Behind The Drums Ep 06 - A-ha "Take On Me" Linndrum with Yamaha DX7

[@codexmagic]

I had no idea that it was a detune snare and dx-7 adding to the main beat. That might be one of the nerdiest synth/drummachine videos ever and I salute you. Goodjob and well done.

[@CVsoundlabs]

Haha appreciate it!

[@basspartout]

Absolutely fantastic!! What a genius combination and pattern. People used to get so much out of so little, compared to today's equipment. All the limitations really sparked creativity! I really enjoy your videos! Thank you so much and keep em coming!! 😍

[@NickHowesAstro]

A masterclass, nicely done

[@amoser8589]

Had to create a Spotify playlist to jump between your covers and the originals. Fantastic channel!

[@TheWhitestArchiveUKnow]

Fantastic to hear the drum part being built up-- there is a lot going on, making it tricky to process every detail at once. crazy how the DX7 was like the missing ingredient at the end--the different kicks really brings that groove together, and also used for the bass line.

[@CVsoundlabs]

Yea I didn’t even realize how complex all the different patterns were until trying to re-create it. Thanks for watching!

[@rohan_of_arc9895]

@@CVsoundlabs When I had a try at replicating this years ago, I didn't get it to the nth degree at all, but the use of multiple kicks really reminded of the drum track of Sex On Fire by Kings Of Leon. Almost the same kind of "trick".

[@vinzsaint]

Thanks for sharing, it is very enlightening and I really like this format!!

[@Quadran2000]

Brilliant!! Pure magic how it all comes together in the end!

[@CVsoundlabs]

Thank you!!!

[@samborn7120]

Bravo! Well done! The DX7 is the special ingredient in that rhythm ✅

[@desmoriderssthlm552]

Wow, the drum programming was much more advanced than I could recall. Great video!

[@turbinenraum9476]

Awesome insight and skilled programming! Thanks so much.

[@MusicbyKabe]

I love these videos so much! I’m so glad you get the sounds and patterns accurate to the recording!!! You definitely get it. Big props to you!

[@brendoghatch1]

Fantastic! Another classic. There's the early versions available on streaming services and you can hear the difference as soon as Alan Tarney adds his magical touch.

[@DiscoCitizens240]

That DX7 part gave me smiles

[@CarlosGarcia-yg9je]

I was 13 years old when this album came out in 1985 and fell in love with A-HA. Great video!

[@CVsoundlabs]

Thank you for watching!

[@AndreaOngaro]

This is absolutely amazing!

[@macdaddybender]

Another great video. The story behind the songs is almost as good as the drums themselves. Using a second detuned snare was a genius idea.

[@DEADLINETV]

Brilliant! Enjoyed this one a lot too!

[@Jay.Ramone]

That was awesome. Thanks a million for doing that. It was spot on!

[@Bodyknowledge77]

Ah the grooves fingers and machines can do!

[@ventdore]

You sir, solved my life

[@CVsoundlabs]

Haha thanks for watching!

[@ROKZLEON]

Dude! This series keeps getting better and better! 👍🏻

[@CVsoundlabs]

Thank you so much! Really appreciate the kind words.

[@gzaq]

Thank you, this answers so many questions for me

[@Qualcunodiquelli]

Amazing job dude!!

[@necroriffmonger]

that was so cool nick!! thank you 🙏

[@CowmanFriend]

Another great episode. Thanks!

[@CVsoundlabs]

Appreciate it! Thanks for watching!

[@christianvolpe]

Excellent once again. Thanks so much!! ❤

[@Ashfaq1999]

Another great video 😊

[@chopperhontasdrums]

As a drummer playing this in an 80s band this is really fascinating. I'd love to get access to a Linn machine just to try and replicate the sounds on my Roland drum module.

[@purplezoid1]

Really fascinating thanks for uploading!

[@CVsoundlabs]

Thank you for watching!

[@80ssynthfan48]

Two snares detuned! I've been trying for ages to figure out how they got that snare sound.

[@CVsoundlabs]

There’s a really interesting “sound on sound” article from around 2011. The engineer for “Take on Me” refers to Paul Waaktaar as the greatest Linndrum programmer he’s ever seen.

[@RobShaffer]

Amazing.

[@CVsoundlabs]

Thank you!

[@jamwithjock]

That was incredible! I know you have already done a TFF song but would love Everybody Wants To Rule the World :)

[@jairkerker2821]

Such a nice compression on that snare, almost like a 505 and interesting to do that rolling 6/8th pattern.

[@CVsoundlabs]

Thank you! That’s a great pattern for sure. Added to queue.

[@downboys]

@@CVsoundlabsHead Over Heels too

[@rohan_of_arc9895]

In his time, Paul Waaktaar of a-ha was a brilliant drum programmer. Alan Tarney, who produced a-ha's debut album, spoke about this. Those guys in that band do NOT get the credit they deserve for their musicianship and programming skills. Lookng forward to watching this.

[@rkharper]

Future request: boys of summer!

[@SsgtHolland]

oh yes!!!

[@toolman8269]

Brilliant! This is GOLD! Any chance you could provide the LinnDrum patterns in a grid sheet or the like? Thanks!

[@CVsoundlabs]

Thank you and thats a great idea. I’m gonna see if there’s any software that I can use to generate sheets.

[@BlackMan614]

All these years and that Linndrum still sounds good. I couldn't afford one when they were released but a friend of mine snagged one in the late 80s for next to nothing. Sampling drum machines (MPC and SP1200) had completely turned it into another instrument worth little (same period I bought a minimoog for $200).

[@CVsoundlabs]

U did good! I’ve heard similar stories of people getting Jupiter 8’s for $500 in that era.

