The Holmes Archive of Electronic Music

Chapter 09, MIDI, Noise Reduction, and Audio Compression Technologies

Episode 147
Chapter 09, MIDI, Noise Reduction, and Audio Compression Technologies. Works Recommended from my book, Electronic and Experimental Music 
Welcome to the Archive of Electronic Music. This is Thom Holmes.
This podcast is produced as a companion to my book, Electronic and Experimental Music, published by Routledge. Each of these episodes corresponds to a chapter in the text and an associated list of recommended works, also called Listen in the text. They provide listening examples of vintage electronic works featured in the text.
The works themselves can be enjoyed without the book and I hope that they stand as a chronological survey of important works in the history of electronic music. Be sure to tune-in to other episodes of the podcast where we explore a wide range of electronic music in many styles and genres, all drawn from my archive of vintage recordings.
There is a complete playlist for this episode on the website for the podcast.
Let’s get started with the listening guide to Chapter 09, MIDI, Noise Reduction, and Audio Compression Technologies from my book Electronic and Experimental music.
 
Playlist: MIDI Controllers in Electronic Music
           
 
Time
Track Time
Start
Introduction –Thom Holmes
01:40
00:00
Robert Ashley, “Superior Seven” (1986). Used an early MIDI controller suite of instrumental sounds accompanying a live flutist.
30:15
01:42
Michel Waisvisz demonstrates The Hands and Crackle MIDI controller-synthesizers. The No Backup Concert (2004) at STEIM.
09:40
32:08
Thomas Wydler & Toby Dammit, “Ramwong” (2021). Features a treated Buchla Marimba Lumina synthesizer, a MIDI instrument and controller.
02:15
41:48
 
 
Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes.
My Books/eBooks: Electronic and Experimental Music, sixth edition, Routledge 2020. Also, Sound Art: Concepts and Practices, first edition, Routledge 2022.
See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation.
For a transcript, please see my blog, Noise and Notations.
Original music by Thom Holmes can be found on iTunes and Bandcamp.
 

Chapter 08, Tape Composition and Sound Editing

Episode 146
Chapter 08, Tape Composition and Sound Editing. Works Recommended from my book, Electronic and Experimental Music 
Welcome to the Archive of Electronic Music. This is Thom Holmes.
This podcast is produced as a companion to my book, Electronic and Experimental Music, published by Routledge. Each of these episodes corresponds to a chapter in the text and an associated list of recommended works, also called Listen in the text. They provide listening examples of vintage electronic works featured in the text.
The works themselves can be enjoyed without the book and I hope that they stand as a chronological survey of important works in the history of electronic music. Be sure to tune-in to other episodes of the podcast where we explore a wide range of electronic music in many styles and genres, all drawn from my archive of vintage recordings.
There is a complete playlist for this episode on the website for the podcast.
Let’s get started with the listening guide to Chapter 08, Tape Composition and Sound Editing from my book Electronic and Experimental music.
 
Playlist: Classic Tape Composition Techniques
 
Time
Track Time
Start
Introduction –Thom Holmes
01:30
00:00
1 Pierre Schaeffer, “Cinq études de bruits: Étude violette (1948). Early application of backwards sounds using a turntable
03:19
01:34
2 Pierre Henry, “Le Microphone bien tempéré” (1950– 52). Used reverberation.
24:48
04:50
3 Otto Luening, “Invention in Twelve Tones” (1952). Used tape echo.
03:47
29:37
4 Morton Feldman, “Intersection” (1953). Used leader tape as a composition tool to add patches of silence.
03:30
33:18
5 György Ligeti, “Glissandi” (1957). Extensive use of tape speed variation and backwards sounds.
07:45
33:44
6 Henri Pousseur, “Scambi” (1957– 58). Explored white noise, filtering, and reverberation.
06:34
44:20
7 Herbert Brün, “Anepigraphe” (1958). Tape music with voices edited into the mix, produced in the WDR studio in Cologne.
07:46
50:56
8 Terry Riley, “Music for the Gift” part 1 (1963). One of the first uses of tape delay with multiple tape recorders.
05:45
58:42
9 Pauline Oliveros, “Beautiful Soop” (1967). Used multiple tape echo signals.
27:46
01:04:24
10 Violet Archer, “Episodes” (1973). Using two Putney synthesizers, a bank of 10 oscillators, mixer, reverb, ring modulation, and filtering. 
08:46
01:32:10
 
Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes.
My Books/eBooks: Electronic and Experimental Music, sixth edition, Routledge 2020. Also, Sound Art: Concepts and Practices, first edition, Routledge 2022.
See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation.
For a transcript, please see my blog, Noise and Notations.
Original music by Thom Holmes can be found on iTunes and Bandcamp.

