Scrabble (1984) Theme Music

[Mario]

I'd be liable to think that the 1984 Scrabble theme, composed by the late Ray Ellis (and his son, Marc), was produced entirely on synthesizers, including the string section, the horn section, and the "guitar" solos you hear at the 0:54 and 1:58 marks. The drums sound like a drum machine (think LinnDrum or Oberheim DMX).

A tough question comes up: what exactly did the father and son duo use to write this iconic theme?

Being that this show was first produced and aired in 1984, the keyboards then in demand were:
1. Yamaha DX7
2. Roland Jupiter-8
3. Roland JX3P or JX8P
4. New England Digital Synclavier
5. Fairlight CMI
6. Oberheim OB-Xa
7. Sequential Circuits Prophet-5
8. Moog The Source

Less common keyboards that were still in use then included the Moog Modular 15, the more compact MiniMoog, and the Fender-Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric pianos.

If anyone else could assist me on this, please respond.

Thank you,



Ben

[chris319]

It sounds to me like the horns and guitars were live, i.e. actual instruments. Listen around :34 for the "technique" used by the horns.

[Twentington]

The horns are definitely real. Chris C. is right about the horns — there are some changes in tone that aren't possible on a synth. I don't play trumpet, but I do know that a "live" horn will have slight variances in tone. They're not doing anything fancy like heavy vibrato (think "Give It One"), but I do hear them doing things that synth horns can't do.

I am a guitar player, and I can tell you that the guitar parts are definitely real — there are some parts where they slide down the string, such as 1:05. Also, I can't think of any songs that have used synthesized guitar. (Closest I can think of is "Come Next Monday" by K.T. Oslin, where she accidentally set her keyboard to electric guitar, and still played it like a keyboard; the effect is really tinny and obvious.)

[Mario]

The horns are definitely real. Chris C. is right about the horns — there are some changes in tone that aren't possible on a synth. I don't play trumpet, but I do know that a "live" horn will have slight variances in tone. They're not doing anything fancy like heavy vibrato (think "Give It One"), but I do hear them doing things that synth horns can't do.

I am a guitar player, and I can tell you that the guitar parts are definitely real — there are some parts where they slide down the string, such as 1:05. Also, I can't think of any songs that have used synthesized guitar. (Closest I can think of is "Come Next Monday" by K.T. Oslin, where she accidentally set her keyboard to electric guitar, and still played it like a keyboard; the effect is really tinny and obvious.)

Thanks for the tips! I am sure that an expert on Ray Ellis could help me further.

~Ben

[dazztardly]

Marty Pasetta also contracted the Ellis clan for music as well. If you ever listen to the music from Catch Phrase, or the pilots from M'ama Non M'ama, you can hear alot of electronic in those compositions.

[Chief-O]

Let's see---going on a limb here:

-2 tracks guitar [staccato rhythm throughout, solos]
-2 tracks[?] brass [lead and underscore]
-Probably one synth track [just hearing that one sound in there, which goes away at 2:24]
-Percussion--quite positive that it's a LinnDrum

I am sure that an expert on Ray Ellis could help me further.

Marc's still with us, isn't he?

[BrandonFG]

I'm guessing a similar effect was used on Sale? The horns had a similar feel to them, very electronic, mixed in with the synthesizers.

[Kevin Prather]

Listen around :34 for the "technique" used by the horns.

Yep. That "technique" is called a sforzando, something I imagine would be very difficult to reproduce on synthesizers on the fly.

[Twentington]

Let's see---going on a limb here:

-2 tracks guitar [staccato rhythm throughout, solos]
-2 tracks[?] brass [lead and underscore]
-Probably one synth track [just hearing that one sound in there, which goes away at 2:24]
-Percussion--quite positive that it's a LinnDrum

There's a bass (synth?) in there, too, but it's pretty hard to make out. It's a little more obvious on the third "verse".

[Mario]

Let's see---going on a limb here:

-2 tracks guitar [staccato rhythm throughout, solos]
-2 tracks[?] brass [lead and underscore]
-Probably one synth track [just hearing that one sound in there, which goes away at 2:24]
-Percussion--quite positive that it's a LinnDrum

There's a bass (synth?) in there, too, but it's pretty hard to make out. It's a little more obvious on the third "verse".

Could I believe it's a Moog Modular 15 if it is a synth bass?

~Ben

[chris319]

The synth has two voices: the first plays down the scale from 0:00 to :16, then it gets another voice where it "answers" the horns from :16 forward.

The horn section sounds like two trumpets and a trombone?

Kalehoff is legendary for combining real instruments and synth, particularly the "Come On Down/One Bid Win" cue. What sounds like piccolos is actually synth. Hal Hidey also combined them to great effect with the Tic Tac Dough theme.

Marc Ellis page

That sforzando sounds like it is doing the opposite of what the definition states. It sounds like the note starts soft and rapidly crescendos.

sforzando

[Kevin Prather]

That sforzando sounds like it is doing the opposite of what the definition states. It sounds like the note starts soft and rapidly crescendos.

sforzando

That's me misremembering. A sforzando is a quick attack that gets quiet. It's often followed by a crescendo though, and that's what I'm hearing.

[Mario]

Does anyone know what synthesizers are used on this tune? That is the question.

~Ben