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Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” synth sounds
- taylorius 4y agoI'm surely in a minority, but I couldn't stand that song when it came out, and I haven't changed my opinion. That said, I love most of Kate Bush's work.
- jader201 4y agoOddly, while I didn’t really remember the song growing up (in US, probably wasn’t played on my stations), I pretty much loved it since hearing it on SiriusXM First Wave about 10 years ago. I’ve loved hearing how it was used in Stranger Things (a show I also have always loved).
- namdnay 4y agoI was surprised by the "most well-known song" accolade, I always considered Wuthering Heights to be far more famous
- taylorius 4y agoIndeed. Also The man with the child in his eyes, Babooshka, Them Heavy People. So many great hits.
- PaulDavisThe1st 4y agoOK, who do I give everything I own to for naming a Valhalla verb preset "Homestar Blade Runner" ?
- folli 4y agoApparently I'm living under a rock, but why does this song seem to be so popular all of a sudden?
- zomglings 4y agoI believe because the Stranger Things soundtrack/playlist was recently promoted heavily on Spotify.
- bee_rider 4y agoMore likely it is just because the show is very popular
- ceejayoz 4y agoIt’s a key plot point in the latest Stranger Things season.
- ryandrake 4y agoWow, thank you! I was walking by my daughter’s room and this song was playing and I was mystified. I told her “That song is almost older than me! How did you find it??” Total WTF moment for me.
- tootie 4y agoYeah, not only is it featured in a few scenes, it's mentioned by name. One of the key characters needs to listen to it on her Walkman in an endless loop to protect herself from a psychic monster. The finale prominently featured Master of Puppets by Metallica which is apparently starting to climb the charts now as well.
- lbotos 4y agoMy favorite running up that hill moment is from a few years ago. Big Boi from Outkast waxing poetic about how running up that hill is his favorite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSdHgq3oBD8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSdHgq3oBD8
- tptacek 4y agoThis is fantastic. Now somebody needs to sample Big Boi beatboxing the CELLO2 sample Kate Bush used, and cover "Running Up That Hill" with it.
- baskethead 4y agoThank you for this. I haven't thought about Kate Bush since the 80s (she got replaced by Tory Amos and Sarah McLachlan in that genre in the 90s), and I was never a big fan but I knew this song. I didn't realize the impact she had on other people and thought the choice of her song in Stranger Things was meant to be kitschy but I guess not!
- georgeoliver 4y agoI think people forget what a huge success she was/is. I was too young to experience this first-hand but I'm glad I started listening in the last few years. Her music, particularly her voice, sounded odd to me at first, but I think it's brilliant now. I think you can particularly get a sense of what a great singer she is when you listen to the vocal part of covers of her songs -- she can't be matched IMO.
- chadcmulligan 4y agoSarah McLachlan? Not someone I would have picked. I'd always thought Bjork was a 90's Kate Bush.
- newaccount2021 4y agoso many of the most-played artists and songs on streaming services now are from decades past I've tried to experiment with new artists....there's nothing there...gen-z has to plumb the 80s for music to listen to....sad
- braingenious 4y agoI’m sure that there are plenty of talented musicians working today. I haven’t heard of gen z kids needing to listen to 80s music, that might a mirage caused by an incredibly popular TV show throwing its entire weight behind one song from the 80s.
- sammalloy 4y agoIt goes well behind the show and the song. My dentist and his office are all zoomers and they have the best music of the 80s blasting all day, music that I grew up with. It’s weird for me because I start remembering all the songs and the lyrics, but it’s entirely new for them.
- petepete 4y agoWhile not to this scale, it's happened several times before. Don't Stop Believin' from the Sopranos and Only You from the final scene of The Office were both thrown back into the limelight 25-30 years after their release.
- braingenious 4y ago“Well beyond” means “your dentist”? I’d wager that there are plenty of gen z kids listening to billie eilish and lil yachty and the entirety of mumblerap that would disagree with the idea that there’s no good pop music outside of the 80s. edit: I’m not debating that 80s pop continues to be popular among younger people as it has since… the 80s. I was specifically responding to the comment about gen z needing to plumb the depths of 80s music due to some perceived lack of palatable pop music today. It’s genuinely a silly idea. Who is buying olivia rodrigo tickets? Or dua lipa or doja cat or lizzo or megan thee stallion
- ROTMetro 4y agoEveryone already probably knows this, but if you search <Song Name> acapella or <song name> isolated vocals on youtube you can get the vocals to songs you want to cover. Sometimes its the original isolated, but sometimes its just someone singing it. I've been having a lot of fun with Reverbmachine's Legends bank and vocals from youtube. Eurythmics Sweet Dreams for example. On a tangent, when I was in prison my mom died, and Kate Bush was her favorite music. Also in prison as a coping mechanism I created my own superstition that music on the radio was a message for me (I know it isn't but I needed a way to just get a little space to breath). Like Tom Petty meant the the day was going to turn out ok. So I programmed myself to be super receptive to Kate Bush being popular again and it's been amazing for my mood and productivity. Programming little positive things into my makeup has been really important in getting through stuff, be it addiction or just day to day difficulties.
