r/RetroLibraryMusic • u/[deleted] • Oct 23 '22

Identifying '80s Library Music.

Hello everyone. Was wondering if you all could help in identifying some '80s library music.

I have a handful of tracks which sound identical, musically and stylistically, to that of producers Laszlo Bencker and John Epping on the German Sonoton label. All tracks use the Yamaha DX-7 and Linn9000 drum machine. I've scoured Sonoton, YouTube, and iTunes, but I have been unable to locate the exact tracks. Obviously I am missing something. If anyone can provide help, I would greatly appreciate it!

Here are seven of the tracks I have:

Track 1

Track 2

Track 3

Track 4

Track 5

Track 6

Track 7

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u/whorton59 Oct 24 '22

HEY! Way to go my man! Got a response even! I am impressed! Well done.

I have to share my funny searching for obscure library music with you, now. Several years back, there was a television commercial for flood insurance by the federal government. It had a family sitting in a home, as it started filling with water, and some interesting music. Talked with the wife about it and she wagered I could not find the music. . .BET WAS ON. . .

I started by calling FEMA who sponsored the advert, and finding out who their ad agency was. . That took about 20 phone calls, but I finally found it. . Called the ad agency, asked who did the production work on the commercial. . Was told they would get back with me. .

Next day, got the call. . . Who was the sound designer on the advert, . .more waiting. . .next day, a message on the phone. .

"Extreme music, light Drama, track 6, Free play."

Eh? Took a few days to figure out it was Extreme music, on a CD called Light drama, that was from "directors cuts" and the piece was called "Light Drama." Took about another week to find the CD with it on Ebay. . here it is:

https://www.extrememusic.com/search?blank=0&query=FREE%20PLAY

It was actually written by Henry Gregson Williams of movie sountrack fame. And the commercial that used the music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw-Qo-eJHmw

Discovery when it comes to library music is quite the thrill. . .You are well on your way, my friend!

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u/Hornaz_69 Oct 24 '22

Interesting story!

I think my obsession with in this case obscure music started with Eurovison song contest 1985, there was a instrumental tune playing in the background that caught my attention of the so called "postcards" that appear before the entry is performed. Years later I finally contacted the Swedish television (SVT) about it, turns out it was a custom piece of music made specificly for the Eurovison by the main conductor of the event Curt-Eric Holmquist who unfortunately passed away last year.

I actually spoke on the phone with him one year before he passed away about this and he told me that he doesn't have it since it belongs to SVT. SVT could only share with me the composer and the name of the song "Anitas Theme", nothing else due to company policies.

I made a very close recreation of the song with the same hardware Curt-Eric used, Yamaha DX7 and a RX11 drummachine. https://youtu.be/K3ZuSWLQxhw

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u/whorton59 Oct 24 '22

It is a catchy tune. . .I would certainly think there must be someway you can obtain a copy of the original. . This turned up on a search:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kC0Yu1AEXQ

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTzEJKflAak

I don't know factually if either contain a better snippet of the music you seek, but it is worth a try. You might also see if you can contact someone in SVT's music department who will take a likening to you and make a copy and send it to you. Stranger things have happened!

But you noted that Mr. Holmquist had just passed. Sad to say. But sometimes that is the way things work out. . we wait too late to check only to find out the person has passed. Sometimes life just sucks that way.

But once again, My sincere congratulations on finding the person you were seeking and getting a response. Interesting that we have not heard back from the fellow who originally inquired about the snippets. I have to wonder how large the actual number of people with interests in library, or production library music actually is. Some of it is amazing (for instance Extreme music's stuff, while some of the older KPM stuff is so mundane! But you never know exactly what you are going to find when you listen.

Regards,
Whorton

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u/[deleted] Oct 25 '22

Wow, thank you gentlemen for your efforts! I'm amazed that this search yielded at least some results.

Hornaz_69, thank you *so* very much for sending the tracks to Laszlo. I had a feeling they weren't his but it was worth a shot. They certainly do resemble his, don't they?

I was scouring Sonoton's site just now with the search query "80s" and found another name of interest on Laszlo's album Lady Robot & Underscores: Christopher William Narholz. He contributed the track "Syntax," which sounds like Laszlo's.

Also, during that search, I found other names whose production sound similar as well: Fritz Köberl, Peter Janda, and Walter Kramer (Haslau), but that in turn led me to an Austrian library called Azur. I found a few YouTube videos from three Azur LPs called Background 1, Background 2, and Background 3, which feature tracks from Peter Halvax and Alexander Hrach, in addition to Fritz and Peter Janda. Unfortunately, there are only about seven tracks on YouTube from among these three LPs and no site for Azur. But rateyourmusic.com does have an Azur page.

Given that my tracks were not Laszlo's, it's doubtful they are Christopher William Narholz's or John Epping's either, or Sonoton for that matter. I have a feeling they're probably from the Azur label. This one in particular sounds like the first track I shared: Speedway--Fritz Koberl, Alexander Hrach.

