Musical Beginnings: The Piano

A modern-day Baby Grand Piano.

The piano is one of the most widely known and used instruments throughout the world. It is used throughout a whole range of music genres, but the instrument is recognized as being the featured instrument in jazz and classical music for improvisation. It also used for musical composition and rehearsal. Most people may think that this is such a basic and that there are other more sophisticated instruments out there in the world today. But, if it is such a boring instrument, then how has it survived for over 300 plus years? Obviously, the piano is still a desired instrument due to its age and is not necessarily the most “boring” instrument out there today. I appreciate what the piano has to offer, and I realize how complicated it actually is. Although I prefer the guitar, the piano is still extremely versatile and allows the player to play virtually all the instrument parts in a song. With one hand, you can create a basic riff or chord progression along with some alternate bass lines, and with the other hand, you can play a solo, melody, or accompaniment. The piano is still an amazing instrument and has survived into the technological age of today.

This is a basic diagram of the C Scale on the keyboard.

The piano works via striking steel strings that are tuned to certain frequencies or notes when a key on the keyboard is struck. The keyboard itself contains various keys that when pressed produce a different frequency or note. There are white and black keys. The white keys are natural notes, such as C, E, G, and A, and the black keys are located in-between the white keys, which bend the natural notes a half step above or below the natural note (i.e. C sharp known as C#, or C flat known as Cb). The notes E, F, B, and C naturally sound a half step apart from each other, which is why you will see two white keys put together in certain sections of the keyboard. The strings themselves are on the inside of the piano, and the hammers hit the steel strings lined up with the keys in the body of the instrument. It is classified as a chordophone under the Hornbostel-Sachs musical instrument classification guidelines. The instrument itself is of Italian origin, and its true name is pianoforte, which literally means “soft-loud” in English, and represents the various degrees of softness and loudness that can be played on the piano by striking the keys hard for forte or “loud” notes, or by striking the keys softly for piano or “soft” notes.

The origins of the piano date back to the Dulcimer.

The piano is actually based off of an instrument from the Middle Ages. This instrument is the dulcimer, in which the strings were struck by hand with small hammers. This is still used today in countries and areas such as India, China, Southwest Asia, Eastern Europe, Great Britain, and even in the U.S. where it is primarily used in folk music. Experimentation took place with regards to the method of striking the strings with keys, and by the 17th century, instruments like the clavichord and harpsichord were invented and became well known. Both of these instruments look like a piano, but sound different from the piano. Both the clavichord and the harpsichord sound twangy. The clavichord has a kind of wobbly sound to it, while the harpsichord has more of a twangy sound.

Adaptations and improvements were made to the harpsichord and clavichord, and the modern piano ended up taking the spotlight. The invention of the marvelous craft is credited to Bartolomeo Cristofori from Padua, Italy. It turns out that Ferdinando de’ Medici, the Grand Prince of Tuscany, from the famous Medici family, employed Cristofori as Keeper of the Instruments. Cristofori was an expert on stringed keyboard instruments, and crafted some of the best harpsichords. It is not know when Cristofori actually invented the piano, but inventory charts dating back to 1700 and 1698 indicate that the piano was most likely developed around that time.

The inventor of the piano, Bartolomeo Cristofori.

What Cristofori did was revolutionary for piano craftsmen all over because he  built a device with no prior blueprint or model to build off of, that could strike the strings and return to their original position after each subsequent hit. He made it so that the keys could be hit rapidly without the striking device bouncing around haphazardly inside the body of the instrument. This revolutionary innovation went unrecognized for a time, but it was not until Scipione Maffei, an Italian writer, wrote an article about it that displayed the blueprints for the design of the piano with a description of the instrument. Many copies were distributed, and many piano builders sought out to recreate this craft. Gottfried Silbermann (who is known as an organ builder), added in the damper pedal to the model, which creates the effect of sustain in which the notes can be held for a longer duration of time. It turns out that an extremely well known composer named Johann Sebastian Bach ended up promoting Silbermann’s instruments.

Other additions were made to the design of the piano, and yet the piano still exists and is still played in concerts, rehearsals, and recorded music. It is still a very important part to the music community, and I’m sure that my musician friends out there would also agree. It is a great instrument to start out on and learn some of the fundamental principles of music theory. I ended up learning music theory on the piano, and was able to apply it on the guitar, and I am grateful that I did. Today, you still see the classic piano being sold with a very expensive price tag. This just proves how important the piano is in society. It is still valuable to the music community, and I hope that it survives up until the day the music dies.

I’m sure you all know what a piano sounds like, but do you know what the music looks like? Here is a video of Bach’s Fugue in G Minor with the sheet music. Maybe you could learn to play this revolutionary and marvelous instrument.

Here is another video that demonstrates the capabilities of the piano and shows its versatility. The song is Fantaisie Impromptu by Chopin from the Romantic Period during the second half of the 18th century.

