, mixed to tape on the 4000E and with those trademarks like delay throws and staccato vocal lines spun in from the samplers, not just on Rick Astley tracks but across nearly everything SAW did in the mid to late 80s. Cheesy by today's standards but simultaneously brilliant somehow. IMHO they deserve to be lauded as musicians and creators akin to some of the great artists and producers of their era. Add in Waterman's commercial deftness and ear for what the buyers wanted, great mixers/programmers (Harding, Curnow etc) and it's no wonder they were so ridiculously successful. I listen back to some of those Kylie mixes (perhaps hoping nobody's hearing what I'm listening to as a 47 year old!) and still find those compositions and arrangements awe inspiring. The sheer complexity of those track layers in NGGYU defies the simple catchy sound and shows just how much graft went into this stuff, so much at odds with the knocking SAW took from the press and public at the time as "all sounding the same" etc. Finally, Claudio you did a great job here given the immense challenges of recreating these sounds when the PWL sample and gear portfolio was pretty special and "of that time" - Publison anyone? What you definitely achieved, which is credit to your own talent and musicianship, is to preserve the feel and energy of the track, which ain't easy! The whole Rick Astley story from shy singer at a Newton le Willows labour club to superstardom via pseudo tea boy is such a great capture of 80s possibilities. How I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in Borough Studios in those days! Thanks Claudio! The exclusive use of the Calrec Soundfield mic for virtually all SAW vocals also fascinates me in these days of vintage mic coveting and modelling! It really does show that one good quality LDC is all you need to great pop vocals across many singers from good to bad! I could go on - oh wait I have a bit!
For the bass line I hear that you could achieve similar results if you layer the bass with another plucky noiser sound, also if you EQ the bass more on the low mid frequency you can achieve almost the same result. But on today modern Synthetizers is difficult to have the same retro vibes of this FM synth of the 80's, the modern FM synth sound very "Clean", when the 80 Synth sound more "dirty" "noisy" and "warmer"
lol Love it bro. The remake is brilliant but loving the positive happy smiles at the end from what you've done with the studio gear makes the video! Kudos!
Thanks Claudio for a great recreation! Regarding the drum samples. In the book "PWL from the factory floor" by Phil Harding you can read this: "The Linn 9000 was used by SAW to sequence most of their hit records, but the kick, snare and claps were sampled in the AMS sampler and the Linn 9000 only acted as a trigger". (The AMS should have been an AMS DMX 15-80")
An often overlooked sound set from that era are the general midi tones, GM/GM2, they were used a lot at the time simply because a (general midi), midi file could be played back on a Yamaha keyboard, Roland/Korg or any general midi software synth such as the Roland sound canvas, and it would sound pretty standard. The GM tones are separated into instrument groups and a standard GM tone set is numbered from 0 to 128. One of the sounds from the original stems sounded like the GM tone preset 100, FX 5 (brightness), with heavy hall reverb. Check out the GM tones, most are cheesy compared to samples but you will be surprised how many you recognise from the late 80s and 90s era. Always great content from your channel Dr.
GM was created according to famous or better to says most used presets from 80's in very early 90's. It supposed to be some kind of evolution of Roland's MT-32 presets, but they mostly found they use in games soundtracks from 90's. In professional modules/ keyboard they could be consider as some kind of guilty pleasure, as they are there purely only for compatible reason. It is interesting, to play for example Warcraft 2, Doom 2, Duke Nukem 3D on Yamaha Motif, or Roland Fantom X in GM mode. :-D
Just got myself a Roland FA-07 after my beautiful 27 year old GEM S3 died. Loving watching your videos and seeing how I can get back into music again. Sadly, the FA-07 is being returned as one of the keys doesn't work... but I can still use most of it and get going with the music. Speaking of Roland, when you were doing the string sounds and needed a bit more attack, I couldn't help thinking of the string attack partial on the D50, then saw you have one in your studio!! No matter, you did a great job anyway. Happy holidays, Doc!
If that was your Christmas present to us then I've just unwrapped it and ain't giving it back. Just awesome. Happy Christmas to you all and keep the vids rolling.
Doctor Mix - you are a production genius. People can learn to copy tracks; but the magic is surely the ear for sound-matching & sound-design. It's not obvious everyone can learn that. If you're up for a challenge, how about a deconstruction of "Perfect Day" by The Visions of Shiva - simple tune, but sound-selection is what makes it.
