Discovering Electronic Music (1969-1983) 

All the work it took for these audio engineers, we just simply take for granted now.

I was so thrilled to see Rory Kaplan In this!

Well, old or not, that was the clearest explanation I’ve seen yet of the basics of analog synths, including the manipulation of waveforms and envelopes. Very cool!

I can imagine what a shock the synthesizer was for the younger and older generation alike back then. I reatore vintage moogs for a living and im always amazed at the presence these instruments produce..

Right around 1970-71 I was a high school student in the southern tier of NY State, near Corning NY. The Corning Glass Works' research lab sponsored a science seminar once a month in the evening to allow their researchers to present their "hobbies" to their peers. We as a local high school science club were invited to attend. We scored this opportunity via our club's adviser, Larry Josbeno's friendship with one of the research scientist. Pertinent to this fabulous Fran film (aka FFF) was an appearance at one of the seminars by Dr. Moog who had driven down (he was visiting upstate NY) along with a carful of his synthesizers. He gave a talk but all I wanted to do was see him set up his equipment and demonstrate the capabilities of same. However, within the talk were some gems that included: 1) he started on the synthesizer as an offshoot to his Theremin development where he reverse engineered Theremins to make kits that he could sell for $$. 2) his work on the synthesizer did not give him any insight into "perfect pitch" and 3) I asked him why did he use patch cords to mix the various modules together as opposed to using lever and rotary switches? His reply was that patch cords (especially ones with open backs to allow for stacking) provided more flexibility than other connection methods available at the time. Then he set up his equipment and began to play, simple melodies and unique sounds to showcase the capability of his devices. Afterwards in the mixing of people around the equipment I overheard him talking about his work with Walter Carlos (now known as Wendy Carlos) and how an album would be coming out soon, well within a year where we would be hearing a full orchestral arrangement utilizing synthesizers. Needless to say I immediately bought the album when it became available. So thanks Fran for triggering my memory of a rich personal experience in my past.

Women in particular have had a huge influence on the development of electronic music: Wendy Carlos, Daphne Oram, Delia Derbyshire, Eliane Radigue, the list goes on. I'm just starting my foray into this branch of music and it's fascinating.

We all love Wendy Carlos. An inspiration in so many ways. Bach would have loved this technology, I'm sure.

The haunting soundtrack to all the educational films and film strips from my grade school days

nice documentary. that old kit is built so much nicer than most of the new stuff.

So cool, that "tracker" software he is using... Nowadays considered retro, in 1983 this stuff was unheard of.

Great footage ! By the way, the bass player we see at 11.57 is Rand Forbes, who played electric fretless bass in the psychedelic group The United States of America, in 1968.

I remember the first time I heard, “Switched on Bach,” in the late 60’s, blew me away, then, “Emerson, Lake & Palmer,” took it to a new level.

I remember watching parts of this film in school back in the 1970s. One of the things I do for fun now is compose music in my computer. One of the projects I'll be working on in the future is contributing to the soundtrack to an animated movie being done by an online friend in the Netherlands. Electronic music has been an interest of mine for decades. From classical stylings to rock, and blends of both, my influences are many and varied. I even dabble with sound effects added to compositions from time to time. Thank you, Fran. You enabled me to relive part of my youth with this film!

Reminds me when Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange came out in 1971 and I was just a kid back then. Wendy Carlos created several pieces used in the soundtrack with her synthesizer which really completed the movie's overall look and feel. Of course, audiences back then totally freaked. Kubrick was, as always, ahead of his time. Thanks again, Fran. :)

18:45 I never realised Space Invaders was actually Bach 😂

Once I saw Fairlight CMI I knew it was only a matter of time until we heard :::Orchestra HIT:::!

The Fairlight CMI was genious in every way. The software, the GUI, the DAC filter banks. This device has been used excessively by many bands and defined the typical 80ies sound - besides the "gated reverb" ;)

The documentaries of the 80s about tech were amazing. Thank you very much for this. It brings me back memories of when all started. I remember a TV series of documentaries, in the same line as this, but about robotics, computing, etc. named Fast Forward. I've tried to find it on the internet to no avail. Anyone else remembers Fast Forward docus?

Great stuff Fran. Nice to see a Moog analogue synth in its original kind of setting here. In about 1970 (?) BBC dj Kenny Everett used to play chunks of Wendy Carlos' versions of Bach on his radio prog., on a Saturday lunchtime, as I remember.

Expecting to see old synths and the first thing shown is a Fairlight. Then, I realized the Fairlight is old. As am I.

