Equipment shaping music, or music shaping equipment?

[Nail Soup]

4 hours ago, Maude said:

5 hours ago, Nail Soup said:

And the 303 was definitely not invented to meet a demand for rave music.

No but I assume it was a result of the popularity of very early electronic bands like Kraftwerk. 

Not sure about that - my understanding is that it was intended as a kind of bass guitar substitute, the target market was not 'experimental' musicians.

 

[Maude]

34 minutes ago, Bilbo said:

I don't think it happened suddenly. I think it took 20 years before the fretted bass came into its own. 

 

28 minutes ago, Doddy said:

But a lot of upright players were very hesitant to play the Fender Bass when it first came out. Those that did move to it were still playing the traditional bass role, they weren't exactly moving around and playing anything crazy. It took a good few years before it started to come in to it's own as a legit instrument.

Yes I suppose so. Was it seen as a bit of a threat at first, or just a bit of a joke not to be taken seriously? Why was there reluctance to accept it?

If the first Precision was '51 (there was the Tutmarc earlier, but let's say the P was the first commonplace EB), apparently Jamerson switch to EB in the early '60s, so let's say ten years before it was getting proper recognition, then The Who released 'My Generation' in '65 so it was definitely an instrument in its own right by then. 

[Maude]

10 minutes ago, Nail Soup said:

Not sure about that - my understanding is that it was intended as a kind of bass guitar substitute, the target market was not 'experimental' musicians.

 

Yes I understand was meant to generate basslines, it just seems odd if it was meant to replace a bass guitar in a traditionally instrumented group. It could well have been though. I find all this quite fascinating. 

[The fasting showman]

Great post, something I've often thought about and at my age (52) I'll have to be careful not to sound like I think all modern music is rubbish; there's very little modern music I like but really that is how it should be, I'm OK with that.

Unless somebody has already mentioned him Bo Diddley is a great example with the song that bears his name, I think it was Wired that said that there could be a case made for that being the first sequenced record, given that all the instruments were playing to the speed of his Vib/ Trem effect that is the cornerstone of that song. Either way I've always loved that track.

The Who, as previously stated are a good example, you could also cite (as well as amp stacks) musique concrete worked into a track (Baba O'Riley / Won't get Fooled) and use of synths in a band.

Greater minds than me can express this better but the theorist Mark Fisher spoke of (I will use my examples, maybe his were better!) beaming a record from 1944 to 1964 and vice versa and noting the technological changes, you could do Glen Miller and The Fabs with Help, '54 to '74 you could do Rocket 88 and Autobahn, 64 to 84....I dunno early Motown and I feel for you by Chaka Khan. '74 and '94 you'd do Autobahn again and early Drum and Bass.

Then you get to '94 and 2014, mmm, it get's harder. A lot of the sounds around now, and this is painful because I'm an old fella, that even crop up in Drill and stuff like that were around in late '90s Garage to my untrained ear. Also in the very late '90s Autotune had raised it's head. So I could do with somebody younger to enlighten me on what is the sound of the early 2000s or the 2010s? Is it the proliferation from the late '80s of cheaper sampling (Akais etc) into PC setups that has led to this homogeneity?

I remember a brilliant documentary I think on BBC4 about the Radiophonic Workshop about the gear they built and music they made from hitting ashtrays etc, recording it onto tape, speeding up the tape,  using oscillators and whatnot to create pitch information without synths; necessity being the mother of invention. Obviously now the gear doesn't hold anyone back because it outstrips our imaginations with limitless options.

I hope this doesn't come across as being too negative, not my intention at all.

 

Edited March 5, 2021 by The fasting showman
poor syntax!