Podcast Project 2

My Week 4 Podcast

Independent Research

Andreas Vollenweider, known as a “New Age Artist” was a true innovator when he modified his harp by converting it to an electrical harp.  Though he played multiple instruments such as guitar, piano, and flute, his ambition to demonstrate how this unique sounding electrical harp could be used in a variety of musical genres and popular music leading him to becoming a Grammy-winning artist.  As stated in an Allmusic article by Rovi, on the following link:

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/andreas-vollenweider-mn0000037212

“Not only did he construct a damper to expedite more rhythmic playing, he broadened the harp's tonal range by electrifying it.”

Because he had the knowledge of music from his upbringing and because he knew how to play other instruments, he was able to experiment with the harp; Andreas, develop a distinct sound delivering a new way to orchestra the harp into a contemporary sounding mix of the late 1980s.  This was quite different from any other performing harpist in the past.   This new concept with the harp also incorporated the synthesizer, flute and percussion instruments.  

Since Andreas Grammy, which he received in 1987, he experimented with a wider spectrum of musical instrument; he did this by adding more cultural sounding instrumentation such as the Chinese flute, Greek Dulcimer, and different sounding vocal styles.  Found at the Oldies.com website on the following link,

http://www.oldies.com/artist-biography/Andreas-Vollenweider.html

The author indicates:

“This approach deepened on Book Of Roses, where Vollenweider himself played Chinese flute and Greek dulcimer, and on one track performed with South African vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo.”

As Andreas Vollenweider, grew musically he was able to continue his experimentation by using other styles and musicians that were coming from various countries and parts of the world now earning him a new title as “World Music Artist”.  The genre he played mixed classical, pop, jazz, synthetic styles, and world music opening the doors to others forms of instrumentation; his concepts went beyond “New Age” music.  His influences came from growing up in Europe plus having a family who were also a group of musicians and artists. 

I was surprised by the fact that Andreas was the rebellious type, since European musicians usually are well schooled in classical music and discipline themselves in their approach because of their ridged upbringing.  Taken from Encyclopedia.com the author states in paragraph four on the following link:

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Andreas_Vollenweider.aspx

“A Bohemian type who rarely attended school, Vollenweider drove his music teachers crazy because he refused to follow the sheet music they gave him to play.  Instead, he gained proficiency through trial and error and was, for the most part, a self-taught musician.”

As a music educator, I found from my own experiences that when I am teaching a student, it would be a bad practice to use any single approach when educating them; every mind has a unique design and unique dna which allows the student to learn differently.  Therefore, I would never insist on how to learn something or create music for that matter.

Andreas’s style and approach toward creating music had me also examining how I may want to use different and other unique ways when using sound and sound design.  I also found that when listening to a composition, to listen both passively and actively in order to understand what the artist is trying to convey, yet be engaged technically to what is actually being recorded and how it may have been created.  I am hoping that in my future projects when writing and recording music, I will also remain open minded as other successful artists have demonstrated in the past.  Andreas Vollenweider, in his examples heard on his albums and live performances, helped me to see how a professional in the music industry may want to go about developing their own unique and different styles of recording, yet still remaining marketable and fresh for music created in the future. 

I believe the above approach will aid me in keeping my career competitive and constantly advancing over the next 5 years and beyond.  I find it extremely important to remember that listening to a variety of musical genre is essential for growth for ones career in music and as a contribution to the music industry as a whole.  My plan to stay current and interesting as a professional music industry person is by paying close attention to the noise and sound surrounding me, and how sound can evolve and continues to change effecting the viewers and listening audiences.  Overall, I am looking forward to hearing other artists and creating new and exciting sounds that will impact the future lovers of music who not only play, but who also listen closely to an artists’ work.