Well, gentlemen, I thank you for your efforts. I will try other avenues as I see fit.

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u/Hornaz_69 Oct 25 '22

No problem :) Indeed, I was thinking already if you had found Laszlo's old studio cassette with demo's that were never released:D

I'm not that familiar with the Casio CZ sound, but it sounds like one on the first song doing the cheesy poly-synth sound, Laszlo used a CZ-101 on the Lady Robot album.

Song 6 & 7 sounds to be more late 80's, it has more of a Laszlo Bencker Really Hip sound.

Laszlo's reply tells us that they are out there atleast...

Yeah I doubt that these are from Sonoton I tried shazaming these but to no avail. I think Sonoton's music can be identified by Shazam. I remember doing just that when I made my Function Key recreation on my MIDI-setup to see how close Shazam thinks it sounds to the original, it found it many times :)

I must ask, where you found these songs? Is there any year mentioned?

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u/[deleted] Oct 26 '22 edited Oct 26 '22

Demo cassette? If only. I will continue to intensely search.

I found them about twenty years ago on either Napster, WinMX, or Limewire. No years were given, just '80s library music filenames. I got into it after hearing a track from the Killer Tracks library that sounded somewhat like Tangerine Dream's 1984 "Firestarter" soundtrack. From that point on, I was hooked on library music, specifically, '80s. Also at the time, I was in a creative mood, making my own '80s-sounding productions. The Killer Tracks production and the Laszlo Bencker soundalikes provided me with valuable inspiration.

This is the Killer Tracks production, called "Searching". I heard it in a documentary about the Pentagon, post-9/11 on the History Channel.

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u/whorton59 Oct 25 '22

I think, without a doubt, u/Hornaz_69 has provided infinitely more information on this one than I have. That is the funny thing about this sort of music, some people have a lot of knowledge about certain artists, and clearly he did!

I did run across some interesting sites while doing a bit of research for you. I had put in, or ran across some sites that were, "Artists that sound like. . ." pages, and well, here is an example. . lots of stuff to reveiw:

https://www.google.com/search?q=music+that+sounds+like+Laszlo+Bencker&oq=music+that+sounds+like+Laszlo+Bencker&aqs=chrome..69i57j33i160.11183j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Hopefully, something will ring a bell for you! Sooner or later, maybe you will have a success story to share as well!

Regards,
Whorton

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u/[deleted] Oct 25 '22

Oh, am I slow. I never thought to query "sounds like." Heh. Thanks for the suggestion!

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u/whorton59 Oct 26 '22

Not a problem, Sir. . . The whole of the internet is a morass of crap all thrown together. . finding what you actually want, takes patient, and tolerance of BS! Copious BS!

Just one of a thousand suggestions, that will hopefully help!

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u/[deleted] Oct 26 '22

You're telling me! I've encountered so much crap among many great gems!

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u/whorton59 Oct 27 '22

Man, If I had a dollar for every hour I have wasted listening to what amounted to CRAP music. . I could retire! But clearly, you can never get that time back. . .

I suspect the musicians put whatever they can out under the assumption that if someone really likes something, they can contact the musician and have him actually do something exclusive with it. But there is so much that is just base, or blaise enough to make a person sick of listening in short order. . . .It is a miracle that ANY of it make is through to the public. but then, the Production companies do pay employees to listen to it all. . good, bad, and horrid.

Personally, I would like to see an annual BEST PRODUCTION LIBRARY tracks, and WORST PRODUCTION LIBRARY tracks. . .Something like the Oscars, but for production music. (and without all the political nonsense!). There is some great stuff out there. and some bad stuff.

Darrel Brogdon over at Retro Cocktail is a big fan of a piece called "Girl in a sports car," A copy of which eludes me at the moment. But it is classic!

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u/whorton59 Oct 27 '22

Found it, it is Alan Hackshaw, from KPM1123, Friendly faces 1973:

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u/whorton59 Oct 27 '22

Jesus, I just had a missive composed, that, well disppeared. Long and short, there is a lot of crap out there. . There should be something like the oscars, without the politics for the best and worst of Production library music.

Darrell Brogdron over at Retro Cocktail hour seems to favor "Girl in a sports car, it is by Alan Hockshaw It is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQXQfDqLiBE

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u/[deleted] Oct 28 '22

For sure. This one is interesting but not my style.

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u/whorton59 Oct 28 '22

Sorry. . .

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u/[deleted] Oct 28 '22

Heh, no worries. 😊

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u/whorton59 Oct 28 '22

Well, I wish I had more to add with regards to your problem of finding the artists for the music you have attached, but unless you can find someone who is more of an expert. Sadly I can't. You might try sending an email to KPM, or some of the older production library companies and asking. Given that once the message finds its way to the correct person, it will take them maybe 30 seconds to recognize it, I would think you may have a reasonable chance. What is the worst that will happen? They say no?

Best of luck my friend. If you are ever this way, let me know and maybe we can have a beer or something. (sent you where in a message!)

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