Aural Beginnings: The Microphone

In today’s world of rock stars, rappers, singers and musicians, there is one, quintessential piece of technology that allows the performers to be heard by their audience. The microphone, or “mic,” is used primarily by singers, but is also used on other instruments like drums in order to increase the amplification of sound. They are also used quite often for recording in the studio. They are placed in various areas of the recording room in different positions to pick up the sounds of the instruments and transfer them into the recording software program as a track that can be replayed and tampered with. Certain microphones are extremely sensitive and can break easily. These are usually the more expensive microphones. Overall, the microphone is an extremely helpful tool to performers and singers in the studio and at live performances. I know that you performers out there use microphones, and you all know how essential they are in performances.

Who knew that the invention of the microphone would be so revolutionary and essential for the creation of the telephone?

The microphone is a piece of technology that converts sound into electrical signals, which is similar to the function of pickups on an electric guitar. The amazing thing about the microphone is that it is used in everyday situations. The microphone is built into hearing aids, telephones, radios, television, and tape recorders. So technically, you don’t even have to be a performer or vocalist to own a microphone. With that being said, it is safe to say that the average American has used or owned a microphone in one form of technology or another. Another cool thing about the microphone is that it was patented in the 1800s by two inventors named Emile Berliner, a German-American inventor who created the phonograph, and Thomas Alva Edison, who is widely known for being a successful American inventor that created many pieces of revolutionary technology. There was a legal battle between these two inventors about the invention of the carbon microphone, which was mentioned in a previous post about the electric guitar. Ultimately, Edison won the battle and is credited with the invention of the first microphone.

These are two examples of condenser microphones. Both were made by AKG.

Another cool quality about the microphone is the amount of variety. There is a huge variety of microphones available, and each type of microphone has their own characteristics. All microphones are specifically designed to do certain things, and they can be classified based off of these qualities. Some classifications include condenser microphones, which are used more for studio use, and dynamic microphones, which are ideal for performances. Condenser microphones came into the world in 1916 and was invented by E.C. Wente at Bell Labs. It is also called a capacitor or electrostatic microphone. It uses a capacitor, which allows energy to be stored usually between two electronic components made of metal. Quality-wise, these are the “choice” microphones for audio experimentation and recording music. These microphones are powered by electricity through inputs or other power sources in order for the condenser to work. When I am in the studio, the producer sometimes talks about his equipment. They mentioned condenser microphones a couple times, and raved about its quality.

This is an example of a dynamic microphone. This is a Shure SM57 instrument/vocal microphone.

Dynamic microphones are the ideal microphones for performances, and they use electromagnetic induction, which involves electricity flowing through a magnetic field. These types of microphones are not that expensive, and are fairly durable. With this type of microphone, the body of the microphone vibrates, which causes the induction coil to vibrate, or go through, a magnetic field via electromagnetic induction. This is a tricky type of microphone for the reason that it will not react to all audio frequencies, so multiple audio membranes are built into them to pick up more frequencies. In the studio, audio engineers and producers sometimes use these microphones to record, but they use a wide variety of these microphones to pick up certain frequencies from the instruments and create certain effects. I personally use these types of microphones to record myself. I feel that they are good to use for recording purposes when you want to record an idea for a song. You can use this type of microphone to create a “rough draft” of your idea in which you can develop further.

The microphone is an extremely useful and innovative piece of technology that allows the user to transmit their audio waves into electrical signals that can be manipulated in different ways to amplify the sound, change the sound, or transmit the sound to another source. For the average American, the microphone is essential for communication. It is used in telephones, hearing aids, megaphones, and various other pieces of technology that are taken for granted. For the performer, producer, or audio engineer, the microphone is a unique and fundamental piece of equipment that adds color and flavor to sound. The musician would not be able to be heard without this technology, and the phone might not have been invented without the microphone. This technology is an extremely important tool that is used extensively for the purpose of communication. What would we do without them?

Effects Units Galore!

These are just some of the various effects units that are available for purchase.

To continue with the subject of electric guitars and amplifiers, effects units can also be used with an electric guitar and amplifier to change the sound coming out of the amplifier and add a new color. These can be used with a variety of instruments, but the electric guitar, bass guitar, and piano are usually associated with this technology. Effects units are like the plug-ins used in recording studios that end up changing the output sound of the instrument. However, effects units are manifested in the form of a pedal or mounted on a rack and can be physically manipulated during live performances or practices.

These are some of the available equipment racks that can hold various effects units.

The effects pedal is used with the foot so you can use the effect with ease whenever you want  by simply stepping on it. You may have to set up the effect before hand by adjusting the knobs and levers to get the effect you want to use, but effects pedals are fairly simple and easy-to-use pieces of technology that can add a wide spectrum of different flavors to your sound. I have used effects pedals with my electric guitar, and they are extremely fun and easy to play with. There are a wide variety of pedals, and each of them adds a different effect to your instrument. There are also effects units that you can buy and put in an equipment rack, in which you manipulate physically with your hands. These are the effects units that can be found in the giant equipment racks in recording studios. Some of the effects units you can get are included in the presets of amplifiers, but not all amplifiers have all the effects you can buy.

Sound effect experiments began in the 1940s in recording studios when engineers and musicians like Les Paul began tinkering with sound and microphones. The first effects unit actually manufactured to sell was the Trem-Trol in 1948,  which added a tremolo effect, or a repetitious note effect, to the instrument that it was connected to. Soon, the amplifier scene took over in this same decade with Gibson, Fender, and a whole bunch of others adding in effects in amplifiers that used to only be available in the recording studios.