Thanks Doctor Mix! Hard to believe this was released December 31, 1987. Hats off to PWL Studios and the SAW team who produced so many number ones. Would be great if you could get an interview with them.
Like a forger doing a Master's painting to trick the eye into thinking it's looking at the original, this is similar only with the use of sound instead of paint. Really clever, and it takes a lot of talent to be able to reach such levels. Brilliant work in dissecting the original and creating a unique but similar version. Glad I watched.
You can certainly hear Colonel Abrams 'Trapped' sampled in this song, or at least what sounds like it. Top production again, Claudio, and always good to see how these songs are constructed.
Hey Claudio, Great mix. Even the original SAW team would have trouble reproducing this song without the original sounds. This is a very dense mix, it would be fantastic to see how they may have jammed all the vocals and create so much room for the lead vox considering the busy soundscape.
23:15 That is definetly a Roland Juno 60 or 106 with PWM set to anout 50-40% and a little of a sawtooth wave, then with the filter/amp envelope and the chorus.
SAW sat on this track for a year, unsure how to release and how it should sound. It was all based on Trapped by Colonel Abrams, the strings brought it to another level. Linn samples dictated their sound. There are at least 5 versions of the song by the various mixers at PWL. It sat in vault for a year. Then at the PWL Christmas party they played it and Pete (Waterman) went wild over it. They farmed it to BMG who loved it and then, global smash.
I've missed so much this type of content! I love your recreations, it's was what made me subscribe to this channel in first place! Keep doing your great job in 2022 Claudio!
When recreating an 80‘s, always remember that most sounds are just stock presets. Also keep in mind MIDI channel limits and ways different synths and drum machines could interconnect.
My best bet for the toms (ElectroDrm patch from Roland Alpha Juno 2) is that the panning was automated and sent to a mono reverb. Someone uploaded a video on RUclips showcasing the patch and with the matching effect rack, it was nearly identical to the original track Anyways, this is close recreation of the track! Nice work~
Hi Paolo, what a recreation! About the toms; I was fiddling around with this song myself for a while and did quite some research. Your drum patterns are spot on! But the toms, they are actually super straight forward. It was a patch from an Roland alpha Juno (if I recall correctly). It is called something like "electrodrum", I'll look it up and comment it down here if I find it again. Maybe you could check it out. There are some great alpha Juno VSTs that have this factory patch. Great work man!
Amazing Mix and credit to you working all this out! It’s really interesting to hear how complicated the SAW production was. Have to give credit to the 80s hitmakers!
Claudio you are amazing! Thank you very much for making this cover! This was the best Christmas present, and trust me I understand the struggles of getting the proper sounds for the 80s ;) My very best regards and again thank you!
Awesome recreation Claudio! Such an impressive arrangement. It must have been very hard to recreate this, but I just love that you added your own flavour to it! I'm also surprised to read in the comments that the toms apparently come from an Alpha Juno. I'm definitely gonna have to scroll through the presets again haha.
Well done cover! My guess with the toms is it's just a hard panned simmons sds-v with strong gated reverb (leaving the opposite channel with a delayed swoosh)
Just got Mix-rolled - saw your meters, paused the video, google searched, found and watched and loved, came back and here you are, going through it and sponsored 🤣
Amazing reconstruction of a famous song. There are so many different sounds you caught that I never noticed, and this from playing this song hundreds of times. Enjoyed every minute of this video. You have to do “Strike It Up” by Black Box!
top top tune. Never Gonna Hit Those Notes is a very silly video!. On a serious "note" lol. I did a backing track for a local artiste using a C Amiga, Roland R5 with the separate bass output and a Roland D10. I remember my sister popping her head around my bedroom door (1989) and saying, wow, that sounds really professional. AND IT WAS! how much was missed is beyond my comprehension when watching your breakdown. I think what is important as musos is that we capture the essence. If you want any of my essence, I'm here for you if you need any of my essence doctor mix. Don't forget this Doctor Mix. Happy new year, Doctor mix and hope you had a lovely Christmas Doctor Mix. Now I'm off to admire Mr Terry Miles, although slightly late.
i am AMAZED about how complicated the original mix sounds, and the fact that YOU a real expert with so much gear and technological advance has an issue recreating this thing, this only fact showcases how really GREAT producers and musicians where working in the industry during the 80s, absolutely amazing stuff here to learn about the final sound product.
