Tone Profile

A majestic, powerful, and instantly recognizable polyphonic synth brass sound, characterized by its bright attack, rich detuned oscillators, and spacious reverb.

Signal Chain

Recording Notes

• Recorded by Donn Landee at Eddie Van Halen's 5150 Studio in 1983.
• The Oberheim OB-Xa was a key instrument on the '1984' album.
• The synth sound was achieved by Eddie Van Halen, who composed and performed the part.
• The synth was likely fed directly into the mixing console, then processed with outboard reverb.

Recreation Tips

• Use a synthesizer (hardware or software VST) capable of emulating analog polysynths, specifically the Oberheim OB-Xa.
• Start with two sawtooth oscillators per voice.
• Slightly detune the oscillators against each other to create a thick, phasing sound (e.g., one oscillator +7 cents, the other -7 cents).
• Use a low-pass filter (24dB/octave if available) with a filter envelope shaping the sound: quick attack, medium decay, moderate sustain, and short release to create a brassy 'blat'.
• Set the filter cutoff to a relatively high value to maintain brightness, and apply envelope modulation.
• Apply a rich stereo chorus effect; the OB-Xa had a distinctive built-in chorus.
• Add a spacious hall or plate reverb with a medium to long decay time (2-3 seconds).
• Enable portamento/glide with a short time (around 50-100ms) for the characteristic slides in the main riff.
• Ensure the final sound has a wide stereo image, either through stereo synth outputs, chorus, or reverb.

Recommended Gear

• Oberheim OB-Xa(synth)
• Arturia OB-Xa V(plugin)
• GForce Oberheim OB-E / OB-X(plugin)
• Lexicon 224 Digital Reverb(reverb)
• Valhalla VintageVerb(plugin)
• API or SSL style mixing console preamp(preamp)