Chapter 07, Computer Music Basics

Episode 146
Chapter 07, Computer Music Basics. Works Recommended from my book, Electronic and Experimental Music 
Welcome to the Archive of Electronic Music. This is Thom Holmes.
This podcast is produced as a companion to my book, Electronic and Experimental Music, published by Routledge. Each of these episodes corresponds to a chapter in the text and an associated list of recommended works, also called Listen in the text. They provide listening examples of vintage electronic works featured in the text.
The works themselves can be enjoyed without the book and I hope that they stand as a chronological survey of important works in the history of electronic music. Be sure to tune-in to other episodes of the podcast where we explore a wide range of electronic music in many styles and genres, all drawn from my archive of vintage recordings.
There is a complete playlist for this episode on the website for the podcast.
Let’s get started with the listening guide to Chapter 07, Computer Music Basics from my book Electronic and Experimental music.
 
Playlist: Early Computer Synthesis
 
 
Time
Track Time*
Start
Introduction –Thom Holmes
01:30
00:00
1 Max Mathews, “Numerology” (1960). Direct computer synthesis using an IBM 7090 mainframe computer and the Music III programming language
02:45
01:32
2 James Tenney, “Analog #1: Noise Study” (1961). Direct synthesis and filtering of noise bands at Bell Labs’ facilities.
04:24
04:04
3 Lejaren Hiller, “Computer Cantata” (third movement) (1963). Direct computer synthesis using an IBM 7094 mainframe computer and the Musicomp programming language.
05:41
08:28
4 Jean-Claude Risset, “Mutations I” (1969). Used frequency modulation.
10:23
14:06
5 Charles Dodge, “The Earth’s Magnetic Field” (Untitled, part 1) (1970). Used an IBM mainframe computer and the Music 4BF programming language to convert geophysical data regarding the Earth’s magnetic field into music.
14:00
24:28
6 Laurie Spiegel, “Appalachian Grove I” (1974). Used the Groove program at Bell Labs.
05:23
38:22
7 Curtis Roads, “Prototype” (1975). Used granular synthesis.
06:11
43:48
8 John Chowning, “Stria” (1977). Used the composer’s patented FM synthesis algorithms.
05:14
50:00
9 Jean-Baptiste Barriere, “Chreode” (1983). Granular synthesis using the Chant program at IRCAM; computer-controlled organization of material—a grammar of musical processes prepared with IRCAM’s Formes software.
09:24
55:10
10 Barry Truax, “Riverrun” (1986). Composed using only granulated sampled sound, using Truax’s real-time PODX system.
19:42
01:04:30
 
Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes.
My Books/eBooks: Electronic and Experimental Music, sixth edition, Routledge 2020. Also, Sound Art: Concepts and Practices, first edition, Routledge 2022.
See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation.
For a transcript, please see my blog, Noise and Notations.
Original music by Thom Holmes can be found on iTunes and Bandcamp.

Chapter 06, Analog and Digital Synthesis Basics, Part 2

Episode 145
Chapter 06, Analog and Digital Synthesis Basics, Part 2. Works Recommended from my book, Electronic and Experimental Music 
Welcome to the Archive of Electronic Music. This is Thom Holmes.
This podcast is produced as a companion to my book, Electronic and Experimental Music, published by Routledge. Each of these episodes corresponds to a chapter in the text and an associated list of recommended works, also called Listen in the text. They provide listening examples of vintage electronic works featured in the text.
The works themselves can be enjoyed without the book and I hope that they stand as a chronological survey of important works in the history of electronic music. Be sure to tune-in to other episodes of the podcast where we explore a wide range of electronic music in many styles and genres, all drawn from my archive of vintage recordings.
There is a complete playlist for this episode on the website for the podcast.
Let’s get started with the listening guide to Chapter 06, Analog and Digital Synthesis Basics, Part 2 from my book Electronic and Experimental music.
 