Electronic Artist

Gary Numan, impacted the electronic music scene in enormous ways because of the how he kept evolving over time.  His vision and concepts of how he heard music was ahead of its’ generation and remains relevant even to date.  While the ordinary and popular sound of guitars held the attention of artists and fans of the time, Numan insisted on using the synthesizer and electronics instead in order to portray his creative ideas.  On ATP’s web page found at the following link:

http://www.atpfestival.com/artist/garynuman.php, the author states,

“Numan was virtually alone in seeing the possibility of a 'synthesizer star' and much to the critics' initial anguish, he achieved success almost overnight.”

This was the beginning of Gary’s career when he incorporated the sound of the electronic keyboard to his bands music.

Gary Numans’ influence spread to other bands of the time that also decided to use keyboards in their bands instead of guitars.  It is interesting that his idea even though rejected at first, ended up changing the popular music industry and actually created what would be know as the “New Wave” genre.   The repetitive rhythm sounds of the drums along with its’ feel and mood added to the distinctive quality of this new sound.   In essence the term “New Wave” holds an electronic reference to it as in an electronic sound wave.

As the other bands trendy electronic style started to decline Numan, was connecting to the next phase that would immerge and he continued to set the mood of the music style that would follow.  His cold, dark, and futurist approach to music and sound opened the doors to many other artists such as, Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson.    It is important to note that as stated in the same article mentioned above, the author also declares the following:

"His mixture of atmospheric textures and power-chorded synthesizers inspired dance artists such as the Prodigy and the Orb and a whole new wave of mavericks began to talk about him as a source of inspiration with many of them also covering his songs - they included Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails), Marilyn Manson. Jarvis Cocker (Pulp), Damon Albarn (Blur), Tricky, Weezer, Moloko, The Magnetic Fields, The Foo Fighters (Kurt Cobain was also a fan of the Replicas album, especially the track 'It Must Have Been Years'), Smashing Pumpkins and Beck."

It is fascinating to me that during the early origins of electronic music and how many bands that were on the top of the pops during the time Gary Numan, surfaced and unlike other groups who may have fizzled out, he himself is the main reason for the evolution of the style deemed “electronic music”.  I am impressed with his motivation, progress, and contribution to this particular and growing style.  It is also interesting how he outlasted his peers and is still releasing albums and continues to influence others in the industry and continues to grow within the industry.   Gary Numan, leaves me as an industry professional with great incentive toward advancements in sound and composing music, and the urgency to stay abreast of all new technological changes within the music production field.

Electronic Music

When the German band Kraftwerk came along the music of their country experienced a completely new sound they weren’t used to in the past.  Kraftwerks’ music demonstrated that German people, who are known thru out history as strong inventors, scientist, and engineers are now people who also demonstrated their unique abilities in electronic music.  This different approach to music from the traditional roots Germany has in classical music was quite impressive for the world to see and hear.  The bands image illustrated the militant uniformed persona and their use of the German roadways in their imagery and song plus was intelligent highlighting not only the band, but their country as a whole.

Kraftwerk released 5 albums during 1974 to 1981 each representing a specific theme and expression.  Autobahn, released in 1974 with the concept of road travel included a 22-minute title track demonstrating the sounds heard while traveling.  Stated in Allmusic by Rovi, at the following link:

http://www.allmusic.com/album/autobahn-mw0000195085

“Within Autobahn, the roots of electro-funk, ambient, and synth pop are all evident -- it's a pioneering album, even if its electronic trances might not capture the attention of all listeners.”

The song was an international hit and was the beginning of a new genre of music we know today. The bands second album in 1975, Radio Activity is another concept album dealing with broadcasting media using electronic devises that make up communication technology.  All the song titles on this album are named according to the components use in radio electronics.  The songs title track was also the first to be recorded in English rather than German.

Trans-Europe Express, Kraftwerks’ third album in 1977, is about cross-country travel expressing the continents accessibility to the world around them.   The music is danceable with pulsating rhythms and a synthetic blend of electronic instrumentation that captures the theme and concept of the album.  Their fourth album, The Man Machine released in 1978, is classified as devoid of human characteristics.

“The Man Machine, a work almost completely bereft of human touches. By this time, the members of Kraftwerk even publicly portrayed themselves as automatons, an image solidified by tracks like "We Are the Robots."

