I’m not gonna talk about how the first machine you use in your 1985 video is an MPC from 1988, because I love this video. Do your thing and bring us more of this
A Linn 9000 would have been the 1985-legit version, and it worked somewhat similarly…. For playing those samples and sequencing three lines, it would have done the trick.
I was born in 68 and ran a music store in Kuwait where we grew up to this beat. You asked a name for the track, I'd name it Cool Ends. Great video, took me back in time. Keep it up
I could, I'm a big 80s R&B fan and I'd say its a bit dry and missing the gated reverb to make it sound bigger and a bit more percussion for variation and needs an interesting bridge as a release and a few chord inversions and extensions to hold the interest and some guitar plucks, not a bad effort.
Thats why there's so much crap music getting popular. Social media influencers have replaced actual hard working musicians. Industry is full of fakes like DJ Khalid and Drake, nobody knows how to write an actual song anymore.
You're not kidding. You used to need a lot of money to be able to afford synth, drum machine, sequencers etc. Then to record you'd have to pay to go to a studio. It's unreal what can be done now with a laptop and midi controller. I come from the earlier days so I definitely appreciate it every day.
Not only is it more accessible financially, but it's also more accessible for blind users like myself. We can use Logic Pro, Pro Tools, and now Ableton Live with screen readers. Native Instruments have made their controllers and software accessible, so we have a ton of sounds to play with. There's still a lot we can't do, but things are improving every day.
@@haro82 On the other hand, popular music has downgraded significantly since those ancient times in which regular folks were nowhere near being able to own a synthesizer of their own.
I wouldn't say it's more fun, because you get hella stressed when it's not matching up or you've had to hit record 5 dozen times. But the creativity (at least for me) and the finished product was so much more rewarding feeling wise. You really feel like you accomplished something.
@@jasonhuttermusic424 from the tapes I had to use, digital. But if had some better recording equipment it might have had a little more depth feeling to the music.
This method definitely would bring out more creativity in many artists. Older doesn't always mean worse, and new doesn't always mean better. Great video.
Hi Jay! This weekend marks my sixtieth time around the sun on this planet, and your smile and your video just made my day and started the weekend off right. I was one of those guys who did exactly what you did in this video back in the 80's. I created my songs then by sequencing everything first on a midi sequencer and drum machine and then going into the 16 track analog studio and dumping tracks and doing vocals. No autotune! 😰 A day in the studio then would cost $500 per day. I planned everything right down to smoke breaks - LOL! I still retain a lot of the lessons and tricks I learned then to today's home studio. And my music still sounds like it's from the 80's/90's - but hey... they say write what you know. And I do. Peace to you Jay, thanks for a trip down memory lane!
Happy Birthday Bill! I still have most of my analog gear from the 80’s and 90’s. My wife asked me do you still need all that stuff and for years and the answer is always yes. It’s coming back now. The one time I could tell her I told you so. 😂😂😂
That Adidas windbreaker was straight flames 🔥🔥 I would say the vast majority of modern "producers" would not be able to survive without the simplicity of the software DAW, Plugins etc. MOST producers lack fundamental understanding of production and just mimic current trends.
you don't know what you don't know. Thats why channels like this exist to provide a spark hopefully it catches on. I wouldn't down them because they don't know any better though, just encourage them.
This shows why you have to have respect for the producers back then. There was no time stretching, auto syncing etc. Some of those dance mixes from back in the day are impressive for what the tech was. I remember when it was a big deal to be able to sample for 5 seconds!
most music back then was within bands or with a group of musicians. especially during the early stages of learning to make music. so you had less technology, but you had peers that helped you craft your best ideas.
You're literally the first person to show me what a tape machine does, how it's used. Also, never knew about the hallway reverb method! And this was very informative and fun to watch!
I saw Beatles members talk about a big room used for reverb and they would sit in there and smoke weed during mixing because it sounded trippy AF. Abbey Studios I presume.
