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!

What's Going On Blog

Hello my name is Michael Kavanagh and on this Blog I will be talking about Marvin Gaye’s album, What’s Going On. 

Before this album Marvin released 10 albums, with countless songs and top ten hits.  Marvin Gaye has been described as a Sex Symbol of the 60’s and 70’s due to his way with words and his singing style and this is one of the main reasons Berry Gordy, his brother-in-law and one of Motown’s head, didn’t want Gaye putting out this album because he was afraid it would flop and mess up his musical reputation.

Marvin Gaye actually received the concept and some songs and lyrics from Renaldo “Obie” Benson of the four tops.  The song was not originally intended for Marvin, but the Four Tops however were not interested in it so ‘Obie’ tried to find someone that he thought was a match for it. He first stumbled on a famous folksinger in England; Joan Baez. She seems interested, said ‘Obie’ while playing her, a rough draft he had came up with, but fate had it that through separation he was never able to finish presenting to her and someone else would deliver ‘What’s Going On’. "Marvin was the perfect artist for it," Obie had stated. Obie was inspired to come up with the concept when he was on a tour stop in San Francisco and saw police beating up protestors and that was when he said, “What the going on, What the hell is going on?” Marvin also felt a connection to the topic because his brother, Frankie Gaye, had just returned home from the frontlines of war. And despite all the negative criticism it received from his label it received three Top Ten singles.

Marvin Gaye faced roadblocks when trying to release this album. His label at the time Motown Records did not feel that the album would do well due to the content of the songs.  They actually told him that they would not release the album and if not for Marvin telling them that unless they release his album, he would not record anymore songs for Motown it would not of been released.

The album was really nice. This album’s genre to me is Gospel/Soul because when listening to this album it touched me deep inside. Marvin Gaye also reminded me of Luthor Vandros. Even though I really like Marvin Gaye’s work I’ve never heard any of his material from What’s Going On, but I was very surprised because I really liked the sound of What’s Going On and I thought that the whole album had a particular feel to it and consistency that I feel you do not hear on modern day albums, as they as just I have always been a fan of Marvin Gaye since I heard his song Let’s Get It On. From a fan standpoint and just a human standpoint I’m very sad and upset that Marvin Gaye was murdered as it’s terrible news hearing that anybody has been murdered and I know there was much for to come for Marvin Gaye, musically, had he not been murdered.

Velvet Underground and Nico Blog

Hello my name is Michael Kavanagh and I will be talking about Velvet Underground and Nico in this Blog.

One thing I can definitely say about Velvet Underground and Nico is that their sound is arguably unique, as I have never heard anything of their sort before. I personally am not a fan of their music on a whole, but a few of their songs of theirs I like.

Velvet Underground have been described as precursors of today’s music, pathfinder, they were the one’s that would take the ridicule which that type of music is accepted today. Some of their songs like Heroin was different than rock and roll love song that dealt with darkness and wasn’t anything optimistic about them. I also felt that Black Angel’s Death Song was more of a storytelling song and wasn’t a traditional song you would hear on the radio.

Heroin had a very displeasing sound to my ear about half way into it. If this was the intended sound that they were going for they definitely achieved it. I like the sound of I’ll be your mirror. From an industry standpoint I like the instrumentation of I’ll be your mirror as well. One thing I can really take my hat off to Velvet Underground is that they incorporated many things into their songs such as sound effects like a glass cracking sound effect, which they put into their song European song. Part of their style though I feel is having their songs sound almost out of key then bringing it back home as I would say, in terms of bringing it back to the Tonic Chord. 

From an industry standpoint on their song European Sun it sounded as if the microphones were feeding back during their guitar and drum solo at the end at certain parts of it, which made me wonder whether they just recorded a practice version of the song and whether that song wasn’t planned, more as if they just went in the studio and just came up with it.

The Beatles‘ Revolver Blog

Hello my name is Michael Kavanagh and on this Blog I will be talking about The Beatles’ album, Revolver. 

The Beatles are a four-band group from Liverpool, England. George Harrison who plays the guitar, sitar, and vocals, John Lennon who plays the guitar, keyboards, and vocals, Paul McCartney who plays the bass, guitar, keyboards, and vocals, and Ringo Starr who plays the drums, percussion, and vocals. As you can see from the beginning The Beatles were and still are a very versatile group with each member bringing in their own individual flavor.

The Beatles recorded 6 studio albums before their release of Revolver in 1966. They released two debut albums one in the UK; Please Please Me in 1963, which included singles I Saw Her Standing There and Misery and their debut US album; Introducing The Beatles.  

The Beatles used the studio as an instrument during the recording process of Revolver because they weren’t afraid to experiment with different techniques or styles. For example on their song Love You To is written in an Indian Raga style and on Got To Get You Into My Life they used a horn arrangement that gave the song a great and different feel. On one of their songs; Taxman, they panned vocals alone to the right ear and everything else on the left ear. I’ve listened to many songs before, but I’ve never heard a song recorded like that. On that same song they used a tape loop of sounds that were collected and sampled. On another one of their songs they used a vocal track that they reversed to create a nice effect on their song.  

