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Introduction
Introduction
Within the 1990s, technology was improving and beoming largely popular, as big corporations. The 1990s was the decade that saw the growth of mobile phone technology. From the brick-sized cellular handsets of the 1980s, the development of the RISC microprocessor meant that complex functions could be performed without needing large batteries. The discman replaed the walkman in popularity and perfromed the same function by allowing buyers to listen to music on the move.
Production Technology
Production Technology
Aphex Twin
Professionally known as Aphex Twin, Richard David James is known for his idiosyncratic work in electronic styles such as techno, ambient, and jungle. I find his work very unusual, and definitely see the influence he ahs had on contemporary DJs
In the '90s Aphex became very popular in techno music, after his debut album 'Selected Ambient Works 85-92' that was released in 1992. James’ work evokes strong memories of gaming, from the old loading noises of a PC to the celebratory sounds of countless Nintendo games. Some original tracks feature samples taken directly from video games, too.
This track 'Pac-man' is taken from the Pac-Man video game. The rhythmic chomping, the perky chimes of eating fruit, the death and revival sounds of ghosts, the iconic “game over” spiral, and the theme song itself. .
https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/aphex-twins-7-best-video-game-samples/#:~:text=Aphex%20Twin%20mastermind%20Richard%20D,bleeps%20that%20are%20completely%20bespoke.
What technology did Aphex Twin use?
Selected Ambient Works 85-92 was made with a limited and relatively inexpensive setup. A 1993 Future Music interview with Richard reveals that he mainly used a Roland SH-101, a Korg MS-20 and a Yamaha DX7 for his synth patches, running everything through an Alesis Quadraverb and mixing to standard cassettes.
He sequenced his synths using an Atari 520ST, a Korg SQ10 and DIY homemade sequencers. Although he hasn’t namedropped it in the interview, his drum samples are recognizable from the Roland R-8 drum machine, a sample-based drum machine that included an expansion with classic TR-808 samples.
Sampling
Sampling
In the 90s, sampling was very popular, especially within the hip-hop movement. The development of affordable and user-friendly sampling technology made it possible for a wide range of artists to experiment with the technique, from electronic musicians to techno producers. Sampling was a significant development that allowed producers and musicians to incorporate elements of existing songs and recordings into their creations.
Technology that was provided for sampling, were shellac records and later magnetic tape, and these were used by musique concrete composers such as Pierre Schaeffer in the 1940's. Sampling was very popular within the '90s, the development of affordable and user-friendly sampling technology made it possible for a wide range of artists to experiment with the technique, from electronic musicians to techno producers.
https://zyvenhaal.com/blogs/what-is/what-is-sampling-like-in-the-90s#:~:text=Sampling%20had%20been%20around%20for,electronic%20musicians%20to%20techno%20producers.
This is a quick clip from an interview with Aphex Twin and his thoughts on electronic music and what it means to him. I find it interesting how he became fascinated at a young age and used childhood memories of video to influence his work.
https://reverbmachine.com/blog/aphex-twin-selected-ambient-works-85-92/#:~:text=A%201993%20Future%20Music%20interview,and%20mixing%20to%20standard%20cassettes.
Andy Hildebrand
The inventor of auto-tune in 1997 was Andy Hildebrand. The seed of the technology that would make Hildebrand famous came during a lunch with colleagues in the field: When he asked the assembled company what needed to be invented, someone jokingly suggested a machine that would enable her to sing in tune. The idea lodged in his brain. Hildebrand realized that the same math that he’d used to map the geological subsurface could be applied to pitch correction.
From the '90s to the 2000s, rappers and pop artists have been using auto tunes, It helps everything blend by correcting any off notes that would distract the listener. Contemporary artists that use auto-tune include rapperT-Pain.He reintroduced Auto-Tune as a vocal effect in pop music with his 2005 debut “Rappa Ternt Sanga,” with songs like “I'm Sprung” and “Studio Luv” using technology as an instrument.
https://pitchfork.com/features/article/how-auto-tune-revolutionized-the-sound-of-popular-music/
Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune is a digital audio processing tool that adjusts and corrects the pitch of recorded voices and instruments. First introduced by Antares Audio Technologies in the late 1990s, Auto-Tune quickly became a game-changing innovation in the music industry, impacting every genre from pop and hip hop to electronic music.
