How To Make Stranger Things Style Synths (Synthwave / Diva / Serum Tutorial)

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So in this video I go through my recreation of the stranger things theme giving an overview of each of the sounds. There's a bit too much covered in this video for a full written summary but here's some of the main takeaways:
The patches themselves are mostly relatively simple, it's the rich character of the analog synths and automation of parameters throughout the track that make it interesting (mainly filter cutoff and amplitude).
This is a sound design tutorial but it's also important not to overlook the compositional and arrangement aspect of the track. Particularly how there's always some element within the mix that is subtly changing or coming in or out. This can be applied to any style of music to make sure to hold the listeners attention.
By far the most used effect on the patches in the original and my recreation was chorus. This was most noticeable on the pad sounds and bass and does a great job of thickening the sounds.
The mellow piano sound I recreated using Diva was actually created with a Prophet 5 by the composers, and if you're interested in a more accurate Prophet 5 emulation it might be worth looking into U-HE's upcoming synth Repro-5.
EQ is obviously very important when layering synths (I've covered this in my synth layering tutorial). Don't forget you can always automate your EQ to adapt sounds to different parts of the track (EQ doesn't have to be static).
The Mellotron is a really useful instrument for adding a sample based instrument to your track that still has a very nostalgic character due to it playing back traditional sounds that we're originally recorded to tape for playback. In my opinion it complements the sound of analog synths very well. When you play with the tape speed and reverse etc you can create some really interesting textures. I use G-Force's M-Tron Pro which I absolutely love.
Here's some additional resources I found useful when researching the tutorial:
Song Exploder Podcast - www.factmag.com... SURVIVE Synth Interview - • S U R V I V E Explores... 'Synth Sounds of Stranger Things' by Reverb.com - • Ep1: The Synth Sounds ... Synthesia MIDI demonstration - • Stranger Things - Main...
Also apologies for the audio bug that occurs with my mic a few times during the video which lasts for about 20 seconds then goes away. I didn't realise until after recording but hopefully you can still tell what I'm saying. If there's anything you think I overlooked or have any questions feel free to leave a comment!