“It has a super catchy riff, but it is a song that you have to hear a few times. I don’t think it would’ve been given the time of day without the enormous impact of the video”: How to recreate one of the most infectious synth riffs of all time

Given its pure-pop pedigree, A-ha’s Take On Me has accrued an extraordinary amount of respect since its original release back in 1984. Nile Rodgers, Ed Sheeran and James Blunt are all fans, with Keane band member Richard Hughes describing it as ‘one of the truly great pop songs'.

However, the journey to the version of the song that we know and love was fraught with different creative decisions and directions, none of which provided the song with the platform required for it to be the hit that it deserved.

Before A-ha, band members Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (guitar) and keyboardist Magne Furuholmen were part of a four-piece band called ‘Bridges’. They had always intended to travel to England to seek musical success. The only problem was, the other two band members didn't share that dream, so ‘Bridges’ needed some new blood.

Luckily, during a school performance, fellow student Morten Harket was totally mesmerised by the band, leading him to audition for them.

As he walked to the rehearsal room, all he could hear was the bright, staccato A Major riff to Take On Me, being played by Magne on the piano. It was a riff that had been tossed around by the band before. Upon hearing it, Harket was hooked.

Although immediately infectious, years later Magne stated that he believed it was down to the success of Take On Me's iconic - and innovative - video that helped cement it in people’s heads.

“I have no doubt that the video made the song a hit,” Furuholmen told Rolling Stone. “The song has a super catchy riff, but it is a song that you have to hear a few times. And I don’t think it would’ve been given the time of day without the enormous impact of the video.”

Balanced with Harket’s impeccable vocal performance, Take On Me was all but set to be a massive hit, but the song went through numerous revisions, three releases, and a rather uninspiring video, before A&R executive Andrew Wickham brought in producer Alan Tarney to re-record the song, creating the recognisable version that we know today.

a-ha - Take On Me (Official Video) [4K] - YouTube

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Tarney’s plan was to go back to the original band demo and build upon many of the humanistic facets, hence we know that the lead was played live in the studio, (not sequenced), on two different synthesizers, one of which was the now vintage Juno-60 from Roland.

The second instrument remains slightly ambiguous, with guesses ranging from a second Juno, to a PPG Wave or DX-7, but, to emulate it, we can capture the essence of the stacked sound using a basic synth from the Logic Pro suite, which was originally based on the Juno’s architecture.

If you are not a Logic user, no problem, because the sound is easy to recreate with other included DAW synths or third-party plugins.

Step 1 - The Synth

We are going to use the ES-P synth from Logic, which is described as a polyphonic synth. At first listen, you may think that the sound playing the lead is monophonic, but there are substantial release tails in the patch, so using some form of polyphonic synth is advisable.

Once loaded, select Initialize from the ES-P drop-down menu, which will default the synth’s patch, ready for us to create our sound.

Step 2 - DCO

The ES-P’s oscillator section (known as a DCO on the original Juno-60) provides a number of faders, allowing us to blend different waveforms together. This is a step-up from the original Juno, but will prove exceptionally useful in the creation of this sound.

First of all, select 8’ as a range setting, then decrease the triangle wave to 0. Then increase the Saw wave to its maximum.

Step 3 - DCO Squares

As this patch is Juno-related, it adopts a sub-oscillator to thicken the texture, sounding an octave lower.

We can exploit this here, while also adding a third octave, which will negate the need to layer the sound with a second synth, although you can still use layers, if you want to go deeper with this patch.

Turn up the Sub-Square to a point which is about 50% of maximum, then increase the next Square (which is 2 octaves below the main DCO Saw) to a point of around 25%. These adjustments will mean that the Saw remains the most dominant element.

Step 4 - Filter

We need to have a degree of control over the filter, and we can start this process by reducing the cutoff amount (labelled as Frequency on the ES-P) to a position of around 50%.

The nature of the Juno and ES-P filter is such that there is a degree of wispiness in the filter’s character. This ultimately means that we do not need to apply resonance, so this can be decreased to 0.

Step 5 - Envelope Settings

Moving to the envelope section, lesson the attack phase slightly, so that it is not too abrupt, while also reducing the sustained level to 0.

The decay and release phases should be set to approximately 50%. You can see that the decay phase is set slightly higher than the release.

If using a third-party plugin, you will need to adjust this to suit your synth. The decay phase needs to be around 0.75s, which is fairly quick, but not overly aggressive. When playing the classic riff, the release phase will elongate each note as you release each key.

As the ES-P is only equipped with a single envelope, increase the ADSR Int pot to its maximum amount, which will dictate the amount of envelope modulation being sent in the direction of the cutoff frequency.

We can easily make do with an ADSR envelope which is shared between amplitude and filter, but if you have a second envelope available, you can try quickening the release phase to the filter, and elongating the release phase for the amplitude. It will create a nice backend effect, as the sound decays.

Now you have your Take On Me sound ready to deploy, why not try creating your own riff with a similar energy? Maybe you’ll hit on something more catchy than what Furuholmen concocted.

This patch is designed to be played quite high on the keyboard, so keep it in this register for authenticity. Further additions might include a bright 80s-style reverb, which will excite the upper frequency content, just like the original track.

For purists trying to re-create something similar to the original, play any riff live into your DAW, without the use of quantise. It worked for A-ha, and you might find yourself with a global hit on your hands if you do!