It also just shows how hard it is to imitate other people. When you're producing an original song, you just want something that sounds good. You don't necessarily have some exact sound you're trying to make like if you were imitating someone else, and even if you do, no one will know if you failed to achieve it if you made something else that sounds good. I'd bet those great producers and musicians would have difficulty exactly imitating other producers and musicians as well.
This is SO much better than the product-based videos you have gotten into doing recently. More like this please Claudio!
It takes me a long time to make these 🤣
🤣🤣🤣 yeah I’m sure it’s not as simple to do these videos though, as opposed to doing the product based videos. KEEP DOIN YOU CLAUDIO!
@@Doctormix This is the version i wan't you to do ruclips.net/video/_L92dDdt2sE/видео.html
I’m all for the product videos too Claudio - even if my wallet is not! Hydrasynth and Fantom 7 being this year’s culprits darn you 😂😂
@@musikmanexperimentartist9083 pay for it in advance LOL
BPM: 113.380
DRUMS
3:09 - KICK DRUM
4:36 - CONGAS
6:07 - SNARE DRUM
6:55 - HI-HATS
7:33 - SHAKER
8:09 - TOMS
BASS
13:04 - BASS
KEYBOARDS
15:52 - CHORDS
18:50 - SWEET PAD
19:34 - JP8
20:40 - BELLS
GUITARS
24:10 - GUITARS
BRASS
28:12 - BRASS
STRINGS
29:34 - STRINGS
THE FINISHED RECREATION - 31:57
Thank you
@@leonardolimadesouzalopes2007 no problem
It's so weird that the BPM rate has that very specific decimal value. Why not exactly 113? Who knows why?
@@PKSuperStar256 Many things can mess it up. Like maybe the tape did a strange thing when the sound was transferred onto digital. Also the tempo he used for the stems is wrong. It's actually 113.381. And the actual tempo of the original remastered song is 113.333333 (and the threes go on). And the tempo of the official music video is 113.650 (I checked myself.)
@@LemonDrip, oh gosh. That's really strange.
This is the Rickroll I had not been waiting to get on Christmas. I really like it though, haha!
hello, fellow dankpods fan
ñaño
What separates Claudio from many other musicians is his feel and emphasis on the groove. That’s why it’s a joy to watch him create music.
YES I ASKED FOR THIS! THANK YOU SO MUCH DR. MIX!!!!
This is the perfect Christmas gift!!
The drum fill secret is solved. It's very simple as I mentioned in my previous comment - complicated things are simple usually. I opened the drum track in a wave editor and converted the drum fill from stereo to mono and the result is - the trick was made only by using auto stereo panning effect and gate/room reverb. Really simple. The auto stereo panning effect played the most important key role in that drum fill case. SAW were clever but made miracles in simple ways.
Hi Claudio,
Wow, what a fantastic reconstruction. I've only just come across this.. I played a lot of the stuff on this record and you’ve got so much of it dead right or very close! Nice one!
Just for the record:
Congas
- I think are a Roland 727.. and Linn 9000 yes.
Kick and snare
- Would be Linn 9000 I'm pretty sure, but the snare sounds like it has a clap mixed in on the backbeats and a couple of fills..?
Toms
- Is a preset (ElectroDrm?) on the Roland Alpha Juno I believe. Phil used an auto panner on many of the records, so I’m pretty sure the toms were put through that, and maybe the sample was reversed on the other side, or possibly just sent to a gated delayed reverse or gated reverb patch..?
Bass
- Is TX816 / DX7. I think it’s a patch I called Frab Bass from a bass cartridge of my edits that I gave to them once I started working there.
Brass
- Is a Fairlight CMI preset. (Brass 01?)
Violins
- The sample is in octaves, (called Violins 01 I think?? Didn’t have to look too far for these did I?)
Guitars
- Both the stub part and the blingy chords are both CMI presets again.
Fantastic work Sir. I must check out your other reconstructions, this is truly a proper piece of work.