Then in the 1960s, the ability to have these studio effects like distortion, tremolo, and others was put into a small and convenient device that was made available due to the creation of stompboxes using transistors. Transistors can change electrical signals and amplify them. They are small and compact, and in the 1940s, it was ideal for the creation of the stompbox. The stompbox, or effects pedal, was able to fit these pre-designed effects that were available mostly in recording studios and amplifiers into small, easy to use devices. The 1962 Maestro Fuzz pedal was the first pedal created and was used in the Rolling Stones’ 1965 hit, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.”

All of a sudden, a whole stream of effects pedals began coming out. The first wah-wah pedal, named the Clyde McCoy, was created by Warwick Electronics in 1967, the first octave effect pedal called the Octavia was created by Roger Mayer in 1968, and various other pedals that included many effects like chorus, phasers, and flangers were available in the 1970s. Jimi Hendrix was an avid user of these pedals when they first came out, and recorded some guitar solos in some of his songs with these pedals.

There are generally seven categories of effects units, and each category has a wide variety of pedals made by many different manufacturers that give different flavors to the sound of an instrument. These categories are distortion, dynamics, filter, modulation, pitch or frequency, time based, and sustain or feedback. Sustain and feedback are produced naturally with the instrument or a hand held device. Feedback is when the frequency from an amplifier is picked up by microphones that are also amplified, which produces high and sometimes irritating pitches. The most common way to use this technique is to set an amplified microphone next to an amplifier and play the instrument through the amplifier at a high volume, or just play the instrument right in front of the amplifier. Sustain can be created using magnetic devices, such as an EBow, that causes the strings to vibrate between two ends of a magnet. Each end pulls on the string in the opposite direction, which ultimately causes the string to vibrate.

Distortion and fuzz pedals, which give crunchy or fuzzy effects to the sound and are classified under the distortion category. Compressors, noise gates, and volume-boost pedals are categorized under the dynamics category, and either amplify or increase the sound. Filtering effects pedals include wah-wahs, equalizers, and talk boxes, which manipulate certain areas or frequencies of the sound. The category of modulation effects units includes a lot of different individual effects, like chorus, flanger, and vibrato that all bring together different sounds to create abnormal or strange frequencies. Pitch shifters, along with harmonizers, fall under the pitch category, and manipulate the highs and lows of the frequency. Time based effects include reverb, delay, and looper effects which all play around with the timing of the sounds that the instruments play.

If you want to add some new flavor or color to your sound, you might want to invest some money into some of these toys. Most are pretty easy to use, but some of the more expensive ones can have a variety of effects, pedals, and dials for you to play around with. It may take you some time to learn how to use some of the effects units and understand what sounds work for you, but it is well worth it. I personally use a wah-wah quite often, and sometimes an EBow. I have also used a loop system a few times, but it took me a few tries to learn its functionality.

So, if you are looking to add some toys to your musical arsenal, effects units are a good choice. They are fun to play with, and fairly easy to use.

The Guitar’s Future: Carbon Fiber and Aluminum Guitars

A close-up of a sheet of aluminum.

A close-up of a sheet of carbon-fiber.

In my last post, I talked about the electric guitar. I explained its beginnings and gave some background on amplifiers. Now, I will talk about two different types of guitars that are fairly new in the music world. With all the different types of guitars out there which include double-necks, acoustics, classical, nylon and copper string guitars, and guitars with varying amounts of strings, these guitars are made of completely different material than all of these standard types of guitars. These guitars are more of an integration of science and technology than the standard electric guitar. These types of guitars are called carbon fiber and aluminum guitars. Standard guitars are made of wood, but sometimes the guitar manufacturers use alternate materials like aluminum  and carbon fiber for either the body or neck of the guitar or both.

Guitar manufacturing companies still use wood as their main material for making guitars, but they have only recently been using aluminum and carbon fiber in their manufacturing process. The standard woods that make up a lot of the guitars on the market include Ash, Maple, Walnut, Spruce, and a bunch of others. Recently, aluminum and carbon fiber guitars have become very popular among guitarists, which is why guitar manufacturers have started to increase the production of these types of guitars. Aluminum and carbon fiber are both light weight and are preferred by many guitarists. In fact, I would love to get my hands on one of these babies just try them out, and I hope you would to.

Aluminum is is a natural element named Al on the Periodic Table of Elements, has a low density, and is extremely valuable to the aerospace industry. However, it has become valuable to guitar manufacturers. Aluminum is extremely light, and has an incredible amount of strength. It can withstand the tension from the strings when they are strung onto the guitar, and can still maintain its light weight. Guitar manufacturers use aircraft grade aluminum and have found success in selling these types of guitars. Guitar manufacturers Normandy Guitars and Xtreme Guitars have adopted the aluminum material into their manufacturing process. What guitarist doesn’t want an extremely lightweight and durable guitar?

Carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer, or carbon fiber for short, is also extremely lightweight, and incredibly strong, and is also valuable to the aerospace industry. This is fairly new when compared to the usage of aluminum for guitars. Guitar manufacturers praise it for its ability to be such a high quality material for making guitars at a very low price, and like aluminum guitars, it is fairly popular among guitarist. Rainsong, a guitar manufacturing company, has been one of the leading companies to take advantage of this cost effective material, and have built their business off of it. They put carbon fiber into various parts of the guitar, which gives the guitar enhanced durability and less weight when compared to wood.

Personally, I think aluminum and carbon fiber are the future for guitars. I do not own one, but I would love to try one. I love guitars that are sturdy and lightweight, and these qualities are the first ones that I look for when I’m looking to buy a new guitar. Heavy guitars turn me off simply because it is heavy, awkward, and it hurts your back after a while. It gets really annoying when you’re shredding for an hour and your back starts to hurt. So, for any of you guitarists with back problems, I suggest that you look into carbon fiber or aluminum guitars. The best part is…they won’t warp. No wood. No warping.

The Hybrid Instrument – Electric Guitars and Amplifiers

The classic Gibson Les Paul electric guitar.

Finally…a blog post that I have been personally interested in writing since the start of this blog. As you all know, I play guitar. I play both acoustic and electric, but I love the electric guitar. There are so many things that the electric guitar can do that other instruments cannot, as most of you musicians know. You can make it screech, make it cry, make it squeal, double-hammer, triple-hammer, pull-off, bend the strings, and create some heavy, bad-ass riffs using effects like distortion. This instrument is used widely throughout all types of music, along with many of its stringed cousins, like the violin, cello, and the banjo. What makes this instrument truly amazing is that it combines technology with a basic string instrument, and is considered a hybrid instrument for this reason. Its origins come from your standard acoustic or nylon string guitar, but it includes some innovative electronics that allows for different effects to be put into the sound of the instrument. This is also the instrument of choice for Rock and Roll, and is still the driving force in this genre. Overall, the electric guitar is truly a work of art. This instrument ceases to amaze me, and its origins date back over 100 years.

This is a button microphone that was put onto the bridges of string instruments in the early 1900s to amplify the sound.

Since the early 1900s, various experiments were done with regards to the amplification of stringed instruments. As early as 1910, people were putting telephone adapters in stringed instruments to amplify their sound. In the 1920s, people were putting carbon button microphones, or little amplifiers, on the bridges of stringed instruments. The bridge of the guitar is where the fingers are placed and pressed on top of the strings. The problem with this was that it only detected the sounds coming from that part of the instrument. The sound comes from where the instrument is strummed or struck, and for the guitar, this place if further down the instrument located on the body. Because of these experiments, it is very hard to tell when the first electric guitar was actually made.

One of the original and still successful guitar manufacturing companies.

However, the first official amplified electric guitar was made in 1931 by George Beauchamp who was the the General Manager of National Guitar Corporation. He also patented the amplified electric violin, which is also a member of the string family and a hybrid instrument. Soon, electric guitars were mass produced in 1932, and with perfect timing. During this era, jazz and swing music was extremely popular, and the guitarists in the jazz big bands had to compete with large sections of instruments, especially the brass section. The brass section for a jazz band back then typically included trumpets and trombones, in which both instruments could create extremely loud and powerful sounds and were able to play a wide range of notes from extremely high to extremely low. It was typical to have a loud and large brass section in the big band era, and it was also typical to have a small number of guitarists in order to keep the rhythm going. With the invention of the electric guitar, guitar players in these bands could now play comfortably during solos and know that they would be heard. The early manufacturing companies included Rickenbacker in 1932, AudioVoxin 1934, and Epiphone and Gibson in 1935.

One of the original classic amplifiers by Fender from 1964. This is a 1964 Fender Super Reverb amplifier.

Along with electric guitars, amplifiers were needed in order for the sound to be heard. These devices increase the power of signals, and in the case of the guitar or other instruments that are plugged into an amplifier, the signal or sound is amplified, or increased. The electric guitar is able to do this through a device called a pickup. A pickup converts the sound from the strings of the guitar into an electrical signal that can be picked up by the amplifier, which plays the sound or signal at an amplified level. There are many different types of pickups that you can install into electric guitars, and each of them add a different flavor or color to the sound. The modern amplifier itself is also able to add different flavors and colors to the overall sound through different effects built into it. In the 1960s, many people began distorting the sound by using overdrive. By increasing the gain, or the amount of power amplified, beyond its limits, the classic, crunchy rock guitar sound was created. This sound is apparent in virtually all rock and heavy metal music. Soon after its discovery, the distorted sound, or distortion, was a built-in setting that one could press or turn to, along with the clean sound setting. Today’s amplifiers have various other settings and effects that one can easily switch to, which include reverb, phaser, flanger, and tremolo.