Maaan this was legit 80s vibe. I was born in 1981 so i almost remember the original songs with those beats and synths. Loved it! by the way i spent my childhood in the theater my dad was working in and i spent most of my time in the audio studio. To make a proper delay they used to run the tape on record on one deck and then ran the loop to another which was a couple of feet aside which played it back and they mixed both. The echo chamber was a big steel plate in a wooden crate with a mic in it. They had Studer 24 track tape decks as well as Revox 8 track ones. Iloved playing with the tech when the studio tech allowed me :) Greetings from Bulgaria.
The thing that I remember most about the '80s is how it took hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment to do what today you can do more quickly on a good laptop for under five grand. Bouncing tracks on tape lol! Watching this brought back some serious PTSD. Thank you for sharing this interesting trip down memory lane.
Even the modern day MPCs are a lot to wrap your head around, so I always applaud anyone who can cook with a retro one. Dope video fam, I dig the experiment/exploration type tutorials 🔥🔥
I’m glad to remember the 80s thoroughly. I’m a proud GenXer that was school aged during this time. This reminds me of the 87/88 era of music, as I remember hearing these riffs in music from Angela Wimbush, the System, and a few other artists. I like that sweat jacket he rocked, as I had one in the late 80s, along with a pair of Pumas. Nice video! Took me back to when I was growing up!
I lived it. We used to sample on Casio keyboards, 8 and 24 track machines. It was rough but we managed. Now you can use good digital machines, and mix them in with high quality piano/synths and also mix in and edit with Fruity Loops, Reason and other apps. Back then it was hard to sample some pieces of music but now you can sample large chunks. Your song has a Bruno Mars - 24k Magic vibe going on.
In the words of Theo Huxtable, this song is “jamming on the 1”. After using computers for 9 hours a day for work and then using a DAW, I really want to create a dawless setup. In spite of the issues you encountered, it just looks more fun to create this way. I think the limitations are what made a lot of the older music nostalgic and timeless. I mean that along with good songwriting and musicianship. This was a dope video for sure.
Hey! My song title offer was Jam the Groove. There's already a song called Jammin on the Groove (I looked it up - Mantronix on the 808, baby), and your quote there and my title are circling the vibe.
You had to have a lot more skills than most people realise, for starters a lot of it was played live so you had to know how to play well, know your scales, chords, progressions and modes.
Dude. You're absolutely amazing! You've Taken me back to those great epic bands like SOS BAND, MIDNIGHT STAR, ATLANTIC STAR, Loose Ends etc. BRAVO!👏👏👏👏
Fantastic video! As a 50 year old muso who has a soft spot for the 80's, I found it really interesting to see you interact with the old tech. You've inspired me.
The limitations of yesteryear's technology helped to improve the overall quality of music during that time period. It served to gatekeep the music industry to only those who were true musical genuises.
Stupidest thing I've read in a while... People used to have to always pay insane amounts of money to go into studios with recording engineers. Then as equipment got slightly more affordable (like the stuff shown in this video) recording got less difficult which led to how things are now. It's never been the "quality" that decides if you get to make music, it's how much money do you have to record and how much money will your music make afterwards.
@@johnbazy And look at how things are now that everyone who can afford a decent computer can create music, go ahead. Look at how beautiful the billboard hot 100 is compared to 1984. Splendid, isn't it?
I just saw this video for the first time on 10-27-23 around 3:30am and I'm a 80's kid at age 10yrs-20yrs old 1980-1989.I grew up on all musics of that time.When you put together that 80's sound you created I was vibing with a large smile😊 on my face and was boping my head big time.I was feeling it.Not bad at all for a 90's new born.Do more of these.Im 54yrs old now and a ex-Dj from 1980'-2004.
You killed that my boy! I grew up in the 80's and you definitely captured the feeling of that era. I still got a ASR that uses floppy disk just for that vintage flavor. Love it.