Cheers
Ian
I am always amazed by the layers of sounds that one doesn't realise make up the composite sound. Claudio, your recreations are a marvellous musical education and I thank you sincerely.
100% yes on this!! His Thriller breakdown made me appreciate the "frog" sound and I've had so much fun playing with it ❤
Hi Claudio, the reason why you can't find the bass patch is because they programmed it themselves in the studio! In an interview they said they actually hid their custom cartridge so bands wouldn't steal it (especially Dead or Alive). The drums were also sequenced and sampled using the Linn 9000. Espen Kraft might possibly have a copy, but I don't know (I asked him a year ago or more). They programmed most of their bass patches themselves, and they never released. There's also the possibility they were actually using the DX7II or maybe a DX7IIFD, because some of them were put on a floppy disk. But putting that aside, you did a fantastic job! I never realized how complex the arrangement was, especially the percussion. Oh, and they did use the D50 all over that album, but more so on other tracks.
"Especially Dead or Alive"
💀💀💀💀 Bros were afraid they were going to copy themselves
I mean eyebrow let me give you a couple of artist tips here cause you want like upfront Lee goes like right in your face sleepwalk, so I see a lot of artist recording this far away from the microphone and that is something that you really really don’t wanna do because if if you’re vocal is hitting that red then you’re clipping your vocals pretty much just at that pointI usually just kinda keep my vocal from hitting the yellow because I like to keep my stuff together you pay your vocal 50 or 30 or whatever sounds best to you. Usually I just go with her heart rate I don’t know why people stop doing that it actually made the vocals for the 90s and early 2000 even fool than what they do today.
And in the best way to kinda do that if you want to pull up the CLA to a compressor, one of the best plug-ins was that man, the COA to a ad a boost in a mid kinda have more what kind of more stuff to tear plug in already I mean or unless you want to use that rebar you canbut again it’s mainly up to it like you wanna use CLA to a compressor or is that HB that
THANX! Love you. GREAT COMMENTS IN THE COMMENT SECTION! GREAT CONTENT and DOCTOR MIX SUNG A LITTLE! GET HIM TO SING ALOT! OH YEAH!
The original toms comes from Roland Alpha Juno 2, or the module version of it-MKS-50.
And maybe for the string melody , and synthbell, and guitar, maybe even the brass is from Roland U-110?
Dear Dr. Mix, for the past 2 years I've been feeling pretty bad but I recently found your channel and your enthusiasm makes me feel a little bit better. Thank you.
lots of in the same boat now...love to you
damn that original bass is so clean considering its 3 decades ago....There's sounds in there you feel rather than hear which is the genius of production.....So complex but sounds simple i always tell people when they say ..."it's so easy".....You do it then...Amazing job man.....I'd love to hear something like love and pride, love cats or the reflex re made i always loved those kind of tracks....Again Bloody brilliant work sir
Yessss the reflex
wait - 3 decades ago? 🥺
@@scottk3292almost 4 decades - 37 years ago 😮
@@garythomson4702 insert "wrinkly face emoji" here.
Mindblowing arrangement! I can only guess how long this took for you. If I were to choose your next recreation, it would be PSB - West End Girls.
There's a reason for the greatness of the arrangement. It was produced by Stock, Aitken, and Waterman (SAW). They produced some of the best music out there. They were huge back then.
Are you kidding??? They were called the hit factory because the factories basically made the same song over and over again. Massive geniuses but musical garbage…
@@stuartrobb673 where did they touch you?
Yeah, every SAW song sounds pretty much the same. Revolutionary production techniques, but very little creativity - they were literally an assembly line that got the artists in, recorded and produced as quickly as possible, using the exact same production techniques every time.
I mean, I heard the remix of Together Forever. Pure genius!
are they responsible for Debbie Gibson or Kylie Minogue?
One kilometre of reverb 🤣 ... love you Dr.Mix!
I believe the background conga percussions are from an Roland TR-727, also the cabasa. I don't have the original, but the virtual version sounds pretty close. Nice work!
Yes SAW used the 727 for nearly all of their Latin percussion after it came out and the 707 kick for nearly everything from Mel and Kim to Band Aid 2
Yep, I had 707. It doesn't have kongas.
It’s the Linn 9000
@@stevenzagony6187 thats a part of the drums, not the congas.
