RETRO SOUND DESIGN

In the rush to fill our hard drives with cutting-edge plugins and music-making tech, it’s easy to dismiss the humble roots of sound design. Tape-splicing, rudimentary synthesiser chips and early hardware samplers were all tools of the trade that, while considered primitive by today’s standards, all spawned unique sounds that birthed the electronic music we all love.

In this feature, we’ll look at four genres of sound generation, and show you ways to incorporate these classic sounds into your tracks by harnessing the spirit of innovation that these synthesis pioneers championed.

First, we’ll travel back to the 1960s and take a look at how the BBC Radiophonic Workshop boffins used tape editing, filters and early analogue synthesis to create the sound effects of Doctor Who, and give you some tips on how these freaky sounds can give today’s tunes some retro personality.

Next, we’ll jump forward to the Age of Roland – aka the 1980s – and explore some of the classic synthesis techniques used in synthpop. Think bouncy bass, lush pads and plucky arpeggios.

After that, we’ll stop by the arcade and look at some of the ways 90s chiptune and 8-bit synth sounds can be made with today’s software tools. Be sure to hold onto your spare change.

Lastly, our time-travel joyride will take us to the dank warehouses of the 90s. We’ll craft the iconic sounds that made that era of dance music so compelling: hoovers, FM bass and much more.

So whether you’re creating vintage-inspired tunes, or just hoping to learn sound design tricks to give your modern-day productions retro character, we’re here to take your productions to another level.

Vintage effects and atmospheres

Think of the Radiophonic Workshop – the BBC’s pioneering audio department – and you’ll probably imagine folks beavering about in lab coats, their brows furrowed as they try to get test equipment oscillators to stay in tune long enough to commit them to tape.

In the early days, before consumer synthesisers hit the market in the late 1960s and early 1970s, new sounds could only be created using test equipment, white noise, filters and tape machines, which is how the geniuses at the Workshop soundtracked Doctor Who and other TV shows of the mid-20th century. Although undeniably primitive, these methods of sound design yielded fantastically eerie results, as anyone who has ever watched an old episode of Doctor Who will testify.

Although modern sound synthesis has moved on from crotchety test equipment, there’s no reason you can’t harness this nostalgic sound for use in modern music. Filtered white noise is a staple in dance music for good reason – it works! – but we’ll show you how to go beyond rudimentary filter sweeps and craft sci-fi effects suitable for retro-inspired percussion and transitions.

Tape was used as more than just a recording medium at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, which is why we’ll demonstrate how to replicate music concrète-style tape-splicing using modern samplers. Drones and unnerving soundscapes were also part and parcel of the Doctor Who experience, and we’ll show you how to create those, too.

“Filtered white noise is a dance music staple for good reason”

Step by step

1. Recreating the classic Doctor Who sting with ring modulation

1 The ‘sting’ that kicks off the theme song makes a great transition effect. You can recreate it using almost any analogue-style softsynth with a ring modulator – we’re going to make it with Reason’s Subtractor. Load