SIDE 1. Band 1 Retrograde Sequence From A Tragedy 7:04

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2 00 ('t') 0 UJ u. UJ I en (j) u w en >- < -I U. SIDE 1 Band 1 Retrgrade Sequence Frm A Tragedy 7:04 Library f Cngress Catalgue Card N Band 2 Excerpt Frm Spatial Serenade 2:36 Band 3 C "age N.2, (1965) 4:06 Band 4 Tarante"a 4: FOLKWAYS RECORDS AND SERVICE CORP. Band 5 Cann In Percussive Sund 1:14 43 W. 61st ST., N.Y.C., U.S.A Band 6 Rndin 2:28 Band 7 Pleasant 0 bsessin 4:19 SIDE 2 Band 8 Band 9 Band 10 Band 11 Green Mansins (Abel and Rima) les Ondes Martent Transmutatins Fr Orchestra and Electrnic Instruments Mvements 2 and 3 Analgies Analg Cmputer Music 12:54 0 4:15 UJ 4:16 UJ I- (j) ELECTRONIC MUSIC FROM RAZOR BLADES TO MOOG PRODUCED & COMPOSED BY J. D ROBS DESCRIPTIVE NOTES ARE INSIDE POCKET COVER DESIGN BY RONALD CLYNE 3:15 00 ('t') 'V ('t') u. en u w en > < -I U.

3 ASCH RECORDS Album N. AHS Asch Recrds, 43 W. 61st St., NYC, USA ELECTRONIC MUSIC FROM RAZOR BLADES TO MOOG ELECTRONIC MUSIC frm RAZOR BLADES t MOOG The increasing sphisticatin f the electrnic instruments, designed fr r used in the prductin f electrnic music, d nt necessarily invlve an imprvement in the prduct. While mre advanced instruments clearly have advantages, such as greater precisin, the individual cmpser may find these advantages partially ffset by the difficulty f cntrlling the mre cmplicated instruments. The early classics f electrnic music were written withut them. Nevertheless there have been successive waves f electrnic music, resulting frm the develpment f the newer instruments. As ne wh, as a cmpser, has participated in all f these phases, it may nt be withut interest fr me t summarize them in terms f the instruments and techniques which made them pssible, fr it is bvius that all electrnic music depends upn the use f sme electrnic instrument r instruments. The emplyment f examples chsen frm the writer's wn cmpsitins has three justificatins. First, it eliminates the pssibility f infringing the rights f thers; secnd, it simplifies the prcess f evlutin by eliminating a prfusin f musical persnalities since it shws what the different phases have meant in the prductin f ne persn; third, it makes it pssible t speak f these pieces with primary authrity. It is usually difficult, if nt impssible, fr anyne but the cmpser t say what instruments r prcesses he emplyed in cmpsing a given piece f electrnic music. Here then are the phases, smetimes verlapping ne anther in time, frm which wrks have been chsen fr inclusin in this album. Sme f the examples because f their length have been abbreviated. 1. Cmpsitins n tape prduced by the aid f micrphne, tape recrder, amplifiers and speaker. Since the sunds were prduced withut the use f electrnic sund surces, they were necessarily natural sunds picked up by a micrphne, recrded n magnetic tape, and heard with the aid f lud speakers. Early tape recrders had nly ne speed and, what is mre imprtant, nly ne track r channel s that when a tape was simply played backward, strange transfrmatins tk place which wuld nt ccur if a piece f music was played in retrgrade n cnventinal instruments_ Bth speech and musical tnes tk n unfamiliar qualities due partially t the fact that the s-called attack r emphasis was heard at the end instead f the beginning and the inflectin r ludness f each nte increased instead f decreasing. Example 1: Retrgrade Sequence frm a Tragedy is simply a scene frm the writer's pera, Little Je, played in reverse withut any editing whatsever. It dates frm abut Because f its length this example has been abbreviated.