- sthatipamala 4y agoI have nothing to add on the synth/music aspect, but thank you for sharing your personal story. The idea of programming your mind to get through tough times really resonated with me.
- ROTMetro 4y agoIt's actually been a super great tool because it randomly breaks me out of the moment/pattern I'm in. If a song comes on it snaps me out of any bad loop and I have space to remember it's just a bad day not a bad life.
- tomduncalf 4y agoYou might be interested in Meta’s Demucs, which can split a song into drums, bass, vocals and other stems. It’s really very impressive, I can’t quite believe such results are possible! https://github.com/facebookresearch/demucs https://github.com/facebookresearch/demucs You can try it out at https://huggingface.co/spaces/akhaliq/demucs https://huggingface.co/spaces/akhaliq/demucs if you don’t want to install it. If you google “source separation” there are a bunch of hosted services which mostly use either Demucs or Spleeter (which was an earlier, good but not as good, system from Deezer)
- anewpersonality 4y agoBored on vacation, what's the best way to learn synths in 2022?
- pier25 4y agoSyntorial if you want some structure. If not, just get Vital and start messing around. There are tons of Youtube tutorials.
- tomduncalf 4y agoAbleton have a really cool web based intro to synthesis https://learningsynths.ableton.com/ https://learningsynths.ableton.com/ (and also one for learning music: https://learningmusic.ableton.com/ https://learningmusic.ableton.com/) Syntorial (on desktop or iPad) is an app which teaches you synthesis by doing - it’s a full synth which you can use in its own right, and it introduces you to each part and gives you challenges to recreate a certain sound using that part. I can’t say I’ve done the full thing but it’s a cool concept. You can also just download some free/cheap synths (or get a free trial of Ableton or some other music making software which comes with its own included synths) and start messing around of course haha, there are a tonne of good ones around, including on iOS if you use an iPad (the advantage being the touch screen makes it maybe more fun than using a mouse). GarageBand on Mac is maybe a fun place to start experimenting too. Happy to advise more if you have specific things you’re interested in!
- ROTMetro 4y agoVital is an amazing free virtual synth. It rivals the pay ones at this point and makes it on most of my tracks (though Arturia Pigments is my favorite VST).
- bbgm 4y agoI have a 9 year old who’s learning all about synths via a combination of the synths in garage band and my OP1. Great combo IMO
- ROTMetro 4y ago
- emmelaich 4y agoNot mentioned is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._J._Jeczalik https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._J._Jeczalik who helped her on "Dreaming" and was also a CMI pioneer. Jeczalik also worked on Godley and Creme's "Cry" (1985) - another synth heavy reverbish song.
- georgeoliver 4y agoThank you for leading me to Art of Noise (wow I am so ignorant! :) )
- TheOtherHobbes 4y agoThe first AoN album is a somewhat forgotten classic. So British, completely bonkers, a bit punk, but also very musical. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sFK0-lcjGU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sFK0-lcjGU
- DennisP 4y ago> she used the Yamaha CS-80 as her main composition instrument. She seemed to favour it particularly for its touch-sensitivity, and it was one of the few synths that offered the feature at the time. This undersells the CS-80. It had polyphonic aftertouch, which most synths don't have today. Most have velocity sensitivity, meaning each note transmits how much initial force you applied. And most have aftertouch, meaning they transmit how much force you continue to apply after hitting bottom. But for most it's just channel aftertouch, meaning it transmits the aftertouch of the key you're pressing the hardest. The CS-80 transmitted aftertouch of each individual key, and had nice controls to to adjust how it used that information. A lot of synths can use polyphonic aftertouch but only a few new ones actually have poly-AT keyboards. The ones I know of are the Hydrasynth (out for a couple years now), the Behringer UB-Xa, and the Iridium keyboard (both introduced this year). Vangelis was also a huge CS-80 fan and used it on the Blade Runner soundtrack. Incidentally, a boutique synth that replicates the CS-80 pretty well (without keyboard) is the Deckard's Dream. It's $4000 but that's way less than a vintage CS-80.
