How to make some sounds from A-Ha’s ‘Take On Me’ with DRC

It’s a really catchy little treat this week for our DRC Sound Design Tutorial series, as it features an absolute 80’s epic by the band A-ha; ‘Take On Me’! A truly iconic track in many ways, and one that fills us with a warm sense of nostalgia every time its classic riff gets stuck in our head.

Originally recorded in 1984, during the golden era of synth-pop, and the rise of MTV and the music video as an artform, both the audio and the video took a couple of production and release attempts to eventually end up with the magical combination that we know and love today. After the original mix of the song failed to make an international impact, the band re-recorded a new version with the help of the prolific pop producer Alan Tarney.

Featuring one of the most iconic music videos ever made, which holds up very well visually, some 36 years later, it was an ambitiously creative project, back when it was conceptualized in 1985. A combination of live action footage and a large amount of hand-drawn, rotoscoped animation, approximately 3000 frames worth, which took over 16 weeks to produce.

But let’s not forget the other stars of the show though, the classic synth-pop sounds, originally created using a Roland Juno-60, a Yamaha DX7 and a PPG Wave synthesizer. Once again Lucas works his sound design magic and takes on four of the track’s sounds with DRC; the bass, keys, organ and lead.

Download the Ableton project from this video:
https://www.imaginando.pt/uploads/goodies/tutorials/a-ha-take-on-me-project.zip

00:00 Music Demo
00:16 Intro
01:38 Bass
06:45 Keys
12:15 Organ
17:01 Lead
21:13 Music
21:52 Outro

DRC – Polyphonic Synthesizer:
DRC on App Store – https://apps.apple.com/us/app/drc-polyphonic-synthesizer/id973055710
DRC on Google Play – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.imaginando.drc
DRC for Desktop – https://www.imaginando.pt/products/drc/downloads
DRC Product Page – https://www.imaginando.pt/products/drc

VS – Visual Synthesizer:
VS on App Store – https://apps.apple.com/app/id1560330289
VS for Desktop – https://www.imaginando.pt/products/vs-visual-synthesizer
VS Product Page – https://www.imaginando.pt/products/vs-visual-synthesizer

FRMS – Granular Synthesizer:
FRMS on App Store – https://apps.apple.com/us/app/frms-granular-synthesizer/id1381392223
FRMS on Google Play – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.imaginando.frms
FRMS for Desktop – https://www.imaginando.pt/products/frms/downloads
FRMS Product Page – https://www.imaginando.pt/products/frms

K7D – Tape Delay
K7D on App Store – https://apps.apple.com/us/app/k7d-tape-delay/id1460245991
K7D for Desktop – https://www.imaginando.pt/products/k7d/downloads
K7D Product Page – https://www.imaginando.pt/products/k7d

DLYM – Delay Modulator:
DLYM on App Store – https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dlym-delay-modulator/id1381246923
DLYM for Desktop – https://www.imaginando.pt/products/dlym/downloads
DLYM Product Page – https://www.imaginando.pt/products/dlym

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Our creative hardware projects:
Laser harp – https://www.imaginando.pt/projects/harpa-laser
Turning Vintage furniture into a cranked synthesizer – https://www.imaginando.pt/projects/digital-music-box

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#synthesizer #sounddesign #tutorial