The above as stated by Jason Ankeny, on his Yahoo Music page found on the following link:

http://music.yahoo.com/kraftwerk/biography/

The song, The Robots uses spacey vocals imitating the sound of what a robot from another planet or outer space may sound like.  On the second track the song Spacelab, reminds me of the electronic dance music played today using the repetitive synthesized sounds and mechanical drumbeats.  The only difference is that if remixed today it would be more aggressive and dynamic because of how technology has progressed.

In 1981 Computer World was released and as stated by Rovi, for Allmusic publications on the following link:

 http://www.allmusic.com/album/computer-world-mw0000199024

“The last great Kraftwerks’ album, Computer World captured the band right at the moment when its pioneering approach fully broke through in popular music, thanks to the rise of synth pop, hip-hop, and electro.”

At this point the bands contributions to the electronic music scene are prevalent, plus Kraftwerk as artists are now widely recognized. The bands efforts with experimental music by using technology, opened the door to a distinctive form of music.  I believed the band proved that thru Art & Science and using many mediums, (which included digital electronics, sound design, imagery, culture, history, and advancements in technology) that music can be appreciated on a new level.  They actually created a new genre of music still being dissected for experimentation.

Balducci Audio Cast

Balducci Audio Cast

Marvin Gaye "What's Going On"

Marvin Gaye began singing gospel music as a youngster at his father’s church.  As he grew up he continued singing and became a successful Motown artist with many hits songs of the 1960s.  The music he recorded were catchy love tunes that appealed to audiences who were interested in romance and relationships.   As hard times faced the nation during the 1960s and 70s, Marvin’s message started changing and was now based on the troubles of the day.

When the Vietnam War was in effect plus the riots breaking out around the nation Marvin, wrote about the painful issues America had to deal with.  His song “What’s Going On”, speaks about the protest he and many others believed in concerning the issues.   Marvin faced opposition from his producer Berry Gordy, concerning the songs message.  According to “What Went On”, Ben Edmonds article found in The Guardian for Friday, the 7^th of December 2001, Berry stated,

“Marvin, why do you want to ruin your career? Why do you want to put out a song about the Vietnam War, police brutality and all of these things? You've got all these great love songs. You're the hottest artist, the sex symbol of the '60s and '70s...' "

Marvin was willing to take a risk and revamp his career because he felt passionate about the need for change in the world and the events occurring.  He took more of a risk by also changing his image to represent the change he felt.  The biggest obstacle was when his producer refused to release the tune.  Berry Gordy claims, "the worst thing I've ever heard in my life", referring to the song “What’s Going On”.  Marvin was married to Berry’s sister, which made matters tense when family matters arose.  In the end, Marvin broke thru the roadblocks and got the tune released.

The link to the complete article stated above can be found at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2001/dec/08/extract

“What’s Going On”, was different from the regular songs recorded at Motown due to a vast mix of talented musicians who played on the record.  Marvin played, produced, and conducted the song himself completely controlling the project.  The sound of the song was more orchestrated then songs recorded previously at Motown.   In addition, recorded vocal tracks were doubled creating a better production.  The lyrics were not the usually love song message, setting the tune miles apart from typical Motown lyrics.

I find Marvin Gaye’s remarkable and different approach he used when he wrote and produced “What’s Going On”, a profound way to introduced to Motown a new path for it’s artist to communicate and create music.   In addition, his approach enlightened the recording industry and made the industry more aware and concerned about serious issues that should be addressed in songs.   I feel that Marvin along with many other innovators during this period changed the way producers, artists, and industry officials make decisions concerning what the audience responds to and what will sell records.  Keeping and open mind to new ideas and approaches when writing and recording is something I will remember, as I continue to learn about the music industry.