This is very good! Honestly, it sounds like an instrumental you'd hear on a karaoke CD, and I love it! I love your recreations, Doctor Mix!
If you want a VST sounding like a real DX7, try Dexed. It is free and packed with presets of this era.
or buy the real one
@@tagacale1733 , he already did. And so did I.
man, that is a _badass_ arrangement... I've always loved the song
remove the da from badass
Holy cow! I had no idea the original mix was so complex. Thanks for breaking it down so I could regain an appreciation for the song. Happy New Year to you, too!
Finally back to reconstructing! Hell yes!
pick me up off the floor
As a musician, a 1980s material/valley girl, and having a smidge of knowledge about music production, I'm speechless. The amount of sound acumen, theory, and serious familiarity with the different instruments and their various facsimiles that went into this is masterful and fascinating. Especially after 12Tone's analysis which gave me a whole new appreciation for the piece
its always hard to emulate the originals sounds perfectly because even if you had the exact same synths, They probably made some tweaks to the parameters LFOs, and so forth. Plus also, alot of those sounds are going through a neve or SSL console and outboard gear and even effects the engineer is using also. But overall, Doctor mix, You did a really good job recreating the original track because you always pick up on some sounds I always miss in songs.
Definitely right. It's just like a secret chemistry. If two people doing the same thing it's never the same.
Pet Shop Boys - Being Boring would be interesting to re-create. I'm guessing it would involve hunting for lots of Emulator presets. :)
I would like to see him do that one as well :D
13:05 The bass line was copied/heavily influenced by Colonel Abrams - 'Trapped'. 15:29 is the riff from 'Trapped'.
I remember Rick that and thinking it was the Colonel
24:00 I think these are somekind of DX7 Bells in the original one
Love it - the drum solo at the end particularly! I could listen to the drum track alone for hours - great work.
Doctor mix is a genius in promoting stuff and obviously in mixing as well🔥
Me encantan tus vídeos Doctor pero lo que más me gusta es esa energía positiva que desprendes. Ojalá hubiera más gente así en el mundo. Un saludo desde Palma de Mallorca, España.
I love it, do you think maybe you could recreate Two Tribes by Frankie Goes to Hollywood?? I feel like there is a lot of production that went into making that song, and it would be cool to see it recreated
YES!!! A perfect Christmas gift! Thank you 😊
Hey Doc', sorry for my english.
If we look "arround" of your videos, who are amazing, what an incredible vibe you give us everytime. Keep like that Doc' ;).
Regards from Belgium !
Ced
I love your deconstructions/reconstructions, and this was one one hell of a Christmas present. Much love, man. Here's to a great new year!
Love you too, DocMix!! I'd love to meet you if i ever get a chance to go for the Europe trip.
Love it. Really good recreation. While listening to the bass line, it reminded me of another 80s classic Trapped by Colonel Abrams. I can't remember which came first. But both have similar bass line patches. Both have jazzy synth leads. To me they're so similar I think the DJs at the old school discos used to pair these two in a mix.
Spot on
O-M-G ... I remember performing this live back in 1988; and I ended up doing the vocal part too - what was I thinking!!!!
Great recreation Claudio! Best Regards, Axel.
Finally, a Stock Aitken Waterman track you have given your recreation treatment to! I haven't read all the comments (yet!) but I have been lucky enough to discuss elements of this track with the original mixer, Pete Hammond, particularly the toms which a lot of people have already commented are from an Alpha Juno (or "a little Juno synth" to quote Pete) but I haven't been able to locate the exact ones, the nearest I've got is to some that sound more similar to those used at the beginning of This Time I Know It's For Real (possible idea for a future recreation?) . Pete advised that he used a simple 200 ms delay on them with a small room reverb on the delay (he mentions about recreating the AMS RMX 16 "nonlin" patch these days so I presume that's what he used back then)
With videos like this, I'm never gonna give up watching this channel!
awesome work! definitely one of my all time favourites
I never knew that I would enjoy the reconstruction of this song this much even though I never liked the song in the first place and it was produced long b4 I was even born, but you are something special... Thank you Doctor Mix ^^
Love these deconstructions. Keep them coming. Best wishes for 2022.
Some of THE BEST VIDEOS on RUclips. Thank you for all your work on these.
