#28
Make ’80s stereo synth stabs
Synth masterclass
Ever wondered how you can make your short and snappy synth sounds even more interesting? It’s all about the stereo
Dave Gale
Dave Gale is an Emmy award-winning media composer, producer and orchestrator, with an enormous passion for synthesisers, in all their forms. His varied composing style embraces everything from full orchestral and hybrid scoring, to fully electronic scores, employing synths wherever possible. He also happens to own some of the finest synths in existence but we’re not jealous, OK?
We love a classic synth sound at Computer Music, but we especially enjoy the development of certain sounds, that are viewed as very contemporary in make-up, but can be traced back to ’80s classics.
This month’s patch is a case in point. The short and snappy synth stab became a benchmark in the mid-’80s, thanks to bands such as Level 42. One of their most famous tracks, The Sun Goes Down, makes extensive use of such a sound, but it was just a couple of years later that Green Gartside and David Gamson, better known as the evolving combo Scritti Politti, made even greater use of such sounds, through their albums Cupid and Psyche ’85 and Provision. The level of sophisticated programming and live playing on both of these