There have been many synthesizers throughout past decades that have changed the face of the music industry but surely only a few can stand on the podium next to the legendary Yamaha DX7 and the clever technology behind its success. This digital instrument has pushed aside interest in analogue synthesizers and made an enormous impact on many genres and sound of the 1980s we are all so familiar with. Russ,(2009) claims that it all started with paper on “The synthesis of complex audio spectra by means of frequency modulation” written by John M. Chowning and published in the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society in 1973. Chowing, (1973) was exploring frequency modulation, an already existing technology used in radio transmission, and moved its rules to the audio spectrum. He argued that sounds in nature have a distinct evolution in the spectrum that cannot be generated by a synthesizer and that his equations for frequency modulation can bring simplicity in creating such complex spectra.
In FM synthesis we need two oscillators, one acting as a modulator and second one as the carrier of that modulation. We can think of it as low-frequency oscillation (LFO) with the difference that the modulation, rather than creating a vibrato effect, is reaching the audio rate, therefore generating additional partials and harmonics. These by-products are called sidebands, and their presence is crucial for the characteristic of the sound. Each sideband has its envelope, but much more complex than the ADSR used in subtractive synthesis. Initially, FM was relying only on the sine waves purely because of the simplicity needed for mathematics at its roots. At this point it is worth mentioning that all of this can be fully achieved only by using digitally controlled oscillators (DCOs). Analogue oscillators although capable of FM synthesis are too unstable to generate fixed and consistent tonality. Russ, (2009) is stating that a DCO with an envelope and voltage control amplifier (VCA) is a basic structure within FM synthesis, and it is called the “operator”. These operators are further arranged into “algorithms”. The main difference between the FM synthesis and subtractive synthesis is that the sound depends on the ratio between operators rather than the shape of the waveform. Frequency modulation synthesis opened the doors to the new futuristic and realistically clear sounds not available in the music before, and thanks to Yamaha’s decision to license it from Chowing world could see the emergence of the DX7.
DX7 was equipped with sixteen-voice polyphony, sixty-one keys with aftertouch and MIDI for the price of $1,995. This was Yamaha’s first major-selling instrument in the still not fully scoped market (Vail, 2014). The reason 1980s popular music often used similar sounds was the fact that DX7 with buttons and sliders instead of knobs was hard to program for the producers and musicians, so they were relying only on 128 ready-to-use factories presets. This synth could produce a whole lot of sounds from fretless bass, clarinet to guitar and drums. “E Piano 1” was the most known patch used extensively in many power ballads. Artists like Prince, Phil Collins or Whitney Houston is just a few among many who used DX7 versatile patches on their records. Versatility was a real game-changer as this synth could easily replace most instruments at the time. Brian Eno was the only producer at the time who fully grasped and embraced FM synthesis within DX7 on U2 albums and his Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks (Twells, 2019).
But FM synthesis goes well beyond the 1980s with the software version from Native Instruments FM8 that partially shaped the sound of late 2000s dubstep, drum and bass and EDM scene from producers like Noisia or Skrillex (Kutlesa, 2019). Ability to have full and detailed control over the harmonic content allowed to design characteristic growling, phase-shifting baselines with plenty of bottom end. Today frequency modulation is present in many hybrid software/hardware synthesizers. Yamaha’s RefaceDX, Korg’s Volca FM and Elektron’s Digitonethat offers powerful FM engine along with easy user interface and subtractive approach to filtering (Sherbourne, 2019). Everything shows that algorithms will drive the future of sound synthesis, most of which may be machine learning and AI-based. Rapid advancement in this branch of technology gives us hope to reach the new sonic frontiers of tomorrow.
Stereophonic sound is one of the obvious technologies that we now take for granted without even thinking about it. Introducing perspective to the sound has changed the whole industry from music to cinema and broadcasting. Stereophonic sound has its roots in the late 19th-century spirit of the invention that gave us the telephone, the radio, and the lightbulb. If we think of it carefully, each sound is stereophonic as it is perceived by a pair of ears (Rumsey, 2001). In a natural world, this perception depends more on the listener and listener’s position than the source of the sound. According to Huggonetand Walder (1998) with the emergence of the phonograph invented by Thomas Edison in 1877, we could finally reproduce the recorded sound. From the early days of this invention, engineers were showing efforts to capture spatiality of the recordings. The first breakthrough took place in the Grand Opera in Paris in 1884 thanks to the brilliance of the French inventor Clement Ader. Ader developed a two-channel system that allowed to transmit a signal from 80 telephone transmitters on the stage to the rooms of the Paris Electrical Exhibition and deliver audio for each of the ears (Basu, 2015).
