Instrumental recreation of the Pet Shop Boys 1987 number 1 record from their masterpiece album ‘Actually’.

The video is divided into two parts, with the first part showing each of the instruments and sounds used.

The FULL TRACK STARTS AT 10:22, for those that are more interested in hearing the whole rather than the details.

I’ve used the same main two instruments (in the Fairlight III and Roland MKS-80 Super Jupiter) that I believe Andy Richards used to programme the track back in the day, and most of the sounds are either the ones used, or very similar.

The original record was mixed in SARM studio 2, on an SSL E console, so I’ve used equipment in similar vein to mix my version.

The track is mixed in Cubase 11 with all EQ and dynamics provided by SSL’s Native Channel.strip and UAD’s 1176 collection, and the 2-track audio routed through my SSL clone bus compressor for that bit of glue.

In terms of FX, this was a fairly simple mix, with the Lexicon M-300L providing the main reverb, supplemented with a UAD Lex 480 instance set on Large Wood room and my Dimension-D (setting 4) to apply a bit of chorus where needed. There is also a flanger on the background noise in the middle-8 and on the ‘thunder’ sounds, and that’s it.

Enjoy!