Claudio is rickrolling us LOL. It sounds super close to the original, i love your videos claudio
Claudio mi fai cominciare questo 2022 con dei ricordi incredibili: non sai quante volte l'ho suonata in discoteca e devo farti i complimenti per aver riprodotto questa base con le stesse sonorità.
Di nuovo complimenti e buon anno.
Posso chiederti dove recuperare le tracce della versione originale? Grazie in anticipo
“It’s a long song, I’ve got to show you something, you know” 👌
Enjoyed the view of the nostalgic hardware in this pure digital recreation 😂
By watching a video like this it really makes me want to open up my DAW and compose a hit. You are such an inspiration!
The very first keyboard I owned back in the 80s when I was a kid, was a Casio. I got fascinated to hear the DEMO track was this Rick Astley’s supertune! Fantastic job Claudio!
This is excellent! I never heard guitars on the original version, it’s somewhat of a revelation. I guess SAW (the hit factory) mixed them out somehow. Song request for next deconstruction would be Taylor Dayne’s Tell It To My Heart, another late 80’s guilty pleasure.
Man, your work here in RUclips is amazing. This song probably took you a long time to reconstruct, tnx a lot.
Your charisma is contagious 😊
Tnx for showing the keys back there. I was dying curious to know them all 🤣
I mean, let's be honest and I'm gonna go out on a limb here - and this might have been controversial in the 80s but is surely accepted today? - Mike Stock and Matt Aitken were arrangement geniuses (and I don't use that word lightly) and extremely decent musicians to boot. I was probably a rare breed in my teens, dissecting these mixes and just being blown away by that sound, mixed to tape on the 4000E and with those trademarks like delay throws and staccato vocal lines spun in from the samplers, not just on Rick Astley tracks but across nearly everything SAW did in the mid to late 80s. Cheesy by today's standards but simultaneously brilliant somehow. IMHO they deserve to be lauded as musicians and creators akin to some of the great artists and producers of their era. Add in Waterman's commercial deftness and ear for what the buyers wanted, great mixers/programmers (Harding, Curnow etc) and it's no wonder they were so ridiculously successful.
I listen back to some of those Kylie mixes (perhaps hoping nobody's hearing what I'm listening to as a 47 year old!) and still find those compositions and arrangements awe inspiring. The sheer complexity of those track layers in NGGYU defies the simple catchy sound and shows just how much graft went into this stuff, so much at odds with the knocking SAW took from the press and public at the time as "all sounding the same" etc.
Finally, Claudio you did a great job here given the immense challenges of recreating these sounds when the PWL sample and gear portfolio was pretty special and "of that time" - Publison anyone? What you definitely achieved, which is credit to your own talent and musicianship, is to preserve the feel and energy of the track, which ain't easy!
The whole Rick Astley story from shy singer at a Newton le Willows labour club to superstardom via pseudo tea boy is such a great capture of 80s possibilities. How I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in Borough Studios in those days! Thanks Claudio!
The exclusive use of the Calrec Soundfield mic for virtually all SAW vocals also fascinates me in these days of vintage mic coveting and modelling! It really does show that one good quality LDC is all you need to great pop vocals across many singers from good to bad!
I could go on - oh wait I have a bit!
For the bass line I hear that you could achieve similar results if you layer the bass with another plucky noiser sound, also if you EQ the bass more on the low mid frequency you can achieve almost the same result. But on today modern Synthetizers is difficult to have the same retro vibes of this FM synth of the 80's, the modern FM synth sound very "Clean", when the 80 Synth sound more "dirty" "noisy" and "warmer"
try Dexed ;P
This video is one long Rick Roll, and I love it
I love how he really enjoys his work. Awesome stuff.
This was great. It’s so beautiful to hear those classic sounds. Thanks for this!
I can not tell you how much I love all off your video's.......and the skills that you have....keep on going Dr.
lol Love it bro. The remake is brilliant but loving the positive happy smiles at the end from what you've done with the studio gear makes the video! Kudos!
reconstruction-one of the best methodologies to learn how to create songs) thank u so much to create videos, love ur work, u r great!!