10:29, looks like a vintage Buchla next to the Moog. Another enjoyable video from Franlab.

Thanks for transferring and uploading this!

Electronic Music was my introduction into an EE career. As a sophomore in high school physics (1980), I had been studying and tinkering with electronics for most of my life; but when I saw the Simple Synth project in Radio Electronics magazine, I had to build it. It was my first PCB. I had to come up with a Science Fair project to justify building it, but the synth was the end goal. I had so much run experimenting with it. Although not a musician, to this day, I still enjoy electronic music. Remember Hearts of Space? Thanks for sharing Fran!

Once again, Fran, what a treasure! We are just so so lucky to have you.

Walt Disney's "Main street electrical parade" is a wonderful use of synthesizer tones. Loved this presentation!

Another way cool and informative transfer! Switched on Bach was my intro into synth music, what a great work that is. As a rabid techie and music nut, this is great. And still can't get over how nicely your telecine works. Great pic, smooth and detailed. What would have happened had Bach been able to get his paws on a Fairlight... The mind boggles... Thanks again, Fran! Lovin' these 16mm converts. You have a cool collection of film. (The days of arguing with a cranky old Bell & Howell at school coming back to mind...) Thanks again for sharing... Stay safe! Stu

Started sequencing music in the mid 80s on my Atari 520 then upgraded to a 1040STE with a 2mb memory upgrade and the phono outs and a program called Sequencer One that was available at the time,great memories and still a huge part of my digital soundscapes today. Thanks for the post Fran ✌️❤️😎

A wild assortment from Emerson, Lake & Palmer to Harold Faltermeyer's Beverlyhills Cop soundtrack. Lots of variations. Thanks Fran JwgK

One of the best explanations of subtractive synthesis that I've seen! Thanks for preserving this, Fran!

I took an Electronic Music class in high school around 1971. It started out with Musique Concrete which was hardly "music" in the conventional sense. I had to make myself listen through Subotnik and Partch. The fun stuff started when we moved on to a Putney synthesizer. During that class I discovered Walter Carlos (later Wendy) and Roger Powell. Fond memories. Thanks for the video!

What a wonderfully crafted film! I grew up about 15-20 miles from where this was filmed. Why oh why didn't I see this in 1983?!?!!? It would have changed my life.

Awesome little documentary Fran. Reminds me of the movies the teachers would show us in public school around 1970....when they needed a break from teaching our distracted little minds. I always loved these matter-of-fact educational films. Great curation finding this one !

This is right in my wheel house. Thanks for sharing, Fran! 💙🌟🎶

Mahalo for bringing this masterpiece of a film to me! I grew up on the synthesizer performances of Wendy Carlos, Isao Tomita, Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis and Larry Fast.

You've done an absolutely stellar job transferring this awesome film Fran, I'm in awe.

Not a minute in and I'm having a flashback....no, not that kind, my friends and I used to borrow the County library rental projector and a selection of films that were available. Anything from "Hemo The Magnificent" about hemoglobin as I remember it, and that great episode of Twilight Zone, "An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge". If you've never seen it, search it out. It's gotta be up here somewhere. Thanks for sharing the film archive Fran. It is a genuine pleasure! I have some old 16 and 8mm things myself. Nothing of the caliber you've been showing us though.😀

I thought this would be a very OLD film until I saw the Fairlight!

My love of electronic music has led me to a stage where I carnt go back 😄have to many synths 20 plus I love my latest module called clouds which is a granular synth its amazing 👌

Wow great video. I'm following LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER and now i understand what he's talking about ;)

Delia Derbyshireis is a bigtime hero of mine and is a big inspiration for me. Her Electronic Music is produced in a similar way.

Bought my first synth in 1986....a Casio CZ-101. A great little synth. Now I have a lot more appreciation for how it evolved from the huge sound devices of the two decades before it.

I'm watching this while listening to drum and bass thinking how far we have come since the 70's.

I've been looking for a video like this for a while that could explain synths in a very easy to understand way. All I got was a bunch of goofy thumbnails and knob twisting. This is amazing and all I wanted!

I remember in 1972 we had an IBM 1130 in high school we had a program that would play music for it by using an AM radio when it was placed/sitting on the electronic area of the computer.

Wow! I've adored synth music ever since my older brothers started playing Isao Tomita and Jean Michel Jarre at home in the 70s. Hope this gets listed Fran, I'd love to forward the link to my friend Jose at the DX5 channel, this will be right up his street. PS: How's the move going?

Thank you so much for this version Fran!

