Collapsing Rock, Pop & Noise

8	Synthesizers 2	Listening examples include: John Carpenter; Paul Hardcastle; Scritti Politti; Sigue Sigue Sputnik; Kraftwerk; Herb Alpbert
	The Vitrual Instrument	From analogue to digital; digital constgruction; FM synthesis; sampling & encoding; simulation

FROM ANALOGUE TO DIGITAL

If the 70s belonged to analogue synthesis, the 80s belonged to digital synthesis. Digital electronics in the role of musical/sonic composition & manipulation has been the most recent major development in the sound of music (ie. its effects, it. methods, its devices, its nature). Digital synthesis can be divided into two main categories:

VOICE CREATION & DIGITAL CONSTRUCTION

The creation of 'voices' is the term used to describe the process by which sounds are generated digitally through the process of Frequency Modulation (FM). This process is based on the manipulation of sine waves along operations identical to FM radio broadcasting (where one high frequency carries and modulates the transmitted frequencies). As such, digital synthesis can be termed 'additive': building up the sound by adding wave forms together to modulate each other and thereby produce timbrel and harmonic effects. This is in comparison to analogue synthesis being 'reductive': starting with the oscillator generating a fully completed sound with filtering, etc. and reduce those effects to shape your desired sound.

This means that because digital synthesis is so precise in its construction, the end result has what appears to be a comparatively higher degree of polish, clarity and lushness to that of analogue synthesis. This relationship between the two is also described as 'cool' (digital) and 'warm' (analogue).

SAMPLING & DIGITAL ENCODING

The digital encoding/decoding of analogue recorded information - commonly referred as 'sampling' - deals with sound that is stored in a computer's memory as 'pure information' (binary impulses) which can then be altered via a programme's parameters and triggered by a keyboard (either manually or via a programmed sequence). This mode of digital synthesis deals more with the effecting of 'real' sounds as opposed to the creation of sounds mentioned above. As such, 'sampling' involves many of the effects & concepts developed and utilized in 'musique concrete', while voice creation deals with ideas developed in the field of electronic music.

SIMULATION

The aural experience afforded by digital electronics is generally acknowledged as one of heightened sensations, where the clear and precise definition of tone and timbre generate a sense of depth, richness and fullness in the sound, as opposed to what may appear to be a 'thinness' in analogue synthesized sounds. This has lead to the comparative feeling that the presence of a digital synthetic sound is more marked, more effective, more directly communicated.
Because of the range of control within the parameters of digital synthesis, sounds can be intricately constructed, thereby generating that precision. Note in relation to this the rise in musical clarity over the past 15 years: radio, digital recording, laser discs, compact discs, music computers, etc. - all of which go toward changing the sound of music as it is electronically conveyed and presented to us. As humans that listen, we are essentially receivers for such sounds, encoding and decoding them in our perception in a way that simultaneously alters our perception of the sounds we had previously been experiencing.

Simulation deals with the phenomenon of the real, where representations (ie, food flavours, photographic traits, sonic effects, etc.) generate such a high degree of simulation that their comparison with the real that they are mimicking/copying becomes redundant and superfluous . When we interpret simulations (such as maple syrup flavouring, Polaroid snapshots, pounding snare drums, etc.) we generally read them more as real effects rather than representations of things that exist in an experiential, physical reality. We end up finding that real maple syrup tastes 'artificial', certain events in everyday life have a 'Polaroid' look about them, and real snare drums sound pretty lifeless. In direct reference to sound, digital electronics are part of this increase in simulation in media communication. The important thing, though, is not to say that the real is either better or worse than the simulation, but to be aware of what are the precise perceptual and phenomenological relationships between the two, how they interact/clash/fuse with one another and how they communicate differently from one another.
 
EXAMPLES
 
What follows is a selection of records that deal with mixing both major forms of digital synthesis (creating voices and sampling sounds). Each selection evidences a different view on how this dichotomy or oscillation between the real and the simulation can be either incorporated into or ignored in the process of constructing sound and music for a recording.

John Carpenter - soundtrack to PRINCE OF DARKNESS (1987)
Composed on the Synclavier digital synthesizer, this score simulates not the sounds of the orchestra, but the presence and effect of the i(In~xs of orchestral sounds. The included voice sounds are digitally created although they lend themselves to more of a role of mimicry.

Sammy X - megamix of various songs by Sweet (1984)
Example of digital delay which preceded the sampling boom of 1985. These digital delays capture a portion of sound 'on the run' and then play it back manually in rhythm to replace certain sections, thus effecting a fractured loop effect. In essence this is like 'digital scratching'.

Paul Hardcastle - 19 (1985)
The pop anthem for the sampling boom. Note repetitive rhythmic fracturing of the sampled word "19". Note also how this line of vocal sampling (voice-over narration, interview excerpts, etc.) is clearly overlaid on the electro-rock backing (which is composed and sequenced by digital

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their identifiable sound with sampled bursts of brass and percussion, actually cutting into the song. The finished mix works as a theatrical display of two musical ideologies in opposition.

Scritti Politti - WOOD BEEZ (PRAY LIKE ARETHA FRANKLlN (1984)
Example of totally digitized recording: mixing samples, created voices and digital effects as a seamless, streamlined wall of rhythmic textures on top of which is laid the 'soulful' human voice. Note the harmony struck between these two layerings. Note also the incredible linearity of the composition and its production, where each sound is separately highlighted as part of a succession of hyper-clear effects.

Sigue Sigue Sputnik - LOVE MISSILE F1-11 (1986)
Similar concept to Scritti Politti, but this time with total emphasis on the theatrical gesture of constructing something out of second-hand culture (via sampled sounds). Note the 'conveyor belt' effect of the backing rhythm which serves to carry along all the incidental vocal parts, guitar bursts and snatches from television.

Kraftwerk - MUSIQUE NON STOP (1987)
Obsessively crafted construction of sounds in the form of 'sonic architecture' where there is no attempt to simulate conventional instruments. Rather, the object is to assemble blocks which abstractly connote musical inter-relationships. Note also how deliberately 'electronic' and ' fake' all the sounds are. Digital electronics here are used for sonic exploration in its own right rather than the simplistic quest for sophistication and techno-clarity.

Chaka Khan - I FEEL FOR YOU (1981)
Example of substituting sampled real sound effects for musical effect. The cymbal in the instrumental break is replaced by a burst of crowd applause which replicates (not simulates) the dynamic of a cymbal crash.

Herb Alpbert - KEEP YOUR EYE ON ME (1987)
Producers Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis are two black musicians from Minneapolis who have reworked a variety of British & European synthetic production techniques to create a unique method of digital exploration. Note the clashing of different textures in terms of presence and absence: how soft the snare is yet how punchy it is also; how muted and muffled the bass is yet how deep and powerful it is also. The overall sound is a highly orchestrated construction of percussive textures and presences.