This week we looked into the advancement of technology in music, and how it has improved the quality of music, and the experience of both the creator and listener.
The earliest way of recording and playing back music was the wax cylinder (or phonograph), invented by Thomas Edison in 1877. This breakthrough allowed for a performance to be captured, replayed and distributed commercially.
While this breakthrough was significant in that it kick started recorded music and led to the industry today, the audio quality was very poor. Bass frequencies were hardly caught on the wax, and everything is very muffled and incoherent. This meant while the wax cylinder was useful for smaller ensembles such as blues players with a single voice and guitar, or a piano and violin, larger ensembles such as orchestras sounded terrible due to the low quality.
later developments like vinyl in 1948 advanced the distribution of music, however the next major breakthrough in the production side was multitracking. previously, bands had to be recorded all at once live, however multitracking, popularised by the mid 1950s, allowed for instruments and sections to be layered over each other, meaning multiple takes could be had and a singer could layer vocal harmonies without needing backup singers for a live take. This was utilised in all forms of music, however the best example of one 4 piece band utilising this technique is queens Bohemian rhapsody, which was said to have over 180 overdubs.
This was followed in the 90s with digital software, in the form of pro tools initially. While not massively affecting the distribution of music, it made the means of music making way more accessible. Anyone with a computer could now make music, when previously this was only achievable at a studio with a big budget. It was now cheaper to record and make music, as large reels of tape and hardware effects racks were now recorded from the equation. This has led to a debate between digital and tape, however as time goes on and technology advances, its harder and harder to discern a difference.