Thu, Jan 15, 2015
This episode looks at the beginnings of recorded sound, with the advent of Edison's wax cylinder and soon after, Berliner's shellac disc (the familiar 78 rpm gramophone record). Until that time, the only music that people heard was fleeting live performances; now for the first time they could listen whenever and wherever they wanted. Technology influenced musical styles. With mechanical recording, some instruments were too soft or too loud to record, violins needed the addition of a horn resonator in order to be heard and singers had to sing loudly as if they were singing to a large hall. The introduction of the microphone and electronic amplifiers allowed a more intimate "crooning" style of singing which captured the nuances of the voice more faithfully.
Thu, Jan 22, 2015
The development of magnetic tape for recording sound opened up creative possibilities for musicians to blend different takes, to merge different instruments that were recorded on different occasions or in different locations, and to record themselves multiple times to create a chorus. The Beatles' "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "Revolver" albums and The Beach Boys' song "Good Vibrations" are examples of recordings that make extensive use of the multi-track capabilities of magnetic tape. At around the same time, record producers such as Phil Spector were exploiting the technology - Spector was responsible for recording same instruments and vocalists many times, playing/singing slightly different variations each time, to create his trademark "wall of sound".