4 II. Sunds f Electrnic Origin. Electrnic sund has its rigin in scillatrs which vibrate at rates f speed perceptible by the human ear. If the scillatr vibrates at a rate f perhaps 30 t 20,000 times a secnd and the vibratin (r pulses) are amplified and transmitted thrugh a speaker, the resulting changes in atmspheric pressure are heard as a musical sund. One f the first experiments which the writer made with scillatrs was based n a 1964 lecture by Augustus Ciamaga, f the University f Trnt. He demnstrated that it was pssible t cuple scillatrs t an electrnic switch. The switch alternately accepted and passed n the vibratins cming frm the tw scillatrs. When the switch is itself an scillatr, perated at mre than abut 30 scillatins per secnd, it created a third sund wave. This was a square wave, a frm f sund wave in which a basic wave r fundamental was mixed with the dd numbered vertnes. The tw scillatrs culd prduce either a simple, fundamental, s called sine wave r a square wave. Furthermre, bth f the scillatrs, as well as the switch, had bth vlume and pitch cntrls. Hence a great variety f sunds were pssible. Fr instance, when tw scillatrs vibrate at a rate f say 440 and 441 times a secnd, they vibrate tgether nly nce a secnd and a single luder vibratin, knwn and heard as a bedt, is heard, and there are ther similar effects. Example 2, called Spatial Serenade, was made with this simple arrangement f instruments. As the sunds made by scillatin are cntinuus, there is in this piece a cntinuus flw f musical sund, hwever cnstantly changing its frm. III. Classical Studi Technique - Splicing. Cmpsers wrking with electrnic tapes had t find a way t interrupt this cntinuus flw f sund cming frm the scillatrs in rder t prduce what we knw as ntes. They discvered that this culd be dne by cutting the tape w"ith a razr blade. Sectins thus cut ut, cntaining single ntes r cmbinatins f ntes, cu Id be reassembled in a different rder. The usual speed at which the tape passed the playback head was 7-1/2 inches per secnd. Therefre ntes culd be shrtened t a precise time value based n the equatin, 7-1/2 inches (r 19 centimeters) = 1 secnd, and many interesting pieces were thus assembled by cmpsers adept at splicing. An example f this technique is the piece Cllage, which is included in a Flkways Album previusly released (Electrnic Music, 33436). A brief prtin f that piece is included. I V. Head Reverberatin. The better tape recrders cme prvided with separate recrding and playback devices called heads. The tape n these machines passed the recrding head befre it passes the playback head. The distance between the recrding and playback heads averages between an inch and an inch and a half. At the standard tape speed f 7 1/2 inches per secnd there is therefre a delay f abut ne-seventh f a secnd while a given pint n the tape passes frm the recrding head t the playback head. By cnnecting channel 1 f the playback head f a stere machine t channel 2 f the recrding head f the same machine, the sunds recrded n channel 1 will be. recrded and repeated abut ne-seventh f a secnd later n channel 2: If a single shrt sund is played n channel 1, it will keep n repeating itself a number f times with diminishing degrees f ludness. An example f this technique is the piece called Tarantella, executed at the labratry f the R. A. Mg C., in Trumansburg, in New Yrk, in ' V. Cannic Imitatin. A lnger delay between the riginal sund and its eches cu Id be prduced by using tw tape recrders. I n this case the distance between the recrding head f recrder N. 1 and the playback head f tape recrder N. 2 wuld be measured and altered merely by mving the tape recrders farther apart. If, fr instance, this distance was 15 inches, there wu'ld be, with a tape mving at 7-1/2 inches per secnd, a delay f tw secnds. Thus, artificial cannic imitatins at the unisn f any meldy r sequence f sunds culd be achieved and t sme extent cntrlled. The tape, f curse, had t be threaded frm the supply reel thrugh the head assembly f N. 1 t the takeup reel f N. 2. Cann N.1 in Percussive Sund illustrates this technique. VI. The Cming f Stere. Thugh riginally designed t make taped music sund mre like live perfrmance by recrding the same sunds thrugh tw micrphnes, separated like tw ears, the inventin

