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1)
National
Public Radio Interview,
ca. 1988
Ben:
A musician who used the Synclavier
II in his groundbreaking recordings produced
during the 1980's was Colorado composer, Don
Robertson, one of the pioneers of the crossover
between electronic, ambient, and new age music.
Ben:
Don
Robertson, a composer and software designer,
explains why he chose the Synclavier to record
his albums exclusively. He created, recorded, and
edited all of his albums directly from his one
music workstation. He discusses his use of the
instrument to emulate sounds of different
instruments, and create unique timbres. He
discusses how the computer memorizes the
melodies and how he constructs complex musical
scores on this instrument. He also talks about
other systems which help the composer create,
orchestrate, and store complete musical scores
in software-based systems.
Don,
you compose your music entirely on a computer
musical instrument. How did you choose this
instrument to realize your compositions?
Don:
The first time I heard about this instrument was
around 1982. It was hard for me to believe the
description I read, concerning the use
of it, and what it was capable of doing. And
when I heard it, I couldn't believe my ears. It
was the first musical instrument I had ever
listened to that used a computer to create the
sound. So, the sound was very different from
other traditional and electronic instruments I
had worked with and listened to. Since the
computer is the instrument, it can control all
the compositional parameters and that makes life
much easier for a composer. You can tell it to
do something, and it quickly accomplishes the
selected task and saves a lot of time. It makes
a lot of things possible that would never have
been possible before.
Ben:
Can
you describe some of the functions that you
incorporate into your work?
Don:
First of all you can use the instrument to
create the sounds of many other types of
instruments including traditional instruments
and many new types of sounds that traditional
instruments cannot create. For instance, you can
plug a microphone into the Synclavier and have
someone come into your studio and record a
single note of an oboe or violin. Then you can
play the same sound back, which is CD quality,
on the keyboard, and the sound that is produced
is exactly like the instrument you recorded. You
can also create your own sounds by telling the
computer what type of sound you want.... what
type of waveform you want to create. You can
duplicate many instruments that way, as well as
create new ones that had never been heard
before. I create all the sounds for the piece
that I'm composing, and then the computer
memorizes the melody. So I simply play the
melody on the keyboard and the computer plays it
back. It can recreate the performance in
different keys, different time signatures, and
different sounds for the melody. For instance,
if I originally conceived it as an oboe melody,
and then I realized it would sound better as a
French horn melody, I can change the arrangement
with the push of a button. So you can see with
this high-quality sound, and all the other
compositional benefits, that the Synclavier is
truly a standalone music workstation. As a
composer, it is an indispensable asset. The
instrument creates the sounds, memorizes the
melodies, prints out a score, and performs the
piece not-for-note, just the way it was
originally conceived and easily produces
variations on any aspect of the performance. As
far as a professional machine with these
capabilities becoming available to composers for
less than twenty thousand dollars, I think we
will have to wait a few years, as developments
in micro circuits are accelerated, circuits are miniaturized,
computer speeds are increased, and
software-based systems are refined.
2)
Interview
2000
Ben:
The
preceding interview took place in the late
1980s. Don's predictions came true, and now it
is possible to create a computer-based music
system that far surpasses the Synclavier in
every aspect for under #2,000.00 including
hardware and software. One of the great things
about music and computer technology is that as
the technology advances, the costs are
diminished. Wouldn't it be grand if everything
else in the consumer market were like this?
(Ben
continues) Instruments have evolved
tremendously since you first started making
music yourself, Don. Have these changes helped
or influenced your personal musical evolution in
any way?
Don:
These changes have helped me a great deal, Ben.
However, they haven't influenced me as much as
they have helped me. I use my instruments to
produce the music that I hear, as opposed to
letting the instruments lead me in a direction.
That just happens to be how I operate. The music
is always inside of me waiting to get out, and I
use the tools that are available to allow it to
do so.
