{"id":13733,"date":"2019-10-03T15:08:34","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T20:08:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/online.berklee.edu\/takenote\/?p=13733"},"modified":"2026-01-20T17:30:59","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T22:30:59","slug":"how-chromeo-built-their-sound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/online.berklee.edu\/takenote\/how-chromeo-built-their-sound\/","title":{"rendered":"How Chromeo Built Their Sound"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-discover-the-instruments-and-production-techniques-behind-chromeo-s-distinctive-funk-style\">Discover the Instruments and Production Techniques Behind Chromeo\u2019s Distinctive Funk Style<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\"><em>This article was created by our partner, Splice, a platform for music production&nbsp;that offers access to millions of royalty-free samples, loops, and presets.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1978, Herbie Hancock released&nbsp;<em>Sunlight<\/em>, an album that delved further into the jazz legend\u2019s explorations of fusion, smooth jazz, R&amp;B, and electro funk. The record is noteworthy for Hancock\u2019s use of the vocoder, an instrument and effect he\u2019d continue to utilize on future albums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maybe not as noteworthy to listeners but noteworthy for music makers was the back cover. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/mediad.publicbroadcasting.net\/p\/shared\/npr\/styles\/x_large\/nprshared\/201708\/541569870.jpeg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It included a kind of lexicon to Hancock\u2019s music \u2013 a list of every synth, piece of gear, and keyboard that he used on the record. For P-Thugg, one-half of electro-funk outfit Chromeo, it was a revelation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/online.berklee.edu\/music-production\/?campaign_id=7010Z000001ZkQgQAK&amp;pid=&amp;utm_source=takenote&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=bol-gen-takenote-link-from-article\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">STUDY MUSIC PRODUCTION WITH BERKLEE ONLINE<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe listed everything,\u201d P-Thugg recalls. \u201cNot only does he show his setup, but it\u2019s listed in the credits.\u201d Next to a photograph of Hancock\u2019s own stage setup was a rundown of his entire synth and instrument rig, from his Fender Rhodes and Sennheiser VSM 201 to his Minimoog and Yamaha Polyphonic. To an impressionable and young producer, this was his field guide for learning synthesis. \u201cIt was all pieces of the puzzle \u2013 so this sound is done by this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To get a similar look at all of the pieces of the puzzle for Chromeo and P-Thugg, <a href=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/how-chromeo-built-their-sound\/?campaign_id=7010Z000001ZkQgQAK&amp;pid=&amp;utm_source=takenote&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=bol-gen-takenote-link-from-article\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">check out the rest of this article on <em>Splice&nbsp;Blog<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Patrick \u201cP-Thugg\u201d Gemayel breaks down Chromeo\u2019s extensive synth collection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":13736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,9592],"tags":[6632,571,6633,6637,991,6636,6635,1193,6634,1391],"class_list":["post-13733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-technology-articles","tag-chromeo","tag-gear","tag-herbie-hancock","tag-ken-herman","tag-music-production","tag-p-thugg","tag-patrick-p-thugg-gemayel","tag-recording","tag-splice-com","tag-synths"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.8 (Yoast SEO v25.8) - 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