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03 / BOOK · Soundtrack

The book’s soundtrack

Everything you can hear and watch in the book, chapter by chapter: the recordings it talks about, the people who made the machines, and sound demos synthesized for it.

165 videos and recordings · 21 sound demos

ProloguePrologue. Music No Longer Lives in the Instrument
  1. video · 5:21Leon Theremin plays the theremin, Stanford, 1991Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound
Chapter 1Before the Synthesizer
  1. sound demo · 4 stepsHammond drawbars
  2. video · 4:03Deep Purple, “Hush”, 1968Deep Purple Official
  3. sound demo · 2 stepsTwo hands in the air
  4. listen · 3:50Bernard Herrmann, The Day the Earth Stood Still, 1951Bernard Herrmann - Topic
  5. video · 3:14Clara Rockmore plays Saint-Saëns's “The Swan”Moog Music
  6. video · 2:17The ondes Martenot: how it worksOrchestre de Paris
Chapter 2Sound You Can Cut with Scissors
  1. listen · 2:53Pierre Schaeffer, “Étude aux chemins de fer”, 1948Pierre Schaeffer - Topic
  2. sound demo · 5 stepsWhat you can do to tape
  3. listen · 2:10Les Paul and Mary Ford, “How High the Moon”, 1951Les Paul - Topic
  4. video · 5:52How Delia Derbyshire made the Doctor Who theme, 1965BBC Archive
  5. video · 3:46Depeche Mode, “Personal Jesus”, 1989DepecheModeVEVO
Chapter 3The Electric Guitar. How the Amplifier Became Part of the Instrument
  1. video · 4:45What the “Frying Pan” sounds likeMuseum of Making Music
  2. sound demo · 3 stepsClean, overdrive, fuzz
  3. video · 2:14The Kinks, “You Really Got Me”The Kinks
  4. video · 7:25Neural Amp Modeler at workNeural Amp Modeler
Chapter 4 · ◆The Most Important Wave in the History of Music
  1. video · 3:46Helmholtz's vowel synthesizer in actionStephen Morris
  2. video · 2:27How the ear takes sound apartNational Institutes of Health (NIH)
  3. sound demo · 5 stepsThe alphabet of synthesis
  4. video · 2:15The Super Mario Bros. theme, channel by channel1ucasvb
Interlude · ◆Interlude. What a Saw Sounds Like
  1. sound demo · 4 stepsHow to dress a sawtooth
  2. video · 4:03Van Halen, “Jump”Van Halen
  3. video · 20:06Roland JP-8000, the trance machineAlex Ball
Chapter 5 · ◆Moog. Music Had to Be Assembled Like a Lab Bench
  1. video · 4:27The Moog synthesizer on the BBC, 1969BBC Archive
  2. video · 3:53The Moog ladder filterMoog Music
  3. listen · 16:41Morton Subotnick, “Silver Apples of the Moon”, 1967Morton Subotnick - Topic
  4. video · 2:40Hot Butter, “Popcorn”INA Chansons
  5. video · 6:45Wendy Carlos and her Moog, 1970BBC Archive
Chapter 6 · ◆Minimoog. When the Laboratory Was Shrunk to a Keyboard
  1. video · 8:17A brief history of the MinimoogMoog Music
  2. listen · 4:27Stevie Wonder, “Superstition”Stevie Wonder - Topic
  3. video · 13:15What the Minimoog Model D sounds likeMoog Music
  4. listen · 5:48Parliament, “Flash Light”, 1977Parliament - Topic
Chapter 7 · ◆Behind the Iron Curtain
  1. listen · 2:52What the ANS sounds like: a live demonstration
  2. listen · 4:40Eduard Artemiev, “Pokhod”, 1979Edward Artemiev - Topic
  3. video · 3:45Vladimir Kuzmin demonstrates the PolivoksАндрей Старцев
  4. listen · 3:28Jean-Michel Jarre, “Oxygène, Pt. 4”, 1976JeanMichelJarreVEVO
  5. video · 3:27PPK, “ResuRection”PPK
Interlude · ◆Interlude. The Swedish Anomaly
  1. video · 3:53Darude, “Sandstorm”Darude
  2. video · 1:01ABBA Voyage, a first lookABBA Voyage
Chapter 8 · ◆The Sequencer: The Musician Stops Playing Every Note for the First Time
