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Oh Switched-On Bach was just foundational for me as a kid, it cemented my love for both Bach and for digital music. I found it in my dad’s vinyl collection and
by dahart 3y ago
Oh Switched-On Bach was just foundational for me as a kid, it cemented my love for both Bach and for digital music. I found it in my dad’s vinyl collection and used to put it on, turn it up loud (sometimes waking my parents up and/or really irritating them) and rock to it. My dad might have been secretly a little disappointed when Switched-On Bach led me to seek out lots more digital music (found stacks of Isao Tomita at the library) and then go deeply into digital art, because my dad was a luthier who made violins by hand, but he never judged me openly.
I think I didn’t even realize the first time I saw TRON or The Shining or Clockwork Orange that it was Wendy Carlos, it just had that Moog sound I knew I loved. Yes looking back it’s unquestionable that the mark Wendy Carlos left on the world is enormous.
- hammock 3y agoThere is a great podcast called Switched on Pop that goes deep into pop songs and I just made the connected to Switched on Bach :)
- efficax 3y agooh but switched on bach is so delightfully analog
- mastazi 3y agoI'm going to guess that parent meant "electronic music" rather than "digital music". I can see their point, at various times in the history of contemporary music, there has been a preconception that electronic music is worth less than music played by performers, or that it's only good for the dance floor but not for listening. Especially during the time that rock music was big, let's say from the late 50's to the late 70's. EDIT: I don't know if Switched on Back was mostly sequenced or mostly performed by Wendy on a keyboard, Moog synths of the time offered both options - I'm guessing it was a mix of the two but I might be wrong.
- pulvinar 3y agoIt was entirely analog (well, all except for the fingers). Switched-On Bach was recorded in 1968, playing one voice at a time on a keyboard going to a custom 8-track tape recorder. https://www.wendycarlos.com/+sob.html https://www.wendycarlos.com/+sob.html And I was another who found it enthralling when it came out, and still do.
- steve1977 3y agoI think what makes SOB work so well is that it’s not only an electronic Bach interpretation, but a very well played and tasteful interpretation.
- mastazi 3y agoNote: sorry for mis-spelling Bach. I wrote in a hurry and not it's too late to edit the comment.
- gwbas1c 3y agoPerformed. (And a college professor told me she recorded at half speed.) The sequences of the time weren't like a midi file is today. I'm used to hearing the repetitive sequences in 1970s music that were a few bars long; if there's any kind of example of programming a Moog to play something more than a few bars, I'd like to see it. IE: Something like this only appears to play a few bars on repeat: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SequencerCBM--moog-sequencer-complement-b-expansion-cabinet-reissue https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SequencerCBM--moog-s... It's not capable of playing an entire song.
- mastazi 3y agoThanks for the added details. Yes I'm familiar with those early sequencers, I believe that the idea was that you would use them for a musical phrase and then put them together as a longer sequence on tape. Roughly similar to clip mode vs song mode in a modern DAWs (but much more limited).
- gwbas1c 3y agoThat might be possible. Its been years since I listened to Wendy's "Secrets of Synthesis," but I don't remember her discussing long sequences or techniques like you describe. The implication is predominantly live keyboard performances.