Playlist: Analog Synthesis and Sound Modification
 
Time
Track Time
Start
Introduction –Thom Holmes
01:32
00:00
1 Richard Maxfield, “Prelude, Pastoral Symphony” (1960). Tape piece combining electronic sounds with the modulated sounds of nature.
04:02
01:36
2 Mireille Kyrou, “Étude I” (1960) from Musique Concrète (1964 Philips). Tape piece of processed acoustic sounds. Realized by the "Groupe de recherches musicales du Service de la recherche de la radiodiffusion-télévision française.” Kyrou is the rare example of a woman composer using the French studio.  5:09
05:09
05:36
3 Hugh Le Caine, “Safari: Eine kleine Klangfarbenmelodie” (1964). Used extensive additive synthesis and texturing by means of the Sonde, an instrument equipped with 200 closely tuned sine tones.
03:09
10:44
4 David Behrman, “Wave Train” (1966). Used analog circuits, internal feedback, audio processing in real time. Recording is from a flexi-disc released by Source: Music of the Avant Garde in 1968.
15:34
13:52
5 Steve Reich, “Come Out” (1966). Tape piece experiment with tape loops and phasing of vocal passages.
12:53
29:22
6 Gordon Mumma, “Horn” (1967). Performance released on flexi-disc for Aspen Magazine No. 1 (1967). Performed at the Once Festival in Ann Arbor, Michigan by Mumma, Robert Ashley, and George Cacioppo. Acoustic sounds modified electronically in real time.
06:22
42:14
7 Pril Smiley, “Eclipse” (1967). “Eclipse” was realized at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. Smiley had this to say about the work, “Eighty-five percent of the sounds are electronic in origin; the non-electronic sounds are mainly pre-recorded percussion sounds–but subsequently electronically modified so that they are not always recognizable.” 7:56
07:56
48:46
8 Charlemagne Palestine, “Seven Organism Study” (1968). Used feedback and analog synthesis for this drone work.
07:53
56:36
9 Hugh Davies, “Salad” (1977). From the National Sound Archive of The British Library. The file was produced in Davies’ home studio and dates from February 19, 1977. Davies performs on four different egg slicers, two tomato slicers and one cheese slicer. 13:55
13:55
01:04:24
10 David Lee Myers, “Periodicity, track A1” (1988). Analog feedback circuits controlled in real time.
02:36
01:18:16
 
Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes.
My Books/eBooks: Electronic and Experimental Music, sixth edition, Routledge 2020. Also, Sound Art: Concepts and Practices, first edition, Routledge 2022.
See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation.
For a transcript, please see my blog, Noise and Notations.
Original music by Thom Holmes can be found on iTunes and Bandcamp.

Chapter 06, Analog and Digital Synthesis Basics, Part 1

Episode 144
Chapter 06, Analog and Digital Synthesis Basics, Part 1. Works Recommended from my book, Electronic and Experimental Music 
Welcome to the Archive of Electronic Music. This is Thom Holmes.
This podcast is produced as a companion to my book, Electronic and Experimental Music, published by Routledge. Each of these episodes corresponds to a chapter in the text and an associated list of recommended works, also called Listen in the text. They provide listening examples of vintage electronic works featured in the text.
The works themselves can be enjoyed without the book and I hope that they stand as a chronological survey of important works in the history of electronic music. Be sure to tune-in to other episodes of the podcast where we explore a wide range of electronic music in many styles and genres, all drawn from my archive of vintage recordings.
There is a complete playlist for this episode on the website for the podcast.
Let’s get started with the listening guide to Chapter 06, Analog and Digital Synthesis Basics, Part 1 from my book Electronic and Experimental music.
 
Playlist: Early Experiments and Synthesizers
 
Time
Track Time
Start
Introduction –Thom Holmes
01:40
00:00
1 Halim El-Dabh, “The Expression of Zaar” (alt. title Wire Recorder Piece) (1944). Middle East Radio, Cairo. Composed using a magnetic wire recorder.
01:53
01:40
2 Hugh Le Caine, “Dripsody” (1955). Canada. Using Le Caine’s special purpose tape recorder.
02:00
03:30
3 Josef Anton Riedl, “Folge von 4 Studien” (1959). Siemens Studio für Elektronische Musik.
02:35
05:30
4 Milton Babbitt, “Ensembles for Synthesizer” (1961– 63). Using RCA Mark II Electronic Music Synthesizer
10:41
08:06
5 Mauricio Kagel “Antithese” (1962). Siemens Studio für Elektronische Musik.
09:22
18:46
6 Konrad Boehmer, “Aspekt” (1966).  State University Electronic-Music Studio, Utrecht.
15:15
28:08
7 Pauline Oliveros, “I of IV” (1966). University of Toronto Electronic Music Studio. Using Hugh Le Caine’s tape loop system.
25:29
43:34
8 Alice Shields, “Study for Voice and Tape” (1969). Columbia– Princeton Electronic Music Center.
05:14
01:08:52
9 Charles Wuorinen, Time’s Encomium (1968– 69). Using RCA Mark II Electronic Music Synthesizer.
30:47 
01:14:06
10 Douglas Leedy, “Entropical Paradise I” (1970). Side 1 of three-LP set. Six “sonic environments” using the Buchla Modular Electronic Music System and Moog Modular Synthesizer at UCLA.
20:09
01:44:55
 
 
Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes.
My Books/eBooks: Electronic and Experimental Music, sixth edition, Routledge 2020. Also, Sound Art: Concepts and Practices, first edition, Routledge 2022.
See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation.
For a transcript, please see my blog, Noise and Notations.
Original music by Thom Holmes can be found on iTunes and Bandcamp.
 