The electric guitar is a technologically advanced instrument that still keeps its traditional routes. It is played the same as a normal guitar, but uses different strings and has electrical modifications that allow the musician to change how it sounds through different controls on the guitar and amplifier. Some guitars are both acoustic and electric, and allow the player to switch to whichever one they desire. This technology has been widely used for quite some time, and is used in various music genres. The classic distortion sound from the guitar is almost always paired with rock and roll, and the electric guitar is the primary instrument for this genre. I love this instrument, and I love what I can do with it. I like experimenting with different effects,and have come up with some pretty interesting sounds and settings that I like to use . In a sense, the electric guitar and the amplifier is like a synthesizer, because it can produce a variety of different sounds and tones. I hope that this instrument survives through time. I would hate to see this instrument die out. This instrument is revolutionary to us musicians, and I hope that one day, the electric guitar along with rock music will become the dominating genre in the music industry.

To demonstrate the amazing abilities of the electric guitar, here is a video of one of my favorite solo artists, Buckethead. I know that he looks weird, but he is actually a virtuoso on the guitar, meaning that he is one of the best guitar players out there and is extremely talented. Check out how he uses the electric guitar along with the effects of the amplifier. I believe he has a kill-switch built into his guitar, which is that button he keeps pressing to stop the sound. You will have to go to YouTube to watch this.

Streaming Music – Internet Radio

The internet is an ever-expanding space that seems to have no limit. One can look for virtually anything on the internet. With this new advancement in technology, the internet has produced some interesting and beneficial entities that might be of use to my fellow musicians. As musicians, we all love to listen to music, and the internet has some pretty cool tools that allow us to listen to the tunes we want to listen to. There are countless videos on the internet that feature some of our favorite music, there are links we can click on that lead us to sites dedicated to bands and their songs, and there are songs we can download and listen to from the internet so we can take that music with us wherever we go. With mobile devices and Wi-Fi, we have access to the internet virtually everywhere we go.Now, with internet radio, it is even easier for us to find and listen to our favorite music wherever we want, whenever we want.

RealAudio is a streaming audio player.

Internet radio came into the picture with a live stream on November 10th, 1994 in Seattle, Washington, and debuted a live, space rock band called “Sky Cries Mary.” The creator, Paul Allen, had the technology that allowed for the band to stream live on the internet, and called his service, “Starwave.” The radio station, WXYC, also utilized this technology, along with the radio station, WREK. It only took one year for this new technology to take off, because in 1995, a free, downloadable program came out called RealAudio, which was a streaming audio player that anyone could get.Companies like Null Soft and Microsoft took advantage of this opportunity and created their own technology that had the capability to stream audio.

Other streaming technologies include QuickTime Player, Adobe Flash Player, and Windows Media Player.

As you might have noticed, this technology involves the use of streaming. Streaming is basically a way for the user to view a file over a server or network that is not complete. The file is continuously transferred to the user over the network. It is like closed captioning and real-time text. When it first came out, the technology was fairly useless because the computers that were available could not support this technology in the 80s and 90s. But, further advancements in the computer and its associated technologies in the late 90s and new millennium created streaming compatibility.

This technology, along with most technology,created some controversy with royalty payments in the United States. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998 forced all satellite radio providers to pay performance royalties along with publishing royalties to the artist and their associated parties. Regular radio pays publishing royalties, which is why a controversy started. There were various protests, like the “Day of Silence” that SaveNetRadio.org set up in response to the royalty payments, and many negotiations were made that dealt with the cost of the royalty payments. Now, a lot of internet radio companies are worried that they might not survive because of these mandatory payments, but most have adapted or tried to adapt to this pending difficulty.

This is a physical, digital internet radio player, which also doubles as an MP3 player.

Internet radio is a great feature on the web that utilizes streaming. More people are on the Web than ever before, and internet radio is in competition with regular radio stations now. This is also a great promotional tool for you aspiring bands or musicians out there. You might want to check out the inner workings of internet radio and maybe check out how this might benefit you. Maybe you could take a look at the fees for putting out your music and possibly use internet radio as a medium to get your songs out there. The internet is a large realm you could exploit. Who knows what could happen?

Anyway, here are some links to some popular internet radio sites. Pandora, Mog, and 8tracks.

The Home Studio Craze

The home studio is not necessarily a technology, but it’s a technology bundle package. The home studio includes a lot of the previous technologies mentioned, such as the synthesizer, MIDIs, auto-tune, some of the DJ equipment, and the MP3. The home studio is great in that virtually anyone can purchase basic recording technologies and learn how to use them in their own home. With this tool, musicians can cut out the idea of having a record label pay for studio time. These technologies are affordable, but there are some pieces of equipment that are more expensive than others. So, if you musicians truly want good quality work, you will either have to pay for studio time, or invest money and time into purchasing and learning how to use recording equipment. The most basic and fundamental equipment is affordable, but there are more expensive recording technologies out there.

One of the many versions of Pro Tools.

Pro Tools is a pretty basic recording technology, and is available for the PC. It was created by Digidesign, but more recently, Avid Technology. You can use the technology by itself, or you can buy various other technologies and run them through the program. This program displays different tracks, or recordings, in different windows, such as the edit and mix windows, where the recording itself will be displayed in WAV format. WAV format is basically the stereotypical wave that you would see on a graph. This technology also allows the user to change the WAV format of the original recording into a different format, such as an MP3, AIFF, AIFC, and WMA. It can also manipulate other formats, like SDII audio files and Quick Time videos. Even though this sounds like a lot, Pro Tools offers classes where you can learn about the program and how to use it to do what you wish with your audio files.

