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How Wendy Carlos Changed Music

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Re: How Wendy Carlos Changed Music

#31

Post by shams93 »

rectang wrote: post #3

The secret ingredient in Switched on Bach is that it is an outrageously good musical performance. Lots of other synth albums are technology demos, collections of cool sounds. Switched On Bach stands out because Carlos adapted Bach for the medium of the Moog synth, clearly understanding the compositions' underlying gestures, and ensured that those gestures all come through. In some cases, they come through more clearl…

The tools she had on hand were as primitive as it gets no DAW or anything we think of as a sequencer she had to build all this from analog modules and patch cables.

Re: How Wendy Carlos Changed Music

#33

Post by fractallyte »

No mention in the article of Switched on Bach 2000. This is the album that was a distillation all of her knowledge and skill. Entirely digital (DKS Synergy and Yamaha FM), except for a single Moog note! (She leaves it as a challenge to listeners to locate it...)

The tracks are almost unreal: as different from 'modern' subtractive 'fat' analog-style synths as can be. She champions complex timbres and original tunings, and it makes a tremendous difference to the music. I compared a classical organ recording of Toccata and Fugue in D Minor to her version, and what a difference! Her tuning makes the music so much richer, and she surrounds the listener with a dizzying web of sound - the surround sound is incredible!

Her articles in Keyboard magazine, about the making of SoB2000, were a huge influence on how I came to perceive music.

BTW, Wendy Carlos is also a brilliant eclipse photographer: http://www.wendycarlos.com/eclipse.html

Re: How Wendy Carlos Changed Music

#34

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

rectang wrote: post #3

The secret ingredient in Switched on Bach is that it is an outrageously good musical performance. Lots of other synth albums are technology demos, collections of cool sounds. Switched On Bach stands out because Carlos adapted Bach for the medium of the Moog synth, clearly understanding the compositions' underlying gestures, and ensured that those gestures all come through. In some cases, they come through more clearl…

The secret ingredient in SoB is the fact that much of it was recorded at half speed and played back at double speed. This doubles the tempo and also hugely alters the timbres, making the sound much brighter, punchier, and more sparkly than the usual rather ponderous Moog sound.

You can use an editor like Audacity to halve the pitch and you’ll hear the sounds become much more like the usual Moog timbres on later records from that era. (And yes, Carlos has admitted this herself.)

The records were a team effort. The arrangements were shaped by producer Rachel Elkind, and Baroque specialist Benjamin Folkman.

I’m just as impressed by the fact that Carlos built her own mixer (difficult, but not entirely exceptional) and multitrack recorder (extremely difficult, and definitely exceptional) for the recordings.

Creatively I prefer some of the other work, especially Beauty in the Beast, which is still far ahead of its time now, and By Request, which has some outrageously clever and fun arrangements of other music. (The Elgar pastiche is genius-level and just plain hilarious.)

Re: How Wendy Carlos Changed Music

#35

Post by Intermernet »

jnbiche wrote: post #21

Oh man, listening to Switched on Bach now. First music I loved as a kid; it still evokes an emotional response. Life has been hard recently, living through a serious illness with lots of pain, feels good to kick back and listen to this. BTW, archive.org has the best quality recordings I've found of Switched on Bach. It's not got a very full sound, but there are less pops and crackles than other sources online such as…

You're right, this one is a particularly good recording https://archive.org/details/SwitchedOnBach1 .

Re: How Wendy Carlos Changed Music

#36

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

multi_tude wrote: post #26
bananaboy wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes! Exactly! The key thing there is that Carlos is a musician as well. I think Tomita is another great example of a musician who took material and adapted it for a new medium in really interesting, innovative ways.

Tomita's Pictures at an Exhibition is arguably a more distinguished execution of synthesized orchestration than Switched on Bach.

If you know synths it’s pretty easy to reverse engineer the sounds on SoB. They’re unfamiliar by modern pop standards, because there’s a lot of layering and paralleling with simultaneous envelopes and multiple filter sweeps that (boringly...) isn’t done much today. But they’re not opaque.

I have no idea how to copy some the sounds Tomita got from his Moogs, and I’m fairly sure no one else does either. Some are easy, some are “That’s really clever.” But there are more than a few that I have absolutely no clue about.

The fact that he patched up and recorded these huge flamboyant orchestral-sounding pieces note by note and line by line with such a creative range of unique and original sounds is just astounding.

Re: How Wendy Carlos Changed Music

#37

Post by bananaboy »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #36
multi_tude wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tomita's Pictures at an Exhibition is arguably a more distinguished execution of synthesized orchestration than Switched on Bach.

If you know synths it’s pretty easy to reverse engineer the sounds on SoB. They’re unfamiliar by modern pop standards, because there’s a lot of layering and paralleling with simultaneous envelopes and multiple filter sweeps that (boringly...) isn’t done much today. But they’re not opaque. I have no idea how to copy some the sounds Tomita got from his Moogs, and I’m fairly sure no one else does either. Some are easy,…

Yeah I totally agree! I love SoB but the arrangements and patches are way more traditional and straightforward. Tomita really explored and extended the canvas of the synthesiser as a musical instrument in its own right. JMJ too.

Re: How Wendy Carlos Changed Music

#38

Post by rectang »

flavio81 wrote: post #24
11thEarlOfMar wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just noticed that the album cover refers to her production company as 'Trans-Electronic Music Productions, Inc.' I guess 'trans' was a term in the 60s, but not likely that many listeners realized the significance.

the logo for T.E.M.P was a trans istor, so i think that's the "trans" Walter and Rachel had in mind back then.

¿Por qué no los dos? I can't imagine that Carlos was oblivious to the possible multiple interpretations.

Re: How Wendy Carlos Changed Music

#39

Post by hokkos »

edraferi wrote: post #25
colomon wrote: post #16

Does anyone have an idea why her albums aren't currently available?

Looks like Switched on Bach is available on Spotify, but not under Carlos’ name: https://open.spotify.com/album/3eybj65D63xdjPEho8N7s4

It is not her, it is a random spotify artist releasing public property music recorded by himself, listen to the pieces in the articles it is definitely not it.

Re: How Wendy Carlos Changed Music

#40

Post by HelloNurse »

multi_tude wrote: post #26
bananaboy wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes! Exactly! The key thing there is that Carlos is a musician as well. I think Tomita is another great example of a musician who took material and adapted it for a new medium in really interesting, innovative ways.

Tomita's Pictures at an Exhibition is arguably a more distinguished execution of synthesized orchestration than Switched on Bach.

Unsurprising, as the most complex orchestrations in SoB and its sequels are the small-ensemble Brandenburg Concerts; parts are already written, creative orchestration is limited to designing four or five instruments to play them.

On the other hand Pictures at an Exhibition is a piano solo piece. If it has a fancy "synthesized orchestration" Tomita, like others before him, developed a fairly arbitrary adaptation.

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