He practically invented the sound of the 80s
Vangelis has died
141–150 of 200 posts
Re: Vangelis has died
#142Imo, Vangelis brought the synthesizer from an experimental novelty to an instrument for composition. The two sounds I associate with him are the long brassy triangle with a steep envelope that we know from both Blade Runner and the accompaniment to the piano in the Chariots of Fire theme, and his effective use of chimes. I have tickets for Olafur Arnalds next week, and there is a younger generation of composers like…
It’s hard to leave any discussion around the development of synth as an instrument without mentioning Tangerine Dream and Popol Vuh, but they were arguably more related to the prog-rock scene than as composers.
Incidentally, a former member of TH, Klaus Schultz also died last month. TG didn’t land any major soundtracks (like Jarre or Vangelis), but they were nonetheless highly influential , if only due to their prolific releases.
Re: Vangelis has died
#143Imo, Vangelis brought the synthesizer from an experimental novelty to an instrument for composition. The two sounds I associate with him are the long brassy triangle with a steep envelope that we know from both Blade Runner and the accompaniment to the piano in the Chariots of Fire theme, and his effective use of chimes. I have tickets for Olafur Arnalds next week, and there is a younger generation of composers like…
How would you compare Vangelis and Isao Tomita? Tomita was marrying synth with classical at about the same time or even a little earlier, to widespread acclaim and success. A couple other names I think of when I think early serious synth work are Jean-Michel Jarre and Larry Fast. Where would you put them in synth history?
I've never tried to talk to anyone about Tomita and got recognition. I've never met anyone who hasn't heard of Vangelis.
Re: Vangelis has died
#144The Chariots of Fire soundtrack, which won him an Oscar and topped the charts for weeks, was in part a tribute to his father, who had been an enthusiastic amateur runner. But Vangelis played down the popularity it received and said it was "just another song".
Rest in peace
Re: Vangelis has died
#145Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner were iconic, defining works, but don't skip a listen to 1492 Conquest of Paradise.
Re: Vangelis has died
#146Imo, Vangelis brought the synthesizer from an experimental novelty to an instrument for composition. The two sounds I associate with him are the long brassy triangle with a steep envelope that we know from both Blade Runner and the accompaniment to the piano in the Chariots of Fire theme, and his effective use of chimes. I have tickets for Olafur Arnalds next week, and there is a younger generation of composers like…
> Imo, Vangelis brought the synthesizer from an experimental novelty to an instrument for composition. The two sounds I associate with him are the long brassy triangle with a steep envelope that we know from both Blade Runner and the accompaniment to the piano in the Chariots of Fire theme, and his effective use of chimes.
One of the most memorable parts of the Blade Runner soundtrack is the brass synth that casually tools around the blues scale. It sounds like an homage to old detective films and grounds the entire movie.
I wonder-- did that influence the intro to Dire Straits' Money for Nothing? It begins with a nice little synth bass and some arpeggiator bleeps and blorps, but there's a similar synth that similarly cruises around a blues scale for a bit.
Digression-- after listening to it again, I noticed that pentatonic synth business in Money for Nothing ends on a C two octaves above middle C which then does a quick upward glissando about an octave and a fourth. Did the keyboardist map the midi wheel to a perfect 11th to do that glissando? If so it sounds incredibly smooth: great job DX7, and/or early MIDI, and/or Alan Clark!
Edit: clarification
Re: Vangelis has died
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
》"Memories of Green" (from the album "See You Later") https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW9D6agp794 That title and that album cover: a woman wearing bikini and low-light glasses for snow, with the sun on the back and broken floating ice. A prediction of climate change from 1980?
If the myths hold truths, the oil companies knew this was an issue in the '70s. By the late 80s the predictions had reached artists and musicians in the UK (how I know this is too convoluted and flakey for this thread). I was taught about climate change (the "greenhouse effect") as a young teen, early 90s. It's been canon for me since then. I have no problem believing that forward looking adults were talking about it…
"Climate Change" was one of the topics discussed at "Rio Summit" in 92 [1].
Re: Vangelis has died
#148Imo, Vangelis brought the synthesizer from an experimental novelty to an instrument for composition. The two sounds I associate with him are the long brassy triangle with a steep envelope that we know from both Blade Runner and the accompaniment to the piano in the Chariots of Fire theme, and his effective use of chimes. I have tickets for Olafur Arnalds next week, and there is a younger generation of composers like…
> Imo, Vangelis brought the synthesizer from an experimental novelty to an instrument for composition. The two sounds I associate with him are the long brassy triangle with a steep envelope that we know from both Blade Runner and the accompaniment to the piano in the Chariots of Fire theme, and his effective use of chimes. One of the most memorable parts of the Blade Runner soundtrack is the brass synth that casually…
The brass you hear in Vangelis is probably an Oberheim OB-Xa, incredible brass sounds. The band toto made those sounds extremely popular here in the states too. Google who the Porcaro brothers were (well one is still alive and kicking :) )
Re: Vangelis has died
#149How did people learn synths back then without the internet?
Many (most?) came with printed manuals that described all their functions and how the controls work. Though, that wouldn't usually teach general concepts of subtractive synthesis or the like. Honestly I'll wager that most synth musicians learned by experimenting with the synth for hours on end, just as I did when I was learning. I mean HOURS and HOURS. Synthesizers are not actually that complicated, and once you understand the fundamental pieces, you find that basically all synths just have some combination of those fundamental pieces. You can either find out that foundational stuff by observation or getting lucky with a synth manual that lays it all out for you, or knowing someone that is already knowledgeable with that stuff.
Re: Vangelis has died
#150Just sharing one of my favorite pieces of him: "Memories of Green" (from the album "See You Later") https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW9D6agp794 I think this piece shows the range of his musical expressiveness, apart from his virtuosity or synth programming skills. Just a piano passed through a flanger effect with some ambient sounds. The electronic bleeps in that track are recorded from a handheld electronic game (Ba…
I couldn't play that video for some reason (says it's unavailable), so here's another link to (I think) the same song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1KfOMkyU_w
Here's a direct link to it on Spotify as well: https://open.spotify.com/track/0rHCW5eZ35QmQNVYyozAnZ?si=384...