Thursday 20 th September. Periods 3 + 4. Music Technology A2

1. Thursday 20th September. Periods 3 + 4.Music Technology A2

2. Drum Machines..What do you know?

3. A2 exam written question revision ‘The development of music technology’ • Must answer 1 question (choice of 2) • 16 marks available (8% of A2) • Include 16 different points • Organise ideas in date order. • After planning, answer can be bullet points or prose

4. A2 exam written question revision ‘The development of music technology’ Topics: • Synthesisers • Samplers & Drum machines • Audio effects and audio processing - EQ • MIDI • Recording media (tape / digital etc). Consumer media (Vinyl & MP3 etc) • Multi-track recording (Digital and Analogue) • Computer based recording – Cubase / Logic etc • Electric Guitars and Amplification Internet • Mixers • Digital Synthesis / FM / Additive / Wavetable / Sample based

5. Drum MachinesHistory… • ‘A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or other percussion instruments. They are used in a variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music.’

6. Drum MachinesHistory… • A Drum machine is basically 2 things: • 1: A Sequencer that triggers… • 2: Electronically created (analogue or digital) Drum sounds to make a beat pattern.

7. Drum Machines • First machine for generating electronically created rhythms was the Rhythmicon(also known as the Polyrhythmophone) • Made by Léon Theremin in 1930. • Works using a rotating disk with light passed through gaps in the disk triggering musical tones. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkodVcuPVAo

8. Drum Machines • The first actual ‘drum machine’ was the Chamberlin Rhythmate • Built in 1957. It uses tape loops of recorded ‘real drums’. • Same principle as a Mellotron • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmAbtzMChHk

9. Drum Machines • The first proper Drum Machine was the Wurlitzer Sideman. Designed to accompany Wurlitzer organs. Generated sounds for the individual drums by using vacumm tubes and sequenced them via a rotating disk which triggered the sounds to make various patterns – like Waltz and Foxtrot. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLgyQG8Pu8s

10. Drum Machines • Analogue (using transistors)Drum machines arrived in the 1960s. Again - these were designed to accompany organ players. • 1967 FR-1 Rhythm Ace. • Precursor to the Roland analogue drum machines like the 808. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glNmc7ohmCg

11. Drum Machines • Analogue drum machines use basic synthesesis (subtractive) to create sounds – like using white noise for a snare / hat and sin wave for a bass drum. • These did not sound like real drums! But that gave them a unique sound – this would influence electronic dance music heavily.

12. Drum Machines • Late 70’s / early 80’s saw ‘programmable’ drum machines. • You could create the beat patterns instead of only having pre-programmed patterns. • 1980 Roland 808

13. Drum Machines • Digital Drum machines • ‘Sample’ real drum sounds. • EMU (created the Emulator sampler) • SP1200 digital drum machine (1985). Used by a lot of Hip Hop producers. • http://youtu.be/Ri-9Lez3M6Q

14. Drum Machines • Practical task. • Using the SR 202 virtual sampling Drum Machine in Cubase. • Record your own drum sounds / stabs. Must include at least: • Bass Drum • Snare Drum • Closed hat • Musical ‘stab’ short chord (guitar / piano etc) sample. 2 stabs of different chords that go together is a good idea. • MUST BE 16BIT MONO WAVS • Then make a beat pattern in Cubase just using the SR 202 and your own sounds. 8 bars min.

15. Drum Machines • Homework • Find an example of a track from each of these decades that the use of a drum machine features heavily. • 1970’s, 1980’s, 1990’s • Pick a 4 bar section from each track and show the beat pattern on a grid.

16. Drum Machines

17. Drum Machines

18. Drum Machines