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future shock, em style ;)
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I recently took some of my old vinyl albums/EPs and put them onto HD. Usual routine: record 32 bit. mild high pass (to remove DC offset and turntable artifacts) then cut/trim, normalize, convert to 16 bit, etc. Sox and ecanormalize (two freeware programs) are very good for this.
One of the records that I recorded to HD was the "Zoolook" EP by Jean Michel Jarre. It was put out in 1984. It was (as far as I know) his first use of digital sampling. Two of the tunes were rather peppy and dancible. Altogether it was a change in his style. It was viewed as neat cool, inovative, groundbreaking etc. At the time, it was. 
I have not listened to Zoolook in a very long time. The memories came back to me of how things were when I first heard it.
Back then, samplers were still in the multi thousand dollar range. I seem to recall the fairlight CMI was ten thousand ... but I could be mistaken. Now, one can use ones existing computer and free software as a sampler, synth, drum machine, recorder, mixer. If one ignores the price of the computer (becuase you had that already: everyone has a computer at this point: they've become like refrigerators in that respect) and if one uses freeware, one can sample, and record, and mix, and play virtual instruments ... for free.
So, in just over two decades, the price of a decent sampler went from ten thousand ... to ZERO .
Wow: ten thousand to zero and moved from hardware to software.
Back in 1984, I was aware that the prices were sinking for digital synths and computers over time ... but I never would have imagined that this would happen.
Right: back to whatever you were doing ;)
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07/01/08
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nightowl
that's a very interesting perspective/observation. i was a huge fan of jean-michel jarre. not that many people were doing that kind of music back then.
(sherman, warm up the way-back machine)
07/02/08
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lematt
and now... Jean-Michel Jarre is still making the same crappy soup, mixing it in 5.1 with videos of him, his face, his blue eyes... he's a total wacky whore.
back in the days, going to a JMJ show was a really nice experience, but i've always thought there was something useless and ridiculous in his work, even if i admire the pioneering aspects of his work.
07/02/08
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RogerRoger
You are of course entitled to your opinion lematt, but what impressed me with "Oxygene in your living room" was that he had the balls to take all that old gear on tour. I've got a few vintage pieces myself and I'd be scared shitless to take them out of the studio, much less on a worldwide tour. Also as pointed out in another em411 blog, his moobies are more prevalent than his face these days.
But back to the sampling thing. It's naturally just another example of technology becoming more affordable to the masses, but the combined infinite potential of sampling with the diversity of possibly millions of software samplers in home studios makes these pioneers seem like just another drop in the sea. Like Stevie Wonder, Trevor Horn and Zappa's Synclavier work, or The Art of Noise and Yello on the Fairlights, just another possible permutation, albeit some of the very first.
07/03/08
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dach
everyone has a computer at this point: they've become like refrigerators in that respect)
Actually, the number of people who own a computer is somewhere around 0.06%
The number who own refrigerators is probably only a couple of percent.
About half of the planets population have never even seen a telephone. Just so you know.
07/03/08
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zfigz
you're so popular!
07/03/08
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blockhead
dach: "About half of the planets population have never even seen a telephone" <-- citation needed.
zfigs: lol, :D
07/04/08
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nightowl
who was there to listen to back in the day of old skool electronica?
kraftwerk, yellow magic orchestra, jean-michel jarre, tangerine dream, vangelis, terry riley,
michael honieg, walter carlos, synergy, tomita, can, some eno & fripp---have i missed anybody?
07/05/08
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prugelknaben
sometimes i wish i was one of those people who didnt own a computer or had a telephone. off topic. i really liked zoolook when it came.
07/06/08
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n9
dach said: "Actually, the number of people who own a computer is somewhere around 0.06%."
The wikipedia quotes there are about 1.2 billion users of the internet, about 17% of the world's population. It would seem odd that the average would work out to 340 people that are counted as internet users having to share one computer.
Also the stat >50% of people have not seen a phone is widely held to be an urban myth, although people do think that >50% of people have not ever made a phone call.
I actually remember Newt Gingrich (of all people) laying both these stats in end to end in a speech during the Clinton administration... maybe they were true then, but that was at least 10 years ago now.
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