  1. video · 3:59Donna Summer, “I Feel Love”, 1977DonnaSummerVEVO
  2. sound demo · 3 stepsSixteen steps
  3. video · 3:34Kraftwerk, “The Robots”Kraftwerk
  4. video · 4:43Yellow Magic Orchestra, “Rydeen”, 1979ALFA MUSIC YouTube Channel
  5. listen · 9:14Daft Punk, “Giorgio by Moroder”, 2013DaftPunkVEVO
Chapter 9 · ◆The Drum Machine Everyone Hated at First
  1. video · 10:20What the Sideman sounds likeLOOK MUM NO COMPUTER
  2. sound demo · 2 stepsElectro on an 808, house on a 909
  3. video · 4:26The Linn LM-1 in actionTelekom Electronic Beats TV
  4. video · 4:00Planet RockTommy Boy
  5. video · 1:13Frankie Knuckles on his 909Red Bull Music Academy
  6. video · 3:28Trio — 'Da Da Da'TrioVEVO
Interlude · ◆Interlude. Why the 808 Is Still Everywhere
  1. sound demo · 3 stepsThe kick that became a bass
  2. video · 2:22The film '808'Atlantic Records
  3. listen · 4:06Marvin Gaye — 'Sexual Healing'MarvinGayeVEVO
Chapter 10 · ◆TB-303. The Failed Bass Player That Invented Acid
  1. sound demo · 2 stepsThe 303, politely and wrongly
  2. listen · 5:18Charanjit Singh — 'Raga Bhairav'Saregama Hindustani Classical
  3. video · 12:20Phuture — 'Acid Tracks'Phuture - Topic
  4. video · 7:22The rave that changed the lawNoisey
  5. video · 3:46The Prodigy — 'Firestarter'The Prodigy
Chapter 11 · ◆Goa. How the Hippies Switched from Guitars to Synthesizers
  1. video · 5:18Goa GilBeing Here with Darius Devas
  2. video · 6:44Hallucinogen — 'LSD'TwistedMusicUK
  3. video · 1:05:19Boom 2006Boom Festival Official Page
  4. video · 2:08Infected Mushroom and ManipulatorPolyverse Music
Interlude · ◆Interlude. Who Owns the Dance Floor
  1. video · 13:31The story of the Love ParadeDW History and Culture
  2. video · 23:17Ibiza: money and drugsJourneyman Pictures
  3. video · 10:37Kosmicare at BoomBoom Festival Broadcast
Chapter 12 · ◆The Sampler: Why Synthesize a Drum When You Can Steal a Real One
  1. video · 8:24Herbie Hancock and the FairlightHerbie Hancock
  2. sound demo · 4 stepsWhat a sampler does to a record
  3. video · 2:37The Winstons — 'Amen, Brother'The Winstons - Topic
  4. video · 10:24How J Dilla humanised the MPCVox
  5. video · 2:30Biz Markie and 'Thou shalt not steal'Rock The Bells
Chapter 13 · ◆The Sample Wars
  1. listen · 4:05Propellerheads — 'Spybreak!'Propellerheads - Topic
  2. video · 4:36The Verve — 'Bitter Sweet Symphony'TheVerveVEVO
  3. video · 2:11Kraftwerk — 'Metall auf Metall'Kraftwerk - Topic
  4. video · 3:26De La Soul — 'Me Myself and I'DeLaSoulVEVO
Chapter 14 · ◆MIDI. The Protocol That Outlived Almost Everything
  1. video · 6:13A Yamaha XG arrangerGearfacts
  2. video · 6:25Dave Smith on MIDIEric Chasalow
  3. video · 17:18One file, two synthsPhilsComputerLab
  4. video · 2:52Crazy Frog — 'Axel F'Crazy Frog
Chapter 15 · ◆The Yamaha DX7 and the Moment Mathematics Beat the Wires
  1. video · 4:53John Chowning on FMStanford Historical Society
  2. video · 4:04a-ha — 'Take On Me'a-ha
  3. video · 7:32The DX7 that defined the eightiesPolyphonic
  4. listen · 2:37Green Hill Zone on the Mega DriveMasato Nakamura - Topic
  5. video · 4:00Robin S — 'Show Me Love'Spinnin' Records
Interlude · ◆Interlude. What a MIDI Cable Actually Carries
  1. sound demo · 5 stepsWhat you can hear in a MIDI cable
  2. video · 4:39What's new in MIDI 2.0The MIDI Association
Chapter 16 · ◆The Studio That Moved Into the Computer
  1. video · 2:58The Beatles — 'Tomorrow Never Knows'TheBeatlesVEVO
  2. video · 2:34King Tubby Meets Rockers UptownAugustus Pablo - Topic
