Why I Don't Make Pure Synthwave

Neon Notes — Week [18]

I love everything about Synthwave music. From the retro 80's drums, to the tape distorted synths. I just love the nostalgic sound that it gives.

So you may be wondering why I don't make pure Synthwave.

I briefly touched on my organic shift from a more traditional Synthwave sound to my current Synthpop/Retro Pop sound in a previous blog, but I thought that I would really dig into the reasons in this post.

The main reason is that I love to process vocals, and a lot of Synthwave is instrumental. I just really like the process of building a song around the vocals, and making it all fit.

Ultimately, I view the vocals as another instrument, the topline of the song. And sure, some might say that it's easier to build a song around vocals because you have a built in melody.

But, it can get tricky because you must make everything else in the song fit the vocals, or get creative and change some of the vocal notes to better fit your vision, which is what I like to do.

(My layering, chopping, and pitch adjustments of vocals could be an entire blog post itself, so look for that in the future.)

The next reason why I don't make pure Synthwave comes down to the production aspect. I really like the sound of modern pop, the crisp drums and overall polish of the songs drew me in.

I understand that a certain talent is needed to make a song sound like it came from the 80's. The semi washed out drums, and the overall spacey feel is not easy to get right.

But getting the punchy drums, several synths, synth bass, fx, and vocals to all sit while sounding crystal clear is a challenge as well.

It's ultimately the challenge I have more fun with.

And I really think that's what it boils down to, fun. I really liked making my early instrumental stuff, but I love making Synthpop with vocals.

Because I am the target audience, I want to hear it.

Obviously, I still carry the pure Synthwave influence into every track I make. I still put tape distortion on my synths or chords. I still put a gated reverb on my snares, but I also try to make my kicks and percussion really punchy to balance it out.

I try to give it a retro sound with a lot of clarity and energy, at least that's my goal.

When I first used vocals, I just thought it was a cool experiment. Then I used them a few more times, and suddenly, I could hear my "sound" forming in real time. It just kinda clicked, and I knew from that point what I wanted to do.

I wanted a sound that worked in headphones, in a car, at a club, or Saturday night at the roller rink.

Now Creating

• Finalizing songs for Electric Skyline Vol. 2
• New website on hold for now
• More collaborations coming soon

Thanks for reading.
If you have thoughts about any of this, I’d love to hear them.

This post is part of my weekly Neon Notes series. New posts go live every Wednesday.