Van Halen “Jump” Intro Breakdown

In this video I'll demonstrate how to create the legendary intro to Van Halen's "Jump" using a vintage Oberheim OBX synthesizer. I had the opportunity to work with Eddie on the song "Winner Takes It All " from the 1987 film Over the Top. His deal at the time wouldn't allow him to play guitar on any projects outside the band so he enthusiastically played bass instead. I learned that Eddie was an accomplished keyboard player as well as virtuoso guitarist, so coming up with this synth part was part of who he was. Although It's a simple sound to make, it provides a very memorable intro for "Jump".  The original sound was most likely played on an OBX-A, but I'll show you how you can make this sound on almost any synthesizer.  These simple techniques, such as setting the de-tune accurately and setting the envelope generator to create punch on a sustained sounds, should serve you well on all your future projects.

00:00 Jump Intro
00:15 Story about Eddie
01:21 OBX vs OBX-A
01:54 How to create the sound
04:20 The Key to making this sound
05:10 The Oberheim sound
05:45 Effects on the sound
06:12 Sign-off

Anthony's musical touch as both composer and performer is connected with some of the most influential creative minds over the last 40 years. He’s composed and conducted original orchestral scores for over 80 feature films including Young Guns, Internal Affairs, The Man From Elysian Fields, 15 Minutes and Planes, Trains & Automobiles, been commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic for his symphonic work "In the Family Way", written over one thousand TV commercials in a myriad of musical styles, co-founded Levels Audio Post (LA's premiere post production facility) and performed and arranged on big-box-office films and influential hit records such as Michael Jackson's Thriller.

His extensive work as a young arranger, orchestrator and performer for Quincy Jones, Jack Nitzsche, Lamont Dozier, Arthur Rubenstein and Giorgio Moroder was vital in launching his own career. His early years pioneering modular analog synthesizers along with his wide-ranging music scholarship positioned Anthony at the center of the music technology revolution. He attended the University of Southern California School of Music as a piano and composition major.

[bart.grantham]

The Jump sound may be instantly recognizable, but the much cooler bit of synth work is the instrumental track before it, "1984". Breaking that down would make a fun video.

[johnnybegood]

Love your intention, vibe and expertise - you are the "Rick Beato" from a synth perspective combined with producing and great interviews! Thank you for your passion - so much potential!!
People out there, share & like this stuff.. it has to be honored alot - so precious and educational.. 👏

[florinmatthew]

My son (he's 9) just learned to play this intro. He's quite happy and like it a lot!

[rusticitas]

And that drum track that kicks in, too. 🤩 Like trumpets calling forth a band.

[TerenceKearns]

Man I remember when this song came out. It was exhilarating. That intro created anticipation for that feeling every time. Never gets old.

[jabelsjabels]

it's not fair that Eddie crushes it on both keyboard AND guitar! Save some talent for the rest of us lol. Great vid as always!

[neilloughran]

Wow.. the OBX is in prime condition! Thought it was the OBX8 edition... amazing you kept it in such condition since 1979!

[Normandy_Mike]

That detune tip is gold dust - thank you !

[RhymesWithCarbon]

One of my old band mates had an OB-Xa, and we dialed in the Jump sound. It was EXACT, and we played it over and over because it just sounded so darn good.

[CallousCoder]

You worked with Georgio and Eddie! Man!!! Georgio really was the one that got me into synths, specifically him an Falty on midnight express. And it was Keith Richards and Eddie that moved me to guitar — which I’m arguable better on than keys, and even not good enough to pass my audition for dev Royal Dutch conservatory 33 years ago.

My late aunt, she was an award winning barber and she moved to North Tirol. And when Donna Summer was working with Georgio in South Tirol (Italy) or living in her house in Germany at she came to get her hair done. The first time her manager or whomever looked up a reputable barber and that was my aunt.

And later when my aunt moved back here to the Netherlands, Donna Summer would always go to my aunt’s to get her hair done. And I never knew until a about 4 months ago when I send my mom a documentary after I did a cover of The Never Ending story and she thought I’d written that. And I said I’d wish! It’s Georgio Morrodor and i send her a documentary. And she sees Donna and she rang me: “that gorgeous lady! She always got her hair done at your aunt’s. She introduced her to me 35 years ago and I had no idea who she was. I was amazed that an American spoke German and quite well actually. And that she was very friendly.”

And I was like: “serious! Are you effing serious mum? The queen of disco! And you didn’t recognize her?!” And they had photos of the celebs they had come visit. Also those photo models etc. In a relatively small midtown barber shop 😂

So I was wondering if she mayso I called my cousin for the first time in 6 years and my cousin said: “oh yeah Donna came over 2 or 3 times a year when she went to her house in Germany.
And I was like: “and I’m the only one in this family who’s musicall inclined and love Italo disco and nobody bothered to tell me?! I live 2KM away! I’d even ran over, just to shake her hand and tell her I adore her voice.

I did see Alex Van Halen when I worked at the Dutch Broadcasting foundation, they just did an interview and he was waiting with other people probably on Edward and Gary Cherone it must have been it was 1999.

But we had a strict policy as employees as to not to bother celebs. I would’ve loved to have his signature. But even if we weren’t bound to our policies, I wouldn’t have butted in their conversation.

And now I have to rewatch Over The Too again. “What I do is, I just try to take my hat and I turn it around, and it’s like a switch that goes on!”

[jaroslavmarcek]

Perfect Mr.Marinelli.On top of that Compressor, EQ added bass and treble.

[hendriks_]

Thank you so much! Very insightful as always. Too many synth videos on Youtube get lost in technicalities. In your videos, the musician's perspective always comes to the fore.

[jimbotron]

Most epic synth riff + most epic guitar riff packed into a song, what more can you ask?

[PostingCringeOnMain]

Thank you so much again! Every time I watch one of your videos I get an overwhelming compulsion to switch on my synths and try something new! You are one of the few synth youtube channels that actually motivates me to try out things with the gear I already have, rather than make me feel like what I've got is inadequate in the face of the latest, shiny new thing - and that is just worth so much! Keep up the great work, Anthony!

[unclejerrysworld]

This has become one of my favorite YT channels!! You explain things so well and you have such a unique, amazing talent and wonderful ear!! Thanks so much for sharing all this information here!!! I can't imagine any keyboard/synthesizer player that doesn't appreciate all this!!!

[DX]

Excellent. Best synth content channel ever, by the master himself.

[ReginatorNet]

So very cool - I love Eddie's synth chops!! My favorites are '1984' / 'I'll Wait' / 'Love Walks In' / 'When It's Love' / 'Dreams'. The synth work on the song '1984' has always made me think of the futuristic vision of 1964 World's Fair. 🤍

[jeffmeredith]

Definitely my fav Van Halen song, and one that takes me right back to 80s L.A.

Was an amazing time and place, and so much of your music has that same nostalgic vibe & emotional effect on me Anthony. Thank you so much for your great videos, I love them.

[hanselmansell]

This channel just blows my brains out everytime... 💥🧠😊

[williamtell]

Fantastic way of teaching sound design. It’s fun to follow along with the Arturia VST’s!