New wave

History and character

New wave emerged between the mid and late 1970s in the United States and the United Kingdom as a poppier, more ironic and "intelligent" version of punk. The term was popularized by Seymour Stein of Sire Records with the 1977 "Don't Call It Punk" campaign; in the United Kingdom it replaced "punk" as the label for the new underground music by the end of 1977. Starting scenes: CBGB in New York (Talking Heads, Blondie, Television) and London (Ultravox, Elvis Costello).

The key acts: Blondie (Heart of Glass, 1979, the first new wave single to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100), The Cars, The Knack (My Sharona), The Police (Roxanne, Message in a Bottle), Gary Numan/Tubeway Army, The Boomtown Rats (Rat Trap, the first new wave No. 1 in the United Kingdom), Devo (Whip It), XTC, The Jam, Buzzcocks, Talking Heads, Elvis Costello, The B-52's, Duran Duran, Tears for Fears, INXS. From 1981, MTV, which aired many British videos because American acts often had none, made the visual aesthetic decisive.

The sound: nervous, "choppy" rhythm guitar, fast tempos, increasingly present keyboards and synths, structures with stops and restarts, bouncy rhythms, high, nervous, "geeky" vocals (Simon Reynolds), reggae and ska influences (The Police, two-tone), tribal "Burundi" drumming (Adam and the Ants, Bow Wow Wow). In the United Kingdom in the early 1980s it gave way to new pop and new romantic; in the United States "new wave" remained an umbrella term until its decline at the end of the decade. National variants: Neue Deutsche Welle, Movida madrileña, Yugoslav new wave; revivals in electroclash, synthwave and the post-punk revival.

Scales and keys

Major (Ionian)

• Formula: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (W W H W W W H).
• Example in E: E F# G# A B C# D#.
• Characteristic note: the leading tone (D#) and the major V: new wave is more "tonal" and pop than punk.
• Chords: I E, ii F#m, iii G#m, IV A, V B, vi C#m, vii° D#dim.
• Use: pop choruses, synth riffs, melodies with leaps.
• Real-world example: Blondie — Heart of Glass (E major with an E–C#m progression and passages on A/B; transcriptions vary); The Cars — Just What I Needed.

Dorian

• Formula: 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7. In E: E F# G A B C# D.
• Characteristic note: major 6 (C#) → major IV (A).
• Use: funk-new wave grooves (Talking Heads), minor synth riffs with the 6.
• Real-world example: Talking Heads — Once in a Lifetime (vamp on one chord with modal colors).

Natural minor (Aeolian)

• Formula: 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7. In A: A B C D E F G.
• Chords: i Am, III C, iv Dm, v Em, VI F, VII G.
• Use: melancholy and synth new wave (Tears for Fears, Gary Numan, Duran Duran), ostinato bass riffs.
• Real-world example: Gary Numan — Cars (synth riff over a few minor chords).

Mixolydian

• Formula: 1 2 3 4 5 6 b7. In A: A B C# D E F# G.
• Use: power pop and guitar-driven new wave (The Knack — My Sharona, a riff with a rock approach and syncopated accents), I–bVII–IV.

Pentatonic and "reggae" scales

• Major pentatonic 1 2 3 5 6 for the melodies; for reggae-new wave songs (The Police), sus2/sus4 and add9 chords are used (Message in a Bottle: arpeggio of add9 chords over C#m–A–B–F#m with the ninth) that come from open strings, more than from any specific scale.

How to choose

• Danceable pop: major. Funk/art: Dorian. Melancholy synth: Aeolian. Power pop: Mixolydian. Reggae-new wave: suspended chords with the 9 over a tonic bass.

Harmony

Function

Tonal pop harmony (I–V–vi–IV, I–IV–V, ii–V in the pre-choruses), but with "lopsided" details: chords shifted by a half step, sudden key changes, suspended and add9 chords, vamps on a single chord (Talking Heads). More chords than punk, fewer than prog.

Riffs and ostinatos

• Synth and bass ostinatos (often in eighth or sixteenth notes) over a few chords; rhythm guitar playing short, syncopated chords.

