I thought it would be interesting to have a thread dedicated to sharing links, information and discussion on music in more depth than the music sharing thread. Either about the creation and history of music or sound reproduction, the lives of individual artists, pioneers or engineers and their influence on the sounds and equipment we are all engaged with in this hobby. I hope that as well as videos we can share articles and books that we feel others might appreciate.
I have a couple of things to share to start off.
The first is a pretty fascinating technical investigation into how sound can directly affect technology. I really like how it gets into the science of sound waves and resonance.
“This Janet Jackson BASSLINE breaks laptops”
The second is a much longer watch but if anything even more interesting. I had no idea this artist existed and for me, learning about her story and influence on modern music was well worth the time to watch:
" The Godmother of Rock’n’Roll – Sister Rosetta Tharpe"
If you have ever been interested in learning more about music theory and history a really good way to dip a toe is to look for school level music history or theory books. The UK for example has some excellent reasonably priced examples such as
Great for getting a grasp of the history of western music history, theory and evolution. As they are aimed at eighteen year-olds as a revision aid they are not super technical and detailed but more an over view. I’ve not read this one but I’ve used similar from twenty years or so ago when I was writing a masters thesis comparing music composition with architectural design and needed to give myself a crash course in music theory - really enhanced my listening and appreciation as a side effect and something I still am influenced by. Highly recommend the effort
Thank you for that! We had a thread in the old place. We must have been on the same frequency because last night I ran into this documentary and left the browser window open just so I could remember to post it here this morning.
Now there’s a proper home.
and here’s one of my personal favorites, I love stuff like this, behind the scenes stories about how iconic songs came to be. This one is hilarious. When you think about it, snoop wouldn’t have the D, O double G without this.
@Gothique Thanks. Pretty broad, as they each could take volumes (and do, lol)
I like the idea though and am glad we have a distinct place for it. I love reading backstories and often use Wikipedia to gain further appreciation of a writer/composer or piece. Liner notes did that, but are harder to find now (I dont have roon.) I have also done workshops about how music affects our moods, and it’s use, often along with imagery techniques, for anxiety relief and pain reduction, as well as personal awareness and growth.
Lots of possibilities here and I’m interested to read what audiophiles, who listen to music more often and differently than the general population, have to say.
Edit: Sorry for all the commas and parentheses…I need to work on my sentence structure…and thought organization!
Oh well perfect then, and thanks for the additions, Added to my watch list for this weekend.
Have you heard or read the interview(s) with Quincy Jones on the making of Thriller? He’s fascinating to hear talking about production.
I thought it was a good idea to make it intentionally broad, partly to encourage people to post but also because I see it as a kind of theoretical companion thread to the music sharing. Your workshops sound really interesting, are you able to share a bit about your sources for the ideas you use?
This is one of my favourite music channels on Youtube. His short documentaries on the making and influence of specific artists and albums on UK music are generally very well researched and presented in a very professional style. One to dip in and out of. Anyway, I could link many of his videos but the one I wanted to highlight is this one on Ian Dury, one of my favourite British artists. He was a unique and strong influence on early punk, more a poet than a singer, with a very British sense of irreverent humour.
This one I saw maybe +15 years ago and it stuck with me and I have revisited it a few times. Not sure why, I just enjoy it and find it amazing what she does. She’s a deaf percussionist!
On the next one I’m probably a bit biased but its a docu about the belgian electronic music history. Some juicy local dialects but that’s maybe only if you speak the languages (french and dutch)
One of the best Flemish TV programs of the last 25 years was Belgapop. Learnt so much about how influential Belgian artists were on early House and Acid House music.
Dury’s song “Spasticus Autisticus” is an amazing song. It isn’t often a member of a minority expresses rage so directly and artistically.
The 80s were just before I was really old enough to be into music so I had a love hate relationship with the era. As I’ve gotten older I am more able to appreciate the music of bands like Depeche Mode, thanks for that one, on my watch list!
That was a nice quick watch. I really enjoy videos that break down bot only the equipment but the mic placement for recording. I think that last part gets looked over a bit.
Sci-fi films interest me in that I feel there is often less variety of score? Or is that a general trend with modern cinema? I struggle to think of a film that had a truly unique soundscape in recent memory. I have in mind a lot of 60s and 70s sci-fi which was much more all over the place. For example 2001 vs Star Wars.
Or is it just cinema in general that is more homogenous at the moment?
dometic cinema right now in terms of sound in every genre kinda sounds very similar to each other. only genre i can think of rigght now in terms of sound that has more uniqueness to it is horror. in sci fi though dune really is the most unique in recent memory. if we count nope the sound in that is pretty great a lot of moments i remember were music less and really let some of the moments settle
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