Thanks Claudio for a great recreation! Regarding the drum samples. In the book "PWL from the factory floor" by Phil Harding you can read this: "The Linn 9000 was used by SAW to sequence most of their hit records, but the kick, snare and claps were sampled in the AMS sampler and the Linn 9000 only acted as a trigger". (The AMS should have been an AMS DMX 15-80")
Awesome info!! Thank you!!
An often overlooked sound set from that era are the general midi tones, GM/GM2, they were used a lot at the time simply because a (general midi), midi file could be played back on a Yamaha keyboard, Roland/Korg or any general midi software synth such as the Roland sound canvas, and it would sound pretty standard.
The GM tones are separated into instrument groups and a standard GM tone set is numbered from 0 to 128.
One of the sounds from the original stems sounded like the GM tone preset 100, FX 5 (brightness), with heavy hall reverb.
Check out the GM tones, most are cheesy compared to samples but you will be surprised how many you recognise from the late 80s and 90s era.
Always great content from your channel Dr.
About 5 years too early for GM
GM was created according to famous or better to says most used presets from 80's in very early 90's. It supposed to be some kind of evolution of Roland's MT-32 presets, but they mostly found they use in games soundtracks from 90's. In professional modules/ keyboard they could be consider as some kind of guilty pleasure, as they are there purely only for compatible reason. It is interesting, to play for example Warcraft 2, Doom 2, Duke Nukem 3D on Yamaha Motif, or Roland Fantom X in GM mode. :-D
Just got myself a Roland FA-07 after my beautiful 27 year old GEM S3 died. Loving watching your videos and seeing how I can get back into music again.
Sadly, the FA-07 is being returned as one of the keys doesn't work... but I can still use most of it and get going with the music. Speaking of Roland, when you were doing the string sounds and needed a bit more attack, I couldn't help thinking of the string attack partial on the D50, then saw you have one in your studio!! No matter, you did a great job anyway.
Happy holidays, Doc!
If that was your Christmas present to us then I've just unwrapped it and ain't giving it back. Just awesome. Happy Christmas to you all and keep the vids rolling.
Doctor Mix - you are a production genius. People can learn to copy tracks; but the magic is surely the ear for sound-matching & sound-design. It's not obvious everyone can learn that. If you're up for a challenge, how about a deconstruction of "Perfect Day" by The Visions of Shiva - simple tune, but sound-selection is what makes it.
I love so much these remakes. This is so inspiring for me and makes me smile everytime.
Love the studio tour. And yes, programming FM beyond just the basics is outright mind-boggling.
Thanks Doctor Mix! Hard to believe this was released December 31, 1987. Hats off to PWL Studios and the SAW team who produced so many number ones. Would be great if you could get an interview with them.
It was released in July 1987 having been originally recorded in October 1986
That's absolutely brilliant! And without those stems, you're right, you'd never be able to pick out those subtle bits of percussion. Nice one!
Really awesome recreation of an underrated genre. And thanks a lot for the synthporn sequence at the end. 😁
Great job Claudio! For the next: Tom Tom Club - Genius of Love
Like a forger doing a Master's painting to trick the eye into thinking it's looking at the original, this is similar only with the use of sound instead of paint. Really clever, and it takes a lot of talent to be able to reach such levels. Brilliant work in dissecting the original and creating a unique but similar version. Glad I watched.
You can certainly hear Colonel Abrams 'Trapped' sampled in this song, or at least what sounds like it. Top production again, Claudio, and always good to see how these songs are constructed.
The tom reverb is gated, which is why it's so punchy and short. It's also sounds a little brighter and some of the body cut out.
Claudio, you always amaze me with your work. You are amazing, man!
Hey Claudio, Great mix. Even the original SAW team would have trouble reproducing this song without the original sounds. This is a very dense mix, it would be fantastic to see how they may have jammed all the vocals and create so much room for the lead vox considering the busy soundscape.
Hi Doctor Mix, Love your channel many thanks for brightening my day. All the best X.
23:15 That is definetly a Roland Juno 60 or 106 with PWM set to anout 50-40% and a little of a sawtooth wave, then with the filter/amp envelope and the chorus.
those first Toms are so unique and iconic. i'm impressed everytime
excellent vid as always !
SAW sat on this track for a year, unsure how to release and how it should sound. It was all based on Trapped by Colonel Abrams, the strings brought it to another level. Linn samples dictated their sound. There are at least 5 versions of the song by the various mixers at PWL. It sat in vault for a year. Then at the PWL Christmas party they played it and Pete (Waterman) went wild over it. They farmed it to BMG who loved it and then, global smash.