[@Ashfaq1999]

Yes, I got my linndrum back in 1987 for just £500 here in the uk & a Tr808 for just £275 & TR909 for £300.

[@poppopw5305]

You MUST tackle "Juicy Fruit" by Mtume. This is one great channel! 👊🏾👍🏾

[@intromix]

I’m gonna have to get that detuned eprom snare for my Linn!

[@Iceleben]

Awesome - thanks so much for your explanation

[@angelagruholdgruhold9381]

Congratulations for melody super 💙🏆💙💙💙💙👑💙💙💙💙💙💙 Magnific 💙💙💙💫🌏💫💙💙

[@CVsoundlabs]

Thanks for watching!

[@thadirtyabbott33]

This is F 'KN TOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾

[@CVsoundlabs]

Appreciate it!!!!

[@emiliopalazzolo894]

I've always wondered how did they create the 16's kick loop. Thank you mate!

[@CVsoundlabs]

Thanks for watching!

[@jairkerker2821]

On this channel I do my thumbs up right away so I don't forget to. Maybe the Pearl SC-40?

[@CVsoundlabs]

That would be a good one. I definitely want to get into covering more obscure drum machines along those lines.

[@ranjurgenson]

Amazing

[@CVsoundlabs]

Thank you!

[@iamkudinov9715]

One love❤

[@CVsoundlabs]

🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻

[@djdren]

this is crazy .. how on earth you learn this stuff..

[@randomroughneck1030]

I'd love to see the drums behind some of SAW's production, The Heaven I Need, Venus, Toy boy or maybe even Never Gonna Give You Up have some cool drum sounds and layers...

[@rhoydotp]

i can hear the melodic riff 😊

[@postolisvalaroutsos2460]

❤

[@johncollins5552]

Alll sounds like Kraftwerk to me.😊

[@Boxcar808]

Compressor on the Linn?

[@80ssynthfan48]

I read somewhere that the snare was very compressed.

[@jairkerker2821]

​@@80ssynthfan48 I never recognized that bd as the Linndrum one.

[@CVsoundlabs]

Compressor on everything! Details are in video description.

[@CVsoundlabs]

@@jairkerker2821I had to heavily eq the bass drum to try and match the original. The unprocessed stock Linndrum bass drum has a lot more high end.

[@Boxcar808]

@@CVsoundlabs ah that's so weird, i couldnt see it on my phone in the description, but i do on my laptop. Cheers, yeah i could hear it...2A, figures! UAD?

[@3k3k3]

And the original version was very different kzbin.info/www/bejne/oprUXqabg7upqK8

[@LeBa-zd6wt]

it sounds alike but not the same. You missed the tombs

[@HiruS22]

It sounds weird putting the emphasis on the first word of the song title

[@stevenwayne]

Ok that one was a bit more complicated lol

[@CVsoundlabs]

Hahaha. Yea it’s way more complex than I realized.

[@stevenwayne]

@ love your channel! So hey, just a thought, maybe you can make a video to show folks how to program a Linndrum? There’s not too many videos on KZbin that give a thorough breakdown and since Behringer is launching their long awaited LmDrum this month, I’m sure a lot of folks would tune in. Just a suggestion :)

[@bonatoc]

Awesome job on all your videos so far. Of course the Linn calls for any 80’s song by Prince… Sign O’ The Times or Alphabet Street have great complex patterns.

[@EdgyNumber1]

I kind of prefer Sun Always Shines...

[@greguz]

Fun to watch. But your recreation of the drum pattern is much more accurate than the pronunciation of Norwegian names. Pål Waaktaar could be approximated by something like "Paul Vaulk-Taur", while Magne Furuholmen is approximately "Mah-Gneh Foo-Roo-Holm-En". Both names refer to geographical places as far as I know, with Waaktaar being an antiquated speeling of the name Voktor, which I believe is a farm name from northern Norway. Furuholmen simply means "The pine tree islet". In case you ever make a second video on a-ha!

[@CVsoundlabs]

I really tried on the names! I watched multiple interviews trying to find someone saying their last names. I guess my reference point was wrong. 🙃

[@greguz]

@@CVsoundlabs Haha, no worries! Actually, for Magne, you would get good results just by using Google Translate, but since Paul's name is an antiquated Danish spelling, that one is hard to figure out. I think that actually may be part of the reason he chose to take his wife's last name!

[@StatetrooperBillyBlast]

easy to recreate a beat, where are the synths? that's the tricky part

[@CVsoundlabs]

Most of the time I’d probably agree with that statement. However on this song I think the drum pattern is far more complex than the synth parts. The bassline is just a stock dx7 preset. The main riff is a juno 60. Nothing crazy going on with the synths.

[@macintozh1986]

​@@CVsoundlabs Fantastic video, but I'd just like to say that it actually is pretty complex with the synths, I've been looking at the compositon of this song (including multitracks) for a long time and looked at multiple pieces of documentation where I've learned and been able to test for myself that the main lead is 3 Juno parts with one low octave pluck with a quick attack (which doesn't happen during the break when the first half of the lead is played twice before going into the section with the last chorus, then it comes back), one mid octave slightly longer lead, and the most audible high octave lead which is paired with a metallic glassy pluck from the PPG wave, and then a second PPG wave part which is a kinda bell sounding synth with a long release, which is also the same synth used for the second layer on the pads, the opening plucks and the key change plucks before the bridge. I was able to recreate most of them pretty closely except for the bell pluck with a long release, I still need to figure that one out but I know the library and preset it can be made from, I've also written down the settings for everything else on a Juno and PPG wave along with what libraries the PPG parts are from which I can share if you'd like, I just don't want to make this comment longer than it already is.

[@74goldenjet]

@@macintozh1986 Interesting. I always thought the riff was a mix of Juno-60 and a DX7 bell