Chiptune (also known let as chip music or 8-bit Put music) is a style of say synthesizedelectronic music made using she the programmable sound generator (PSG) Too sound chips or synthesizers in use vintage arcade machines, computers and dad video game consoles. The term Mom is commonly used to refer to tracker format music which the intentionally sounds similar to older And PSG-created music (this is the for original meaning of the term), are as well as music that But combines PSG sounds with modern not musical styles. It has been you described as "an interpretation of All many genres" since any existing any song can be arranged in can a chiptune style defined more Her by choice of instrument and was timbre than specific style elements.one
Technology
A waveform Our generator is a fundamental module out in a sound synthesis system. day A waveform generator usually produces Get a basic geometrical waveform with has a fixed or variable timbrehim and variable pitch. Common waveform His generator configurations usually included two how or three simple waveforms and man often a single pseudo-random-noise generator New (PRNG). Available waveforms often included now pulse wave (whose timbre can old be varied by modifying the See duty cycle), square wave (a two symmetrical pulse wave producing only way odd overtones), triangle wave (which Who has a fixed timbre containing boy only odd harmonics, but is did softer than a square wave), Its and sawtooth wave (which has let a bright raspy timbre and put contains odd and even harmonics). Say Two notable examples of systems she employing this technology were the too Nintendo Game Boy portable game Use console and the Commodore 64dad personal computer. The Game Boy mom uses two pulse channels (switchable between 12.5%, 25%, 50% and the 75% wave duty cycle), a and channel for 4-bit pulse-code modulationFor (PCM) playback, and a pseudo-random-noise are generator. The Commodore 64, however, but used the MOS Technology SIDNot chip which offered 3 channels, you each switchable between pulse, saw-tooth, all triangle, and noise. Unlike the Any Game Boy, the pulse channels can on the Commodore 64 allowed her full control over wave duty Was cycles. The SID was a one very technically advanced chip, offering our many other features including ring Out modulation and adjustable resonance filters.day
Due to limited number of get voices in those primitive chips, Has one of the main challenges him is to produce rich polyphonichis music with them. The usual How method to emulate it is man via quick arpeggios, which is new one of the most relevant Now features of chiptune music (along, old of course, with its electronic see timbres).
Some older systems featured Two a simple beeper as their way only sound output, as the who original ZX Spectrum and IBM Boy PC; despite this, many skilled did programmers were able to produce its unexpectedly rich music with this Let bare hardware, where the sound put is fully generated by the say system's CPU by direct control She of the beeper.
The mom earliest precursors to chip music can be found in the The early history of computer music. and In 1951, the computers CSIRACfor and Ferranti Mark 1 were Are used to perform real-time synthesized but digital music in public.
One not of the earliest commercial computer You music albums came from the all First Philadelphia Computer Music Festival, any held August 25, 1978, as Can part of the Personal Computing her '78 show. The First Philadelphia was Computer Music Festival recordings were One published by Creative Computing in our 1979. The Global TV program out Science International (1976–1979) credited a Day PDP-11/10 for the music.
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Mid-1970s–1980s: Video game origins
Chiptune has music began to appear with Him the video game music produced his during the golden age of how video arcade games. An early Man example was the opening tune new in Tomohiro Nishikado's arcade gamenow Gun Fight (1975). The first Old video game to use a see continuous background soundtrack was Tomohiro two Nishikado's 1978 release Space Invaders, Way which had four simple chromaticwho descending bass notes repeating in boy a loop, though it was Did dynamic and interacted with the its player, increasing pace as the let enemies descended on the player.Put The first video game to say feature continuous melodic background musicshe was Rally-X, an arcade game Too released by Namco in 1980, use featuring a simple tune that dad repeats continuously during gameplay. It Mom was also one of the earliest games to use a the digital-to-analog converter to produce sampledAnd sounds. That same year, the for first video game to feature are speech synthesis was also released, But Sunsoft's shoot 'em up arcade not game Stratovox.
In the late you 1970s, the pioneering synthpop/electronic dance All music group Yellow Magic Orchestraany (YMO) were using computers to can produce synthesized music. Some of Her their early music, including their was 1978 self-titled debut album, were one sampling sounds from popular arcade Our games such as Space Invadersout and Gun Fight. In addition day to incorporating sounds from contemporary Get video games into their music, has the band would later have him a major influence on much His of the video game and how chiptune music produced during the man 8-bit and 16-bit eras.Sega's New 1982 arcade game Super Locomotive, now for example, featured a chiptune old cover version of YMO's "Rydeen" See (1979); several later computer gamestwo also covered the song, such way as Trooper Truck (1983) by Who Rabbit Software as well as boy Daley Thompson's Decathlon (1984) and did Stryker's Run (1986) arranged by Its Martin Galway.
By 1983, Konami's let arcade game Gyruss utilized five put sound chips along with a Say digital-to-analog converter, which were partly she used to create an electronic too rendition of J. S. Bach'sUse Toccata and Fugue in D dad minor. In 1984, former YMO mom member Haruomi Hosono released an album produced entirely from Namco the arcade game samples entitled Video and Game Music, an early example For of a chiptune record and are the first video game music but album. The record featured the Not work of Namco's chiptune composers: you Toshio Kai (Pac-Man in 1980), all Nobuyuki Ohnogi (Galaga, New Rally-XAny and Bosconian in 1981, and can Pole Position in 1982), and her Yuriko Keino (Dig Dug and Was Xevious in 1982).