One of the first songs to ever use auto tune would be Cher's 1998 hit "Believe" which is often cited as the first mainstream track to showcase the robotic sound. Producers used extreme settings to create unnaturally rapid corrections in Cher's vocals, thereby removing portamento, the natural slide between pitches in singing.
https://www.antarestech.com/community/the-science-behind-auto-tune
This clip, briefly shows the music producer Mark Taylor editing and adding an auto-tune to the Cher hit. I find it interesting to see the different effects added, such as the 'Telephone' effect which is demonstrated by Tyalor himself.
Composition Techniques
Composition Techniques
World music in the '90s
In the '90s world music became popular through hip-hop, which came about in the Urban streets of New York in the late 1970s. The birth of hip-hop was about community and having a place for black youths to go back to their roots and make music.
90s rap was a time of great evolution and diversity in terms of subgenres. One of the most influential and well-known subgenres of this period was gangsta rap, characterized by its violent, raw, and explicit content, as well as its aggressive and heavy musical production. Artists such as N.W.A, Ice-T, Dr. Dre, and Snoop Dogg were some of the prominent figures in gangsta rap.
However, not all rap in the 90s was focused on violence and criminality. Other subgenres that emerged during this period include conscious rap, which focused on social and political issues such as the fight against racial discrimination, economic inequality, and systemic oppression. Artists like Public Enemy, KRS-One, and Common were leaders in this movement.
https://gradozerobeats.com/en/iconic-rappers-of-the-90s/
World music influences
World music influences
World music came into mainstream music from the 1970s onwards. British and American promoters, record companies, distributors, and stores, as well as some journalists and broadcasters, began to promote music from other countries, especially African music, which for a time was virtually synonymous with world music. But international music goes back further till the beginning of music, following religious hymns and prayers.
Music is about a community and sharing a shared culture, for example in the 70s the birth of reggae was rural-based music that developed from the period of slavery and which came to be influenced by Trinidadian calypso in the urban context of Kingston, was then the popular music.
How did African music influence Hip-Hop?
Many early hip-hop compositions were designed to give people a sense of a community-party vibe. Kick-drum patterns were chosen to move playfully but usually committed to a solid hit on the first beat of a one- or two-bar phrase.
Spirituals, work calls, and chants coupled with makeshift instruments morphed into blues rhythms and ragtime. Ragtime paved the way for jazz, and elements from all these styles influenced rock and roll and hip-hop music. As well as preaching about celebration and combining the lyrics with rhythmic beats that R&B and hip-hop artists have adopted to make their music danceable and catchy to listen to.
https://college.berklee.edu/bt/news/essential-features-of-hip-hop-production-tempo-instrumentation-rhythmic-feel-and-sonic-density#:~:text=to%20make%20beats.-,Rhythmic%20Feel,%2D%20or%20two%2Dbar%20phrase.
Kurt Cobain
Kurt Cobain, the late frontman of the '90s' iconic grunge band Nirvana, was known for his distinctive guitar sound that helped define the sound of an entire era. A key component of that sound was Kurt’s use of effects pedals, which he used to create some unique tones that quickly became his signature sound.
One of the most famous pedals that Cobain used was the Electro-Harmonix Small Clone chorus pedal. This pedal was a crucial part of Cobain’s sound, particularly in songs like “Come As You Are”, where he used it to create a shimmering, watery effect on his guitar.
Therefore iconic guitarists of the decade were able to achieve new sounds to create new types of music. Kurt Cobain was able to popularise the grunge genre. Combining guitar distortion, anguished vocals, and heartfelt, angst-ridden lyrics, Nirvana and Pearl Jam won a rapidly increasing audience, moved to major labels, and released multimillion-selling albums.