The Velvet Underground & Nico

The unconventional sound and overall nonconformist attitude toward commercial music, is what the Velvet Underground & Nico represented when they emerged on the scene and released their album in the 1960s.  Their music was coarse, improvisational, plus experimental in nature demonstrating an attempt to challenge the sound and theme of the times.  Each member of the group seemed as though they didn’t fit in to the norm of society and accidentally formed an alliance to fight for their own causes.  Lou Reed demonstrates his need to write songs about actual events that were happening in his own life and the events around him rather than write about made up stories that represented commercial music.  He states in an interview documented on a You Tube video found on the link that follows near marker 6:50 that he would

“Write about everyday reality”, and “what he really cared about”. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3Uk2Y-De-w

On the other hand, John Cale demonstrated his frustration with his former project of combining “commercial” music with “avant-garde” music and migrated toward a more “cool” and “funky” style also stated on the above link near marker 5:30.  Lou Reed and John Cale were both responsible for the songs that would be written and developed.  Pop Artist Andy Warhol, produced the band and introduced Nico, a female German model, actor, and singer who he added to join the band.  The other two members Sterling Morrison, Lou Reeds’ college friend and guitarist for the band and Maureen Tucker the bands drummer completed the bands raw, loud, and controversial ensemble. 

Due to combining music with film and art, the band inspired a curious audience who wanted to know what the group was about.  Once listeners heard their rebellious, raw, and abrasive sound one couldn’t help but pay attention to what and why the band was making so much noise.  This is why the band stood out from the other bands of the time.   Their music was forceful in sound, visual in movement, and artistically interesting; this concept created a total wholeness from each of the band members and persons who contributed to the project and production of their music. 

The downside for the band is that not everyone listening would want to have forceful, loud, and strong ranting lyrics imposed on them since most music was written with less offensive topics and a sound that was more pleasing to the ears.   In addition, I would image the average person couldn’t handle too much stimulus with imagery and art.  Their music wasn’t for every audience and they didn’t care about that since they weren’t striving to appeal to the masses. The band members played for themselves and this was probably the reason behind the bands popularity and success in addition to the bands failures and pitfalls.

The interesting aspects of this album is the way in which sound production was utilize; by using different live instrumentation, art, and film to produce, record, and design sound for production is quite impression and creative.  As time has shown more advancements have developed in the recording industry since the 1960s.  The way in which we as music production professional develop a project should be approached with an open mind and opened ears in retrospect to what we can learn from the past.

The Beatles' Revolver

The Beatles, truly an amazing band began their journey as a simple pop rock group who loved the music of the times and aspired to be like the musician they all listened to.   Their image changed over the years even though they started out as common Liverpool kids with high hopes for fame.   Their image and sound was based around trendy styles and pop music usually written in the vein of a happy love tune.  However, when their album “Revolver” was recorded the band showed a different side of them.   In the book ABRACADABRA, found in the last paragraph on page 8 the Author Ray Newman states,

• “In this instance, they were able to separate and explore their own interests, with their own circles of friends, but without ever losing the underlying connection with the “hive mind”.”

Each member of the band began to voice their opinions and write songs that reflected each one of their personalities.  At this point in time the Beatles stayed focused on being creative and experimental.

Other influences were brought into the style of their music when they began writing about current events and experimenting with drugs.  Even in the recording studio concepts and recording methods changed.   The engineers started to use the studio environment as a way to create different ways to record in order to achieve a certain unique sound.  For example, on Paul Ingles, PRX radio cast “Everything Was Right: The Beatles’ Revolver “Jon Spurney, a New York musician, tells how engineer Geoff Emerick, experimented with Paul McCartney’s’ bass sound.  Emerick said,

• “Instead of using a microphone on his bass cabinet, they actually used a speaker” and he continues to explain how “they put another bass cabinet in front of his bass cabinet so that the diaphragm that was being moved by his bass amp was the Hugh diaphragm of the speaker and that is how they recorded the bass.”  

This created a very unique and different sound for the electric bass plus it was Paul’s first time using a Rickenbacker bass.  This method was used on two of the songs on the Revolver album, which include Paperback Writer and Rain.

