"Dated" keyboard sounds?

Phil_aka_Pip

@lixarto said this about Rainbow's Difficult to cure EllPee: Top stuff - with the exception of some rather dated keyboard sounds.

I'd like to raise the subject of what is a "dated" keyboard sound, and if such a thing exists, is there really anything wrong with it?

'Tis true that some keyboards went in and out of fashion, which could "date" a sound, but you'll still hear Hammond and Rhodes sounds being used without people calling them "dated". Likewise pipe organ, piano & harpsichord! So what is it with 1980s keys?

Even if a keyboard sound leads us to conclude that the recording had to have been made at a date later than the arrival of that keyboard on the market, and was likely to have been made prior to the arrival of another product which displaced it in popularity, is there anything wrong with that?

richardhomer

That 'tinkly' DX7 patch that was all over everything in the '80s epitomises dated keyboard sounds for me.

That said, Its probably due for a come back.

Along with chorus, the other 80s sound I would like to come back into fashion is fretless bass. Poor old Pino Pallidino had to reinvented himself as a modern day James Jamerson and bought a fretted P bass.

Bring back the Music Man!

Cirrus

I don't think there are dated sounds, just dated uses - ie you take a sound that's been in lots of contemporary hits and use that sound in the same context - then people pick up on it and it seems cheesy. But you could use that same sound in a more authentic and inspired way and nobody would level that accusation.

chrisj1602

I think the ones that sound dated are the keyboards that were supposed to sound like brass and strings before they were any good at it.

johnnyurq

The M1 House Piano for me as well as several DX** brass style patches, not forgetting the ubiquitous Roland D50 sounds used almost unedited.

Rather than dated per se for me it is more that when those certain keys were all the rage so these sounds got overused and under disguised and/or edited. Then I think they become a bit more of their time as soon as newer sounds de jour appear.

Panama_Jack666

Possibly dated keyboard sounds... but unique so I love it. Rory and the band could do no wrong in my eyes!

Panama_Jack666

Possibly dated keyboard sounds... but unique so I love it. Rory and the band could do no wrong in my eyes!

xSkarloey

Stuff that sounded dated to me a few years ago doesn't sound too bad now. That tinkly synth piano you heard all over dance tracks and pop records from about 89 to 91 for example. Seemed dated to me but now it's just of its time.

Some of the live late 70's Rainbow with extended keyboard solos- it's not so much the sounds as the solos' length that dates it.

I don't see these as that naff now though, just of their time.

That said the Stock Aitken Waterman stuff always has sounded to be the musical equivalent of cheap plastic to me.

Fretwired

Just listen to Spotlight Kid with its cheesy synth Keith Emersonesque solo .. sounds like one of those awful 1970s home organs much loved by the sort of middle aged men who sucked Werthers Originals and wore cardigans. 



Fast forward to 2.30 ...

PolarityMan

Vangelis

ICBM

PolarityMan said:

Vangelis

No, he was more miles ahead of his time. Loads of very similar sounds are in modern music. Listen to Delerium's Spheres for example - very Vangelis-like. (Although even that isn't really that modern now.)

The really dated stuff is things like the keyboards on Fleetwood Mac's Tango In The Night… although even that, I can listen to again now and think it's nostalgic rather than just badly dated.

dogload

All those washy, synth pad sounds that abounded in the eighties (the one that springs to mind is on Ray Parker Jr's 'Ghostbusters').

One of the worst offenders for me is the 'Phil Collins Drum Sound'. Not that I don't like it- it just dates a record. Especially alongside washy synth pads and tinkly chorusy guitars.

Phil_aka_Pip

dogload said:

washy synth pads and tinkly chorusy guitars.

they have their uses, as does a middly Lester through a JCM800 on full chat, as does a properly played Spanish guitar. I like 'em all, in context.

not_the_dj

This sort of thing?

 

xSkarloey

It's not so much the synth that sounds dated on that. What's dated is the sight of a man standing at a bank of synths wearing a a jacket with the sleeves rolled up. 

Bellycaster

I have to admit, I'm quite partial to an early 80's Synth/Keyboard sound.

This has a sort of John Carpenter-esque soundtrack quality to it.

And these sort of sounds in the solo at 2;40 and song in general

and going back earlier, I always liked Gary Numan's sound.

The Farfisa Organ also made a bit of a comeback with Inspiral Carpets and Pulp, didn't The Stranglers use one too?

Neil

I'm no keyboard expert but that whipcrack sound summed up the '80's for me. 

dogload

Not forgetting  'breaking glass' hideous 'orchestral stabs' and anything that was clearly a stock sample from a Fairlight CMI.

Duran Duran's 'A View To A Kill' (which I happen to think is a rather good song) has some serious offenders!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9qOXILOe38

axisus

I agree, in that I think keyboards are the instrument that can sound most dated. For me the worst offenders crop up in 70's jazz fusion. Really makes the music sound of its time. 

Deadman

The Polymoog and Emulator2. And I love them both. Passionately.

richardhomer

Deadman;240941" said:

Emulator2

Was that what did the 'orchestral stabs' in the 80s? I'm thinking Yes's 'Owner of a Lonely Heart', ie, anything Trevor Horn went anywhere near.

Some of his productions (Grace Jones's 'Slave to the Rhythm' springs to mind) were superb.