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MUSIC EXTRA: A HISTORY OF MUSIC AND TECHNOLOGY - 9. THE FUTURE OF MUSIC TECHNOLOGY (96kbs-m4a/35mb/50mins)
BBC World Service broadcast: 22nd June 2019
In this final episode of A History of Music and Technology, Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason discovers how rapid digital innovation is shaping the way we make, listen and interact with music.
He reveals how artificial intelligence is taking human input out of musical composition and how virtual reality is reshaping the recording studios of tomorrow.
But in an age where everyone can have access to music-making technology, how do you stand out? And has the internet made it too easy to copy what has come before us, rather than create something which is completely brand-new?
The series is produced in association with the Open University.
CONTRIBUTORS
Professor Ge Wang, Stanford University and author of 'Artful Design: Technology in Search of the Sublime'
Professor Justin Patterson, University of West London and co-creator of Variplay
Imogen Heap, musician and creator of the MiMu glove
Adam Stark, MiMu
Guillaume Devigne, Crypton Future Media
Drew Silverstein, CEO and co-founder of Amper Music
Simon Reynolds, journalist and author of 'Retromania: Pop Culture’s Addiction to Its Own Past'
Hannah Peel, musician and creator of Rebox
Produced by Craig Smith
(Photo: An artistic soundwave Credit: Getty Images)
MUSIC EXTRA: A HISTORY OF MUSIC AND TECHNOLOGY - 8. THE STUDIO: THE BEATLES AND BEYOND (96kbs-m4a/35mb/50mins)
BBC World Service broadcast: 15th June 2019
Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason continues the story of the recording studio, exploring how bands such as The Beatles and The Beach Boys brought avant-garde production techniques into the mainstream during the 1960s.
The programme also charts the role jazz and dub reggae played in advancing studio production, and how increasingly sophisticated studio technology slowed down the recording process.
But the advent of portable tape recorders – and then digital technology - saw the studio begin to shrink in size, while at the same time expanding access to the recording process.
With it came a boom in in alternative music which was previously ignored by the major record labels, and bedroom producers making music on home computers kick-started an explosion in electronic dance music.
Today, digital studio technology has become so sophisticated that it can help even the shakiest of singers deliver the perfect performance.
The series is produced in association with the Open University.
Contributors:
Ken Scott, sound engineer and producer who worked with The Beatles and David Bowie
Prof Simon Zagorski-Thomas, The London College of Music at the University of West London
Brian Kehew, producer and historian, co-author of Recording the Beatles
Dr Sean Williams, The Open University
Arthur Baker, producer and remixer
Chris Lord-Alge, mix engineer
Mark Mothersbaugh, Devo
Prof Susan Rogers, Berklee College of Music and former sound engineer for Prince
Roni Size
Andy Hildebrand, inventor of Autotune
MUSIC EXTRA: A HISTORY OF MUSIC AND TECHNOLOGY - 7. THE STUDIO: FROM ACOUSTIC TO ELECTRIC (96kbs-m4a/35mb/50mins)
BBC World Service broadcast: 8th June 2019
The recording studio has changed dramatically since the advent of sound recording - as has our understanding of the ‘perfect take’.
In the first of two programmes about the history of the studio, Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason explores the limitations of the acoustic era, and how the switch to electrical recording ushered in the age of more intimate recording, giving rise to the superstar crooner.
We look at the how, after World War 2, a boom in independent recording studios run by army-trained communications engineers helped to drive the birth of rock n roll, and how technology developed during the war made it possible for musicians to start recording music that was physically impossible to play, using techniques pioneered by a man better known for his guitars – Les Paul.
CONTRIBUTORS
Prof Mark Katz, University of North Carolina
Prof Simon Zagorski-Thomas, The London College of Music at the University of West London
Prof Albin Zak, The State University of New York at Albany
Prof Allison McCracken, DePaul University
Greg Milner, author of Perfecting Sound Forever: An Aural History of Recorded Music
Brian Kehew, producer and music historian
Clem Cattini, The Tornados
The series is produced in association with the Open University.
