Reproducing that 80s sound

[RFR]

That 80's sound. Part 80s gear. Part 80s production techniques. Part what sounds were fashionable at the time.
Maybe some of that 'warmth' you mentioned had to do with most processing being 16 bit. A bit more grainy to my ear.

 

[LazerBeakShiek]

A good example of what I'm talking about is the Knight Rider intro (I'm not allowed to post links, just YouTube "Knight Rider intro", first result). The dialogue has a very colorful sound to it. Although Knight Rider is an extreme example, everything produced back that seemed to have that quality, to an extent.

K.I.T.T 's voice was vocoded. I would imagine the post sound production team was coloring the dialog with a 'coder of some sort.

I watched Air Wolf. That String Fellow..Always saving the day.

There is nothing more 80's than the vocoder. Most DAW include them for free as a VST. It is one easy way to add any tone to your voice.

NO VOCAL ability or talent necessary. Just have fun singing, playing melodies. There are probly 20 different versions of keyboard breath to apply to the vocal information at least in my Fantom there are. That is going to change how the voice sounds. The vocoder has bands for where it isolates. Otherwise the vocal will sound very similar person to person. Great for backups during a chorus or to mix back with a talented vocalist. Back in the 80's when autotune didnt exist they were the best thing since sliced bread. My band coded everything. Even the drums.

Here clips. Just direct, 100% wet. I m not the wizard you expected, but I might just be the wizard you need. Oz.

 

[justhereforthisonecomment]

I have no idea if this was resolved and this is many years late but I know exactly what OP is talking about. I found this because I was interested in how the sound was made. Its almost like many people are saying like less range? Almost like there's a very slight hi pass, so everything sounds punchy. It has this crisp warmth to it. It all also sounds like its got a bit of a hiss to it. I would give a good example of something that has been done intentionally to sound like an old programme but made in modern times. Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. I know people don't like the vague terms but it's definitely there.

 

[Papanate]

I'm working on a video project where I'd like to reproduce the sound of 80s movies and tv. There's a certain warmth and resonance in that old material that I can't seem to reproduce, despite my hours of applying different effects, equalizing, compressing, and trying many plugins.

I hope someone can shed some light on this for me!

If you want that 1980 Commerical TV Sound - start by limiting the highs and lows - and controlling your mids - some voices worked with 1980s TV and alot didn’t - but the primary ones who did were low mid forward with a distinct sound to the vocals - Knight Rider - classic example - Richard Basehart has a color to his vocals that you won’t get unless you have Basehart - now audio in things like Ferris Buellar - snappy sounds that are frequency limited - Giving everything it’s own sonic space - then when the Vocals come in - you duck the back ground and go full range on the vocals - of course they are also HPF and LPF to highlight the vocal without a lot of extraneous noise.