from everything i read, this album (a great record, btw) was recorded with real horns, but with synth/vst strings.
i'm curious what software at the time (1987) was available to the engineers/producer? as can be heard in the opening, the strings are very nicely done. the articulations are pretty spot on.
Could well be synth strings but definitely not a VST instrument.
1987 was the time of the big workstations Korg M1, Roland D50 et el. I still hae my M1 still awesome for strings and pads.
The name of the string/horns arranger on that album is Richard Niles.
(though I must admit that the horns do sound akwardly synthetic – as they maybe are on that album track? Those strings are definitely real, wonderful!)
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The name of the string/horns arranger on that album is Richard Niles.
(though I must admit that the horns do sound akwardly synthetic – as they maybe are on that album track? Those strings are definitely real, wonderful!)
They're real horns. Just processed in that 80's pop way. All dynamics squashed out and very unnatural EQ. Some horn sections from that time sound like a harmonica or accordion or something... no longer the sound that they recorded. I think one of the reasons synth horns from around that time sound so weird is because they were going for that produced sound, rather than trying to sound like live instruments.
i'm curious what software at the time (1987) was available to the engineers/producer?
Emulator & Fairlight (and comparatively primitive Akais) were the samplers of choice in those days. The strings on here sound a bit too realistic for that ( but i'm only listening on a rubbish laptop speaker) but it could be clever programming & arrangement?
Slight aside - i believe VST instruments are 20yrs old next year, i wonder what we'll have in 2039?
Emulator & Fairlight (and comparatively primitive Akais) were the samplers of choice in those days. The strings on here sound a bit too realistic for that ( but i'm only listening on a rubbish laptop speaker) but it could be clever programming & arrangement?
Slight aside - i believe VST instruments are 20yrs old next year, i wonder what we'll have in 2039?
i'm familiar with what a fairlight of that era could do. it was my initial thought as to what was used on this record.
on further listening, i think the strings are real. they may have had the strings v horns thing backwards in the article i read. i'm hard pressed to find any string arrangements (in the vst era) that come close to the precise articulations exhibited at the beginning of this remix. i suppose a fairlight might have been able to do it (or maybe a synclavier), but no workstation keyboard could.
at the end of the day, it was a great track.
a different remix of the same tune. this one makes the strings sound even more real.