This is what your standard WAV file looks like on the computer.

This technology also allows for many different plug-ins, or different audio technologies, to be used that can manipulate audio files and change their sound. These can be bought in their physical form, or downloaded on the computer. I’m not going to get into too much detail about the types of plug-ins there are, but plug-ins range from sound manipulating technologies to different instruments and sampling tools. Some plug-ins are included in the Pro Tools package that you buy, but you can essentially buy other plug-ins from different companies and add to your technological repertoire. Plug-ins are completely different technologies aside from your standard Pro Tools equipment. This is because there is such a wide range of plug-ins and there are a plethora of companies that sell different plug-ins. Some plug-ins that are common among recording technologies include EQs, which are used for balancing the sound, compressors, which affect dynamics, or volume control, synthesizers, MIDIs, auto-tune technologies, tuning mechanisms, and a whole bunch of others.

This is a Pro Tools 7-band Equalizer, in which you manipulate the bands to find the right sound.

Personally, I use Pro Tools. It was fairly easy to learn how to use it, but it just takes practice. I know the basics of how recording works from recording my own guitar riffs and songs, and from being in a professional studio. Once you get the hang of it, it is extremely fun and easy to use. I use it just to get my ideas out in audible form so I don’t forget them. However, to really know how to record takes time, patience, and a lot of cash. Sadly, it seems that the good quality recordings come from those who know how to use the software and have a lot of money. These are the people in the professional recording studios that put a high price on their services, and they may not even provide you with suggestions or equipment. These people have power and money, and for the struggling musician that wants to do it all on their own, it is completely unfair. This is why it helps to have some money on hand, and it definitely helps to make some contacts between musicians and people who know how to use recording software.

This is just one type of compressor. This is called the Stereo Optical Compressor, or SOC.

Recording technologies are really nothing special to the record labels and professional sound engineers. However, these technologies are now available at an affordable price to the middle class. Computers are virtually in all households, and because of this, people can download the software that used to be exclusive only to the rich and powerful. Anyone can buy these technologies and learn how to create some grade-A quality recordings. The power of technology (in this case, computers) has allowed for technology itself to become more affordable and available to virtually everyone. The home recording studio is a prime example of how some of the best technologies once used exclusively by the rich and powerful is now being used by those of lower economic classes.

The “Rave” – Disc Jockeys and Electronic Dance Music

Thumping beats, tantalizing rhythms, and simple melodies are the hype. Club scenes, dancing, and raves are extremely popular among today’s young audiences. It seems that Electronic Dance Music (EDM) is taking over the pop-music scene. Now, I know that some of you musicians out there might be thinking, “why the hell is he talking about this!?” Well, for the purpose of the blog, I chose to blog about it because of the obvious fact that various pieces of technology are heavily involved in the production of this music, and the weird (and pathetic) thing about this music is that there are no traditional instruments. All the music produced in this genre is made through machines. This genre is revolutionary because of the incorporation of machines, and DJs, or disc jockeys, are at the center stage of this movement. This genre alone defies the traditional means of producing music, and it generates the question of whether or not this will be the future of music. Overall, this music is interesting because of the fact that it uses technological devices, not traditional instruments, to produce some of the most popular music of today, but to me personally, and to the traditional musician, EDM is truly the shittiest of the shitty when it comes to shitty music.

This genre started in the late 1980s and into the 1990s thorough the rave and dance music scenes, but has its roots in the disco music and culture of the 1970s. A lot of the early pieces of music came from the usage of different electronic instruments that included drum machines, sequencers, and synthesizers, which were discussed in the previous post. Today, anyone can make this type of music due to the easily affordable pieces of technology that are out there. It used to be that there were various types of equipment needed to produce this music, and each piece of machinery could only do one thing. It was economically costly to produce this kind of music back in the 1970s because of the large amount of machinery that was needed. As of today, one machine can essentially do it all, with an entire array of gadgets and devices put into one or a few machines.

In the 1980s, MIDI protocol was heavily involved in this music genre, which allowed for interactions between various music technologies. MIDI stands for Music Instrumental Digital Interface, and was revolutionary for the music industry. This device made it extremely easy to control a large amount of devices. MIDIs give the user the ability to play any instrument or sound at all from one remote controller, most likely being a keyboard or piano. It connects different music equipment technologies together, so the user can choose what they want to use and manipulate what they want to use through the one controller.

A modern day MIDI device.

The MIDI, along with sequencers, sound systems, DJ mixers, electronic effects, and other pieces of technology are used in EDM by DJs. DJs are the “rock stars” of this genre, even though technically they don’t sing or play an instrument. They are the so-called  “artists” that put together this type of music using all of these technologies. They need to make sure that they get the timing right for their mixes, know when to add certain effects, and know when to start or stop certain recordings to change over or weld together two recordings. Overall, you gotta give it up for the DJ. They are the ones that have to keep track of all this stuff, and they also need to learn how to use all of the equipment. They need to know what pieces of music are suitable to use at their gig, and they need to make sure that their timing is right. It is essential for them to get the timing right, or else the music will not flow smoothly. However, one must ask if the DJ actually knows anything about music, other than knowing how to use their equipment effectively and efficiently. They might know something about the music, but to me, they just press buttons.

