The keyboard community lost a tremendous talent in April with the sad passing of long-time E Street Band keyboardist Danny Federici. He was best known for his tasteful organ chops in classic Springsteen anthems like “Rosalita” and “Born To Run.” His partner in crime, Roy Bittan, contributed some great synth work to “I’m On Fire,” “Glory Days,” and “Dancing In The Dark,” all from Springsteen’s smash comeback, Born In The U.S.A. Roy’s understated synth tracks emanated from just two keyboards; a Yamaha CS-80 for warm analog textures, and a Yamaha DX7 for bright, percussive digital timbres. This month we’ll demonstrate how to create the mellow brass pads Danny used for the signature synth riffs of “Dancing In The Dark.”
This month I’ll use Native Instruments’ Massive virtual analog plug-in, but you can use just about any two-oscillator soft or hardware synth. If the filter on your synth has a 12db per-octave-setting, use it. This is the type used by the Yamaha CS-80, so we can get a little more realistic recreation. More filter mumbo-jumbo to come. . . .
Start by setting two oscillators to sawtooth waves. Massive has a couple of different saws to choose from. I went with the warmest, smoothest ones (called “Sqr-Saw II,” as Massive oscillator waves have the unique ability to morph to other shapes, but we won’t be using that here). The oscillators are tuned down an octave to set the correct range, but they’re both tuned to the same register. I then detuned oscillator 2 by 0.12 cents for a chorusing effect. Using Massive’s drag-and-drop modulation routing, I moved “5 LFO” and “6 LFO” to oscillators 1 and 2, respectively, to add a miniscule amount of vibrato to each. This is a really subtle thing; if your synth only has one LFO, you can use the same one for both oscillators. I did this to approximate the small amount of oscillator drift in a real analog synth.
I then set the filter for a 12db-per-octave (a.k.a. two-pole) slope, just like a CS-80. A 12db-per-octave filter’s cutoff slope is less steep than the more common 24db-per-octave slope, allowing more frequencies through near the cutoff frequency. The result is a brighter tonality. Resonance should be set to zero. You’ll want to turn up the filter envelope amount a bit and create an envelope with a medium fast attack, slow decay, medium sustain level, and just a bit of release. You may need to experiment to get the cutoff and envelope settings just right; we want our patch to be round and mellow like a French horn (check out my audio examples online to help with this).
Moving on to the amplitude envelope, tweak this so it’s very similar to the filter envelope: medium quick attack, slow decay, medium sustain level, and a little bit of release. Once everything’s dialed in, you’ll want to add effects. The Yamaha CS-80 had a built-in chorus effect, and it seems most players left it permanently in the on position. Massive has a nice built-in chorus effect, so I used it. I also added a tiny smidge of built-in reverb from its second effects generator. If your virtual analog doesn’t have built-in effects, you can use plug-ins in your DAW environment.
In place of my usual wisecrack here, I’d like to offer my condolences and best wishes to Danny Federici’s friends and family; as you recreate his synth sounds, please take a minute to remember this giant of rock keyboards.
You can download audio examples from this tutorial, as well as Mitchell’s Massive patch for “Dancing In The Dark,” at www.celebutantemusic.com/keybmag.
Image Caption: Here’s Native Instruments Massive, set up for the “Dancing In The Dark” pad. Note the little green and blue numbers in the oscillator, filter, and amp sections that represent the soft synth’s drag-and-drop modulation routings.