RAVE SOUND DESIGN

Synthesise 90s dance sounds like a pro

Unless you've been living under a rock for the last 30 years, you'll most likely be familiar with the signature sounds of rave: those piercing stabs, upbeat piano licks and dirty hoovers that are synonymous with the genre's heyday. Their retro appeal is still a big part of modern electronic music, with many classic sounds such as the Reese bass, Dominator hoover and Mentasm stab still popping regularly up in tracks today.

Though the original sounds were sourced from hardware synths such as the Yamaha DX7 and Roland Alpha Juno, it was even more common for rave producers to simply sample them from house and techno records. If you’re looking to add a splash of rave colour to your tracks, you could do the same and sample the sounds – from either a rave track or the original source – but it’s obviously much more fun and creatively empowering to learn how to make them yourself from scratch, directly within your DAW.

With that in mind, we’ve put together an unmissable set of tutorials teaching you how to do exactly that. Once you’re able to make some signature sounds using your favourite softsynth, it’s then a cinch to twist and manipulate them further, creating your own takes on these iconic tones in ways that can’t be done using static samples alone.

So, over the next few pages, we’ll show you how to roll out a great classic Reese, add a dash of acid to your lead lines and much more. With the usual detailed Tutorial Files and video content to guide you along, there’s nothing left to do but slip on the white gloves, dust off the old smiley T-shirt and get stuck into the sounds of rave!