Ben:
Tell
me about your new studio setup, and it's
advantages and disadvantages over the old one.
Don:
My original studio, based around the Synclavier
II, was at first a dream come true. I had one of
the first instruments built by New England
Digital. However, as the technology of the
Synclavier progressed, so did the price of the
enhancements that I needed to buy if I were to
progress also. There was a point where I had to
stop upgrading my machine because I couldn't
afford it! Instead I watched the few others who
had the money (such as Frank Zappa, who I
understand paid $250,000.00 1980-era dollars for
his full-blown Synclavier II) use all the great,
new features, such as MIDI and sampling. These
were the features that I really wanted.
For
example, I had created a wonderful string patch,
to make the kind of string-orchestra sound I
loved. The patch was the result of a lot of
experimenting. To create it, I had chorus units,
reverb units, digital delay units, a lot of
hardware gear strung together in a very finely
tuned fashion. Meanwhile, my friend Denny Jaeger
set up a session in his recording studio and
recorded real violins and cellos for his
Synclavier! That's what I really wanted to do,
but I was unable to use Denny's samples because
I couldn't afford the extremely expensive and
pioneering sampling option for the Synclavier.
Jumping
ahead fifteen years, I purchased the equipment
for my latest studio in 1998. I have a Kurzweil
2500 sampling rack-mounted unit and the Paris
Digital Audio Workstation. I paid the same price
for my entire current studio (including
speakers, midi patch bay, mike pre-amp, mixing
desk, CD ROMs units and so on) that I paid for
the original Synclavier back in 1982, and the
capabilities of this new equipment are greater
than the unit that Zappa bought for $250,000. So
I am really happy! For example, now I finally
have Denny Jaeger's original string library on
CD-ROM in Kurzweil format, in addition to
others.
Another
important asset for me now is being able to use
MIDI. I didn't have MIDI in my original studio
because the Synclavier MIDI interface cost
$8,000.00! My friend Chet Wood was one of the
two original inventors of MIDI, I myself sat on
the dais of the first MIDI conference, yet I
didn't have it my self. I used the old-fashioned
sync-tone to synchronized my gear instead. I had
several PCM digital recorders that I had
purchased in 1984. These recorded CD-quality
sound on Betamax tape. What I did was record the
music in digital on the 'video' part of the
Betamax tapes, then record the sync tones on the
audio part. I had an awful time getting this to
work, but the results were great when I could,
because I was able to produce a pure digital
"multi-track" recording by bouncing
between the two PCM machines long before digital
mixers were commercially available.
But
now I have MIDI and it had opened a door for me.
For years I have improvised at the piano and
wanted to record these improvisations then
release the recordings. Some of my best music
has been these piano improvisations. Yet I
didn't release these recordings, or even keep
them because I am really fussy about the piano
being in tune, and if I hit the wrong note in a
couple of places, then that would spoil it form
me. Now, I just activate the MIDI recorder on my
PC, improvise using one of my favorite sampled
piano sounds, fix the few wrong notes here and
there, record my improvisation, and I am
finished: I now have tuned piano and a
glitch-free performance! This allowed me to
produce my first piano album, called Keys.
Ben:
What
do you think about the evolution of electronic
music in the 1970s and 1980s?
Don:
The European music of the mid-1970s was what
originally turned me on, and still does: Klaus
Schultze, Manuel Gottsching's Newzeit der
Erda, and the early music of Vangelis.
During the 1980s I liked one of Kitaro's first
albums, Silk Road, and some of the albums
of that era. I also listened to some of the
music by my friends Emerald Web, Iasos, Xolotl,
and the music of Ray Lynch and Synchestra. My
interest was pretty limited and as far as
evolution, it seems as though I didn't hear much
music better than that.
Ben:
It
seems that more and more, the future of getting
a composer's music out there is through the
emerging interactive formats and working with
the World Wide Web. What are your views on that?