(Photo: A woman sings in front of an acoustic recording horn Credit: Getty)
MUSIC EXTRA: A HISTORY OF MUSIC AND TECHNOLOGY - 6. SAMPLERS AND DRUM MACHINES (96kbs-m4a/35mb/50mins)
BBC World Service broadcast: 1st June 2019
Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason explores how samplers and drum machines created new musical genres.
During the 1980s, samplers and drum machines fuelled a new wave of music from hip hop to house to techno.
In this programme we hear from the inventors behind this landmark technology and reveal how it first found traction with millionaire rock stars, rather than hip young DJs, due to its huge expense.
We learn how cheaper Japanese products – first deemed a commercial flop - were then re-discovered, re-used and abused by dance floor innovators who created new musical genres which could never have existed without this technology.
Contributors:
Peter Vogel, inventor of the Fairlight CMI
Trevor Horn
Nick Rhodes, Duran Duran
Roger Linn, inventor of the LM-1 drum machine
Prof Susan Rogers, Berklee College of Music and sound engineer
Arthur Baker
Kurtis Mantronik
Richard Katz, Roland Instruments
Hank Shocklee, Public Enemy
Jesse Saunders
Derrick May
Roni Size
The series is produced in association with the Open University.
(Photo: Afrika Bambaataa plays The Venue in London in November 1983 Credit: Getty)
MUSIC EXTRA: A HISTORY OF MUSIC AND TECHNOLOGY - 5. THE SYNTHESIZER (96kbs-m4a/35mb/50mins)
BBC World Service broadcast: 25th May 2019
The first synthesizer was so big, it filled an entire room, but during the 1960s inventors built downsized machines which would go on to revolutionise pop music.
Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason charts the work of synth pioneers Bob Moog, Don Buchla and Dave Smith in the story of the most influential electronic instrument of all time.
We learn how the synth came to sing with multiple voices, and how Japanese giants came to dominate the market - but arguably at a cost to creativity.
CONTRIBUTORS
Brian Kehew, producer and music historian
Tom Rhea, electronic music historian
Herb Deutsch, musician and collaborator with Bob Moog
Morton Subotnick
Suzanne Ciani
Peter Zinovieff, EMS and inventors of the VCS3 synthesizer
Mark Mothersbaugh, Devo
Nick Rhodes, Duran Duran
Rick Wakeman
Dave Smith, Sequential Circuits and inventor of the Prophet 5
DJ Jazzy Jeff
The series is produced in association with the Open University.
MUSIC EXTRA: A HISTORY OF MUSIC AND TECHNOLOGY - 4. THE HAMMOND ORGAN (96kbs-m4a/35mb/50mins)
BBC World Service broadcast: 18th May 2019
Pink Floyd's Nick Mason tells the story of Laurens Hammond and the musical legacy of the instrument which bears his name.
The Hammond Organ is arguably the first mass-market electronic instrument and in this episode we head to the heart of the Hammond Organ story: Chicago.
One of the most familiar and versatile instruments to emerge in the 20th Century, the Hammond Organ’s reach ranges from the gospel of African-American churches, to jazz and reggae, to the swirling sound of progressive rock.
The series is produced in association with the Open University.
Producer: Craig Smith
(Photo: Close-up image of Hammond B3 Organ Keyboard Credit: Alamy)
MUSIC EXTRA: A HISTORY OF MUSIC AND TECHNOLOGY - 3. THE ELECTRIC GUITAR (96kbs-m4a/35mb/50mins)
BBC World Service broadcast: 11th May 2019
The electric guitar is the instrument which defined 20th Century pop culture.
In this programme, Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason tells the story of the electric guitar, revealing how a frying pan, a railroad track and the paradise island of Hawaii all played a role in its evolution.
In turn, the programme charts how the desire to get louder fundamentally altered the instrument’s sound - and while it has a reputation for turning men into semi-mythical figures, the programme reveals how women are now playing the lead when it comes to the electric guitar today.
The series is produced in association with the Open University.