  3. video · 3:43Ricky Martin — 'Livin' la Vida Loca'RickyMartinVEVO
  4. video · 18:28Cubase on the Atari, 1989The Atari Geek
Interlude · ◆Interlude. Three Tuning Forks
  1. video · 2:58How Yamaha beganYamaha Global
  2. sound demo · 4 stepsFrequency modulation in four steps
  3. video · 2:57Hatsune Miku — 'World is Mine'Hatsune Miku
Chapter 17 · ◆VST. When a Musical Instrument Became a File
  1. video · 22:34The story of VSTRed Means Recording
  2. video · 11:53Keygen musicpatch
  3. video · 3:58Soulja Boy — “Crank That”SouljaBoyTellemVEVO
  4. video · 1:14:22Inside MassiveNative Instruments
  5. video · 6:41Steve Duda walks through SerumIcon Collective
Chapter 18 · ◆ReBirth and Reason. A Rack With Cables on the Back
  1. video · 7:55ReBirth RB-338Autodafe
  2. video · 17:08The back of the Reason rackReason Studios
  3. video · 4:49ThorReason Studios
  4. video · 2:44The rack inside another DAWReason Studios
Interlude · ◆Interlude. Can You Hear Analog
  1. video · 1:46The Minimoog back in productionMoog Music
  2. sound demo · 2 stepsPerfect tuning and living thickness
  3. sound demo · 2 stepsHow a naive digital saw whistles
Chapter 19 · ◆Native Instruments and the DJ Without Records
  1. video · 20:46The story of the Technics SL-1200Crossfader
  2. video · 1:38:29Richie Hawtin, 2002Mathieu Guillien
  3. video · 5:53Maschine at NAMM 2009Audiofanzine in English
  4. video · 2:34:35Mayan Warrior after the fireMayanWarrior
Chapter 20 · ◆Ableton Live. Music Stopped Being Just a Recording
  1. video · 2:31:04Robert Henke on AbletonRed Bull Music Academy
  2. video · 1:43:33Stephan Bodzin liveCercle
  3. video · 2:54Notator Logic on TVajvark
  4. video · 26:13Eurorack on screenRed Means Recording
Interlude · ◆Interlude. Why MP3 Works at All
  1. listen · 2:07“Tom's Diner” a cappellaSuzanneVegaVEVO
  2. sound demo · 4 stepsWhat MP3 throws away
  3. video · 2:35“moDernisT”: what MP3 threw awayR. Maguire
Chapter 21 · ◆Automation
  1. video · 31:05The SSL 4000 E and Total RecallSound On Sound magazine
  2. video · 4:23Stardust — “Music Sounds Better with You”Stardust
  3. listen · 3:15Chaka Khan — “Fate”Chaka Khan - Topic
  4. video · 3:06Bitwig's modulatorsBitwig
Chapter 22 · ◆Algorithmic Music
  1. video · 12:29A waltz from diceBrian Ellis Sound
  2. video · 20:48The Illiac Suite, liveЭлектромузей
  3. listen · 12:21Xenakis — ST/10Release - Topic
  4. video · 11:38“Music for Airports” played liveBang on a Can
  5. sound demo · 3 stepsRhythm from one rule
Chapter 23 · ◆Music Written on Stage
  1. video · 22:01An ambient set in Sonic PiSam Aaron
  2. video · 5:23The Hub on stageV2_ Lab for the Unstable Media
  3. video · 23:08An algorave: sound and visuals in codelivecodenyc
  4. video · 3:19slub, 2002Alex McLean
Interlude · ◆Interlude. Why the Compressor Makes the Quiet Loud and the Loud Quiet
  1. sound demo · 2 stepsA compressor that listens to the kick
  2. video · 5:22Daft Punk — “One More Time”Daft Punk
  3. video · 1:54The loudness war in two minutesMatt Mayfield Music
Chapter 24 · ◆The Computer Learns to Hear
  1. video · 6:35How Shazam recognises a songThe Wall Street Journal
  2. video · 4:03Lorde — “Royals”Lorde
  3. video · 27:29“What does a stone sound like?”Celemony
  4. video · 6:09Notes inside a chordMusic Marketing TV
  5. video · 12:25“Now and Then”: the last Beatles songTheBeatlesVEVO
Chapter 25 · ◆The Smart Mixer
  1. video · 9:25The craft of the last earsSound On Sound magazine
  2. video · 2:51Ozone 8 and its assistantiZotope, Inc.