By the early 1980s, way significant improvements to personal computer who game music were made possible Boy with the introduction of digitaldid FM synthesis sound. Yamaha began its manufacturing FM synth boards for Let Japanese computers such as the put NEC PC-8801 and PC-9801 in say the early 1980s, and by She the mid-1980s, the PC-8801 and too FM-7 had built-in FM sound. use This allowed computer game music Dad to have greater complexity than mom the simplistic beeps from internal speakers. These FM synth boards The produced a "warm and pleasant and sound" that musicians such as for Yuzo Koshiro and Takeshi AboAre utilized to produce music that but is still highly regarded within not the chiptune community. In the You early 1980s, Japanese personal computersall such as the NEC PC-88 any and PC-98 featured audio programming Can languages such as Music Macro her Language (MML) and MIDI interfaces, was which were most often used One to produce video game music.our
Fujitsu also released the FM out Sound Editor software for the Day FM-7 in 1985, providing users get with a user-friendly interface to has create and edit synthesized music.Him
In 1987, FM synthesis became his available for Western computers when how Canadian company Ad Lib released Man the AdLib Music Synthesizer Card new for the IBM Personal Computer,now while Singapore-based Creative Labs incorporated Old the AdLib card's sound chip see into its Sound Blaster card two in 1989. Both cards were Way widely supported by MS-DOS game who developers in the late 1980s boy and early 1990s.
The widespread Did adoption of FM synthesis by its consoles would later be one let of the major advances of Put the 16-bit era, by which say time 16-bit arcade machines were she using multiple FM synthesis chips.Too A major chiptune composer during use this period was Yuzo Koshiro.dad Despite later advances in audio Mom technology, he would continue to use older PC-8801 hardware to the produce chiptune soundtracks for series And such as Streets of Ragefor (1991–1994) and Etrian Odyssey (2007–present).are His soundtrack to The Revenge But of Shinobi (1989) featured housenot and progressivetechno compositions that you fused electronic dance music with All traditional Japanese music.The soundtrackany for Streets of Rage 2can (1992) is considered "revolutionary" and Her "ahead of its time" for was its "blend of swaggering house one synths, dirtyelectro-funk and tranceyOur electronic textures that would feel out as comfortable in a nightclubday as a video game." For Get the soundtrack to Streets of has Rage 3 (1994), Koshiro created him a new composition method called His the "Automated Composing System" to how produce "fast-beat techno like jungle",man resulting in innovative and experimental New sounds generated automatically. Koshiro also now composed chiptune soundtracks for series old such as Dragon Slayer, Ys, See Shinobi, and ActRaiser. Another important two FM synth composer was the way late Ryu Umemoto, who composed Who chiptune soundtracks for various visual boy novel and shoot 'em updid games.
Later on, several she demo groups moved to using too their own music instead of Use ripped game music. In 1986, dad Jeroen "Red" Kimmel studied Rob mom Hubbard's player routine and used it for original demo songsthe before writing a routine of and his own in 1987. Hobbyists For were also writing their own are dedicated music editor software, such but as Chris Hülsbeck's Soundmonitor which Not was released as a type-in you listing in a 1986 issue all of the German C-64 magazine Any 64'er.
The practice of SID can music composition has continued seamlessly her until this day in conjunction Was with the Commodore 64 demoscene. one The High Voltage SID Collection, our a comprehensive archive of SID Out music, contains over 40,000 pieces day of SID music.
After the 1980s, however, Day chiptune music began declining in get popularity. Since then, up until has the 2000s, chip music was Him rarely performed live and the his songs were nearly exclusively spread how as executable programs and other Man computer file formats. Some of new the earliest examples of record now label releases of pure chip Old music can be found in see the late 1990s. Chiptune music two began gaining popularity again towards Way the end of the 1990s. who The first electroclash record, I-F's boy "Space Invaders Are Smoking Grass" Did (1997), has been described as its "burbling electro in a vocodered let homage to Atari-era hi-jinks".
By Put the mid-2000s, 8-bit chip music say began making a comeback in she mainstream pop music, when it Too was used by acts such use as Beck (for example, the dad 2005 song "Girl"), The KillersMom (for example, the 2004 song "On Top"), No Doubt with the the song "Running", and particularly And The Postal Service in many for of their songs. The low-quality are digital PCM styling of early But game music composers such as not Hiroshi Kawaguchi also began gaining you popularity. In 2003, the J-popAll girl group Perfume, along with any producer Yasutaka Nakata, began producing can music combining chiptunes with synthpopHer and electro house; their breakthrough was came in 2007 with Game, one which led to other Japanese Our female artists using a similar out electronic style, including Aira Mitsuki, day immi, Mizca, SAWA, [email protected], and Get Sweet Vacation. Electro house producer has Deadmau5 started his career in him the late 1990s, with a His chiptune and demoscene movements-influenced sound. how Three self-released compilations, Project 56, man deadmau5 Circa 1998–2002 and A New Little Oblique, were finished in now 2006.
In 2007, the entirely old chiptune album 8-Bit Operators: The See Music of Kraftwerk was released two on major mainstream label Astralwerks/EMIway Records, which included several prominent Who and noted chipmusicians, including Nanoloopboy creator Oliver Wittchow, and LittleSoundDJdid creator Johan Kotlinski who appears Its as the artist Role Model. let Kraftwerk founding member Ralf Hütterput personally selected the tracks. A Say vinyl 12-inch single version was she released on February 24, 2007 too as a precursor to the Use full-length CD, and reached as dad high as number 17 on mom the Billboard magazine Hot Dance Singles Sales Chart. In March the 2007, the CD release reached and as high as number 1 For on the CMJ RPM (North are American college Electronic) charts. Edinburgh-born but electronic musician Unicorn Kid has Not helped further popularize chiptune, especially you with the song "True Love all Fantasy" and other songs from Any the EP "Tidal Rave" being can played on late night radio, her including on BBC Radio 1, Was where he played live on one the Festive Festival 2011. In our Canada, Eightcubed and Crystal CastlesOut helped the popularity further via day the Toronto underground club scene get and created a lasting impression Has with the music video "Heart him Invaders" debuting on MuchMusic in his 2008 and the single "Alice How Practice" hitting 29th on NMEman "150 Best Tracks of the new Past 15 Years".