This was INCREDIBLE. I love you making 80s music and I hope you do well on the 70's, 90's and the 2000's. This kinda gives my synth-pop types of vibe. thank you for making the best music possible!
Bro I love this man. It’s amazing that you can show us youngins the way it used to be. Your exploring videos are really fun. Please don’t stop making content.
This was very eye-opening! I like how you didn't do the 80's aesthetic in a cheesy, surface-level way. It felt very authentic to the "time travel experience" of being in the 80s lol I definitely subscribed after seeing this
I was born in the late 60’s…so I’ve got to experience several decades of music and by far the 80’s were my favorite era…you’ve hit that mark high. Thanks for the memories. Now I’ve gotta find a bottle of aquanet 😂
@@itsreallypola1332it’s always been the same. The music industry was always weird and greedy and horrible, so there’s still plenty of music that’s been out recently that is mind blowing. Check out In Rainbows by Radiohead, it may not be your cup of tea, but it’s almost a truly perfect LP
@dj_williams I think the era in which you were a teenager will be your favorite. I have over a thousand songs on my playlist from the 1900s to the present from all across the world. I think we are in the best Era of music in terms of sound and the possibilities but the worst in terms of diversity within the various genres. It feels like once you've heard one song from a genre, you've heard them all. Maybe it has always been that way but now it really seems more exacerbated.
You're a music genius, amazing feel of rythm, casually playing the keyboard and the guitar and the bass like its nothing and to top it off, mix it all with old tech!!
I know this must have been difficult, but I think this deserves another installment or two exploring older recording techniques and equipment. Subbed either way :)
Great track 🔥 I like these kind of vids where we get to see you using actual hardware to make beats & I like the remixes too. It’s all interesting since i work 100% in the box 🌚
SMPTE... I think I heard that term on a video where Steve Lukather explains how he helped Quincy Jones to finish Beat It. Something about a sync issue and re-recording parts...
@@GVike SMPTE was a timecode that was laid on your recorder (reel to reel or 4 track recorder) or your sequencer that kept your hardware instruments in sync with your recorder or sequencer. It was used so that if you wanted to rewind or fast forward the sequencer or recorder, you hardware instruments will fall in line with where ever you ended up in the rewind or fast forward. Nowadays because of computers, you don't need SMPTE (unless you're trying to sync your DAW to a reel to reel) but back then you needed it because computers were not a part of the production process.
SMPTE is how I used my ASQ10 and 8-track. After you've got a new tape aligned, stripe a SMPTE track and then you can bounce and lay down additional sequenced tracks as desired, or even add sequenced tracks at mixdown time. One of these days I'd like to build cables to get my tape deck to chase a DAW or synchronize multiple decks together, but you can do plenty with 7 audio tracks.
Loved the video. As someone who had to record like this in the mid to late 90's. I understand the stress. But i didnt have an mpc or a Dat machine and my tape was straight cassette. By the time i would loop each thing i wanted to add, the production quality was terrible. My first big help was when i got my Gemini sampler. It helped me a lot creativity wise.
Technically, if you go back to 1985, you could have had an Atari ST with a built-in MIDI connectors, and as early as 1986 you could have used quite a few programs, including "Pro 24" from Steinberg and "The Music Studio" from Activision. So not that bad really! Then a few years later you get Cubase, Notator/Creator, etc...
In 1985, we gave up on reels and switched to cassette four tracks because the reels were too expensive and fragile. We compounded tracks using SMPTE, which was a pain sometimes but gave the cleanest and punchiest sound. You would have to have a sequencer to trigger everything (keyboards, drum machine, all MIDI stuff, not non-MIDI instruments) through SMPTE time code to save tracks, and it would only leave two tracks for vocals. IDK how I would record like that today unless I used samplers, which only had a couple of seconds to record. I could use what we called "Splitching," which is sample-pitching that would extend the length of samples by sampling sounds at extremely fast tempos and then pitching them back down on the keyboard around an octave. I am from that era and would only return to those technologies if you want to spend a week on one song. Jay captured the fun and problems we had back then in recording. Big ups.