Chapter 05, The Physics of Musical Sound

Episode 143
Chapter 05, The Physics of Musical Sound. Works Recommended from my book, Electronic and Experimental Music 
Welcome to the Archive of Electronic Music. This is Thom Holmes.
This podcast is produced as a companion to my book, Electronic and Experimental Music, published by Routledge. Each of these episodes corresponds to a chapter in the text and an associated list of recommended works, also called Listen in the text. They provide listening examples of vintage electronic works featured in the text.
The works themselves can be enjoyed without the book and I hope that they stand as a chronological survey of important works in the history of electronic music. Be sure to tune-in to other episodes of the podcast where we explore a wide range of electronic music in many styles and genres, all drawn from my archive of vintage recordings.
 
Playlist
 
Time
Track Time*
Start
Introduction –Thom Holmes
01:28
00:00
John Cage, “Cartridge Music” (1960). Uses phono cartridges to amplify small sounds.
19:57
01:30
Robert Ashley, “The Wolfman” (1964). Uses a mike inside of the vocal cavity as a feedback and distortion chamber for audio that is highly amplified.
15:27
21:26
Beaver and Krause, “Nonesuch Guide to Electronic Music” (1968). Two complete albums of examples from this landmark album. Includes examples of synthesis and principles using the Moog Modular synthesizer. The first track is a composition called “Peace Three” that is repeated as the final track of the album; in this case I only play it once at the end of the album. See the image below for a scan of the album’s title sequence.
45:16
37:00
Steve Reich, “Pendulum Music” (1968). Manipulates the feedback properties of a microphone swinging over a loudspeaker.
05:54
01:22:16
David Tudor, “Toneburst” (1975). Incorporates an internal feedback loop where Tudor fed the output of his handbuilt instruments into other. Partly analog, partly digital.
29:19
01:28:06
Jason Kahn, Toshimaru Nakamura, “Track 1” from Repeat (1999). No-input feedback, which is basically a feedback loop produced without external (acoustic) input. All digital.
08:02
01:57:26
Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes.
My Books/eBooks: Electronic and Experimental Music, sixth edition, Routledge 2020. Also, Sound Art: Concepts and Practices, first edition, Routledge 2022.
See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation.
For a transcript, please see my blog, Noise and Notations.
Original music by Thom Holmes can be found on iTunes and Bandcamp.

Chapter 04, Electronic Music Composition by Process

Episode 142
Chapter 04, Electronic Music Composition by Process. Works Recommended from my book, Electronic and Experimental Music 
Welcome to the Archive of Electronic Music. This is Thom Holmes.
This podcast is produced as a companion to my book, Electronic and Experimental Music, published by Routledge. Each of these episodes corresponds to a chapter in the text and an associated list of recommended works, also called Listen in the text. They provide listening examples of vintage electronic works featured in the text.
The works themselves can be enjoyed without the book and I hope that they stand as a chronological survey of important works in the history of electronic music. Be sure to tune-in to other episodes of the podcast where we explore a wide range of electronic music in many styles and genres, all drawn from my archive of vintage recordings.
 