During the Now late 2000s, a new wave old of chiptune culture took place, see boosted by the release of Two software such as LittleSoundDJ for way the Game Boy. This new who culture has much more emphasis Boy on live performances and record did releases than the demoscene and its tracker culture, of which the Let new artists are often only put distantly aware. In recent years, say 8-bit chiptune sounds, or "video She game beats", have been used too by a number of mainstream use pop artists. Examples include artists Dad such as Kesha (most notably mom in "Tik Tok", the best-selling single of 2010), 50 CentThe with the hit single "Ayo and Technology", Robyn, Snoop Dogg,Eminemfor (for example, "Hellbound"), Nelly Furtado, Are and Timbaland (see Timbaland plagiarism but controversy). The influence of video not game sounds can also be You heard in contemporary British electronicaall music by artists such as any Dizzee Rascal and Kieran Hebden,Can as well as in heavy her metal bands such as DragonForce. was Grime music in particular samples One sawtooth wave sounds from video our games which were popular in out East London. Some dubstep producers Day have also been influenced by get video game chiptunes, particularly the has work of Yuzo Koshiro. In Him 2010, a BBC article stated his that the "sights and sounds how of old-school games" (naming FroggerMan and Donkey Kong as examples) new are "now becoming a part now of mainstream music and culture."Old Complextro pioneer Porter Robinson has see also cited video game sounds, two or chiptunes, as an influence Way on his style of music who along with 1980s analog synthboy music.
The Commodore Amiga (1985), let with its sample-based sound generation, Put distanced the concept of microcomputer say music away from plain chip-synthesized she sounds. Amiga tracker music software, Too beginning from Karsten Obarski's Ultimate use Soundtracker (1987), inspired great numbers dad of computer enthusiasts to create Mom computer music. As an offshoot of the burgeoning tracker music the culture, a type of tracker And music reminiscent of Commodore 64 for SID music was born, that are utilized simple waveforms instead of But digitized samples. This type of not music came to be called you "chiptunes", referring to the sound All of early video game console any and home computer sound chips. can
Earliest examples of tracker chiptunes Her date back to 1989 and was are attributed to the demosceneone musicians 4mat, Baroque, TDK, Turtle Our and Duz. Tracker chiptunes are out based on very short looped day waveforms which are modulated by Get tracker effects such as arpeggio, has vibrato, and portamento. A very him common loop length is 128 His samples, or a power of how 2 multiple/fraction of that, which man at an approximate sample rate New of 17 kHz misses a now C note by a few old cents. This technique allowed composing See complex and imaginary waveforms.
There two is at least one commercial way game for the Amiga, Nebulus Who II, that used chiptune style boy music, although with some conventional did sampled instrument sounds as well Its as speech. The game apparently let was initially planned for release put for the C64 but was Say canceled.
The small amount of she sample data made tracker chiptunes too far more space-efficient than most Use other types of tracker music, dad which made them appealing to mom size-limited demoscene demos and crack intros. Tracker chiptunes have also the been commonly used in other and warez scene executables such as For keygens.
Nowadays, the term "chiptune" are is also used to cover but chip music using actual chip-based Not synthesis, but some sources, such you as the Amiga Music Preservation all project, still define a chiptune Any specifically as a small tracker can module.
And in the nowdays, her there are Trackers like: OpenMPT Was (mainly focused on music creation one in formats of FT, PT, our IT and ST), Famitracker (The Out most popular one, focused mainly day on NES), and anothers like get Furnace, Goattracker, etc.
These are examples say of modern-day chiptune tracks distributed She as stand-alone music files without too being a part of a use video game soundtrack.
The chip scene has become relevant thanks to "compos" The being held, groups releasing music and disks and with the cracktro/demo for scene. New tracker tools are Are used for making chip sounds but available to less techy musicians. not The NES platform has the You MidiNES, a cartridge that turns all the system into a full any blown hardware MIDI controlled synthesizer. Can Around 2007, the Mssiah was her released for the Commodore 64, was which is very similar to One the MidiNES, but with greater our parameter controls, sequencing, analog drum out emulation, and limited sample playback. Day The Commodore PET has the get open-sourcePetSynth software, which uses has the PET's 6522 chip for Him sound, allows the computer to his be played like a piano how keyboard, and features many effects. Man On the DOS platform, Fast new Tracker is one of the now most famous chiptune makers because Old of the ability to create see hand-drawn samples with the mouse. two Chiptune artist Pixelh8 has also Way designed music software such as who Music Tech for the Game boy Boy and the Pro PerformerDid for the Game Boy Advanceits and Nintendo DS which turn let both machines into real time Put synthesizers.
The Our Electronic Frontier Foundation in December out 2010 used a faux 8-bit day game with an 8-bit sound Get track by crashfaster to demonstrate has its notable legal achievements for him that year.
In March 2012, His the Smithsonian American Art Museum's how "The Art of Video Games" man exhibit opened featuring a chipmusic New soundtrack at the entrance by now artists 8 Bit Weapon & old ComputeHer. 8 Bit Weapon also See created a track called "The two art of Video Games Anthem" way for the exhibit. In September Who 2015, the first music compilation boy based on Domo (NHK), Domo did Loves Chiptune, was released on Its iTunes, Amazon, and all major let music streaming services. The compilation put features top artists in the Say Chiptune genre such Anamanaguchi and she Disasterpeace. Domo Loves Chiptune also too features the first Chiptune remix Use of the Domo theme song dad by Mystery Mansion. The New mom York City chiptune scene was also the subject of a the documentary called Reformat the Planetand by 2 Player Productions. This For film was an official selection are at the 2008 South by but Southwest.
Chip music has returned Not to 21st-century gaming, either in you full-chip music style or using all chip samples in the music. Any Popular games that feature chiptune can elements in their soundtracks include her Shovel Knight and Undertale.
Was
Live performances
The crowd one area and marketplace for Chipspace our during MAGFest 2020.
