Note:
- I can't play Real Drums only a Drum machine.
- I can only play the keyboards by ear ( don't even ask me what chords I am playing lol)
- Timing is all over the place ( this is for entertainment purposes on short time)
- Recorded using a Keystation88 ( cheap midi controller) to midi tracks using VSTi' instruments.
- Drums, pads, bass all tracks using the same controller.


Let's go back to 1984......The Cars Drive Opening section based on hearing the song.
This is my own interpretation of it ( original composition based on several headphone hearings).

 

Last edited: Aug 4, 2025 at 2:48 PM

my opinion is:
better creative than perfect.

sounds convincing, good work.

 

Very nice job Dan. What a classic song by the Cars.
Now go and write a song just as good. You can do it!

 

On the Heartbeat City album, very few 'real instruments' were used. The drums are a Linn Drum and the keyboard parts were made with samples processed using a Fairlight. I remember reading about it when the album came out in 1984.

 

I was going to comment on that, but you already noted it... other than that nitpick, you did a pretty good job!

 

Appreciate the comments here, this was an exercise on speed vs how the pro's used to take weeks and months sometimes recording and mixing songs.

Recording is midi so that takes no time, just basic drums, bass and getting all the other tracks to sit there.

These tracks took about 15 minutes to record to since the timing of the first section was okay.

The only tracks that had to monitored with headphones were the Drums and Bass the other pad sounds and synths were just monitored out through the speakers since there is no Vocal there is no need to record the pads using headphones.

These VSTi emulations are getting better as the years go by, very nice.



Thanks!!

 

y

you should definitely try to use Arturia Fairlight next time to get that sound

 

OMG, this brings back memories, one of my fav songs, esp. the pads and tambourine (delay effect), when i used to DJ, during the weekdays on retro nights, when the bar is a little less crowded i used to slowly bring up this song, Man the looks i get when i play this, was like dude WTF, One day the manager asks me "pls not to play it" but even then i did it a couple of times just to piss him off, Once I even caught his Bluff, after that he stopped complaining. The issue was those words were so bright "who's gonna drive u home tonight" usually there will be couple of women in bar having a nice time, and it was kinda bad for the business.

Anyways, nice job dude, also when u want to un-solo all tracks at once just hold ctrl and click solo button on any one of the track.this will un-solo all the tracks.
And also to solo any track when hovering over that track there is an action : AZ_Toggle exclusive solo for track under mouse.eel
u can copy paste from here if u dont have, it comes with reateam scripts. and assign a shortcut

Spoiler

Code:

// @description Toggle exclusive solo for track under mouse
// @author AZ
// @version 1.1
// @changelog Fixed wrong behavior if several tracks are soloed.
// @about
//   # Toggle exclusive solo for track under mouse
//
//   The script changes selection of track and toggles solo in exclusive mode.

 
function solo() (
  Main_OnCommandEx(41110, 0, 0 ); //select track under mouse
  x=GetMediaTrackInfo_Value ( GetSelectedTrack(0, 0), "I_SOLO");
  x!=0 ? ( //if any solo mode
  Main_OnCommandEx(40340, 1, 0 ); //unsolo all tracks
  );
                    
  x==0 ? (
  Main_OnCommandEx(40340, 1, 0 ); //unsolo all tracks
  SetMediaTrackInfo_Value(GetSelectedTrack(0, 0), "I_SOLO", 2);
  );
);


Undo_BeginBlock();
PreventUIRefresh(1);
solo();
PreventUIRefresh(-1);
Undo_EndBlock("Solo exclusive tracks under mouse", -1);

 

It's not a very good comparison for the results you would want in an experiment. Some band or artist will say "it took a year", but that really means from deciding to do the album until the final product is done and "out the door". They always include all the major gaps in between stages of the work. It's all part of the sales pitch for people who might buy the record. js