Guitar Effects
Guitar Effects
An effects unit or effects pedal is an electronic device that alters the sound of a musical instrument or other audio source through audio signal processing. Guitarists would use pedals to get the intended sound coming from their guitars. Guitar effects pedals, also known as "stomp-boxes," are yet another useful tool in the guitar player’s toolbox for tone shaping. They are foot-pedal boxes that provide sound effects for the guitar. The use of pedals goes far back to the 1960s, when psychedelic effects were created via pedals
Rage Against the Machine's guitarist Tom Morello relies on a small and trusty selection of stompboxes to create some of the weird and wonderful effects that make his style unmistakable. Running everything through his JCM800’s effects loop, the Tom Morello pedalboard features a Jim Dunlop Cry Baby wah, Digitech Whammy pitch-shifter, Boss DD-2 digital delay, MXR Phase 90, DOD Equaliser, and a Boss tuner. Oh, and occasionally a Boss TR-2 tremolo.
https://www.andertons.co.uk/tom-morello-rig#:~:text=Tom%20Morello's%20Pedals&text=Running%20everything%20through%20his%20JCM800's,a%20Boss%20TR%2D2%20tremolo.
I found this video interesting as Morello was going through each pedal that he uses in a performance and what they sound like.
Technology used in the 1990s
Technology used in the 1990s
Garbage
Producers in the 1990s used multi-trackers and continued the tradition of recording, editing, mixing, and mastering on analog tape, though fast-improving digital technology began to take hold. The band 'Garbage' is a clear example of new wave musicians that incorporated digital recording technology into their creative studio. This article features a key quote from one of the band members about their process with recording and what inspires them to create different music, "We'll take influences from anywhere, anything that turns us on, but we were never trying to make any statement. We were just tired of making guitar rock records. That's why we started using samplers and computers and bringing all these genres and throwing them against the wall together"
With the guitars, they experimented with distinctive sounds while recording, as the article featured personal recollections from band members."We ended up using the Pod Pro for the more extreme and bizarre-sounding guitar parts on the record," agrees Billy. "As we layered and layered, it became necessary to change the guitar sounds and signal chain to keep the phasing problems to a minimum. We found in the end that a mixture of the direct Pod and a miked guitar cabinet moving air could be very dramatic. There are so many guitars on the record that it'd be impossible to break it down into what was what! We are also fans of having the guitars be unique-sounding from the beginning, so we would often affect them pre-Pro Tools".
https://www.soundonsound.com/people/recording-garbage#:~:text='%20We'll%20take%20influences%20from,them%20against%20the%20wall%20together.
Midi Sequencers
Midi Sequencers
MIDI is a technical standard that is a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and related audio devices for playing, editing, and recording music. The purpose of midi was invented so that electronic or digital musical instruments could communicate with each other and so that one instrument could control another.
As computers became more powerful, the concept of the virtual instrument came to the fore and eliminated the need for outboard synthesizers. The virtual instrument would use the computer’s processing resources to model the sound and functions of a real piece of hardware. This link, explains the transitioning from virtual instrument sounds could be "simulated just as they would be in a powerful digital synthesizer". The more resources computers were able to offer, the more accurate virtual instrument sounds would technically become.
https://planetbotch.blogspot.com/2012/03/brief-history-of-midi.html#:~:text=By%20the%20mid%201990s%2C%20the,computer%20via%20a%20MIDI%20interface
How was Midi used in the 1990s?
Within the mid-1990s, the majority of MIDI sequencing was being carried out on computers, and hardware sequencers were fading from view. The sounds themselves were still generally being reproduced by dedicated outboard synths or beat boxes, connected to the computer via a MIDI interface.
Producers could create beats and loops by triggering samples using MIDI controllers, leading to the rise of hip-hop and electronic dance music as dominant genres in the late 20th century.
Analog vs Digital mixers
The differences between analog and digital mixers vary.
Analog mixers are more traditional than their digital equivalents because they have been around for much longer, being invented in the 1960s. For starters, they are less expensive than digital mixing consoles, especially at the beginning level, and even a inexperience live mixer can reliably handle a wide range of sound reinforcement applications.
Pros of analog mixers would be Analog mixers have much less capabilities than digital mixers. You will have a lot more possibilities because they operate through digital channels. Because digital mixers are more configurable, creative people choose them for their large range of options. They frequently have plenty of other effects as well.