Although a monumental undertaking, this system was too expensive and too complicated to be widely implemented. In the early 1930s, Bell Labs have successfully reduced the number of transmitters to three resulting in a similar effect (Rumsey, 2001). They have discovered that it is the location and relations between microphones, not the amount of them that can reproduce the spatiality. This discovery led directly to the well-known patent specification named after Alan Blumlein in 1931. Application of this patent showed that adjusting the level of amplitude between two loudspeakers can cause a very natural sounding phase change experienced through the ears of the listener (Rumsey, 2001). This patent also laid the foundation for the stereo “miking” techniques with the XY, stereo sonic and MS systems (Huggonetand Walder 1998). One of the most vital moments in the history of stereo is the introduction of the Fantasound the very first 3D multichannel stereo soundtrack recorded for Walt Disney’s animated masterpiece Fantasia by Harvey Fletcher and Leopold Stokowski in 1940 (O’Brien, 2018). The development of Fantasound has pushed the possibility of audio by introducing wider frequency and dynamic range. Two-channel stereo sound was available to consumers at the beginning of the 1960s. While many recordings were still monophonic, record companies used a pseudo-stereo technique or band-splitting methods to reissue albums in the new exciting stereo format (Rumsey, 2001). The lines between music and cinema applications are getting blurred more with the acceleration of innovative technologies.
Another important concept in the world of surround sound that reaches back to the beginning of the 20th century and is gaining more interest in recent decades is binaural audio. “Binaural sound technology allows the creation of immersive spatial audio experiences for headphone listeners. This can enhance programmes when listened to on headphones as well as create immersive interactive experiences including in virtual and augmented reality” (Bbc.co.uk, 2012).
Binaural audio requires at least two microphones and a specially designed dummy head with the microphones located in the place of ears (Rumsey 2001). In this technique, we are getting information from left, right, front, rear, up and down. This method is making the sound much more immersive than the typical left and right scenario. Binaural recordings can be appreciated only on headphones due to the fact that3D sound is hard to reproduce on the pair of speakers. ITU 5.1-channel is a format in the branch of the surround technology that allows 3D sound to travel freely without restrictions. Used widely in cinemas, it offers the incredibly detailed and dynamic movement of sound that corresponds with the image to deliver immersion. These systems can be configured up to 9.2 which means eighth side speakers, one center speaker and two subwoofers for even greater detail and immersion. It is easy to see that immersion of sound is the future of music records and entertainment. The three-dimensional revolution has only begun, and it will reshape industry.
Bibliography:
Basu, T. (2015). The Theatrophone: The 19th-Century Version of Livestreaming. [online] Mentalfloss.com. Available at: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/72920/theatrophone-19th-century-version-livestreaming [Accessed 5 Dec. 2019].
Chowing, J. (1973). The Synthesis of Complex Audio Spectra by Means of Frequency Modulation. 1st ed. [ebook] California: Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Stanford, p.2. Available at: https://ccrma.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/user/jc/fm_synthesispaper-2.pdf
Hugonnet, C., Walder, P. (1998). Stereophonic sound recording. 2nd ed. Paris: John Wiley & Sons, pp.2 - 13.
Kutlesa, M. (2019). Noisia interview: Beyond The Outer Edges. [online] Skiddle.com. Available at: https://www.skiddle.com/news/all/Noisia-interview-Beyond-The-Outer-Edges/31803/ [Accessed 2 Dec. 2019].
O’Brien, G. (2018). The New Age of Sound: How Bell Telephone Laboratories and Leopold Stokowski Modernized Music. Acoustics Today, (volume 14, issue 2), p.23
Rumsey, F. (2001). SPATIAL AUDIO. 1st ed. Oxford: Focal Press, pp.10 - 16
Sherbourne, S. (2019). Elektron Digitone. [online] Soundonsound.com. Available at: https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/elektron-digitone [Accessed 4 Dec. 2019].
Hugonnet, C., Walder, P. (1998). Stereophonic sound recording. 2nd ed. Paris: John Wiley & Sons, pp.2 - 13.
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