5 f the stere tape recrder made it pssible fr cmpsers t cmbine n tw tracks, tw different sunds r sequences f sund, and cmpsers were quick t sense this new pssibility and act n it. An illustratin f this kind f stere sund is the shrt piece, entitled Rndin. In this piece (als realized with the help f Prf. Ciamaga, at the University f Trnt in 1966). a meldy cnsisting f fundamentals nly was recrded n ne track r channel. The vertnes supplied with each tne were recrded n the ther track. T illustrate this technique, Track 1 will be heard first, Trace 2 will be heard next, and then the tw will be heard tgether. VII. Mixtures and Miscellaneus New Techniques. The imprvement f the tape recrder added new dimensins. With tw identical tape recrders, which nw became standard studi equipment, each having tw tracks, it was pssible t mix sunds with greater ease. Fr example: Tw Tracks frm ne machine culd be "dubbed" n t ne track f anther, and tw mre added t the ther track f the secnd machine, etc. Thus, fur r mre different sunds r meldies culd be heard tgether. The prcess culd be repeated indefinitely. One limitatin lay in the fact that with each "dub" the mnipresent nise level which n the riginal, if it was a gd tape recrder, culd be reduced t such a lw level as t escape ntice, was increased n a third, furth r fifth generatin cpy until it became bjectinable. Anther imprvement was the develpment f tw r three speeds n the same machine. This made it pssible t repeat a phrase at duble r half the speed at a pitch an ctave higher r an ctave lwer. The example which I have selected illustrates mainly fur techniques: 1) Stere sund n tw channels which we have already cnsidered; 2) variatins f tape speed by hand manipulatin f the take-up reel; 3) the use f a lp f tape t bring abut a repetitin f the bass I ine in the manner f bgie wgie r in classical music, the chacnne; and 4) aleatry r randm high frequency sunds generated by playing a prerecrded tape at the fast frward r fast-reverse mde. It is called Pleasant Obsessin. VIII. The Mg Synthesizer. This fine instrument is manufactured by R. A. Mg C., f Trumansburg, New Yrk. Althugh it can be rdered in three standardized frms, varying in cst, etc., it is nt essentially a standardized instrument but cnsists f a series f vltage cntrlled scillatrs, amplifiers, filters, envelpe generatrs and ther specialized instruments. These can be and ften are assembled especially fr the custmer as was my wn which is prbably nt precisely like any ther. The mst valuable feature f this instrument is prbably the fact that the cntinuus tnes f the scillatrs can be shut ff r attenuated t the pint f inaudibility and turned n fr any desired perid f time by varius devices knwn as triggers. In rder t accmplish this the scillatr utput is cnnected t an amplifier whse utput is set at zer. Hwever, when the amplifier is triggered, the scillatr signal is given a sht f energy and allwed t pass thrugh the amplifier t the speaker r speakers directly, r thrugh filters, reverberatin units, mixers, etc. See Figure 1. The triggers are f varius types, the mst interesting being the Sequencer and the Keybard. The Sequencer permits the cmpser t9 set up a series f eight successive tnes r pulses f pitches and duratins in advance by the cmpser. By the aid f a new cmpnent knwn as the Sequential Switch, the length f the series can be extended t twenty-fur cnsecutive tnes r pulses. The Keybard, which lks like the standard keybard f a pian, is merely a vltage utput. Each ctave dubles the Vltage. If the scillatr is tuned t the standard pitch, A = 440 cycles r waves per secnd, tuching the crrespnding key an ctave higher dubles the vltage and prduces the sund f A (880 cycles) an ctave higher. Each f the 12 semitnes prduces an increase in vltage equal t ne twelfth f the ctave vltage increase. The Mg Keybard is a versatile device. It has cntrls which permit 1) the entire range t be raised r lwered a few semitnes; 2) a prtament t be applied t a mvement frm nte t nte; 3) the interval between the semi-tnes t be slightly enlarged r slightly diminished. In additin, by means f an attenuatr incrprated int the mixer, these intervals can be further enlarged r shrunk in size. Thus it is easy, by setting the dial f this attenuatr t 10 n a scale f 10, t tune the whle keybard t a whle tne r hexatnic scale. The

6 keybard can easily be tuned t cincide with the standard pitch by depressing the middle A key and setting the Vernier dial f the scillatr t which the keybard is cnnected t that pitch (440 cycles per secnd) with the aid f a tuning frk r frequency cunter. In the piece called Green Mansins, after the nvel by W. H. Hudsn, designed as a ballet piece, the Mg keybard was used t generate sunds n the right channel, representing the her, Abel. The left channel generated n the famus Eurpean Synthesizer, the Synket was prepared by me with the help f Igr Ketff, its inventr, in Rme, Italy in June It represents the frest int which Abel penetrates fllwing the vice f Rima. It may be unique in that it cmbines the sunds f these tw famus Synthesizers n ne tape. 'I X. The andes Martent. There have been ther interesting instruments invented ver the years. One f the earliest and best f these, the andes Martent, was used t make the next example which I have called Les andes (The Waves). X. Electrnic Music Cmbined with Orchestra. The fllwing example, the secnd mvement f Transmutatins fr Orchestra and Electrnid Instruments, illustrates. the use f a tape in cmbinatin with rchestral sund - in this case, mstly the strings. In the third mvement, the Synthesizer was used live with the percussin instruments. XI. Analg Cmputer Music. The fllwing example, Analgies, was prduced by cnnecting an analg cmputer t scillatrs and a tape recrder. The cmputer was then made t add and multiply sine wave vltages which actuated the scillatrs whse utput were recrded n the tape recrder. The sunds were generated and recrded by the writer with the help f Prf. Eugene Wambld, at the Cllege f Engineering, f the University f New Mexic. The piece was realized in the Ri Grande Electrnic Music Labratry in Albuquerque, New Mexic by splicing, editing and reassembling f the taped sunds. J. D. Rbb, Directr Ri Grande Electrnic Music Labratry Albuquerque, New Mexic Octber 29, 1970 FIG-""!.,. >c.",... r... H '?t.ifii: 1 E.NVELOP G-E/II IfAr... I--! F/LT"" 'II\ i--'... P(... c T T'ftfG-O Jt... - I S9 ' V.N.M. Pht: by Bb Dauner