As a listener it draws me in. I especially love a lot of The Beatles songs but some of my favorites are on this Revolver Album.  As an industry professional every single song I listen to I try to take it apart and dissect it to listen to and try to understand what instruments were used, how they were played, and how the vocals were recorded.

Pet Sounds Blog

Hello my name is Michael Kavanagh and on this Blog I will be talking about The Beach Boys’ album, Pet Sounds.  

The Beach Boys are an American rock band, which formed in 1961.  The Beach Boys comprised of a group of brothers and some of their friends; Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, David Marks, Ricky Fataar, Blondie Chaplin and later Mike Love, Bruce Johnston, and Al Jardine were added to the group. The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records and were managed by the Wilson’s father, Mury Wilson.

The Beach Boys ‘Pet Sounds’ album was their eleventh studio album and arguably one of the greatest and most influential popular music; pop music, albums of all time. Prior to their Pet Sounds Album the single that earned them a spot on Capitol Records label was “ Surfin’. “

Brian Wilson was a huge part of what was/is The Beach Boys. Brian helped craft the Beach Boys unique sound and in my opinion he was the rock or the foundation beneath the Beach Boys.  Brian was more than a relative, band mate, principle writer, arranger and producer, but was all in one and was able to transform anything into a Beach Boys sound.

The Beach Boys felt Pet sounds was more than just records, but a new place that they were taking pop music to. Brian Wilson was mainly inspired by The Beatles and everyday life. Brian felt he wasn’t part of society so this strongly influenced his writing and The Beach Boys sound.

What sets Pet sounds apart? I would say everything. Their song ‘Wouldn’t it be nice’ for example is a record basically talking about wanting to do something but they weren’t old enough to do it. Brian Wilson describes the vocal sessions as exquisite torture. He also describes their recording process as the movie Groundhog Day, basically that you have to wait for the magic to happen and for everything to come together.

Introduction Blog

Hello my name is Michael Kavanagh. I’m 18 years old and I’m from the British Virgin Islands. I’m studying recording arts here at Full Sail and I plan to further my education in the Entertainment Business Master’s Degree Program after completion of this program. Some people that musical influence me are Rock City; for their singing/rapping versatility, Jonathan ‘JR’ Rotem; for his well crafted instrumentals and songs, and myself, because it’s up to me to influence myself to never give up and to keep on going when times get rough. My primary focuses in the music industry are to become a pro tools certified tracking and mixing engineer and to own my own recording studio.   

References

Week One

The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys - Making Of Pet Sounds - Documentaire 56 min. - Muziek & Entertainment - 123video. (n.d.). 123video - Grootste online video site van Nederland. Retrieved June 27, 2011, from http://www.123video.nl/playvideos.asp?EMB=EmbedLayer&MovieID=677897

1964., travel, t. s., Campbell, G., composing., producing., attack, B. s., et al. (n.d.). The Beach Boys - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved June 27, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beach_Boys

The Beatles

*The Beatles Biography | The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. (n.d.). The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum | RockHall.com. Retrieved June 27, 2011, from http://rockhall.com/inductees/the-beatles/bio/

About The Beatles - Discography - Albums & LPs. (n.d.). About The Beatles - The complete guide to the Beatles - www.aboutthebeatles.com. Retrieved June 7, 2011, from http://www.aboutthebeatles.com/discography_lp.php

Week Two
What's Going On?

Marvin Gaye: Berry Gordy. (n.d.). Lycos. Retrieved June 27, 2011, from http://www.lycos.com/info/marvin-gaye--berry-gordy.html

Marvin Gaye Music, Songs, Albums & Discography. (n.d.). Entertainment News | Entertainment Photos | Entertainment Video | Starpulse.com. Retrieved June 27, 2011, from http://www.starpulse.com/Music/Gaye,_Marvin/Discography/

*"What's Going On by Ben Edmonds | Books | guardian.co.uk ." Latest news, comment and reviews from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk . N.p., n.d. Web. 11 June 2011. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2001/dec/08/extract>

Week Three
Electronic Music
*Kraftwerk Biography. (n.d.). Virgin Media - Broadband, digital TV, phone & mobile phone plus broadband. Retrieved June 20, 2011, from http://homepage.ntlworld.com/allan.icepalace/biog/biography.html Kraftwerk Discography at Discogs. (n.d.). Discogs - Database and Marketplace for Music on Vinyl, CD, Cassette, MP3 and More. Retrieved June 27, 2011, from http://www.discogs.com/artist/Kraftwerk    Electronic Music Innovations

What Is A Theremin?. (n.d.). Hoge-Theremin Home. Retrieved June 27, 2011, from http://www.hoge-theremin.com/salon/hoge-what-is-a-theremin.html Week Four

Bruce Swedien Discography at Discogs. (n.d.). Discogs - Database and Marketplace for Music on Vinyl, CD, Cassette, MP3 and More. Retrieved June 27, 2011, from http://www.discogs.com/artist/Bruce+Swedien#p=1&t=Credits_All

Bruce Swedien - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved June 27, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Swedien

Callahan, J. (n.d.). Former recording engineer remembers Jackson fondly | Ocala.com. Ocala FL news, sports, weather, classifieds | Ocala.com | Star-Banner. Retrieved June 27, 2011, from http://www.ocala.com/article/20090626/ARTICLES/906269973?tc=ar