Compared with Digital mixers, they allow for precise tuning of mic inputs and speaker outputs. The result is clearer sound, and more volume from the sound system before feedback occurs.
Digital live sound mixing consoles are exceptionally adaptable and compact when compared to analogue mixers. Digital mixers can provide sophisticated channel equalisers and in-line dynamics, as well as effects and output processing such as graphic EQs, by replacing expensive and cumbersome analogue equipment with digital signal processing chips. Digital audio mixing often has complex routing choices and grouping assignments, in addition to being generally less noisy than analogue mixing technologies. Because inputs aren't physically connected to individual channels, you can control a large number of input channels with just a few faders by layering them.
Ditigal Consoles
Ditigal Consoles
A digital mixing console, (shortened to DMC) is a type of mixing console used to combine, route, and change the dynamics, equalization, and other properties of multiple audio input signals.
Within the 1990s, digital revolution began to take hold with the introduction of 'Pro Tools' which was created in 1991. Pro Tool allowed to "create, record, edit, and mix audio. Get inspired and start making music with a massive collection of plugins, instruments, and sounds". The benfits of using Pro Tool it enables to have access to "a huge collection of professional plugins and loops that cover all the bases—from emulations of classic compressors, EQs, and guitar amps to groundbreaking virtual instruments and samples. Together, they put nearly every instrument sound at your fingertips for inspiration—drums, guitars, synths, and keys, plus orchestral sounds, ethnic instruments, vocal chops, and much more".
in an interview from 2004 with "Scratch" magazine, Dr. Dre says "I had Pro Tools right when it came out, but I wasn't a fan of it because I lost a little bit of my low end before they perfected it. So, I used to just use Pro Tools for sequencing the albums. But now I think they've perfected it enough for me to roll with it, so I've been using it quite a bit."
https://www.guitarcenter.com/riffs/gear-tips/recording/evolution-recording-mixing-consoles
https://www.avid.com/resource-center/the-best-music-creation-software
Notable Producers within the 1990s
Notable Producers within the 1990s
Dr. Dre
Dr. Dre
Andre Romell Young, known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American record producer and rapper. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, and previously co-founded, co-owned, and was the president of Death Row Records.
The musicians that he has worked with and has produced include Snoop Dog and Eminem. Dr. Dre helped develop the genre of G-funk. This genre used groovy bass lines and drums that came straight from funk, and a kind of lyrical swagger owed to its gangsta rap predecessor.
This link provides evidence of the genre-changing rap in the 1990s, explaining that " the way that samples were treated in G-funk was quite different from funk and gangsta rap. Sampling tended to be minimal, with a preference for live instrumentation. Dr. Dre would even go so far as to use live musicians to ‘redo’ a piece of instrumentation so that his music would sound fresh and unique."Dre's solo debut album, The Chronic, introduced the “G-Funk” production style in 1992. It was characterized by plodding tempos, synthesizer washes, and copious musical sampling of 1970s funk records.
https://recordingarts.com/record/evolution-of-hip-hop/g-funk/
Max Martin
Max Martin
Karl Martin Sandberg, known professionally as Max Martin, is a Swedish singer, songwriter, and record producer, he worked with artists such as Bitney Spears and The Backstreet Boys within the 90s decade. He is famous for producing Britney Spear's debut album, as well as co-writing one of her most famous hits 'Hit Me Baby One More Time' which was released in 1998. I found this interview interesting, with how Martin came up with the idea, as well as having an iconic beginning to the song, so listeners would automatically know the strong straight away.
Max Martin’s style of producing includes the "use of various songwriting techniques, from creating melodic previews of hooks to building infectious climaxes, form an overarching approach to writing songs known in the songwriting community as ‘Melodic Math’".
In this article covers different approaches that Martin covers to achieve writing melodies "Structure is very important to him. He will often design phrases that have an internal tension-release scheme. He will also frequently save the highest note for the second half of a section. Primarily, though, I think he cares the most about how the different melodies in the song interact with each other and with the other elements of the song".
https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/how-max-martins-songwriting-techniques-are-used-to-write-hit-after-hit-after-hit/
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