The DJ has a tough job, but I really do not know much about what it means to be a DJ. I am a musician that plays a physical instrument, and I’m sure you musicians out there either sing or play an instrument. For the most part, we know what we are doing when we play our instruments. In my opinion, and most likely yours, it seems that the DJ doesn’t actually “play” an instrument. Instead, they play “with” an instrument. It seems that they are comparable to someone pressing buttons on a phone, or playing around with a radio. I do not consider them musicians. I consider them manipulators that play around with other people’s music.

Standard DJ Equipment.

Even though I am certainly not a fan of DJs or EDM, and think that EDM is a piece of shit, I look at them as technological revolutionaries. DJs incorporate a vast amount of technologies to produce unique musics, and they have made EDM an extremely popular music among the young audiences just like the techno movement in the 80s. But, I still cannot wrap my head around the fact that these annoying, synthetic, prerecorded sounds and monotonous beats and bass rhythms are extremely popular among my generation. I must ask to my fellow musicians out there, what is wrong with my generation? I wonder if the rock music will come back to its former glory. I digress, again. Anyway, EDM and DJs utilize various technologies that have “revolutionized” the music industry (really?). All of the pieces of technology used in EDM by DJs have become available to all people, and now anyone can learn how to produce their own music at an affordable price. This could yield completely new and exciting ideas for the music industry, but then again, it could still just be people pressing buttons and turning knobs.

Here is a link to a video and an article about EDM and how it has become extremely popular. The video features David Guetta. I guess I’ll never understand how and why button pressers are regarded as “rock stars.”

The Synthesized Revolution

In today’s  musical world of digital technology, one must simply be amazed at what one can accomplish with all of the technology available to them. With the simple click of a button or a key, one can download and play virtually any sound on a whole range of instruments, computers, or keys. We have developed a unique and sophisticated piece of technology that allows anyone to play any sound or instrument sound on a wide spectrum of devices. Digital sounds, space sounds, instrument sounds, and a whole bunch of other sounds can be downloaded and played using this revolutionary piece of technology. Love it or hate it, this device is known as the synthesizer.

Synthesizers have the unique ability of creating new sounds, each with a different frequency, or sound wave. They can copy the sounds that instruments make, or generate an entirely different sound that sounds like no known instrument. In the synthesizer hyperlink, the article goes into how the first electronic sounds were invented by a man named Elisha Gray in 1876 who was an American electrical engineer. Surprisingly, he is also credited for inventing the telephone prototype. Gray discovered that when he manipulated an electromagnetic circuit, he was able to produce a single note with a single note oscillator. The electromagnetic circuit had to vibrate in order to produce the sound, which is why he had them oscillate, or vibrate in rhythm.

Elisha Gray, the inventor of the first “synthesizer.”

From Elisha Gray’s invention in 1876, the tone wheel organ was invented in 1897 by a man named Thaddeus Cahill which was capable of additive synthesis, which is just a fancy word for adding a different timbre, which means sound. Other significant inventions that led to the current day models of synthesizers included the Audion piano by Lee De Forest in 1915, the Theremin by Leon Theremin in 1920, the Ondes Martenot by Maurice Martenot in 1928, and the Trautonium by Friedrich Trautwein in 1929. There were various other innovations that took place through time, but they are too numerous to mention. Technology kept progressing at an even faster rate as time went on, and the synthesizer became more complicated through the years. Overall, Elisha Gray is credited with inventing the first basic sound device that one may appropriately call a “synthesizer.”

The synthesizer in the studios of today is extremely complicated and has so many features and components that make it a dynamic and revolutionary piece of music technology. It has various types of synthesis, which include that fancy word “additive synthesis,” components like electronic oscillators and low-frequency oscillators, MIDI control, and various functions like synth leads and synth bass. With the information given, the synthesizer is a truly intricate and multipurpose piece of technology that is innovative and clever, and takes skill to master. However, this technology has caused quite a stir in the music industry.

Because the synthesizer is technically just machine-produced sounds, some people have problems with it. Maybe some of you musicians out there feel this should not be considered and instrument at all. You might argue that the synthesizer is not a natural instrument, and does not contain the essence of a real instrument. You also might argue that this is a piece of technology that takes away from the natural use of real, physically held and played instruments. Some of you may say that the synthesizer is over-utilized and takes away from the value of music because it is simply not natural. It is also involved in the Electronic Dance Music scene, which is also controversial (and sounds annoying, in my opinion) because it relies heavily on the use of machine-produced and prerecorded sounds and contains no true instruments, but this is a topic for another post.

A Minimoog Synthesizer from the 1970s.