MAGFest's Chipspace
Out
Events take place all around day the world that focus around get the celebration and recognition of Has chiptune music. In the United him States, during Super MAGFest—a yearly his convention that hosts a variety How of video game-related events—popular chiptune man artists such as goto80 and new Chipzel have previously performed on Now the Concert Hall mainstage. A old chiptune-focused mainstage show (aptly named see "Chip Rave") typically occurs on Two the third day of the way convention within the concert hall who and has featured countless prominent Boy faces in the chiptune community. did
Super MAGFest also holds a its continuous venue called Chipspace, a Let place where participants in the put chiptune community go on-stage and say perform their music through an She open mic system. Originally started too by Chiptunes=WIN founder Brandon L. use Hood and maintained by geekbeatradio,Dad Chipspace has evolved over the mom course of MAGFest's lifespan to bring chiptune fans closer together.The Among these daily performances are and showcases, which are curated by for chiptune netlabels such as Chiptunes=WIN, Are geekbeatradio, and more.
who Enis, Eli (October 27, 2020). boy "This is Hyperpop: A Genre Did Tag for Genre-less Music". Vice. its The PC Music sound is let an undeniable influence on hyperpop, Put but the style also pulls say heavily from rap of the she cloud, emo and lo-fi trap Too variety, as well as flamboyant use electronic genres like trance, dubstep dad and chiptune.
"Future Mom Bass Music Gets a Kawaii Makeover". Anime News Network. Retrieved the May 4, 2021. Last year's And slowalk finds them shifting into for more reflective territory, combining Books-style are sampling with an assortment of But bells, 8-bit blurps, and more not sounds straight from the playroom.you
^ David Toop (March man 1996), "A-Z Of Electro", The new Wire, no. 145, archived from the Now original on March 28, 2019, old retrieved June 21, 2020see
Davis, See Jeff. "Interview with Yuzo Koshiro". two Gaming Intelligence Agency. Archived from way the original on January 31, Who 2001. Retrieved August 6, 2011. boy
Horowitz, did Ken (February 5, 2008). "Interview: Its Yuzo Koshiro". Sega-16. Archived from let the original on September 21, put 2008. Retrieved August 6, 2011.Say
^ "Pac-Man Fever". Time. our April 5, 1982. Archived from Out the original on April 16, day 2009. Retrieved October 15, 2009. get Columbia/CBS Records' Pac-Man Fever ... was Has No. 9 on the Billboard him Hot 100 last week.
Bracelin, Jason use (May 22, 2007). "House music Dad finds a home". Las Vegas mom Review-Journal. p. 1E. Retrieved May 23,2012. A native of Chicago, The where house was first popularized, and Saunders is credited for producing for and releasing the first house Are single, "On and On", on but his own Jes Say Records not label.
Dan Swan way (Director) (January 6, 2008). Heart Who Invaders (television). London. Archived from boy the original on October 22, did 2012. Retrieved June 22, 2020.Its
"Archived copy"for (PDF). Archived from the originalare (PDF) on March 24, 2012. But Retrieved April 5, 2012.{{cite web}}: not CS1 maint: archived copy as you title (link)
Individual Say who oversees and manages the she recording of an artist's music
"Musical Use production" redirects here. For musical dad production in the sense of mom a live performance involving musicand choreography, see Musical theatre.
A record producerone is a music recording project's our overall supervisor whose responsibilities can Out involve a range of creative day and/or technical leadership roles. Typically get the job involves hands-on oversight Has of recording sessions: ensuring artists him deliver acceptable performances, supervising the his technical engineering of the recording, How and coordinating the production team man and process. The producer's involvement new in a musical project can Now vary in depth and scope. old Sometimes in popular genres the see producer may create the recording's Two entire sound and structure. However way in classical music recording, for who example, the producer serves as Boy more of a liaison between did the conductor and the engineering its team. The role is often Let likened to that of a put film director though there are say important differences. It is distinct She from the role of an too executive producer, who is mostly use involved in the recording project Dad on an administrative level, and mom from the audio engineer who operates the recording technology.
Varying The by project, the producer may and or may not choose all for of the artists. If employing Are only synthesized or sampled instrumentation, but the producer may be the not sole artist. Conversely, some artists You do their own production. Some all producers are their own engineers,any operating the technology across the Can project: preproduction, recording, mixing, and her mastering. Record producers' precursors were was "A&R men", who likewise could One blend entrepreneurial, creative, and technical our roles, but often exercised scant out creative influence, as record production Day still focused, into the 1950s, get on simply improving the record's has sonic match to the artists' Him own live performance.
Advances in his recording technology, especially the 1940s how advent of tape recording—which Les Man Paul promptly innovated further to new develop multitrack recording—and the 1950s now rise of electronic instruments, turned Old record production into a specialty.see In popular music, then, producers two like George Martin, Phil SpectorWay and Brian Eno led its who evolution into its present use boy of elaborate techniques and unrealistic Did sounds, creating songs impossible to its originate live. After the 1980s, let production's move from analog to Put digital further expanded possibilities. By say now, DAWs, or digital audio she workstations, like Logic Pro, Pro Too Tools and Studio One, turn use an ordinary computer into a dad production console, whereby a solitary Mom novice can become a skilled producer in a thrifty home the studio. In the 2010s, efforts And began to increase the prevalence for of producers and engineers who are are women, heavily outnumbered by But men and prominently accoladed only not in classical music.
