Vangelis' "Blade Runner"

March 20, 2025 5:46 PM

Nick Soulsby: The soundtrack to Blade Runner remains a singular achievement; a soundtrack that invoked the past and the future, that remained suspended like Schrödinger’s cat in a state of unresolved being, that plays ancestor to an impressive clutch of modern musical forms while simultaneously sounding like a product of the modern age, or the first fruit of music yet to come.

Mike Vale:

Fans of Blade Runner have watched through several theatrical cuts and releases, of which the 2007 Final Cut is often regarded as the most definitive. Like the film itself, the soundtrack has had an interesting life of its own.

(If the EMS Recombination edition has been meaningfully surpassed, I would be surprised. You can... you know... find it around.)

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Replicating the Blade Runner Soundtrack

posted by Lemkin (22 comments total)

No discussion of this topic would be complete without pointing readers to the Blade Runner (29th Anniversary Limited Edition) release, which is perhaps as close you can get to reliving seeing the classic* for the first time, by simply hearing the music that went into it. (*: whichever edit or cut you prefer)
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 6:01 PM on March 20 [2 favorites]

For those of you wanting to recreate the soundtrack, but can't afford a Yamaha CS-80, but don't want to use a software plugin, the Black Corporation have Deckard's Dream - "8-voice analogue synthesizer with polyphonic aftertouch".

Still quite expensive at US$4300. But a fair bit less expensive than US$120,000 (if you can find one).
posted by awfurby at 6:02 PM on March 20 [8 favorites]

obligatory: you can listen to 4 hours of generative Vangelis/Blade Runner ambience here
posted by juv3nal at 6:03 PM on March 20 [2 favorites]

I'm glad the 29th exists. But while I'm enough of a Blade Runner soundtrack fan to have hand-picked tracks for my own edit, I'm not enough of a Blade Runner soundtrack fan to need the radio trailer ads.
posted by Lemkin at 6:11 PM on March 20

For those of you who want to recreate the soundtrack and have little money, Cherry Audio has a plugin that got good reviews for sounding like that pile of money posted above. It’s like $60.
posted by njohnson23 at 6:14 PM on March 20 [3 favorites]

Lux has done a good job of emulating the Blade Runner soundtrack style.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 6:17 PM on March 20 [2 favorites]

Vangelis' End Title has some great mashups.
posted by anthill at 6:24 PM on March 20

Always loved "One More Kiss Dear". On a couple of cassettes (remember those) from the '80s there was a different version, a woman was singing I think.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:26 PM on March 20 [5 favorites]

Long way from his start.
posted by 3.2.3 at 7:05 PM on March 20 [2 favorites]

fruit of music

Beans?
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:12 PM on March 20 [5 favorites]

"Tonights voyage takes us off the shoulders of Orion were a space battle ensued. Then, an adventure near the Tannhäuser gate were C- Beams reflect in an artificial eye. Sit back and wonder do Android's think of exotic sleep.
music from the hearts of space.
I'm your host, Stephen Hill."
posted by clavdivs at 7:32 PM on March 20 [7 favorites]

Needs an ellipsis between "hearts" and "of space".
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:38 PM on March 20 [3 favorites]

and let's not forget the time that he saved all of humanity
posted by secretbenjamin at 8:01 PM on March 20 [3 favorites]

"The iconic Blade Runner soundtrack was also distinctive for being commercially unavailable for many years (?!), giving rise to many different bootleg editions, as well as the infamous New American Orchestra cover version."
posted by ovvl at 8:07 PM on March 20 [2 favorites]

analogue synthesizer with polyphonic aftertouch

More accurately it responds to poly aftertouch - you’ll need another grand or so for a PE aftertouch capable midi controller to get your Vangelis on. That said, an analog synth + PE keybed is something I would strongly recommended experiencing if you’re a synth music fan with even the tiniest bit of keyboard ability- it is surprisingly expressive. My own “poor man’s” (still horribly expensive) CS-80 simulator is a novation Peak + hydrasynth, and you’d better believe I spent hours doing knockoffs of the Bladerunner intro sounds - so satisfying!
posted by Jon Mitchell at 9:58 PM on March 20 [6 favorites]

I’m glad I was a kid in 70s - I didn’t notice how much of our Bob Guccioni-imagined future was cringe. I made it 30 seconds into Lords of Synth and noped out of there. The Aphrodites Child music seemed OK, though, so it wasn’t a total loss.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 10:58 PM on March 20

Well, if you can't trust Joni Mitchell, who can you trust?
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 5:42 AM on March 21 [3 favorites]

Always loved "One More Kiss Dear".

Me too! I used to sing this to my babies at bedtime.
posted by Hermione Dies at 6:10 AM on March 21 [1 favorite]

Kuedo's Severant

and

Scape One's Tears in Rain

are both enjoyable adjuncts to the original score.
posted by Luther_Blissett at 7:48 AM on March 21 [1 favorite]

and let's not forget the time that he saved all of humanity

Oy Vey
posted by ovvl at 8:49 AM on March 21

One of my biggest disappointments about the new Blade Runner movie was that the music was kinda like the original.
posted by olykate at 10:31 AM on March 21

Always loved "One More Kiss Dear"

I remember that one as the one I used to insta-skip when it came on. Rest of the soundtrack, loved it, played it in the car all the time.
posted by ctmf at 12:05 PM on March 21 [1 favorite]