The cult basses of the synth pop pioneers
To recreate the warm synth bass of Erasure‘s “Hey Now (Think I Got A Feeling)”, we use Arturia‘s Mini V3 [1]. Vince Clarke also likes to use the Minimoog in current productions such as the Erasure album „The Neon“. First load the preset “2 Osc Octave”. Deactivate Legato mode at the bottom left and Polyphonic mode on the right. In addition set the Unison value at the very bottom to 4. The sawtooth waveforms of the two oscillators are already a good start for the bass sound. Detune the second oscillator by a few cents against the first oscillator to achieve smooth floating sounds. To do this, hold down the [Shift] key and click on the Oscillator 2 control and set 0 semitones, Fine: + 6%. We adjust the oscillator level as shown in the picture. Then switch to the filter section and reduce the cutoff frequency to around 153 Hz. The result is a dull sound. We want to modulate the filter frequency with the filter envelope. To do this, turn up the Amount Of Contour to about 56% and adjust the filter envelope as shown. Loudness Contour must now be adjusted for the desired volume curve as shown. The bass still sounds nowhere near as punchy as in the Erasure hit. No problem, because if you click on Unison in the upper right corner of the user interface, the sun will rise! Finally, increase Voice Detune to 0.58.
There‘s no question that Vince Clarke is one of the most influential minds in synth-pop and has made music history with Depeche Mode, Yazoo and Erasure. The hit “Hey Now” has everything that makes Erasure so special: Catchy synth melodies with the characteristic signature sound of Vince Clarke and the usual powerful and charismatic vocals of Andy Bell. We reprogram the bass sound.