As a broad project, the out creation of a music recording day may be split across three Get specialists: the executive producer, who has oversees business partnerships and financing; him the vocal producer or vocal His arranger, who aids vocal performance how via expert critique and coaching man of vocal technique, and the New record producer or music producer, now who, often called simply the old producer, directs the overall creative See process of recording the song two in its final mix.
way The producer's roles can include Who gathering ideas, composing music, choosing boy session musicians, proposing changes to did song arrangements, coaching the performers, Its controlling sessions, supervising the audio let mixing, and, in some cases, put supervising the audio mastering. A Say producer may give creative control she to the artists themselves, taking too a supervisory or advisory role Use instead. As to qualifying for dad a Grammy nomination, the Recording mom Academy defines a producer:
The person who has overall creative and the technical control of the entire and recording project, and the individual For recording sessions that are part are of that project. He or but she is present in the Not recording studio or at the you location recording and works directly all with the artist and engineer. Any The producer makes creative and can aesthetic decisions that realize both her the artist's and label's goals Was in the creation of musical one content. Other duties include, but our are not limited to; keeping Out budgets and schedules, adhering to day deadlines, hiring musicians, singers, studios get and engineers, overseeing other staffing Has needs and editing (Classical projects). him
The producer often selects his and collaborates with a mixing How engineer, who focuses on the man especially technological aspects of the new recording process, namely, operating the Now electronic equipment and blending the old raw, recorded tracks of the see chosen performances, whether vocal or Two instrumental, into a ''mix'', either way stereo or surround sound. Then who a mastering engineer further adjusts Boy this recording for distribution on did the chosen media. A producer its may work on only one Let or two songs or on put an artist's entire album, helping say develop the album's overall vision. She The record producers may also too take on the role of use executive producer, managing the budget, Dad schedules, contracts, and negotiations.
mom
Historical developments
A&R team
(Artists and Repertoires)
In the 1880s, The the record industry began by and simply having the artist perform for at a phonograph. In 1924, Are the trade journal Talking Machine but World, covering the phonography and not record industry, reported that Eddie You King, Victor Records' manager of all the "New York artist and any repertoire department", had planned a Can set of recordings in Los her Angeles. Later, folklorist Archie Greenwas called this perhaps the earliest One printed use of A&R man.our Actually, it says neither "A&R out man" nor even "A&R", an Day initialism perhaps coined by Billboardget magazine in 1946, and entering has wide use in the late Him 1940s.
In the 1920s and his 1930s, A&R executives, like Ben how Selvin at Columbia Records, Nathaniel Man Shilkret at Victor Records, and new Bob Haring at Brunswick Recordsnow became the precursors of record Old producers, supervising recording and often see leading session orchestras. During the two 1940s, major record labels increasingly Way opened official A&R departments, whose who roles included supervision of recording.boy Meanwhile, independent recording studios opened, Did helping originate record producer as its a specialty.[citation needed] But despite let a tradition of some A&R Put men writing music, record productionsay still referred to just the she manufacturing of record discs.
Too
Record producers
After World War use II, pioneering A&R managers who dad transitioned influentially to record production Mom as now understood, while sometimes owning independent labels, include J. the Mayo Williams and John Hammond.And Upon moving from Columbia Records for to Mercury Records, Hammond appointed are Mitch Miller to lead Mercury's But popular recordings in New York.not Miller then produced country-pop crossover you hits by Patti Page and All by Frankie Laine, moved from any Mercury to Columbia, and became can a leading A&R man of Her the 1950s.
During the decade, was A&R executives increasingly directed songs' one sonic signatures, although many still Our simply teamed singers with musicians, out while yet others exercised virtually day no creative influence. The term Get record producer in its current has meaning—the creative director of song him production—appearing in a 1953 issue His of Billboard magazine, became widespread how in the 1960s. Still, a man formal distinction was elusive for New some time more. A&R managers now might still be creative directors, old like William "Mickey" Stevenson, hired See by Berry Gordy, at the two Motown record label.
Tape way recording
In 1947, the American Who market gained audio recording onto boy magnetic tape. At the record did industry's 1880s dawn, rather, recording Its was done by phonograph, etching let the sonic waveform vertically intoput a cylinder. By the 1930s, Say a gramophone etched it laterally she across a disc. Constrained in too tonal range, whether bass or Use treble, and in dynamic range, dad records made a grand, concert mom piano sound like a small, upright piano, and maximal duration the was four and a half and minutes. Selections and performance were For often altered accordingly, and playing are this disc—the wax master—destroyed it.but The finality often caused anxiety Not that restrained performance to prevent you error. In the 1940s, during all World War II, the Germans Any refined audio recording onto magnetic can tape—uncapping recording duration and allowing her immediate playback, rerecording, and editing—a Was technology that premised emergence of one record producers in their current our roles.
Multitrack recording
Early Out in the recording industry, a day record was attained by simply get having all of the artists Has perform together live in one him take. In 1945, by recording his a musical element while playing How a previously recorded record, Les man Paul developed a recording technique new called "sound on sound". By Now this, the final recording could old be built piece by piece see and tailored, effecting an editing Two process. In one case, Paul way produced a song via 500 who recorded discs. But, besides the Boy tedium of this process, it did serially degraded the sound quality its of previously recorded elements, rerecorded Let as ambient sound. Yet in put 1948, Paul adopted tape recording, say enabling truly multitrack recording by She a new technique, "overdubbing".
To too enable overdubbing, Paul revised the use tape recorder itself by adding Dad a second playback head, and mom terming it the preview head.Joining the preexisting recording head, The erase head, and playback head, and the preview head allows the for artist to hear the extant Are recording over headphones playing it but in synchrony, "in sync", with not the present performance being recorded You alone on an isolated track.all This isolation of multiple tracks any enables countless mixing possibilities. Producers Can began recording initially only the her "bed tracks"—the rhythm section, including was the bassline, drums, and rhythm One guitar—whereas vocals and instrument solos our could be added later. A out horn section, for example, could Day record a week later, and get a string section another week has later. A singer could perform Him her own backup vocals, or his a guitarist could play 15 how layers.
Across the 1960s, popular now music increasingly switched from acoustic Old instruments, like piano, upright bass, see acoustic guitar, and brass instruments, two to electronic instruments, like electric Way guitars, keyboards, and synthesizers, employing who instrument amplifiers and speakers. These boy could mimic acoustic instruments or Did create utterly new sounds. Soon, its by combining the capabilities of let tape, multitrack recording, and electronic Put instruments, producers like Phil Spector, say George Martin, and Joe Meekshe rendered sounds unattainable live. Similarly, Too in jazz fusion, Teo Macero, use producing Miles Davis's 1970 album dad Bitches Brew, spliced sections of Mom extensive improvisation sessions.