Nice to see how you managed to create a track completely out of the box. I feel like the limitations of not having a DAW foster creativity, and analog sound gives the track it's own nice character. BTW nice studio ✌️
Good stuff man! The thing I did like about making music back then was how creative we had to be. Heck, everyone mostly used the same keyboards and drum machines but all sorts of very creative music was made. It forced us to focus on the songs and the message we were trying to communicate.
Thank you for taking me back to the 80`s, playing on my first Synthie (the "Flagship" Yamaha DX7 II FD 😉). Your sound reminded me of the DX7 sounds at that time. Great time, great music, great feeling. 👍
Damn that sounds good. S.O.S. Band would be proud… You forgot to mention how good that Reel to Reel sounds compared to any computer, laptop sequencer program can do.. Good stuff.. Keep it up!
That was amazing! Haha! I really appreciate you taking the time to show the workflow of that time era. It makes you appreciate the luxuries we have now with software and technology. But in all cases, there's nothing like banging out a Masterpiece like that with the limited resources that one would have from that period. 1985 is my birth year as well! 80's Babies stand up! Haha! Bless!
Yo that was sick. That out the. Ingest smoke on my face and happiness in my heart. I been a dj since I was 11 and I’m still working as a dj now at 41 years old. I literally just got him from a gig. I love making music, listening to music and without out music in my life I would wilt like a thirsty flower and fade away. Thank you for this video. The track you made kinda reminded me of a the track “hanging on string” Bless up and peace and love man. I just subscribed. Looking forward to more of your videos. Love from the Mediterranean ✌️❤️
That call to action was impeccable! Instant subscribe. Also for the hook it could be something like "doesnt it feel good, to you... girl" something like that would go great with this.
This is pretty much one of the coolest videos I've ever watched. You really did it the 80s way! And the song actually sounds really good. Is there a full version of it?
Just randomly stumbled upon this, and your commitment to keeping this mostly analog is commendable! Especially cleaning the tape head! Nothing like good ol' isopropyl maintenance. As a person who regularly struggles with refurbishing tape decks, I definitely enjoy the warmth and lo-fi sound that comes from this stuff. Your recording came out super crisp!
Dope beats bro and very well presented. Beats remind me of my DJ days at Kings Cross in Sydney Australia. SOS Band, Midnight Star, Loose Ends, The Whispers and so many more. This was the real funk and R&B music.
i can sleep to this old soud creation..i was born in the 80's started to do music when i was young like 89 so i remember alot of this .i still have my first dat tape i recorded my first few songs on
There were hardware sequencers in the 80s that had tape sync, like the Roland MC-series (MC-300, MC-500). That would have saved you a lot of sync hassles. Good job creating an authentic track.
The Rugrats reference was definitely appreciated lol. But I love seeing this process. Really shows you how crazy they were back in the day. Dope work! (And I was born 85 so even DOPER)
The song is perfect! And Eye love the fact that you're rocking the tascam M208 that's in my studio. And actually my setup is pretty much everything you're doing. All analog synths and guitars and no computers at all. Just an MPC Live 2 as the brain for my whole setup. Eye haven't graduated to tape yet lol. This was do dope and right in my zone! Liked and subscribed! 💯🕶️💜
This was SUPER fun, I’m stoked your video appeared in my feed Jay!! your energy & enthusiasm is contagious, the production values and your fun nature really completes the experience, never hit the subscribe button so fast and very excited to dive into your content past, present and future! ❤
This is the first video I've ever seen of yours and I'm grateful RU-vid recommended it to me because not only did you do your thing with that beat, (I'd honestly name it Wanna Grove?) but I've been looking for a way to progress in my knowledge of music making and I found this very helpful, God bless you for creating such great content!❤