- SeanLuke 4y ago> This undersells the CS-80. It had polyphonic aftertouch, which most synths don't have today. Vangelis using poly aftertouch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoEkyBX7qsg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoEkyBX7qsg The CS-80 also famously had a touch strip, which Vangelis used to great effect in Blade Runner. The strip in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV3qDUTVsNo&t=1487s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV3qDUTVsNo&t=1487s A famous example where it's used: https://youtu.be/smpTDkLCYb0?t=125 https://youtu.be/smpTDkLCYb0?t=125 > A lot of synths can use polyphonic aftertouch but only a few new ones actually have poly-AT keyboards. The ones I know of are the Hydrasynth (out for a couple years now), Interestingly the Hydrasynth is also one of the only modern synths with a touch strip. I think it's clear what the Hydrasynth was going for.
- anigbrowl 4y agoPoly-AT was locked up by patents for years, much like FM.
- emmelaich 4y agoDiscussion of the Fairlight here on HN - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18225377 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18225377 Trivia - one of the Fairlight engineers wrote the open source 'libsndfile', used everywhere. http://www.mega-nerd.com/ http://www.mega-nerd.com/
- tomduncalf 4y agoThat’s such a cool fact re: libsndfile!
- post_break 4y agoIf you haven't heard it yet, Placebo's version I think is almost as good as Kate's. I know that's a strong opinion but it reminds me of Hurt from NIN vs Johnny Cash. Both very good takes of the same song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5GuBa4Bbnw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5GuBa4Bbnw
- teilo 4y agoCheck out Meg Meyers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7iVWK2W48o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7iVWK2W48o
- Severian 4y agoI was going to suggest this. I heard this cover before the original, somehow. I prefer this version honestly.
- AdamJacobMuller 4y agoThe Meg Meyers and Placebo versions are more "committed" than the the Kate Bush version. Kate Bush was recording a song, which may or may not turn out to be great. Meyers and Molko were recording a hit song, they already knew the power the song had and they lean into it far more than Kate Bush could. That said, I prefer the Placebo cover over the Meg Meyers one. The Chromatics, who I generally like otherwise, cover is not their finest work. I prefer the sounds of the Kate Bush original for sure, a re-recording of it would be my ultimate. Draw it out. Higher highs, lower lows, don't be afraid to give us some space to feel the weight of what we're experiencing.
- scoot 4y agoNot sold on the musical performance, but I love the creative concept for the music video.
- daverol 4y agoOr this acapella take https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MC0XMgTWIg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MC0XMgTWIg
- andreyk 4y agoNot sure if it has been recommended yet, but this is a great video about the writing and composition of this song "Running up that hill: how Kate bush became queen of alt-pop" https://youtu.be/Pum6v55X1t8 https://youtu.be/Pum6v55X1t8
- maxmalkav 4y agoTrash Theory is a really cool and informative channel :-)
- KerrickStaley 4y agoThis was discussed on a recent episode of the (excellent and highly recommended) Switched on Pop podcast: https://switchedonpop.com/episodes/kate-bush-running-up-that-hill-stranger-things https://switchedonpop.com/episodes/kate-bush-running-up-that...
- apachedomains 4y ago
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- pier25 4y agoI have nothing to add other than I'm happy to see so many synth geeks on HN :)
- pantulis 4y agoOne would say the demographics definitely overlap ;)
- jacquesm 4y agoThat whole album is special. Especially 'Under Ice', the tension in that piece is something else.
- MarcoZavala 4y ago
- jsdwarf 4y agoFun fact: German synthie pop band "Münchner Freiheit" used a very similar synth intro in their 1986 hit "Tausendmal du" (a thousand times you). Their song was published just 6 months after Kate Bush released "Running up that hill". Plagiarism or Coincidence? https://youtu.be/1Py4ORjcpVc https://youtu.be/1Py4ORjcpVc
- jandrese 4y agoInspiration.
- harel 4y agoThere's a cool demonstration of the Fairlight CMI by Peter Vogel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOlPCpSmhRM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOlPCpSmhRM
- honkycat 4y agoTh arturia V collection is amazing. Nothing comes close.
- zoomablemind 4y agoThere's a whole lecture (at Keele University, Dr. Dori Howard) analyzing The Hounds of Love album and Kate Bush's concept. Also showcasing the Fairlight CMI (Cliff Bradbury) which as said became Kate Bush's preferred composition tool. [0]: Kate Bush and the Fairlight CMI: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MgLtS_TNrt4 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MgLtS_TNrt4
- gunfighthacksaw 4y agoHyperpop remix! Hyperpop remix!!!