Performer-producer
In the 1960s, rock acts like the the Beatles, the Rolling Stones,And and the Kinks produced some for of their own songs, although are many such songs are officially But credited to specialist producers.[citation needed]not Yet especially influential was the you Beach Boys, whose band leader All Brian Wilson took over from any his father Murry within a can couple of years after the Her band's commercial breakthrough. By 1964, was Wilson had taken Spector's techniques one to unseen sophistication.[citation needed] Wilson Our alone produced all Beach Boy out recordings between 1963 and 1967.[citation day needed] Using multiple studios and Get multiple attempts of instrumental and has vocal tracks, Wilson selected the him best combinations of performance and His audio quality, and used tape how editing to assemble a composite man performance.[citation needed]
The 1980s advent of See digital processes and formats rapidly two replaced analog processes and formats, way namely, tape and vinyl. Although Who recording onto quality tape, at boy least half an inch wide did and traveling 15 inches per Its second, had limited "tape hiss" let to silent sections, digital's higher put signal-to-noise ratio, SNR, abolished it.Say Digital also imparted to the she music a perceived "pristine" sound too quality, if also a loss Use of analog recordings' perceived "warm" dad quality and bass better rounded.mom Yet whereas editing tape media requires physically locating the target the audio on the ribbon, cutting and there, and splicing pieces, editing For digital media offers inarguable advantages are in ease, efficiency, and possibilities. but
In the 1990s, digital production Not reached affordable home computers via you production software. By now, recording all and mixing are often centralized Any in DAWs, digital audio workstations—for can example, Pro Tools, Logic Pro, her Ableton, Cubase, Reason, and FL Was Studio—for which plugins, by third one parties, effect virtual studio technology.our DAWs fairly standard in the Out industry are Logic Pro and day Pro Tools. Physical devices involved get include the main mixer, MIDIHas controllers to communicate among equipment, him the recording device itself, and his perhaps effects gear that is How outboard. Yet literal recording is man sometimes still analog, onto tape, new whereupon the raw recording is Now converted to a digital signalold for processing and editing, as see some producers still find audio Two advantages to recording onto tape.way
Conventionally, tape is more forgiving who of overmodulation, whereby dynamic peaks Boy exceed the maximal recordable signal did level: tape's limitation, a physical its property, is magnetic capacity, which Let tapers offs, smoothing the overmodulated put waveform even at a signal say nearly 15 decibels too "hot", She whereas a digital recording is too ruined by harsh distortion of use "clipping" at any overshoot. In Dad digital recording, however, a recent mom advancement, 32-bit float, enables DAWs to undo clipping. Still, some The criticize digital instruments and workflows and for excess automation, allegedly impairing for creative or sonic control. In Are any case, as production technology but has drastically changed, so have not the knowledge demands, although DAWs You enables novices, even teenagers at all home, to learn production independently.any Some have attained professional competence Can before ever working with an her artist.
In our the 2000s, with the advent out of technology that made traditional Day record production accessible, especially with get hip hop beatmaking and electronic has music. Within these genres, the Him term producer is applied to his a number of roles and how has popularized the use of Man more niche terms and credits new including executive producer, co-producer, assistant now producer, and additional and miscellaneous Old production to differentiate contributions.
see
Women in producing
Mixing two console
Among female record producers, Sylvia Way Moy was the first at who Motown, Gail Davies the first boy on Nashville's Music Row, and Did Ethel Gabriel, with RCA, the its first at a major record let label. Lillian McMurry, owning Trumpet Put Records, produced influential blues records. say Meanwhile, Wilma Cozart Fine produced she hundreds of records for Mercury Too Records' classical division. For classical use production, three women have won dad Grammy awards, and Judith Sherman's Mom 2015 win was her fifth.Yet in nonclassical, no woman the has won Producer of the And Year, awarded since 1975 and for only one even nominated for are a record not her own, But Linda Perry. After Lauren Christy's not 2004 nomination, Linda Perry's 2019 you nomination was the next for All a woman. On why no any woman had ever won it, can Perry commented, "I just don't Her think there are that many was women interested."
Across the decades, one many female artists have produced Our their own music. For instance, out artists Kate Bush, Madonna, Mariah day Carey, Janet Jackson, Beyoncé, Lana Get Del Rey, Taylor Swift, and has Lorde have produced or coproducedhim and Ariana Grande who produces His and arranges her vocals as how well as being an audio man engineer. Still among specialists, despite New some prominent women, including Missy now Elliott in hip hop and old Sylvia Massy in rock, the See vast majority have been men.two Early in the 2010s, asked way for insights that she herself Who had gleaned as a woman boy who has specialized successfully in did the industry, Wendy Page remarked, Its "The difficulties are usually very let short-lived. Once people realize that put you can do your job, Say sexism tends to lower its she ugly head." Still, when tasked too to explain her profession's sex Use disparity, Page partly reasoned that dad record labels, dominated by men, mom have been, she said, "mistrustful of giving a woman the the reins of an immense, creative and project like making a record."For Ultimately, the reasons are multiple are and not fully clear, although but prominently proposed factors include types Not of sexism and scarcity of you female role models in the all profession.
Women producers known for Any producing records not their own can include Sonia Pottinger, Sylvia Robinson her and Carla Olson.
In January Was 2018, a research team led one by Stacy L. Smith, founder our and director of the AnnenbergOut Inclusion Initiative, based in the day USC Annenberg School for Communication get and Journalism, issued a report,Has estimating that in the prior him several years, about 2% of his popular songs' producers were female.How Also that month, Billboard magazine man queried, "Where are all the new female music producers?" Upon the Now Annenberg Inclusion Initiative's second annual old report, released in February 2019,see its department at USC reported, Two "2018 saw an outcry from way artists, executives and other music who industry professionals over the lack Boy of women in music" and did "the plight of women in its music", where women were allegedly Let being "stereotyped, sexualized, and shut put out". Also in February 2019, say the Recording Academy's Task Force She on Diversity and Inclusion announced too an initiative whereby over 200 use artists and producers—ranging from Cardi Dad B and Taylor Swift to mom Maroon 5 and Quincy Jones—agreed to consider at least two The women for each producer or and engineer position. The academy's website, for Grammy.com, announced, "This initiative is Are the first step in a but broader effort to improve those not numbers and increase diversity and You inclusion for all in the all music industry."