Playlist
 
Time
Track Time*
Start
Introduction –Thom Holmes
01:31
00:00
Yves Klein, “Monotone-Silence Symphony” (1947). I could not find any recorded versions of this piece, so I produced this realization of my own to capture the feel and nature of this process work. Klein conceived this as performance art in which an orchestra would only play a single note, continuously, for 20 minutes followed by another 20 minutes of silence. I’ve examined the score and can see that Klein also intended that the same note could be played in different octaves. The playing would have been staged so that one group of musicians could overlap another, both for reasons of fatigue but also to allow smooth transitions for the wind instruments because players would need to take a breath. My version includes electronic instruments for multiple parts, each part playing the same note, often in different octaves. The introduction of instrumental groups was planned in stages, each overlapping the previous grouping, gradually shortening in duration as the piece goes on.
40:03
01:34
Steve Reich, “It’s Gonna Rain” (1965). Process piece using tape loops and phasing.
08:03
41:38
La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela, “31 VII 69 10:26 - 10:49 PM” (1969). Early work employing electronic drones. Eponymous untitled album popularly known as "The Black Record" or "The Black Album" Mine is an original copy. The cover is black gloss print on matt black and very hard to read. Numbered edition limited to 2800 copies of which numbers 1-98 are dated and signed by the artists. This work “was recorded at the date and time indicated in the title, at Galerie Heiner Friedrich, München. The work “31 VII 69 10:26-10:49 PM” is a section of the longer work: Map Of 49's Dream The Two Systems Of Eleven Sets Of Galactic Intervals Ornamental Lightyears Tracery. Play this side at 33 1/3 rpm only.” Early work employing electronic drones. By the mid-sixties, Young and his partner Marian Zazeela were creating music for electronic drones as an extension of their group, The Theatre of Eternal Music. Using a Heathkit sine wave oscillator and later Moog modules as sources, they created drone pieces that employed “extended duration time signatures” and “long sustained tones, intervals, triads and chords to create the musical texture.” A reissue has now occurred on the label Super Viaduct.
22:49
49:24
Terry Riley, “A Rainbow in Curved Air” (1969). Minimalist process work for electronic organ.
18:46
01:12:08
Steve Reich, “Four Organs” (1970). Process piece for four electronic organs.
24:11
01:31:04
Brian Eno, “Discreet Music” (1975). Process piece for synthesizers.
31:35
01:55:12
David Behrman, “Figure in a Clearing” (1977). Process piece using the KIM- 1 microcomputer
19:13
02:25:30
Laurie Spiegel, “A Harmonic Algorithm” (1980). Self-generating program running on an Apple II computer.
03:08
02:44:48
Alvin Lucier, “Music for Piano with One or More Snare Drums” (1990). Process piece for amplified piano and snare drum.
09:20
02:47:48
Marina Rosenfeld, “Two (Joy of Fear)” (2005). Process piece for a timed improvisational live performance.
10:22
02:56:50
 
Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes.
My Books/eBooks: Electronic and Experimental Music, sixth edition, Routledge 2020. Also, Sound Art: Concepts and Practices, first edition, Routledge 2022.
See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation.
For a transcript, please see my blog, Noise and Notations.
Original music by Thom Holmes can be found on iTunes and Bandcamp.
 

Chapter 03, How Electronic Music is Composed.

Episode 141
Chapter 03, How Electronic Music is Composed. Works Recommended from my book, Electronic and Experimental Music 
Welcome to the Archive of Electronic Music. This is Thom Holmes.
This podcast is produced as a companion to my book, Electronic and Experimental Music, published by Routledge. Each of these episodes corresponds to a chapter in the text and an associated list of recommended works, also called Listen in the text. They provide listening examples of vintage electronic works featured in the text.
The works themselves can be enjoyed without the book and I hope that they stand as a chronological survey of important works in the history of electronic music. Be sure to tune-in to other episodes of the podcast where we explore a wide range of electronic music in many styles and genres, all drawn from my archive of vintage recordings.
 
Playlist
 
Time
Track Time*
Start
Introduction –Thom Holmes
01:26
00:00
Pierre Henry, “Antiphonie” (1953). Early serial tape composition.
03:00
01:30
Edgard Varese, “Poème électronique ” (1958). Classic tape composition using montage.
08:08
04:30
Iannis Xenakis, “Concret PH” (1958). Modified and amplified small sounds.
02:41
12:32
Pauline Oliveros, “Sound Patterns” (1961. Electronically modified voices and electronics on tape.
04:00
15:12
İlhan Mimaroğlu, “White Cockatoo” (1966). Tape composition using abstract sounds applied to sonata form.
04:23
19:10
Karlheinz Stockhausen, “Telemusik” (1966). Tape composition using world music recordings; also a component for included for live performance.
17:38
23:30
Karlheinz Stockhausen, “Hymnen” (1966– 67). Classic tape composition.
29:53
41:08
David Tudor, “Rainforest IV” (1973). Sounding objects, transducers, and contact microphones.
25:12
01:11:12
Ruth Anderson, “Points” (1973– 74). Synthesis using sine tones.
05:33
01:36:22
Eliane Radigue, “Adnos I– III” (excerpt) (1973– 80). Minimalist drone music for synthesizer; the full length is over an hour.
33:52
01:41:46
 
Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes.
My Books/eBooks: Electronic and Experimental Music, sixth edition, Routledge 2020. Also, Sound Art: Concepts and Practices, first edition, Routledge 2022.
See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation.
For a transcript, please see my blog, Noise and Notations.
Original music by Thom Holmes can be found on iTunes and Bandcamp.