  3. video · 3:13Neutron's Track AssistantiZotope, Inc.
  4. video · 5:06Gullfoss at workProduction Expert
Chapter 26 · ◆The Sound Engineer as a Feedback System
  1. video · 2:23Dave Rat tests a feedback killerDave Rat
  2. video · 1:57Dan Dugan on the automixerrAVe [PUBS]
  3. video · 6:33Grateful Dead, October 1974Grateful Dead
  4. video · 12:43The MR18, no faders at allAlan Hamilton Audio
Interlude · ◆Interlude. Why Mastering Can’t Save a Bad Mix
  1. sound demo · 3 stepsThe carrot in the soup
  2. video · 15:17A mastering engineer on low endiZotope, Inc.
  3. video · 4:26LANDR masters a trackLANDR
Chapter 27 · ◆From Markov Chains to Suno
  1. video · 1:46Emmy's Bach-style choraledavidhcope
  2. sound demo · 4 stepsA Markov chain learns the “Ode to Joy”
  3. video · 1:03Magenta's first pieceScripps News
  4. listen · 1:13Sinatra sings 'Toxic'DADABOTS
  5. video · 57:37Hatsune Miku on stageHatsune Miku
Interlude · ◆Interlude. Why Machines Learn on Bach
  1. listen · 1:38Chorale from 'Wachet auf'
  2. listen · 1:00A DeepBach harmonisationSony CSL (Paris)
  3. video · 2:44Behind the Bach DoodleGoogleDoodles
Chapter 28 · ◆Whose Distribution
  1. video · 4:28Boney M. — "Rasputin"BoneyMVEVO
  2. video · 4:27The labels sueABC News
  3. video · 9:25Holly Herndon and Holly+TED
  4. video · 4:43The GEMA v. Suno verdictWELT Nachrichtensender
Chapter 29 · ◆The Prompt Becomes a Musical Interface
  1. video · 5:10A song from a text boxUdio
  2. video · 25:32How Dilla drags the beatDavid Bruce Composer
  3. video · 20:26Toro y Moi and Lyria RealTimeGoogle
  4. video · 1:13Suno StudioSuno Music
Interlude · ◆Interlude. Why AI Sometimes Writes a Beautiful Chorus and an Utterly Idiotic Verse
  1. listen · 1:24A network with a short memoryMagenta
  2. video · 34:19YACHT and 'Chain Tripping'Spirit Level
  3. listen · 3:04Taryn Southern's 'Break Free'Taryn Southern
Chapter 30 · ◆Auto-Tune and the War Against ‘Dishonest Music’
  1. video · 1:01:38Andy Hildebrand on Auto-TuneLemelsonCenter
  2. sound demo · 3 stepsCorrection you can hear
  3. video · 3:57Cher — "Believe"Cher
  4. video · 3:39Queen switch on a synthQueen Official
  5. video · 12:55The Grammys' chief on AITED
Chapter 31 · ◆Who Is a Musician Now
  1. video · 2:36Rubin and Johnny Cash60 Minutes
  2. video · 3:49Johnny Cash — "Hurt"JohnnyCashVEVO
  3. video · 2:11Xania Monet on the chartsCBC News: The National
  4. video · 8:36The fraud inside the AI music boomSky News
Interlude · ◆Interlude. Music Nobody Listens To
  1. video · 43:41Horizon on Muzak, 1975BBC Archive
  2. video · 17:22Brian Eno — "1/1"Brian Eno - Topic
Chapter 32 · ◆The Best Argument Against
  1. video · 7:43Orbital — "Chime", Glastonbury 1994Orbital
  2. video · 45:31Adam Neely: polyrhythm as harmonyAbleton
Chapter 33 · ◆Music as Navigating a Space of Possibilities
  1. video · 16:16Damien Riehl: all the melodiesTED
  2. video · 2:06NSynth Super: a map of timbresGoogle
  3. listen · 3:01'Daddy's Car', Beatles-styleSony CSL (Paris)
  4. video · 8:30Jonathan Basile on his libraryTEDx Talks
Epilogue · ◆Epilogue. The Instrument That Disappeared
  1. listen · 1:00A flute inside Hohle FelsFlute Origins
  2. video · 1:00Pink Floyd from the brainTechnology Networks
  3. video · 1:33Theremin plays his own instrumentslonikyouth
silence
Nobody Quits