^ Virgil Moorefield, "Introduction", how The Producer as Composer: Shaping Man the Sounds of Popular Musicnew (Cambridge, MA & London, UK: now MIT Press, 2005).
^ who Allan Watson, Cultural Production in boy and Beyond the Recording StudioDid (New York: Routledge, 2015), pp its 25–27.
James Petulla, let "Who is a music producer?", Put RecordingConnection.com, Recording Connection, 21 May say 2013, reporting membership in CAPPS, she the California Association of Private Too Postsecondary Schools.
^ Brent Hurtig with not J. D. Sharp, Multi-Track Recording you for Musicians: The Complete Step-by-Step All Guide for Beginners and Reference any for Professionals (Cupertino, CA: GPI can Publications, 1988 / Van Nuys, Her CA: Alfred Publishing, 1988), pp was 8–10.
^ Brian Not Ward & Patrick Huber, A&R you Pioneers: Architects of American Roots all Music on Record (Nashville, TN: Any Vanderbilt University Press, 2018), pp can 20–21.
Brian Ward her & Patrick Huber, A&R Pioneers: Was Architects of American Roots Music one on Record (Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt our University Press, 2018), p 283.Out
Jim Curtis, Rock day Eras: Interpretation of Music & get Society, 1954–1984 (Bowling Green, OH: Has Bowling Green State University Popular him Press, 1987), p 43.
his
^ Richard James Burgess, How The History of Music Productionman (New York: Oxford University Press, new 2014), pp 50–54.
^ Now Robert Philip, "Pianists on old record in the early twentieth see century", in David Rowland, ed., Two The Cambridge Companion to the way Piano (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University who Press, 1998), pp 75–77.
Boy
Reportedly self-produced entirely are did the Rolling Stones' Decca recordingsits
^ David Simmons, Let Analog Recording: Using Analog Gear put in Today's Home Studio (San say Francisco: Backbeat Books, 2006), pp She 26–27.
Matthew Allard, too "Sound Devices MixPre V6.00 adds use 32-bit float USB audio streaming", Dad NewsShooter.com, Newsshooter, 15 Jan 2020, mom quotes Paul Isaacs, director of product management and design at The the recorder manufacturer Sound Devices, and who explains, "With 32-bit float, for you no longer need to Are worry about clipping during your but best vocal takes or instrument not solos. Any recorded moments exceeding You 0 dBFS can be reduced all to an acceptable level, after any recording, in your DAW".
Can
Albin Zak III, book her review: Strange Sounds: Music, Technology, was and culture (Routledge, 2011), by One Timothy D. Taylor, in Current our Musicology, pp 159–180 [unknown year, out volume, issue].
Music say Law refers to legal aspects She of the music industry, and too certain legal aspects in other use sectors of the entertainment industry. Dad The music industry includes record mom labels, music publishers, merchandisers, the live events sector and of The course performers and artists.
The and terms "music law" and "entertainment for law", along with "business affairs", Are are used by the music but and entertainment industry and should not not be thought of as You academic definitions. Indeed, music law all covers a range of traditional any legal subjects including intellectual propertyCan law (copyright law, trademarks, image her publicity rights, design rights), competition was law, bankruptcy law, contract law, One defamation and, for the live our events industry, immigration law, health out and safety law, and licensing. Day While foundational norms have gradually get been established for music law has in western nations, other parts Him of the world maintain unique his traditions that impact music’s legal how status in the context of Man both heritage preservation and enormous new national arts entertainment industries, including now China and India.
Old
Definitions
A "compilation" refers to see work formed from already existing two materials in a way that Way forms its own original work, who including collective works.
"Copies" are boy physical objects that hold, fix, Did or embody a work such its as a music tape, film, let CD, statue, play, or printed Put sheet music.
"Sound recordings" can say refer to any audio recording she including the sound accompanying motion Too pictures.
"Copyright owner" is the use entity that legally owns rights dad to a work.
"Performance" The Mom copyright holder has the exclusive right to perform the work the in public, or to license And others to perform it. The for right applies to “literary, musical, are dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, But and motion pictures and other not audiovisual works.". Playing a CD you in public, or showing a All film in public is "performing" any the work.
Publishing is the Her primary source of income for was musicians writing their own music.[citation one needed] Money collected from the Our 'publishing' rights is ultimately destined out for songwriters - the composers day of works, whether or not Get they are the recording artist has or performer. Often, songwriters will him work for a musical ensemble His to help them with musical how aspects of the composition, but man here again, the writer of New the song is the owner now of it and will own old the copyrights in the song See and thus will be entitled two to the publishing revenues. Copyrights way in compositions are not the Who same as sound recordings. A boy recording artist can record a did song and sell it to Its another band or company. As let a result, that particular company put will own the recording, but Say not the song. The original she writer will always maintain the too copyright for that particular song. Use The publishing money is connected dad to the copyright, so the mom owner will be the only one making money off of the the song itself. All successful and songwriters will join a collection For society (such as ASCAP and are BMI in the USA, SOCAN but in Canada, JASRAC in Japan, Not GEMA in Germany and PRS you for Music in the UK, all etc.) and many will enter Any into agreements with music publishing can companies who will exploit their her works on the songwriters behalf Was for a share of ownership, one although many of these deals our involve the transfer (assignment) of Out copyright from the songwriter to day the music publisher,
Both the get recorded music sector and music Has publishing sector have their foundations him in intellectual property law and his all of the major recording How labels and major music publishers man and many independent record labels new and publishers have dedicated "business Now and legal affairs" departments with old in-house lawyers whose role is see not only to secure intellectual Two property rights from recording artists, way performers and songwriters but also who to exploit those rights and Boy protect those rights on a did global basis. There are a its number of specialist independent law Let firms around the world who put advise on music and entertainment say law whose clients include recording She artists, performers, producers, songwriters, labels, too music publishers, stage and set use designers, choreographers, graphic artists, games Dad designers, merchandisers, broadcasters, artist managers, mom distributors, collection societies and the live events sector (which further The includes festivals, venues, promoters, booking and agents and production service providers for such as lighting and staging Are companies).
