How to make sounds from Talk Talk 'It's My Life' with DRC

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Tutorial making Talk Talk 'It's My Life' music with Ableton Live and DRC polyphonic synthesizer from Imaginando.

The music video for Talk Talk’s 1984 single ‘It’s My Life’ takes a somewhat interesting approach when it comes to lip-syncing the vocals, even being regarded as ‘a total piss-take of lip-syncing’ by Scottish music mogul Alan McGee. An example of lead singer Mark Hollis’ disdain for the mainstream, and the music industry in general, it is rumoured to be the result of their record label at the time EMI, demanding the band’s first cut of a video (one which openly mocked terrible lip-syncing) be re-shot to be a little more serious, hence we get the official music video distinctly lacking any such attempt at lip sync.

What we are treated to though, is a charming little synth-pop hit of the 80’s, one which made a big impression not just on Lucas, but on many singer-songwriters. In 2003 it was covered by US Ska-rockers No Doubt and garnered a decent amount of chart success, reaching inside the top 20 singles in the UK and other international charts.

Just over a year since Mark Hollis passed away, the legacy of Talk Talk’s 10 years together as a band lives on, cited as inspiration to many artists including Radiohead, Elbow and Tears For Fears.

We’ve got a monster 8 sounds from ‘Its My Life’ in this week's DRC Sound Design Tutorial - 20 minutes of nostalgic synth-pop bliss.

Click here to download the Ableton project file

Life’s what you make it,
Team Imaginando

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