Influences: Sterac Electronics

Sounds were always my thing in tracks. I love cool synth sounds. Here I always fell for this nice Moog bass and the very 80’s type of sounds they used. This was one of these records that I heard when I was about 13 years old. I thought: “Wow, what is this big bassline?”

The System was always a very big influence for me: fat productions and a little bit less slick productions; sometimes even a bit experimental in the use of effects and synth sounds in my opinion. I learned a lot about mixing and placing sounds in the mix by listening to their productions. They always used Oberheim DMX drums which of course I went to look for when I found out what machine it was. And what also always attracted me from them was the “Bridge” part of the songs they did. The Bridge is the part where the song changes into different chord schemes and becomes normally nicer for a short bit. David Frank of The System was a master at that in my opinion.

Jam and Lewis where always a very big influence for me. First of all of course because of the Roland TR-808 drum machine which they used for instance on most SOS Band songs. Them and stuff like Planet Rock got me into buying an 808 back in 1985. Next to that they always inspired me for nice pad sounds and nice dreamy atmospheres in records. And of course fat bass lines as well. Jimmy Jam plays great baselines, and he plays them live. I wish I could play like that. My big wish as a little boy was to become a successful production team like them. Since they did so many different things I chose 2 tracks of their hand because it was hard to choose.

The Limit was a Dutch band that to me always sounded very American. Back in the days that was not an easy task if you didn’t come from the States. American sound in the 80’s stood for big fat productions. Everything jumped out of the speakers much more compared to other productions. Drums were mixed big, and basses were really mixed tight and big. Always again Oberheim DX/DMX drums, Moog basses and Prophet 5/OB-8 synth sounds. Crimes of Passion is a good example of US sound coming from The Netherlands.

I found out about George Clinton and Parliament a bit later. I first discovered Jam & Lewis, later to find out (by ear) that they must have been inspired by George Clinton who is of course the originator of that type of sound. Great funk stuff from the past.

As Jam & Lewis, Prince represents the sound of Minneapolis. Also an inspiration to me but nothing available on Youtube. So I found a video of the drummachine that Prince used on almost all of his early productions. Here they are programming Prince songs on that machine. I put up this video because I am the proud owner of this drum machine. Only 500 were build so it is pretty rare. I used it on a couple of tracks on the album.

Again a track that got my attention because of the combination of nice sounds, nice Moog bass and warm vocals. Totally my kind of 80’s sound.

This is a bit newer but as you can hear probably inspired by the same time of 80’s. I have always been a big fan of these guys. Normally a bit more electro but always the nice 80’s feel to it.

I found out about him quite late actually but super nice to find out he was spreading the type of 80’s stuff that I was into. Great stuff.

This guy changed my perspective of music production for myself. I listen to a lot of his music since I found out about him a few years ago. I was totally swept of my feet by his stuff, and was even feeling a bit down and was thinking what the hell I was doing. This guy has such talent! And I learned from it. I learned to approach my music in a different way when in the studio. Even a bit more experimental in some ways for my type of sound. A bit less straight forward and more free of boundaries that I always had. A big hero to me and I don’t say this very often but I think he is a genius.