Don:
Several years ago I was saying that the web was
the greatest technological breakthrough in
communications since television. Now I am more
inclined to say it is the greatest breakthrough
in communications since the printing press! The
World Wide Web will destroy all of our current
ways of dealing with music, period...like it or
not.
Ben:
And
do you like it?
Don:
Yes. I am now putting free MP3s of great music
on the DoveSong website. Ben, I am less
concerned about selling CDs and more concerned
about sharing my knowledge of music and my gifts
with the world. And the internet is the place to
do that. It is amazing, absolutely amazing...the
realization of the global village. Right now,
anywhere in the world, someone can listen to my
music, should they chose to, or ready my
writings about music, or anyone else's for that
matter.
Ben:
Do
you think there will be some future evolved form
of MP3, maybe MP6, MP7?
Don:
Ben, I believe that we will eventually evolve
beyond MP3. New compression algorithms will be
invented and the ones that we have will be
improved. Plus bandwidth will get better and
storage limitations will become less of an
issue. Actually, we may get to the point that
compression will be pointless because we will be
able to download and store 32-bit encoded, 88Khz
wave files with ease! One way or another,
technology will continue to improve. It seems
that technology is the only thing that is
improving (laughs).
Ben:
You
can now visit a site online, put in a credit
card number and a piece of music will download
directly onto your computer's hard drive. Many
people in the record industry seem terrified of
this whole idea. What do you think will happen?
Don:
I think the record industry will jump on the
bandwagon. They will have to! They way music is
currently sold and distributed will go away, or
at least be greatly diminished. What this means
is that there will be a revolution in the
distribution of music, because all the
music will be available, not just the stuff the
major labels and distributors and Wal-Mart want
to sell us.
Ben:
In
terms of the music industry's fear of MP3 and
its eventual better-sounding descendents, you're
competing with the record store, the
distributor, with the large chains, etc. How do
you think will this impact the industry as a
whole?
Don:
When MP7 (let's say) is here, along with high
bandwidth internet connections into the home and
to the desktop, very high-speed fiber links on
the internet backbone itself, and all the other
evolving technology, I think that the record
stores will basically become extinct. There will
probably be a model of a 1980s era Tower record
store at Disney World and places like that,
where our children will take their kids to show
them what "we used to have to go through to
buy music." There will be little point in
buying CDs anymore. We will download or stream
what we want quickly, and store the music on
whatever media is currently the most
appropriate. And what about liner notes? Hey, on
my current CD project, there are only minimal
liner notes on the actual CD insert. The full
liner notes (that normally couldn't fit onto a
two-page CD insert) can be viewed on the
DoveSong.com website. Eventually I plan to
include them as a data file on the CD itself.
The writing is on the wall.
You won't need to store all your music in little
plastic jewel cases at home. It will be
"just available"....everything! Isn't
THAT wonderful? Maybe not for the current giant
music production and distribution mechanism,
which is corrupt and often has little to do with
music anyway. In the coming years, most internet
access will be accomplished from wireless
hand-held devices, not PCs. Wherever you are,
you will be able to put on your earphones and
hear almost any music that exists, once all the
recordings are on-line.
This is great for me. I'll
just put my music on the net. Anyone in the
world will be able to hear it. And DoveSong has
one of the greatest collections of Positive
Music ever assembled!
Ben:
Already
a lot of existing radio stations have web radio,
and this has become a big area of contention now
with the passing of the Digital Millennium Act
in Congress. All of the performance right
organizations and the recording organizations,
like ASCAP, BMI, RIAA are all saying, "Gee,
there's all this music being put out here, which
is essentially being put out without any
royalties being paid. There's a lot of piracy
going on. And there's a big scramble to figure
out what to do about that. A lot of stations
have taken a wait and see attitude. What are
your opinions on this subject?
Don:
There is no reason that internet radio can't be
regulated just as traditional radio is. But yes,
there will be a lot of bootlegging and piracy
going on.
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