You are on the Desktop website, Click here to go back to our mobile website
ARTICLE
A skilled musician or clever arrangement got feet tapping and dancefloors filled, but the sounds themselves could never be radically different to those that had been heard from those instruments before.
Then Bob Moog, back in 1964, introduced a new instrument that changed everything. A colossal array of dials, knobs and wires sat above a keyboard – the Moog synthesiser.
Simple synthesisers had been around for a few years, bordering on the steampunk with their vacuum tubes and punch cards, but Moog built a machine capable of creating and manipulating sound like nothing before.
The Moog synthesiser was a modular system, with each electronic section bringing a tantalising way to harness and shape what passed through it. He discovered how to control pitch by using voltage; built noise generators; came up with envelope generators that could alter the volume, frequency and pitch of a sound; and sequencers that allowed for the recording, editing and playback of it all.
Overnight, an entire new swathe of electronic sounds – unheard of before – was available to the musician. Well, one musician. The machine had been commissioned by composer Herb Deutsch who specifically wanted to create unusual, experimental tones and sounds. What’s more, he got a credit as co-inventor of the Moog synthesiser for creating the interface between machine and keyboard. With his new, extraordinary instrument, Deutsch composed ‘Jazz Images – A Worksong and Blues’ which, if you get a chance to listen it, makes you wonder how the synthesiser ever took off.
Like with any new technology, understanding its potential takes time and talent, and Deutsch wasn’t the only composer interested in the practical application of electronic music. It took several more years for the Moog synthesiser to find some commercial success when Wendy Carlos had a mainstream hit with ‘Switched-On Bach’ in 1968. With the instrument being so new, she had the benefit of being able to collaborate directly with Bob Moog on ways to improve the machine while she worked. Her arrangements of Bach’s pieces reached number 10 in the US charts, selling over one million records.
Then, in 1969, Canadian composer and songwriter Mort Garson was commissioned to create some music that would be out of this world.
Garson already knew Moog and had created several works using the Moog synthesiser already when he was asked to supply the incidental music for the TV broadcast of the Apollo 11 Moon landings and moonwalk. With a vast viewership, it was a giant step for electronic music.
The Moog synthesiser was making a noise and people were beginning to sit up and take notice. The Doors used it to a haunting effect on ‘Strange Days’ in 1967, the same year that The Monkees dabbled with it across an entire album.
George Harrison brought one along to a recording session in 1968 to show it off, as seen in Peter Jackson’s recent documentary Get Back. He was captivated by its potential and was only the third British owner of the machine. The Beatles’ producer George Martin acknowledged Harrison as the band’s pioneer in sourcing and creating new sounds, so it’s no surprise that he took to the Moog. Harrison ended up putting out one of the first electronic albums in May 1969, entirely recorded on a Moog, called Electronic Sound. Its experimental approach and unusual soundscape are well ahead of its time, and although it has found a more sympathetic ear in later years, it wasn’t a great success at the time. That said, shortly after the album’s release, the Beatles incorporated Harrison’s Moog onto four tracks of Abbey Road, with Harrison, Lennon and McCartney all taking a turn with it.
Not to be outdone, The Rolling Stones got one too. Jagger appeared with one in the movie Performance where its unique, futuristic look was seen as the perfect film prop, and the band took delivery shortly afterwards.
As the potential...
To read the full article, you’ll need to have a physical copy of the magazine which you can sign up for here for 6 issues delivered to your door from just £16!, this will also give you access to the full digital copy of each issue
https://store.promobile.online/products/pro-mobile-magazine-6-issue-1-year-subscription
You’ll also get full access to this article and the last year of magazines via the Pro Mobile Magazine App which is available from both the Apple App Store and Android PlayStore
Then Bob Moog, back in 1964, introduced a new instrument that changed everything. A colossal array of dials, knobs and wires sat above a keyboard – the Moog synthesiser.
Simple synthesisers had been around for a few years, bordering on the steampunk with their vacuum tubes and punch cards, but Moog built a machine capable of creating and manipulating sound like nothing before.
The Moog synthesiser was a modular system, with each electronic section bringing a tantalising way to harness and shape what passed through it. He discovered how to control pitch by using voltage; built noise generators; came up with envelope generators that could alter the volume, frequency and pitch of a sound; and sequencers that allowed for the recording, editing and playback of it all.
Overnight, an entire new swathe of electronic sounds – unheard of before – was available to the musician. Well, one musician. The machine had been commissioned by composer Herb Deutsch who specifically wanted to create unusual, experimental tones and sounds. What’s more, he got a credit as co-inventor of the Moog synthesiser for creating the interface between machine and keyboard. With his new, extraordinary instrument, Deutsch composed ‘Jazz Images – A Worksong and Blues’ which, if you get a chance to listen it, makes you wonder how the synthesiser ever took off.
Like with any new technology, understanding its potential takes time and talent, and Deutsch wasn’t the only composer interested in the practical application of electronic music. It took several more years for the Moog synthesiser to find some commercial success when Wendy Carlos had a mainstream hit with ‘Switched-On Bach’ in 1968. With the instrument being so new, she had the benefit of being able to collaborate directly with Bob Moog on ways to improve the machine while she worked. Her arrangements of Bach’s pieces reached number 10 in the US charts, selling over one million records.
Then, in 1969, Canadian composer and songwriter Mort Garson was commissioned to create some music that would be out of this world.
Garson already knew Moog and had created several works using the Moog synthesiser already when he was asked to supply the incidental music for the TV broadcast of the Apollo 11 Moon landings and moonwalk. With a vast viewership, it was a giant step for electronic music.
The Moog synthesiser was making a noise and people were beginning to sit up and take notice. The Doors used it to a haunting effect on ‘Strange Days’ in 1967, the same year that The Monkees dabbled with it across an entire album.
George Harrison brought one along to a recording session in 1968 to show it off, as seen in Peter Jackson’s recent documentary Get Back. He was captivated by its potential and was only the third British owner of the machine. The Beatles’ producer George Martin acknowledged Harrison as the band’s pioneer in sourcing and creating new sounds, so it’s no surprise that he took to the Moog. Harrison ended up putting out one of the first electronic albums in May 1969, entirely recorded on a Moog, called Electronic Sound. Its experimental approach and unusual soundscape are well ahead of its time, and although it has found a more sympathetic ear in later years, it wasn’t a great success at the time. That said, shortly after the album’s release, the Beatles incorporated Harrison’s Moog onto four tracks of Abbey Road, with Harrison, Lennon and McCartney all taking a turn with it.
Not to be outdone, The Rolling Stones got one too. Jagger appeared with one in the movie Performance where its unique, futuristic look was seen as the perfect film prop, and the band took delivery shortly afterwards.
As the potential...
To read the full article, you’ll need to have a physical copy of the magazine which you can sign up for here for 6 issues delivered to your door from just £16!, this will also give you access to the full digital copy of each issue
https://store.promobile.online/products/pro-mobile-magazine-6-issue-1-year-subscription
You’ll also get full access to this article and the last year of magazines via the Pro Mobile Magazine App which is available from both the Apple App Store and Android PlayStore
The full review can be found in Pro Mobile Issue 130, Pages 64-68.