Fantastic reconstruction - my favorite part is the bass line. wow there is SO MUCH going on in the song!
I've missed so much this type of content! I love your recreations, it's was what made me subscribe to this channel in first place! Keep doing your great job in 2022 Claudio!
When recreating an 80‘s, always remember that most sounds are just stock presets. Also keep in mind MIDI channel limits and ways different synths and drum machines could interconnect.
This channel is so underestimated. I hope more people will enjoy this content. Thank you!
My best bet for the toms (ElectroDrm patch from Roland Alpha Juno 2) is that the panning was automated and sent to a mono reverb. Someone uploaded a video on RUclips showcasing the patch and with the matching effect rack, it was nearly identical to the original track
Anyways, this is close recreation of the track! Nice work~
Nice work Doc. Also liked the sweet shop tour at the end 🎹🎹🎹👍
Great job recreating this cheesy old classic bro. I love dissecting & recreating old productions in my spare time from producing professionally. 🎹
Really deep, interesting! GREAT CHOICE! THANK!
Hi Paolo, what a recreation! About the toms; I was fiddling around with this song myself for a while and did quite some research. Your drum patterns are spot on! But the toms, they are actually super straight forward. It was a patch from an Roland alpha Juno (if I recall correctly). It is called something like "electrodrum", I'll look it up and comment it down here if I find it again. Maybe you could check it out. There are some great alpha Juno VSTs that have this factory patch. Great work man!
So this is the second comment about the Alpha Juno.. now I need to check :)
ruclips.net/video/GbAs0GTh1iE/видео.html skip to 19.40, it is called electrodrm
+1 on the Juno (Alpha Juno 1/2). :) I used this syn tom together with a gated reverb (SPX-90) back in the 80's.
@@bertsteemers5860 100% correct! That’s what it is!!!
Thx for this!! Kepp up to the good work and a merry christmas Doctor Mix!
Man you are goooood!!!
I would love to see you do a reconstruction of Steve Winwood's "While you see a chance".
I love this song. The best hit of the Stock Aitken Waterman era. Thank you Claudio! ❤
Amazing Mix and credit to you working all this out! It’s really interesting to hear how complicated the SAW production was. Have to give credit to the 80s hitmakers!
"One kilometer of reverb". I never give up to follow you because you never let me down. I love you, guy!
Claudio you are amazing! Thank you very much for making this cover! This was the best Christmas present, and trust me I understand the struggles of getting the proper sounds for the 80s ;) My very best regards and again thank you!
I never thought being Rick Rolled would be so much fun!!
Awesome recreation Claudio! Such an impressive arrangement. It must have been very hard to recreate this, but I just love that you added your own flavour to it! I'm also surprised to read in the comments that the toms apparently come from an Alpha Juno. I'm definitely gonna have to scroll through the presets again haha.
Well done cover! My guess with the toms is it's just a hard panned simmons sds-v with strong gated reverb (leaving the opposite channel with a delayed swoosh)
Just got Mix-rolled - saw your meters, paused the video, google searched, found and watched and loved, came back and here you are, going through it and sponsored 🤣
Amazing reconstruction of a famous song. There are so many different sounds you caught that I never noticed, and this from playing this song hundreds of times. Enjoyed every minute of this video.
You have to do “Strike It Up” by Black Box!
top top tune. Never Gonna Hit Those Notes is a very silly video!. On a serious "note" lol. I did a backing track for a local artiste using a C Amiga, Roland R5 with the separate bass output and a Roland D10. I remember my sister popping her head around my bedroom door (1989) and saying, wow, that sounds really professional. AND IT WAS! how much was missed is beyond my comprehension when watching your breakdown. I think what is important as musos is that we capture the essence. If you want any of my essence, I'm here for you if you need any of my essence doctor mix. Don't forget this Doctor Mix. Happy new year, Doctor mix and hope you had a lovely Christmas Doctor Mix. Now I'm off to admire Mr Terry Miles, although slightly late.
"is pretty similar but not right" :D
Claudio you are a prefectionist.
Awesome work.
And Merry Christmas.