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22 July 2019, 10:38 | Updated: 22 July 2019, 10:41
The Stranger Things theme tune is a musical distillation of all things ‘80s. Here’s how the composers created their nostalgia-drenched music
Michael Stein and Kyle Dixon make up the electronic band Survive, and they’re also the duo behind the synth-heavy sound of Stranger Things.
The Duffer Brothers approached the pair after hearing their music used in the film The Guest.
Read more: The Stranger Things cast are also a bunch of talented musicians
Stranger Things | Title Sequence [HD] | Netflix
It’s a great question. As an experimental electronic duo, Michael and Kyle built the music for Stranger Things using a series of vintage synthesizers.
In particular, they used the Prophet-5 (a synth that was made in the late ‘70s through to the early ‘80s), the Roland SH-2 – this provided the bass line of the theme song – and the ARP 2600 which gave the soundtrack what the duo have described as ‘tuba’ sounding hits.
Read more: The Stranger Things soundtrack played on piano is beautifully haunting
Stranger Things Composers Break Down the Show's Music | Vanity Fair
But there’s one instrument used in the soundtrack that will be more familiar to classical music fans – a piano.
They told Vanity Fair in an interview about the music: “The jump scare is actually a combination of a broken piano we recorded on a field recorder the first time we visited the set.”
Read more: the theme for Doctor Who was one of the first pieces of electronic music >
For the theme that’s associated with the ‘Upside Down’ and the monster the pair used an analogue step sequencer meaning that they could use micro-tones in their music.
Micro-tones aren’t widely used in Western classical music, so using them here emphasises the monster’s other-worldly origins.
Digitally released on 28 June, the new soundtrack for Season 3 is full of that high-adrenaline, nostalgia-soaked synth music we've come to know and love.
Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein said: “With the season three soundtrack, we’ve made an album that doesn’t feel like a ‘score’ necessarily, but one that feels more like a stand-alone record than a collection of brief cues.
“We’ve incorporated the main narrative elements of the series and stayed true to the original sound while at the same time expanding on our musical palette – we often pushed it to the limit.
“We’ve really made an effort to curate this album to showcase the moments we think are really special.”