It is alleged (by Peter Vogel himself) that he was such a nerd that, while installing Peter Gabriel's Fairlight, he was offered the opportunity to stay for lunch. Kate Bush just happened to be there for lunch as well. Peter however, aware that he had to get back on a plane to Australia, declined the offer as he wanted to check out the electronics stuff available in the London stores at that time before checking in. Now THAT'S dedication to your calling!

Glad to see you again.I had not seen a mention of your channel,and somehow I see i was unsubscribed,probably by RU-vid itself..Seeing those old monitors and waveforms is still incredible,and now,it's just software...

Listening to this video from the other room is really bringing on memories of watching Tom & Jerry as a kid. 70's Tom & Jerry especially

Wow this is fantastic. As a fan of Tangerine Dream and other early electronic music pioneers, it is even more interesting to see how they actually made music

in the late 1960s.. my brother worked for KPFK 90.7 in los angeles.. on a friday night at 8 o clock they had a show and that weeks show was going to pay the brand new funkhammer or something like that album. as they began to play the record.. the aircheck stopped playing back in the studio.. they listened to the actual broadcast from Mount Wilson in the studio.. so they reset the transmitter.. started again.. the air check stopped again.. they tried this several times.. seems the equipment did not like the album, so they went on to play something else.. it took my brother a while to figure this out.. but the Collins exciter that took the audio and ramped it up to broadcast 90.7 then that was sent to mount wilson to go thru the big tube broadcast amplifiers there to go into the antenna.. there are 2 adjustments in the collins excitor.. one had an acorn nut on it and was tagged DO NOT ADJUST .. factory adjustment only.. the other was the broadcast frequency. the pure tones in the album were just right to unlock the AFC... Automatic frequency control.. and the frequency out drifted to the locked out adjustment setting up around 95.5.. in the morning.. there were about 50 calls at the switchboard.. what did you guys do.. i was listening to the 8 o clock show and my hi fi blew up.. seems that the drifting pulled some home systems with AFC.. up to 95.5 and back several times.. if you have the volume turned up on your FM receiver.. and change channels.. guess what happens.. BOOM to the speakers on most, some amps will blow up. there are only a few people that know about that.. my brother went on to recording industry jobs.. working at watermark that did american top 40 in the 70s.. then as chief engineer for motown records for 7 years in west hollywood..

Awesome stuff! Also, great transfer from 16mm... My dad tried endlessly with some old family reels, but in the end he gave in and sent them to a lab for scanning. Amazing how quickly electronic music evolved back in the day; this wasn't that long after Delia Derbyshire was still messing around with tape reels, oscillators and other equipment to make electronic music (like the Dr. Who tune)

By far one of your best films yet.

The symbiotic relationship of all conceivable things becomes clear with the synth. Should be mandatory. All music really.

The first time I heard electronic music was in the 70s by Kraftwerk. Blew me away.

I was not expected that CSULB would be shown onto my face. But that got me surprised :)

There's a wonderful pitch warbling on these "old" movies now. Almost an effect in itself.

Awesome to watch electronic sound go from "wow this is challenging and fun music" to "uh oh, in the wrong hands this can generate pure evil" over the course of 20 minutes. Have loved electronic music for 40 years and never bothered to learn as much as I did from watching this. Thanks for posting!

Peter Gabriel's monkey album is probably the first I heard the Fairlight CMI, and it blew my mind. Herbie Hancock's Future Shock around the same time was also amazing. Huge leap from Moog or Arp that was around til then. Thanks Fran for the nostalgia.

The sounds in 18:50 reminds me of playing Atari back in the 80s. Cool!

My first introduction to the synthesizer was MOOG! by Claude Denjean. Overuse of certain sounds has dated the recording in spots but it still holds up today. Back then (1976 for me) it was nothing short of science fiction come true.

Fran! I saw this in high school music class (grade 8, iirc), and have always wanted to get hold of it again, but sadly I could not remember the title. Thank you so much for uploading this. I have been sitting here, sinking into a depressive state, and you just brought a smile to my face. Thank you so much, this made my day.

I love the sound of old synths on old film.

Oh, how I love "Switched on Bach"!

Cool video. Takes me back to my early days in electronic music. Thqnks

I wish I had seen this in the 80's (born in 75)! Enjoying this now a lot too! Excellent film, both in the content and technical quality! Fantastic transfer! Sorry for the exclamations but this is super cool!

Fairlight section had me getting flashbacks to The art of noise - no max headroom though

Reminds me of laying in the dark on the living room floor with headphones on in 1974, listening to Moog: The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman. I nearly wore that record out. Not long after that I discovered Ralf, Florian, Wolfgang, and Klaus! In 1977 I discovered Tomita and Snowflakes are Dancing, while passing time in the music library at summer band camp! Thanks for uploading the film, Fran.