 It is very common for drummers to place a pillow inside of a bass drum in order to mute the sound a bit because of the noise level.  Geoff Emerick, did something similar to Ringo’s drums, yet took it a step further for recording purposes as stated in the book Sonic Alchemy written by David N. Howard found on page 23 in the last paragraph.  He states,

• “Another notable advancement of “Tomorrow Never Knows” was the recording treatment applied to Ringo’s drums.  To cultivate its startlingly crisp sound, engineer Geoff Emerick, stuffed a woolen sweater with four neck openings (used by the band on a famous early photo shoot), into Starr’s bass drum to deaden the sound.”   He then shunned the standard bass drum microphone placement by moving it far closer than ever previously attempted. Lastly, he ran the signal through a number of compressors and valve-limiters. “It became the sound of Revolver and Pepper really.  Drums had never been heard like that before. Emerick said.”

The Beatles impacted many people because of their diversity and constant evolution with new ideas toward writing, recording, and performing.  They stayed current with the time making listeners wanting to come back for more.   Revolver is the type of recording that I find myself having to review over and over again in order to see what else I may discover or may have missed.   Being in the music industry, I will use The Beatles' Revolver album as a tools to assist me when recording and creating music in more innovative ways.

Beach Boys' Pet Sounds

In the early years of the Beach Boys careers, the band was portrayed as a 1960s all American group that sported a clean-cut image appealing to the youth of the times.  Their music had a syrupy commercial sound that attracted teenagers. Their lyrics spoke about the typical concerns of adolescents, such as relationships, having fun, hot rods, and summertime outdoors activities.  An example of how the Beach Boys portrayed their clean-cut image is seen when the band performs, in their mannerisms, and how they would answer questions shown in a 1964 video recording viewed on You Tube:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0dwjPz65R0.

Brian Wilson, the lead singer and a strong force behind the Beach Boys, is what made this group so dynamic and memorable.  He was fixated on making a recording sound perfect which lead to their success.  Even after their accomplishment with the song “Surfin”, the bands first single and hit record, Brian continued striving for perfection.  In his book Sonic Alchemy, writer David N. Howard, speaks about Brian’s work ethics when he states,

• “Disappointed by their meager royalties from Candix, Brian Wilson decided to book time in a studio, produce a professional-sounding demo, and make a deal with one of the major labels.  Soon the Beach Boys had secured a contract with Capitol Records on the strength of a new demo called “Surfin’ Safari.” 

Brain was determined to move forward planning the groups continued journey that he believed would lead to victorious success for the boys.

As the music of 1960s era kept evolving with musical groups such as the Beatles, Brian Wilson also wanted to take his craft to the next level.  The album Pet Sounds, was recorded and influenced by the Beatles album “Rubber Soul”.  Howard also mentions in his book Sonic Alchemy,

•   “With the late 1965 release of the Beatles’ near perfect Rubber Soul, pop’s stakes had been raised into the stratosphere.” 

Brian’s taste and style changed into more complex ensembles and recordings heard on arrangements such as “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” which is displayed on the “Behind The Sounds” video located on the following You Tube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofByti7A4uM.

This style features various orchestrated instrumentation that included a woodwind sections, accordions, pianos, a brass sections, tympani, tambourine, celeste, string sounds, various basses, guitars, and drums.   In addition, the vocals sounded larger and similar to a choir sound with fuller harmonies.  The diverse mix of musician plus the age of the players and the style of music they represented set the band apart from the typical ordinary groups of the 1960s.

I always believed that the Beach Boys were a West Coast pop band with good harmonies and good songs.  However, after careful analysis of  Pet Sounds, my opinion changed. What Brian Wilson added to the band when he recorded this album showed his true genius and how important his contribution would be to the music industry.  What was most impressive about this album was Brian’s professional work ethic in the studio while working with other session musicians and team players, in addition to the variety of instruments he experimented with during the 1960s rock and roll age.

About Me

I am a music teacher and music retailer in NJ.  I will be graduating from Full Sail University June 2013, with a major in Music Production.  My interest in the music industry is based on molding and coaching talented performers.  After the individual is prepared, I will compose, arrange, produce, and record projects that will make them artists.