Podcast 2 on Bruce Swedien

Peer Comment 2 - Tom Erni

Hey Tom I really enjoyed reading your blog. As you will see in my blogs I am not a huge fan of Kraftwerk or electronic music on a whole, but I am someone who is willing to try and experiment with new things. After reading your blog I must admit I am eager to find out a little bit more about Aphex as the name sounds a little familiar, but I really cannot say that I’ve heard of him before. All in all nice blog and wish you all the best and hopefully one day you’ll become the next Aphex!   

Industry Research Entry Blog

Hello my name is Michael Kavanagh and I would describe myself as a Singer/Songwriter/Producer and Engineer and on this blog I will also be talking about a fellow engineer and producer; Grammy award winning engineer and producer Bruce Swedien.

Bruce Swedien is a five-time Grammy Award-winning audio engineer and music producer. He recorded, mixed, and assisted in producing the best-sold album in the world, Thriller by Michael Jackson. He was the primary sound engineer for Jackson's studio recordings from 1978 to 2001. He is also most known for his work with Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson.

Bruce has been recording and producing since 1977 with his first project being; ‘How Can You Live Like That’. Over twenty years after Bruce recorded and engineered his first song, he had now become a part or piece of the puzzle being the Music Industry. Bruce worked with who I’d say are two of the most influential musicians; Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones and this in itself is an impact on music on a whole, because Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones helped craft some of the most well-known and influential songs of their time like Michael’s album, Bad.

In all of Bruce Swedien’s work especially when recording Michael Jackson he put 125% into it. These are some quotes from Bruce himself describing his experience whilst recording and mixing Michael Jackson’s albums ‘Thriller’ and ‘Off The Wall’. “We were up at the crack of noon, He never drank coffee," Swedien remembered. "He never drank alcohol. He was a fussy eater. I guess he was what you would call a health nut," describing Michael Jackson in the studio. "He would work on his lyrics all of the time," said Swedien.

Some other projects Bruce has worked on are; ‘The Best is yet to come’ by David Hasselhoff, ‘Give Me The Night’ by George Benson, Donna Summer’s self titled album, Donna Summer and many many more.

Some of Bruce’s accomplishments also include bringing out his own book that you can buy on Amazon; ‘In the studio with Michael Jackson’, where he describes the recording experience with the legend himself; Michael Jackson.

As a listener and music industry professional people like Bruce have had a big and profound impact on me. Without people like Bruce Swedien behind the scene recording and producing artists we would never have music, at least not the way we have it today. So I’m glad there are people like Bruce Swedien out there.

Electronic Music Innovations Blog

Hello my name is Michael Kavanagh and on this Blog I will be talking about an innovation of Electronic Music; The Theremin.

What is a theremin you might ask? Well a theremin is the only musical instrument you play without touching. It was invented in 1920, in Russia, by Russian scientist Leon Thermin aka Lev Termen. It was originally known as the ‘Aetherphone’ and worked by a player moving their hands through two ‘fields’; volume and pitch, thus changing the tone being generated by the theremin. It was never commercially successful, but a few musicians were able to utilize it in their compositions, thus making it a success in it’s own way.

The Theremin’s most recognizable usage continues to be the howling electric tone utilized in the score of vintage science and horror films.

This also inspired other inventions such as the Ondes Martenot which was first patented in 1928 by Maurice Martenot, who had been inspired to create his device from a meeting with Leon Theremin; the creator of the Theremin.

The Theremin was originally used to play classical music, both transcriptions and original sheet music, but in today’s day and age the Theremin or derivatives of it are used in a lot of Hip-Hop music, sometimes even as a lead melody instrument and once discovered by film composers used in film as well. Some films Theremins were used in are ‘Spellbound’ and ‘The Day The Earth Stood Still’.

As a listener it draws me in because the Theremin to me provides and eerie and almost ‘spooky’ sound thus drawing me in. As an industry professional I also like it because I think it gives the score or arrangement of music a different feel, and I have also used the instrument in a few of my productions.

Electronic Music Blog

Hello my name is Michael Kavanagh and on this Blog I will be talking about Electronic Music, but mainly the Electronic Music of Kraftwerk.

Many people may be unfamiliar with Kraftwerk, or their music, as I know I was but they are an Electronic/Pop music band from Germany. One thing that I think definitely made Kraftwerk unique was their ability to sing in different languages. As Kraftwerk were from Germany they obviously were able to sing in German, but they could also sing in English and in French. In their earlier image Kraftwerk dressed in suits and have short well-kept hair. This in itself was something that also made them unique, as many of the ‘boy bands’ of their day didn’t portray the image they did.  

Kraftwerk released 3 albums between the periods of 1970 - 1974 and then released an additional 5 between the periods of 1974 – 1981. Their fourth album, Autobahn, was a breakthrough album for Kraftwerk. It was also very unique in that their title track of the album was over 22 minutes long and took up a side of their cd. Autobahn was also supposed to be comparative to a long road journey. An edited version of the song reached the Top 10 in the US and UK charts. They then released Radio Activity, Trans Europe, Man Machine, and Computer World.  

As I had mentioned earlier Kraftwerk are and were the biggest influence on electronic music because they were able to bridge the gap that many other artists were unable to do. They were able to conform to their audiences’ needs and wants, i.e.; hearing the songs in their own language, rather than having to listen to them in a foreign language.

I am not really a big fan of electronic music on a whole, so from a listeners’ standpoint I wouldn’t say I really like their music but I also wouldn’t say I dislike it, but that it is something I wouldn’t mind listening to every now and then. From an industry professional standpoint it gave me a bit of insight on how electronic music is composed and different elements that make it up.

Podcast

Peer Comment - Christopher High

Hello my name is Michael Kavanagh and on this Blog I will be commenting on Christopher High’s What’s Going On Blog.

I definitely agree with what you said about them having a totally unique sound, Chris, because I can honestly say I have never heard anything of that sort, especially their Heroin song. It started of cool, but then it progressed into something that sounded almost off key then it came back.  You brought up a good point about Lou Reed. That often is the case with most musicians. When they are in the industry they are usually not appreciated, but when they stop making music or die, in the case of people like Michael Jackson, that is when a lot people who were condescending them or never respected them when they alive become fans. But all in all the points you brought up about their music and them, as people are views I share as well. Great Job Chris!