Borrowed chords and chromaticism

• bVII, minor iv, chromatic major chords; whole-step modulations for the chorus.

Voicings

• Guitar: chords in high position, partial barre chords, chords with the 9 (Andy Summers), staccato with light palm mute.
• Synth: close-position chords, parallel fifths, monophonic lines; combo organ with strident chords.

Typical progressions

Rhythm and groove

4/4 with fast straight eighth notes, choppy rhythm guitar in eighth or sixteenth notes with upbeat accents, frequent stop-starts, bouncy rhythms. Influences: reggae (one drop and upbeat guitar in The Police), two-tone ska (fast skank), disco (Heart of Glass uses a drum machine and a four-on-the-floor kick), Burundi tribal (continuous toms). Almost mechanical precision, with increasing use of drum machines and sequencers.

Drums

Role

Precise, incisive drums, often more "dance" than rock: tight hi-hat, dry snare, few cymbals. Models: Stewart Copeland (The Police: virtuosic hi-hat, reggae influences, high-pitched snare), Clem Burke (Blondie), Chris Frantz (Talking Heads), Alan Myers (Devo, machine-like precision).

Kick

• 1 and 3 or four on the floor (disco-new wave); in reggae-rock, kick on 3 (one drop) or on 1 and 3.
• Short, dry sound.

Snare

• Dry, high 2 and 4; in reggae-rock, snare or rimshot on 3; rimshots and cross-stick in the verses.

Hi-hat

• Tight eighth or sixteenth notes, upbeat openings (steps 3, 7, 11, 15) in the disco songs; Copeland with sixteenth-note figures and shifted accents.

Percussion

• Tribal toms (Burundi beat), drum machine (CR-78 in Heart of Glass), Syndrum, Simmons from the 1980s, handclaps.

Interaction

• Bass in eighth notes or disco octaves with the kick; upbeat guitar that "answers" the snare.

Sections

• Tight verse; chorus with open hi-hat or crash; stops and restarts in the bridges.

Fills

• Short and precise, sometimes electronic tom fills.

Sounds

• Dry kit, damped heads, short reverbs; from the 1980s gated reverb and drum machines.

Typical mistakes

• Heavy rock drumming; too many crashes; an imprecise groove.

Bass

Sound

Bass with a pick (Precision, Rickenbacker) or synth bass (Minimoog, Prophet), defined, mid-focused sound.

Notes and rhythm

• Eighth notes on the root and disco octaves; reggae lines with rests (Sting: long notes and silences on the one drop); synth bass ostinatos in sixteenth notes (New Order, Duran Duran with John Taylor in a funk-disco style).

Relationship with the kick

Aligned and precise; in reggae the bass avoids the first beat.

Examples

• The Police — Walking on the Moon; Duran Duran — Rio; Talking Heads — Psycho Killer.

Harmonic instruments

Guitars

• Telecaster, Stratocaster, Rickenbacker, Fender Mustang; clean or light crunch sound, chorus and flanger (Andy Summers with Echoplex and chorus), staccato and upbeat chords.
• Layering: one rhythm guitar on one side and the synth on the other; doubles only in the choruses.

Keyboards

• Combo organ (VOX Continental, Farfisa: Elvis Costello & the Attractions, The B-52's), polyphonic and monophonic synths (Prophet-5, Minimoog, ARP Odyssey, Oberheim, later Jupiter-8 and Juno), string machine, sequencer.

Voicings

• Partial and suspended chords, add9 on open strings, high triads; synth with parallel fifths and close chords.

Melody and vocals

Vocals

• High, nervous, "geeky" voices (David Byrne, Mark Mothersbaugh, Andy Partridge, Ric Ocasek), sensual and cool voices (Debbie Harry), reggae-rock voices (Sting), new romantic crooning (Simon Le Bon).
• Melodies with leaps, repetitions, hiccups, irony.

Backing vocals

• Dry group backing vocals, harmonies in thirds, "oh-oh", call and response.

