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In the early
1960s, electronic music was a marginal field, the province of science
fiction B-movies and avant-garde composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen
and John Cage. Today, it is the dominant musical form, filling our pop
charts, films and nightclubs, as well as appearing in millions of electronic
devices, from computers to toys.
The vehicle for this revolution was the synthesizer which, argue Trevor
Pinch and Frank Trocco, was one of the two most influential new instruments
of the 20th century, the other being the electric guitar. The fascination
of Analog Days lies in its detailed, if dry, exploration of how the
synthesizer evolved.
Making early electronic music involved recording individual sounds,
and then laboriously splicing together sections of quarter-inch audiotape.
The synthesizer was a huge step forward because it used voltage-controlled
oscillators and amplifiers to control pitch and volume. It started out
as an analogue, oversized, modular system, wired together with movable
patch cords, capable of playing one note at a time. Over 20 years, it
evolved into a portable, keyboard-based, polyphonic, digital instrument.
It grew from the pioneering work of a few hobbyists. The authors rightly
focus on Bob Moog (pronounced as in "vogue"). It was his concept
of a keyboard-based instrument that became the norm; his key role was
later confirmed by his firm’s development of the famous Minimoog,
the first portable keyboard synthesizer.
Moog’s first synthesizer was cobbled together from war-surplus
parts. Despite being notoriously difficult to play, it was picked up
by music studios, as well as bands such as The Byrds and The Doors.
The Beatles used it on Abbey Road (the authors describe 'Here Comes
The Sun' as 'the Moog pièce de résistance'), and Keith
Emerson started playing it on stage.
It was really popularised, however, by Wendy Carlos, whose 1968 Grammy-winning
work Switched-On Bach was the first classical album to go platinum.
This synthesized version of the Brandenburg Concertos inspired, among
others, Stevie Wonder.
Pinch and Trocco note that the musicians who assisted Wonder with the
new instrument, Bob Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil, felt they were given
insufficient credit for their contribution. This was an early example
of a phenomenon connected with the rise of electronic music: the blurring
of lines between musician and engineer/producer. Today’s dance
music, a direct descendant of synthesizer music, is commonly created
by "bedroom boffins" (George Martin’s phrase) for whom
the old distinctions are irrelevant. The revolution in music-making
has also affected what counts as an instrument, a studio, a composition
or a live performance.
Moog was not inventing in isolation. Analog Days gives credit to a host
of engineers, musicians and sales representatives who played vital roles.
Rival inventors, including ARP and EMS, also get their due. The remarkable
Don Buchla produced his own modular, voltage-controlled synthesizer.
His refusal to add a keyboard to his device and his involvement with
the San Francisco counterculture (he played his 'Buchla Box' at Ken
Kesey's notorious 1965 Trips Festival) are contrasted with the realism
and apparent conservatism of Moog, who beavered away in upstate New
York a long way from any social revolutions. That Moog’s design
won out over Buchla’s was because he listened to his customers
and engineers and modified the instrument, reducing its possibilities
but making it easier to play.
By the time modular analogue synthesizers had been superseded by digital
ones in the late 1970s, something may have been lost along the way:
several engineers and musicians responsible for its early development
lament here that the infinite possibilities of the early analogue synthesizers
were forfeited in favour of a more accessible instrument.
There has consequently been something of an analogue revival in recent
years. Original synthesizers are much sought after; the Moog was featured
on Air’s acclaimed 1998 album Moon Safari, while Radiohead have
purchased EMS’s VCS3. For this reason, Analog Days has relevance
for all those interested in contemporary music, although it will more
appeal to anyone interested in the music and the social and technological
history of the 1960s and 1970s.
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