Oberheim OB-Xa sound design tutorial Foreigner 'Waiting For A Girl Like You'

(c) 2014 vintage synthesizer sound tutorial series by RetroSound

part one: the haunting pad sound in Foreigners "Waiting For A Girl Like You"

the sound in the original song is made with the huge Oberheim OB-Xa Analog Synthesizer (1981) and layered with a simple OB sweep pad sound.

very important is the filter resonance (12dB/oct) and the pitch modulation.

RetroSound`s sound design tutorial playlist:

#oberheim #obxa #obx8

[retrosound]

The Oberheim OB-XA Synthesizer is one of the big legendary synths in music history. Used by many pop and rock groups in the 80s. Most famous is Jump by Van Halen. Here can you find the full OB-Xa playlist with a lot single sound demos, synth comparisions and one synth demo tracks. Enjoy.

[Spy_shrimP]

This is probably the best power ballad of all time

[dogmancar]

God I could just listen to demos and tutorials for the OB-Xa all day. Such a beautiful sound. 

[pcuimac]

That sound was the first I ever heard of Foreigner and hooked me up immidiatly. I still love their melancholy tunes. :)

[bozomobile]

This is why the OBXa is my favorite polysynth! Nothing else sounds like it, I'll never sell mine! Great tutorial, thank you!!

[peahix]

Thomas Dolby actually devotes a couple paragraphs to the creation of this effect in his autobiography. He says he laid down about 10 tracks of single sustained notes in the key of A minor played on a Minimoog, and then "played" the part by using the faders on the mixer.

[EphemeralProductions]

i had always wondered the synth that Thomas Dolby had used to make this sound! it is a one of a kind sound! Never heard anything else in music since that matches to its uniqueness and ambiance.

[ericld]

As played on the Foreigner "4" record by Thomas Dolby.  

[EphemeralProductions]

Hard to believe it’s just a muted square wave with modulation. ❤️

[victoza]

Actually, according to Dolby, he recorded one sustained note per track, on many tracks. Each track had a different note. He then adjusted the sound with the faders on the mixing console.

[analogsynthplayer]

Great demo. Thanks to Tom Oberheim. Thank you Thomas Dolby for performing and recording that classic hit for foreigner. P.S., Mr. Oberheim, please make this synth again, pure analog, Not software driven

[VolcaRock]

thanks for great sound demo of this fabulous synth!

[w.jamesmeagher]

Love these little sound design tuts - super fun.

[ethanbulcock]

For all of the video I was anticipating for the synth riff and drums to kick in

[apache]

I got that sound with my Prophet Rev2. Your video was my inspiration.

[floatershaw]

The OB-Xa as a lovely rich warm sound for sure, ,

[mattsynth]

Very cool sound, Thanks, I love that song.

[nilfelix]

in live they take in korg fantastc sond my GOD love this song

[WeinglasMusic]

Sehr schönes Video! Cooler Sound von einem echten Schlachtschiff. Das klang keine einzige Sekunde schlecht, während Du den Endsound eingestellt hast!

[imunty]

May I ask, did you create the intro we hear at the beginning if so I have to honestly believe this was done originally on the OB if not then maybe it was Thomas Dolby who originally made this on the Mini-Moog. There are a lot of layers and harmonics in that intro that could be done on either synth but a lot more work on the Mini-Moog since it’s monophonic it would require a major number of layers.