Technology
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Brian Eno on Improvisation, Computers and Music
One of the reasons why musician and producer Brian Eno’s words are worth reading is that he often has timely things to say about music and says them in a way that makes sense and makes you pause and think. In a recent Pitchfork interview (my second Pitchfork-related post in a week), Eno discusses strategies for improvisation and the Continue reading
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Digital Diets, Attention Spans and The Rhythms Of Learning
Is the Internet and all manner of digital media really doing something substantial to our consciousness, to how we think? Is my attention span not getting worse exactly but maybe becoming fractured? This is the subject of at least a few articles I’ve read lately, including this one in the Times which is part of Continue reading
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The Sound Of Auto Tune
You know the Auto Tune sound when you hear it: it sounds artificial, electronic, not quite human enough, too perfect. Auto Tune is everywhere today, from TV commercials to hip hop to country music. It’s the Photoshop of the musical world. The technology was conceived by Andy Hildebrand, an engineer for Exxon who developed methods Continue reading
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Apple Commercials and Musical Minimalism
Apple computer makes magnificent TV ads for its products: the commercials are visual case studies in sleek minimalism, computer or iPhone set again a pure black or white background, a disembodied hand showing the viewer just how simple it is to work with this technology. Carefully chosen music is part of what makes Apple’s commercials Continue reading
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Sound Exploring
If you make electronic music of any type you can’t get around the inescapable fact of needing and wanting to explore new sounds. Back in the early days of electronic music–think Stockhausen, Otto Luening and Vladimir Ussachevsky–making electronic sounds was a laborious process. One had to layer sine tones, or manipulate magnetic tape, or deal Continue reading
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Making Musical Systems Public
Over the years, a lot of electronic musicians have shrouded their work in a veil of mystery: they tell us very little about how they make their music–the tools the use, their working methods, and so forth. We are reminded of vinyl DJs back in the day who would cover up the labels on their Continue reading
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The Hang Drum: Real and Virtual
Do you like the sounds of steel pans and gamelans? Then you might really be intrigued by the sound of the Hang, a percussion instrument created and hand-built by the Swiss company PANart (Felix Rohner and Sabina Scharer) since 2000. The Hang consists of two steel sheets welded together to make a convex shape, a little Continue reading
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On Autechre: Exercising The Materiality Of Machine Music
I don’t think of a sound in my head and try and find it on the keyboard. I just find the sound on the keyboard. -Sean Booth, Autechre Have you ever listened to the music of Autechre? They are a UK-based electronic music duo that has been releasing their unique brand of adventurously experimental and probing techno music Continue reading
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Jaron Lanier on Technology: Music and MIDI
Jaron Lanier, an American computer scientist, musician, and author, is pretty cool in my book. In his recent manifesto, You Are Not A Gadget, he makes a strong case for probing how technology reduces us as the creative humans that we are, muting the “cultural anger” we need to come up with new tools that do Continue reading
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