The synthesizer is a one-of-a-kind tool that is able to produce any sound that the user desires through different tools and calculations. It takes skill to master, but it can add a new color or flavor to the music that one produces. It is revolutionary for the music industry and the musician because it allows for any sound to be produced and any instrument sound to be imitated. Personally, I think the synthesizer adds an awesome flavor or color into music. However, I also think that the mainstream music scene should try incorporating more real instruments. Some of the stuff I hear in synthesized music sounds a bit ridiculous, and a lot of the songs that have heavy synthesized sound either the same or follow the same pattern. You musicians out there might find the sounds on synthesized music to be annoying. I, too, find it annoying, which is why I prefer natural instruments. But, I don’t mind an occasional synthesizer or digital sound in rock music once in a while. Overall, the synthesizer is truly an awesome piece of technology.

The earliest song that I know of that is famous for its use of the synthesizer is the song “Frankenstein” by The Edgar Winter Group in 1973. The song is pretty cool, but if you have not heard it, here it is. There is a bit of a delay, but it doesn’t take away from the music.

Singing in Tune…or Auto-Tune?

In the recording studio, sometimes vocalists cannot hit the correct notes for the vocal track they are recording. Sometimes their voice is shot, and they might be pressured to finish the track by a certain time. During performances, some vocalists might want to either avoid embarrassment on stage, not strain their vocal chords if they are injured in any way, or cover up the fact that they can’t sing for shit. So, the easy way out is to use auto-tune. Auto-tune is an audio processor that takes the note from a musical scale that is being sung or played and tunes it to the nearest semitone, or half step or half tone. Just to give you some background, a musical scale is made up of eight notes or tones, with the first note (called the tonic) and the last note (also called the tonic) being the same, but with the last note sounding higher(which is called an octave). There are various scales, which categorize into being major or minor at the basic level. Major scales are usually upbeat and sound “happy,” while minor scales sound melancholy and “sad.” In the C Major Scale, there are eight notes that start at the note C and end at the note C. In ascending order, the notes are as follows: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. In this scale, between the notes E and F, there is a half-step difference in sound, meaning that the notes sound really close to each other. With auto-tune, one can bend the pitch of the note E in this C scale to the note F. This can be very handy if any of you singers or performers are tired and have to make it through a session or performance.

This is one of various auto-tune plug-ins that are available. This one is called Auto-Tune Evo.

The first person to use this interesting piece of technology in a completely different way was (believe it or not) Cher. Do the lyrics, “Do you believe in life after love” ring a bell? Well, that was Cher. She really was the first person to use this technology in the way it is used today to give the voice a robotic effect. The song in which she used this technology is called “Believe”, which came out back in 1998…but she really could sing. Just from listening to the song, the auto-tune tool adds a nice effect to her voice. When this song came out, it was one of a kind because of this tool. The original auto-tune was first created by an engineer named Andy Hildebrand and was used to bend pitches to their proper tone. In the studio with Cher, producers Mark Taylor and Brian Rawling found out that when the setting is turned all the way up, the auto-tune will yield the robot-voice effect. It was revived some years later in the new millennium by T-Pain, in which he utilized the effect for his music. Since then, he has marketed his own auto-tune application available for download on iTunes. Various artists like Chris Brown, Kanye West, and Tim McGraw all use auto-tune, and it seems to be a popular trend.

This technology is revolutionary and is utilized by various people in the music industry. It is a cool effect that allows for the manipulation of the voice. However, it seems to be over-utilized in the aspect of pitch correction. This technology is used to hide mistakes in performances and studio recordings, which takes away from the human element. This is why auto-tune receives a lot of criticism. It has been exploited to a point where perfection is expected, and where voices do not sound like human voices at all. The artists do not sound human at all. I have recorded in studios and know a little bit about what goes on when one records a song. I’m also pretty sure that some of my fellow musicians have been in the studio, but if any of my musician friends have not, this is usually what goes on.  One must take the best take or takes from different tracks and piece them together on one final track, groom it in with effects, and create an overall good sound. I have not used the auto-tune feature, but maybe you have. Features like these that add different effects to the tracks must be used sparingly. If you can’t sing, then I highly suggest you find someone who can, or take vocal lessons. Over-exploiting the use of auto-tune simply destroys the natural human voice. The human voice is a beautiful thing. No amount of technology can change this. When people try to hide the obvious truth that they cannot sing, it demolishes their credibility as a vocalist. When I listen to something, I can usually tell if it is auto-tuned or not. Most of the time, it seems pretty obvious that the artist is using auto-tune. With this being said, it just shows you how much of an impact the human voice has in music, and how much that auto-tune is literally replacing talent with a cheap trick (no, not the band).

The T-Pain Application.

Overall, the auto-tune technology is a revolutionary and unique technology that really has changed the music industry. It has been used by a lot of artists and is very popular in the eyes of music fans and musicians. This technology makes me wonder how many of my musician friends have used auto-tune. In a true musician’s opinion, this technology should be used sparingly. You should not rely heavily on auto-tune in the hopes of creating talent. Talent is something that you are born with, or it is something that you can develop. If you want to learn to sing, take lessons. If you want to learn to play the guitar, take lessons. Do not create a false identity for yourself. With practice, comes true musicians. With over-exploited auto-tune use, comes posers and bull-shitters.

Here is a quick video that references auto-tuning in a derogatory fashion. Does she really use it? Look at her facial expression.