The Synth Sounds Of John Carpenter

Filmmaker John Carpenter is best known for directing films like Halloween, The Thing and  Big Trouble In Little China.

But he’s also responsible for the synth-heavy soundtracks of these films, and helping to define a classic style of horror and sci film scoring.

In this video, host Justin DeLay demonstrates how to recreate three classic Carpenter themes, using synthesizers of the day. 

0:00 – Intro
1:04 – “Halloween” Main Piano Theme
3:04 – “Halloween” Pads, Drums
4:45 – John Carpenter’s Synthesizers
5:55 – “The Fog” Theme on Juno 106
9:00 – “The Fog” Pads and Bass on Moog and Prophet
10:55 – “Assault on Precinct 13” Theme
13:30 – The Shape Closes In on Mr. DeLay

Synthesizers used:

  • Ensoniq ESQ-1: http://bit.ly/2eRPcAX
  • Roland Juno 106: http://bit.ly/2bORcHQ
  • Sequential Circuits Prophet 5: http://bit.ly/2bPIooc
  • MiniMoog Model D: http://bit.ly/2bD3ClM
  • Ableton Live: http://bit.ly/2coU2Zo
  • Roland 606: http://bit.ly/2dX7wtE

You can download a John Carpenter MIDI clip pack at the Reverb site.

8 thoughts on “The Synth Sounds Of John Carpenter

  1. If you cant afford any of those synths and you don’t want a notoriously unreliable Ensoniq then get the Waldorf Blofeld with Don Solaris patches. Not exact but pretty close. And no maintenance costs!

  2. Instructive, but not nearly as impressive as Danny Wolfers randomly composing original carpenteresque material on a SCI Six-Trak or a Casio YS-100 on a lazy sunday afternoon.

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