simonsound

What the Future Sounded Like is a brilliant documentary that tells the story of British synthesizer manufactures EMS. EMS was setup in the 60’s by pioneering electronic composers Peter Zinovieff and Tristram Cary (famed for his work on the Dr Who series) and engineer David Cockerell. The 60’s was a time of sweeping change, experimentation and optimism with many musicians and composers using electronic oscillators, tape manipulation and music concrete to imagine what the future might sound like.

Peter Zinovieff had been using the earliest computers to sequence his home made oscillators and sound making machines, and setup EMS to fund his own growing studio. His ‘Parita for Unattended Computer’ performed at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London saw the computer take center stage for the first time with the only human interaction being to start the sequence.

The EMS VCS3 became popular with the prog/psychedelic bands of the time. Hawkwind, Pink Floyd, and one of my favorite groups White Noise, used EMS tools on their best work. The Who’s Pete Townsend routed an organ through a EMS filter for the intro to ‘Won’t get Fooled Again‘. The BBC’s Radiophonic workshop were also users and you can hear EMS sounds all over episodes of Dr Who. Shame the new Dr Who doesn’t have such an inspiring soundtrack. Its all a bit over the top now with drama being replaced by high camp.

It’s interesting how electronic music, some of it quite experimental and uncompromising, entered the publics consciousness by stealth through programs like Dr Who and early television advertising. Composers like Raymond Scott and Suzanne Ciani (she created Cokes ‘Pop and Pour’ sonic logo) fully embraced the synthesizer as a way of creating never before heard sounds for clients hungry to make the most of a new advertising medium and stand out from their competitors.

What the Future Sounded Like takes you back to this time of early experimentation and also highlights some of the complexities involved in creating electronic music before cheap computers democratized the process. It is being screened at various film festivals and I would strongly suggest you go and see it. Find out more here.

Finally I just wanted to mention my favorite clip from the film. Its the story of how Karlheinz Stockhausen visited the EMS studios in London to work with Peter Zinovieff and they built a completely soundproofed box with microphones inside so they could ‘..record a fly screaming’.

Update - Check out The Tone Generation. A 10 part radio series exploring the history of electronic music. Available as a podcast or in MP3 format. Here.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 18th, 2007 at 2:13 pm and is filed under sound, music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.