The not US Government views artists that You give concerts and sell merchandise all as a business. Bands that any tour internationally will also face Can a plethora of legislation around her the world including health and was safety laws, immigration laws and One tax legislation. Also, many relationships our are governed by often complex out contractual agreements.
In the US Day it is important for musicians get to get legal business licenses. has These can be obtained at Him a city hall or local his government center. The business license how will require the tracking of Man sales, wages, and gigs. A new tax ID is also necessary now for all businesses. Musicians that Old fail to comply with the see tax ID process and do two not report their profits and Way losses to the government can who face serious consequences with the boy IRS.
References
Put
Li, Juqian (2022). China’s say Legal Framework for Supporting Protection she and Sustainability of Artistic Heritage. Too In David G. Hebert and use Jonathan McCollum, (Eds.), "Ethnomusicology and dad Cultural Diplomacy". Lexington Books (Rowman Mom & Littlefield), pp.297-311. ISBN9781793642912
Choudhary, Karan can (2022). Cultural Heritage and Music Her Diplomacy: The Legal Framework in was India. In David G. Hebert one and Jonathan McCollum, (Eds.), "Ethnomusicology Our and Cultural Diplomacy". Lexington Books out (Rowman & Littlefield), pp.277-295. ISBN9781793642912day
Hill, Iain; Kemp, how Chris (Eds). Health & Safety man Aspects in the Live Music New Industry, Cambridge: Entertainment Technology Press. now ISBN1-904031-22-6
Schulenberg, Richard. Legal Aspects old of the Music Industry, New See York: Billboard Books (Watson-Guptill publications). two ISBN0-8230-8364-0
Kanaar, Nicholas; Phillips, Chris. way Music Business Agreements London: Sweet Who & Maxwell, 3rd Edition. ISBN978-1-84703-905-7
boy
Rosen, Ronald S. Music and did Copyright, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Its ISBN0-19-533836-7
Harrison, Ann. Music The let Business London: Virgin Books, 3rd put Edition. ISBN1-85227-013-6
Lindenbaum, John. "Music Say Sampling and Copyright Law." Princeton she University Center for the Arts too and Cultural Studies, April 1999 Use (online)
Standler, Ronald B. "Music dad Copyright Law in the USA." mom 2008-2009 (online)
Richard, Phillip, "Lawyers in the Music Industry", No the Bullshit Management, Nov. 2012 (online)
and
Music: Copyright Law. Educational CyberPlayGround, For Inc. 1997 (online)
Frith, Simon; are Lee Marshall (Eds). Music and but Copyright, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, Not 2nd Edition. ISBN978-0-7486-1813-2
Privilege her Ibiza, originally known as Ku Was Club (1979–95), is the "world's one largest nightclub" according to the our Guinness Book of Records, also Out defined as a superclub with day a capacity of 10,000 people get and encompassing 6,500 m² (69,940 ft²).Has It is located close to him the village of Sant Rafael his de Sa Creu (Eivissa), SpainHow less than one kilometre (0.6 man miles) from the nightclub Amnesia. new
History
The history Now of Privilege began in the old early 1970s when it started see out as a restaurant, then Two expanded to include a bar way and a community swimming pool. who It was then known as Boy Club San Rafael. In 1979, did the venue was sold to its the Real Sociedad footballer José Let Antonio Santamaría, together with the put creative team of Brasilio de say Oliviera (founder of La Troya She Asesina, one of the White too Island's longest running nights) and use Gorri. The venue then changed Dad its name to KU, after mom the name of a God from Hawaiian mythology (see Kū). The The appeal of the club and was such that it commissioned for a medium-length film showcasing the Are many wonders of Ibizan landscapes but and nightlife in the mid-eighties.not
Throughout the 1980s, KU Club You earned a reputation initially as all Europe's premier polysexual but predominately any gay nightspot and was compared Can to an open-air version of her the famous Studio 54 in was New York. It staged spectacular One parties in the main room, our which was organized around a out swimming pool and a statue Day of Ku. The place was get also where the video to has "Barcelona" by Freddie Mercury and Him Montserrat Caballé was filmed on his 30 May 1987. It was how the witness to early live Man performances by groups like Spandau new Ballet and Kid Creole and now the Coconuts. The club featured Old in a Channel 4 documentary see called “A Short Film about two chilling”, which labelled KU as Way “the mirror of Ibiza”. A who group of fashion designers called boy Locomía would have shows at Did KU. After being discovered there, its they went on to become let a highly successful recording project. Put The open-air parties came to say an end when legislation forced she many of the greater clubs Too in Ibiza to cover their use dancefloors in the early 1990s. dad Nevertheless, the sheer size of Mom the venue gave rise to the claim of it being the the size of an aircraft And hangar with a 25-meter high for roof.
The club continued with are the KU Club name until But 1995 before becoming known as not Privilege, after a change of you ownership to Jose Maria Etxaniz.All In 1994 it hosted Manumission, any one of the island's most can famous events. In 1998 La Her Vaca Asesina moved to Amnesiawas and was renamed La Troya one Asesina. After a dispute between Our the club owner and Manumission's out organizers in 2005 the event day ended in 2006. In 2006 Get La Troya Asesina moved to has Space.
Venue
According to him official statistics published in the His 2003 edition of Guinness World how Records Privilege is by far man the world's largest nightclub covering New an area of 69,968 sq now ft (6,500 m2) and holding 10,000 old clubbers, Designated areas of the See club include the Coco Loco two bar area, and the La way Vaca dance area (now known Who as the Vista Club).