- itcrowd 4y agoAwesome writeup and very topical with Running up that Hill being popularized again by season 4 of Stranger Things (on Netflix, I would also recommend the series, by the way)
- xxs 4y agoI'd say Placebo already did that.
- tomduncalf 4y agoTheir version is great, I’ve not heard it for years! Thanks for the reminder.
- 1986 4y agoBut the Chromatics version is even better.
- ROTMetro 4y agoI never thought my favorite 80s music would come out 20 plus years later. But it just true, Italians do it better.
- kaasmonster 4y agoRelated to this and worthwhile watching is the following video by Vox on the CMI Fairlight: https://youtube.com/watch?v=8A1Aj1_EF9Y https://youtube.com/watch?v=8A1Aj1_EF9Y
- tomduncalf 4y agoWhat a fantastic video, thanks for sharing! I’d never thought about just how omnipresent this sound was.
- squirrelmaker 4y agoA lovely recreation of the Fairlight CMI: https://adamstrange.itch.io/qasarbeach https://adamstrange.itch.io/qasarbeach
- tptacek 4y agoThis is so good it almost makes me not want to throw up in my mouth when I hear that Kate Bush song for the 90th time in a day because of Stranger Things. I remember seeing a breakdown of The Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up" that made me lose absolutely any respect I might have had for the composition of that song. This writeup kind of had the opposite effect; I get what went into the song and how much the tools they were using defined it, but it's somewhat more interesting as a result.
- 0x0 4y agoWas this the breakdown you saw? "Making of "The Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up" in Ableton by Jim Pavloff" https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eU5Dn-WaElI https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eU5Dn-WaElI
- zerocrates 4y agoI feel like this makes me appreciate it more, not less.
- tomduncalf 4y agoI know what you mean about The Prodigy video (and even more so the Daft Punk sample source ones), it’s a bit disappointing to learn a track is almost entirely samples, but I think there is also a real art to picking those samples. If you’ve not been on it before check out whosampled.com and prepare to lose some time, lol. I have to say I’m more impressed by artists who’s music is largely sample based but they twist them into entirely new forms (eg DJ Shadow and Future Sound of London) than just lifting a few loops wholesale though!
- tptacek 4y agoI've been in a 90s hip hop rut for the past couple years and I'm pulling myself out of it by making playlists of the original songs getting sampled (one great thing about good hip hop is that any given song or pair of songs tends to produce a pretty excellent playlist), and one thing I've discovered is that RJD2, a musician I was into in the mid-aughts during an instrumental hip hop phase, puts essentially zero effort into things; the best example I can think of there is "Bless The Telephone", which he "covered" from Labi Siffre in the funniest possible way. Finding stuff like that will definitely give you a new appreciation for DJ Shadow (both, for what it's worth, were excellent live). Also Labi Siffre: very good stuff.
- jdkee 4y agoHere is a fantastic vid of the sounds recreated on vintage machines. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAuvZr5j9as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAuvZr5j9as
- __s 4y agoWhen you said vintage I expected something more like Orkestra Obsolete play Blue Monday using 1930s instruments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHLbaOLWjpc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHLbaOLWjpc
- mkesper 4y agoWhat makes this song special (by Rick Beato): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwZysZPIrYI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwZysZPIrYI
- TaupeRanger 4y agoI mean he tells you what the chords are and describes what you can already hear with your ears, like "here's a pad"...why do people find this worthwhile to listen to?
- teh_klev 4y agoBecause not all of us are musicians and it's interesting to understand how a piece of music was composed.
- larrywright 4y agoThis 100%. The thing I like about his videos is that he decomposes songs into their individual pieces and lays them out to show you what they are. As a music loving non-musician, there are so many layers to songs that I never realized were there (did you know there were female vocals in Foo Fighters’ Everlong? I didn’t, until Rick showed me). Anyone looking for Rick to point at a specific thing and say “this is what makes this particular song great” is missing the point. He’s taking the song apart and showing you all of the different pieces that together make it a great song. You may not ever have noticed many of those elements before, but without them that song wouldn’t be as good.
- dghughes 4y agoPlus we all don't like the same thing. And we like the same things for different reasons. Rick shows you the construction of songs that we all hear and he shows what went into the construction of a song. Some of it may be a guess some extremely precise. He's also more musical than lyrical he's even said in some of his videos he can't dissect lyrics as he does music. He's also in a contact battle with YouTube algorithms and DRM he's always getting blasted for a few seconds of music. I'm amazed that he has survived YouTube's idiotic controlling behaviour.