Effects

• Dry vocals with slapback, tempo-synced delay, short reverb; filtered and robotic voices (vocoder on some songs).

Instruments

• Electric guitars, bass (or synth bass).
• Drums and drum machine, Syndrum, Simmons.
• Synths (Prophet-5, Minimoog, Jupiter-8, Juno), combo organ, string machine, sequencer.
• Voice and backing vocals.
• Saxophone (Psychedelic Furs, INXS), percussion.

Drum patterns

Synths and sounds

• VOX Continental V — Combo organ: Elvis Costello & the Attractions, The B-52's: strident chords in eighth notes and riffs.
• Prophet-5 V — Pads and leads: The quintessential new wave synth (The Cars, Duran Duran): poly-mod, sync, bright pads.
• Mini V — Lead and synth bass: Gary Numan (with Polymoog and Minimoog): monophonic leads and eighth-note basses; saw with a closed filter and short envelope.
• Jup-8 V — Pads and arpeggios: 1980s new wave and new romantic: arpeggiator, wide pads.
• Jun-6 V — Polyphonic synth: Chords with chorus and simple lines (British new wave).
• Solina V — String machine: Cold orchestral pads (Ultravox).

Song structure

Form (3:00–4:00)

Mixing and mastering

Sonic goal

Clean, dry and bright: every element separate, precise drums, clear synths, vocals up front with little ambience. References: The Police — Reggatta de Blanc (1979), Blondie — Parallel Lines (1978), The Cars (1978), Talking Heads — Remain in Light (1980).

Kick

• EQ: HP 40 Hz; +2 dB at 70 Hz; −4 dB at 350 Hz; +3 dB at 4 kHz; compression 4:1, 4 dB; gate.

Snare

• EQ: +2 dB at 200 Hz; −2 dB at 700 Hz; +3 dB at 6 kHz; compression 4 dB; short room or plate (0.8 s); 1980s: gated reverb (decay 1.5 s, gate at 300 ms).

Hi-hat

• HP 400 Hz, +2 dB at 10 kHz, panned L20 (drummer's perspective) or R20.

Bass

• EQ: HP 40 Hz; +2 dB at 90 Hz; +3 dB at 900 Hz–1.2 kHz; 1176 compression 4 dB. Synth bass: HP 30 Hz, LP 5 kHz.

Guitars

• Choppy rhythm at L50–70 with light stereo chorus; HP 150 Hz; +2 dB at 3 kHz; 1/8 delay for the reggae parts (Summers used tape echo).

Synths and keyboards

• Lead in the center or R30; wide L/R pads with chorus; HP 150–200 Hz on the pads; combo organ HP 200 Hz, −2 dB at 3 kHz.

Vocals

• Chain: EQ (HP 100 Hz, +3 dB at 3 kHz) → 1176 (5 dB) → de-esser → 100 ms slapback + short plate.

Backing vocals

• L/R 40, heavy compression, plate.

FX

• Chorus, flanger, tempo-synced delay, gated reverb.

Buses and groups

• Synth bus with light compression; mix bus 2:1.

Sidechain

• In disco-new wave songs, bass and pads from the kick (1–2 dB).

Master

• Target: −11/−9 LUFS integrated; true peak −1 dBTP.

Common mistakes

• Thick, distorted guitars; long reverbs; synths that cover the vocal.

Reference tracks for the mix

• Blondie — Heart of Glass (1979); The Police — Message in a Bottle (1979); The Cars — My Best Friend's Girl (1978); Devo — Whip It (1980); Talking Heads — Once in a Lifetime (1980); Tears for Fears — Mad World (1982).

Reference listening

• Talking Heads — Psycho Killer (1977)
• Elvis Costello — Pump It Up (1978)
• The Cars — My Best Friend's Girl (1978)
• The Police — Roxanne (1978)
• Blondie — Heart of Glass (1979)
• The Knack — My Sharona (1979)
• Tubeway Army — Are 'Friends' Electric? (1979)
• Devo — Whip It (1980)
• Duran Duran — Rio (1982)