The plinky-plonky and drone sounds in the first part of the video remind me strongly of those I used to get when dabbling with Barry Vercoe's Music 11 software on a PDP-11 computer in the early 1980s. It sounded pretty rough given the D/A converters were 16kHz and 12-bit. I think I used to synthesize at half frequency, record on to reel-to-reel and then play back at twice the tape speed in an attempt to improve the sound quality.

I love this film. I could only find it in pieces all over YT. Thanks Fran!

Gosh. I love computer and synthesizer.

I think these transfers are of impeccable technical quality!

It's like watching music being broken down, digested and reborn. Awesome find Fran, thank you!

Excellent film, filled in a few gaps in my knowledge. I adore Wendy Carlos' music, like a lot of people I was introduced to her work via the soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange and was absolutely delighted to discover her other work, Sonic Seasonings is a work of art. Special mention to Deliah Derbyshire for creating astounding electronic sounds without using a synth.

Holy crap. MIDI back then 😱

It would be cool if after the video played you had a short commentary.

Thank you for sharing this important piece of synth history!

This video is already available on RU-vid for years. Seen it.

Love these old films. It's so amazing to have lived in a time of such wonderful developments! When I was a youngster I was fascinated with records and tape recorders. If anyone thinks a tape recorder is a simple device, I'm saying it is not. And yet, here we are in the computer age that makes that awesome technology obsolete. Anyway, I enjoyed that lesson. Thanks!

Fairlight CMI - Australia's input to the electronic music world. I saw the BBC Tomorrow's World program where it was demonstrated in comparison with a MiniMoog. The clincher for me was when the presenter spoke the word "hello" into a microphone, then played a chord using this as a sample. Check it out - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dCu0NyZauzY.html - Boy, did I want one of these, but they cost the same price as a semi-detached house!

Very nicely done on the transfer.

That was a very enjoyable and informative video. Thanks for uploading!

Well done !... now we know a little bit more about, what´s behind the electronic keyboards.

It's Interesting movie. My first job was promotion of DSS-1 Korg sampler and played similarly in front of music teachers at that time mid of '80s.

This brings back memories. I’ve seen this before. Another of my favorites is a NOVA episode titled “Artists in the Lab.” It showed how computers, synthesizers, and lasers were used to create with. A couple examples were using a synth and mike as a vocoder and using lasers to create and view holograms. I had this recorded on VHS tape, but no longer have it. Looked here on you tube, but can’t find it to watch again.

Moog and Fairlight CMI say no more..like clicked and watched it whole without blinking ;)

Good, very good, enjoyed, very much, thank you, very much.

Loving the Duracell patch at 11:35 😂

the band tangerine dreams, had some cool synthesizer concerts

When I was but a wee tyke I heard Electronic Hair. Then Switched-On Bach. Mind-blown! Beautiful job transferring this film Fran!

Great upload. Thanks for sharing Fran

One of my all-time favourites in the old electronic music era is Wendy Carlos of Clockwork Orange and Tron fame. This was a very interesting watch....

That brings back memories! I saw the 1969 version of that film in junior high!

Wow Fran, thanks for sharing that. In Full Sail back in '91, I got some training on a Synclavier, an early keyboard/sequencer & sampler. It was state of the art for it's day. But the equipment you've just shown predates that by many years. VERY COOL to see the roots of early electronic music. I love films like this, the early Bell Labs films are great. Thanks so much for sharing this! BTW, I have to ask if you know a friend of mine named Bill O'Brien. He's from south Jersey but has played synth all over south Phila for the last 30 years. Never been very famous but he knows everybody because of a long running cable access program. He's given more bands their first shot at regional exposure than anyone, except maybe Al Albert's Showcase!

This reminds me of an exhibit at the Franklin Institute in 1970 - the "Moog Show" - they had Moog modular systems you could play with and demonstrations of the instruments.

Thanks for the flash back Fran!💗 I was at the ELP concert where Brain Salad Surgery was introduced...what a gifted musician. Thanks for sharing reel life of great value! Blessings!

I remember the first time I heard Doctor Who on the old TV with my grandpa as he explained how they made it and how my electronic organ a JVC Organ with it's sounds was on another level but I didn't understand until Amiga 500's were a thing.

Many thanks for the transfer and upload! Love seeing these.

Wounderfull. Thanks for being awesome.

Calm harmony of sound, picture and people of the past.