Contributors:
Brad Tolinski - Co-author of Play it Loud: A History of the Electric Guitar
Richard Hawley - Musician
Paul Reed Smith - Founder of PRS Guitars
David Hepworth, music historian
Jim Peterik - Guitarist and founder of the band Survivor
Robert Christgau - Essayist and music journalist
Anna Calvi - Singer-songwriter and guitarist
Steve Vai - Guitarist
Phil Wells - Marshall Amps
Lee Harris - Guitarist for Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets
Joey Santiago - Lead guitarist for the Pixies
Producer: Craig Smith
(Photo: A man plays an electric guitar Credit: Getty Images)
MUSIC EXTRA: A HISTORY OF MUSIC AND TECHNOLOGY - 2. ELECTRONIC MUSIC PIONEERS (96kbs-m4a/35mb/50mins)
BBC World Service broadcast: 4th May 2019
For centuries music was made by strumming strings, blowing horns and banging drums - but at the turn of the 20th Century, the harnessing of electricity meant artists and inventors could create all-new tones and timbres.
In this programme, Pink Floyd's Nick Mason tells the story of some of electronic music's pioneers - from the eerie sound of the Theremin, to German avant-garde experimentation and the automatic music-making machines of Raymond Scott.
While electronic music might be deemed to be a thoroughly modern genre, we remember its history goes back over a hundred years.
The series is produced in association with the Open University.
CONTRIBUTORS
Sean Williams, The Open University
Lydia Kavina, Theremin player
Tom Rhea, electronic music historian
Wally De Backer a.k.a Gotye, musician
Gottfried Michael Koenig, Westdeutscher Rundfunk Electronic Music Studio and The Institute of Sonology
Herb Deutsch, emeritus professor of electronic music and composition at Hofstra University
(Photo: Leon Theremin plays his musical invention, The Theremin Credit: Getty)
MUSIC EXTRA: A HISTORY OF MUSIC AND TECHNOLOGY - 1. THE STORY OF SOUND RECORDING (96kbs-m4a/35mb/50mins)
BBC World Service broadcast: 27th April 2019
Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason tells the story of how we first captured sound, giving birth to a global recording industry.
While music has advanced in its complexity over the millennia, the means of recording it remained the same: it had to be written down.
It took until the back-half of the 19th Century before credible attempts were made to bottle sound for the first time, and in 1877 Thomas Edison produced the Phonograph.
Over the next century, major advances were made in recording formats, recording duration, and sound quality, from the Gramophone record to the cassette tape to the compact disc.
But as this programme reveals, cost and convenience played a major role in this progress, rather than the quality of technology - sometimes the best inventions didn't win out.
The series is produced in association with the Open University.
CONTRIBUTORS
Prof Mark Katz, University of North Carolina
Richard Osborne, Middlesex University
Nick Morgan, writer on music history
Sophie Maisonneuve, Université Paris Descartes
Prof Andre Millard, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Sean Williams, The Open University
Greg Milner, author of Perfecting Sound Forever: An Aural History of Recorded Music
(Photo: A gramophone record player. Credit: Getty)
THE FIRST TIME WITH... SERIES 18 - 3. NICK MASON (320kbs-m4a/128mb/56mins)
BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 15th July 2018
One of the founding members of Pink Floyd Nick Mason shares his musical milestones with Matt Everitt. Pink Floyd were pioneers of the 60's psychedelic scene. Nick discusses the early years. first impressions of his band mate Roger Waters and Syd Barrett.
Pink Floyd - See Emily Play [EMI]
Pink Floyd - Echoes [EMI]
Henry Hall Orchestra & Val Rosing - The Teddy Bears Picnic [EMI]
Bill Haley & His Comets - Rock Around The Clock [EMI]
Elvis Presley - Blue Suede Shoes [RCA]
The Shadows - Apache [EMI]
Gene Krupa - Drum Solo
Pink Floyd - Nick's Boogie
The Fugs - Supergirl [Fontana]
Pink Floyd - Bike [Starline]
Pink Floyd - Arnold Layne [EMI]
Allen Ginsberg - Tonite Let's All Make Love In London
Pink Floyd - Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here [EMI]
Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb [Harvest]
Pink Floyd - Breathe (In The Air)
Nick Mason - I Can't Get My Motor To Start
Pink Floyd - Interstellar Overdrive [EMI]
Pink Floyd - Louder Than Words [Parlophone]
Bruce Hornsby & The Range - The Way It Is [Telstar]