Technology and Music

Over the past 100 years tremendous changes have happened with technology that have changed our relationship with music. Alex Ross discusses the changes that occurred when the first recording devices were used to capture music.

 This changed the relationship from one of LIVE performance in theatres, halls, parlors, or kitchens to canned sound where ever the Victrola was placed and cranked.

This fundamentally changed our relationship to one of consumption

Throughout the 20th century there occurred a shift , where dance music was once big bands or small ensembles to today where djs or sound engineers put on shows of soundscapes for the ravers or revelers.

Moving from analog to digital was a major shift as was from the recoded disk or cassette (remember 8-track) to the meg-storage device and the mp3s.

The ubiquity of mp3 players has some many people "plugged in" changed our conversations (or lack there of) and even our eye contact and non-verbal social behaviours.

Check out the wave form for these recordings.

First one from a vinyl record recording and pressed in analog, then copied to cassette tape without dolby sound reduction and digitized through i-mic device recorded on Adobe Audition.

Log on to d2l to hear the sound differences for them.


Rahsaan Roland Kirk's "Do nothing 'till you hear from me"

and


Bruno Mars' "Just the way you are"

 

Now You Tube is how many people experience music,

Dreamworlds3 - Desire, Sex, Power in Music videos

Cochlear Implants TED Charles Limb

Early form of Voice altering (autotune?) Peter Frampton's "voice box"

The Grateful Dead's Wall of Sound and the development of noise cancellation

Theremin over the rainbow

Sound beam https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoqzhLbdo9Q

Marble machine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q