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The secret ingredient in Switched on Bach is that it is an outrageously good musical performance. Lots of other synth albums are technology demos, collections

The secret ingredient in Switched on Bach is that it is an outrageously good musical performance. Lots of other synth albums are technology demos, collections of cool sounds. Switched On Bach stands out because Carlos adapted Bach for the medium of the Moog synth, clearly understanding the compositions' underlying gestures, and ensured that those gestures all come through. In some cases, they come through more clearly than on the original instrumentation, especially bass lines where the synth speaks more clearly than acoustic instruments can. Such details in another performer's hands could be distracting, messing up the relationship between foreground and background elements and drawing attention to the wrong things -- but Carlos's arrangement and performance are exquisitely balanced. This could only have been achieved by someone with a deep and sophisticated understanding of the source material, combined with incredible patience to wrestle with difficult and immature technology until the recordings were perfected.

shams93 9y ago
The tools she had on hand were as primitive as it gets no DAW or anything we think of as a sequencer she had to build all this from analog modules and patch cables.
TheOtherHobbes 9y ago
The secret ingredient in SoB is the fact that much of it was recorded at half speed and played back at double speed. This doubles the tempo and also hugely alters the timbres, making the sound much brighter, punchier, and more sparkly than the usual rather ponderous Moog sound. You can use an editor like Audacity to halve the pitch and you’ll hear the sounds become much more like the usual Moog timbres on later records from that era. (And yes, Carlos has admitted this herself.) The records were a team effort. The arrangements were shaped by producer Rachel Elkind, and Baroque specialist Benjamin Folkman. I’m just as impressed by the fact that Carlos built her own mixer (difficult, but not entirely exceptional) and multitrack recorder (extremely difficult, and definitely exceptional) for the recordings. Creatively I prefer some of the other work, especially Beauty in the Beast, which is still far ahead of its time now, and By Request, which has some outrageously clever and fun arrangements of other music. (The Elgar pastiche is genius-level and just plain hilarious.)
Y_Y 9y ago
In case anyone feels like listening to this masterpiece: https://soundcloud.com/mikekraze/bach-switched-on-full-album https://soundcloud.com/mikekraze/bach-switched-on-full-album
- aphextron 9y ago
  Just incredible. Thanks.
bananaboy 9y ago
Yes! Exactly! The key thing there is that Carlos is a musician as well. I think Tomita is another great example of a musician who took material and adapted it for a new medium in really interesting, innovative ways.
- dahart 9y ago
  Oh my god this is bringing back memories. When I was a kid, I'd put Best of Tomita and Switched on Bach on the record player back to back and listen for hours. I must have been a freaky kid, but it was synth heaven.
- multi_tude 9y ago
  Tomita's Pictures at an Exhibition is arguably a more distinguished execution of synthesized orchestration than Switched on Bach.
  - TheOtherHobbes 9y ago
    If you know synths it’s pretty easy to reverse engineer the sounds on SoB. They’re unfamiliar by modern pop standards, because there’s a lot of layering and paralleling with simultaneous envelopes and multiple filter sweeps that (boringly...) isn’t done much today. But they’re not opaque. I have no idea how to copy some the sounds Tomita got from his Moogs, and I’m fairly sure no one else does either. Some are easy, some are “That’s really clever.” But there are more than a few that I have absolutely no clue about. The fact that he patched up and recorded these huge flamboyant orchestral-sounding pieces note by note and line by line with such a creative range of unique and original sounds is just astounding.
    - bananaboy 9y ago
      Yeah I totally agree! I love SoB but the arrangements and patches are way more traditional and straightforward. Tomita really explored and extended the canvas of the synthesiser as a musical instrument in its own right. JMJ too.

shams93 9y ago

The tools she had on hand were as primitive as it gets no DAW or anything we think of as a sequencer she had to build all this from analog modules and patch cables.

TheOtherHobbes 9y ago

The secret ingredient in SoB is the fact that much of it was recorded at half speed and played back at double speed. This doubles the tempo and also hugely alters the timbres, making the sound much brighter, punchier, and more sparkly than the usual rather ponderous Moog sound. You can use an editor like Audacity to halve the pitch and you’ll hear the sounds become much more like the usual Moog timbres on later records from that era. (And yes, Carlos has admitted this herself.) The records were a team effort. The arrangements were shaped by producer Rachel Elkind, and Baroque specialist Benjamin Folkman. I’m just as impressed by the fact that Carlos built her own mixer (difficult, but not entirely exceptional) and multitrack recorder (extremely difficult, and definitely exceptional) for the recordings. Creatively I prefer some of the other work, especially Beauty in the Beast, which is still far ahead of its time now, and By Request, which has some outrageously clever and fun arrangements of other music. (The Elgar pastiche is genius-level and just plain hilarious.)

Y_Y 9y ago

In case anyone feels like listening to this masterpiece: https://soundcloud.com/mikekraze/bach-switched-on-full-album https://soundcloud.com/mikekraze/bach-switched-on-full-album

aphextron 9y ago
Just incredible. Thanks.

bananaboy 9y ago

Yes! Exactly! The key thing there is that Carlos is a musician as well. I think Tomita is another great example of a musician who took material and adapted it for a new medium in really interesting, innovative ways.

dahart 9y ago
Oh my god this is bringing back memories. When I was a kid, I'd put Best of Tomita and Switched on Bach on the record player back to back and listen for hours. I must have been a freaky kid, but it was synth heaven.
multi_tude 9y ago
Tomita's Pictures at an Exhibition is arguably a more distinguished execution of synthesized orchestration than Switched on Bach.
- TheOtherHobbes 9y ago
  If you know synths it’s pretty easy to reverse engineer the sounds on SoB. They’re unfamiliar by modern pop standards, because there’s a lot of layering and paralleling with simultaneous envelopes and multiple filter sweeps that (boringly...) isn’t done much today. But they’re not opaque. I have no idea how to copy some the sounds Tomita got from his Moogs, and I’m fairly sure no one else does either. Some are easy, some are “That’s really clever.” But there are more than a few that I have absolutely no clue about. The fact that he patched up and recorded these huge flamboyant orchestral-sounding pieces note by note and line by line with such a creative range of unique and original sounds is just astounding.
  - bananaboy 9y ago
    Yeah I totally agree! I love SoB but the arrangements and patches are way more traditional and straightforward. Tomita really explored and extended the canvas of the synthesiser as a musical instrument in its own right. JMJ too.