How to make some sounds from Bronski Beat ‘Smalltown Boy’ With DRC

ATTENTION: All Pre-Gain values for DRC in this video need to be lowered by 0.250.
This is because this tutorial was made with an older version of DRC which had a different tuning on the saturation stage. We have corrected the values in the Ableton session.

Music at: 12:10

It’s one of those 80’s synth-pop lead riffs that is forever tied to the preset/patch being used to play it, the two married together in our memories. The hook from Bronski Beat’s ‘Smalltown boy’ has a catchy simplicity, such that it treads the line somewhere between melody and arpeggio. Its pleasant musical phrasing resolves satisfyingly in a loop that is instantly memorable but never tiresome.

The simple riff is matched by its suitably soft and gentle pluck sound, and had the track been an instrumental, it would have been a fairly lighthearted affair. The lyrics and narrative however tell a much darker story. In the 1980s, society had a very different view towards the LGBT community, way before the acronym was in common usage; acceptance, understanding and equality were controversial sexual politics. With all three members openly gay, Bronski Beat’s music was an expression of the group’s experiences, representing an often unheard community and raising awareness of the issues they faced.

‘Smalltown boy’ was the group’s first single release and proved to be their biggest hit, so today Lucas takes us back to 1984 by recreating the track’s bass, pad and lead sounds with DRC and a little help from DLYM and FRMS too.

Download the Ableton project from this video:
https://www.imaginando.pt/uploads/goodies/tutorials/bronski-beat-smalltown-boy-project.zip

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

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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