Shantel-+Computer+Music



In a world full of technological advances, it is easy to see that even music has been impacted by these changes. Computer music is essentially that: Music that is generated electronically through the use of computer software. Computer music was created in the 1950’s and has now expanded to create many related genres, such as Electronic, Electro, Techno, House, Dance, and Trance Music, among others. Today, much of studio recorded music involves some form of computer music. Because the music is created through technology, there is not much emotion involved- but the music relies mainly on melody lines, rhythms, and the atmosphere which is produced.

The 1950’s was the main ground for the creation of computer music, and, after that, the engineering of further computer music technology. The first known record of computer music was generated at the University of Manchester in 1951, by the Ferranti Mark computer. Throughout that decade, computer music evolved into a more substantial form. The first complete composition on a computer was composed in 1956, entitled Illiac Suite by Lajeran Hiller. In the 1960’s, synthesizer technology became more readily available and this enabled an opportunity for a wider range of computer music creations, as well as a continuous concentration on the advancement of the technology itself and the marketing of electronic synthesizers.

The 1970’s was when computer music expanded to a large amount of genres under its umbrella. In particular, a group of Detroit musicians are credited to have created the Techno genre. The 1980’s also saw the creation of the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), a computer based audio software program. This lead to high accessibility, as the public who owned a computer could also access a DAW. At this time, Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson fused the sounds of synthpop with Italo-Disco and Funk, creating the Techno genre. The music was mostly instrumental based, with few and simple words. This sound can be heard in their 1983 single, ‘Clear’ by their group Cybotron.

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The genres of computer music became more attributed to the clubbing scene during the 90’s. Moving away from the once ambient and trance like style of the 70's and 80's, the music became more upbeat and incorporated with pop and clubbing culture. During this period, computer music also started to incorporate more vocals, sometimes utilizing the instrumental only as background, as seen with the 1993 club-hit, Haddaway’s ‘What is Love’ (re-made famous by the 1998 movie 'Night at the Roxbury').

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In the 21st century, computer music had expanded its genres to Electronica (which encompasses Techno, Electro, and Electronic music), House, Dance, and Trance music, among others. The distinguishing factors in all these genres was the fact that they were all heavily played in clubs, making them primarily clubbing or night music. Because of this, while there is no concrete style to the genre, the music is usually fast paced and intense, with heavy bass. While some pieces are mainly vocal with the software-created instrumental as a background, other pieces are mainly instrumental.

Computer music is now extremely accessible, with the high availability of at home software such as FL Studio, Ableton Live, Pro Tools, even Garage Band and Audacity, etc. In fact, all of BassHunter’s music is generated at home with FL Studios, and it was through posting his song Dota online (which he had created in the basement of his home) that he became famous. Particularly in Europe, electronica music is very popular and due to the clubbing scene, and has created many famous European electronic music artists, such as David Guetta, Fedde Le Grand, Armin Van Burren, Special D, PulseDriver, Tiesto, and much more.

Below is a video tutorial of FL Studio, by BassHunter (please skim through the tutorial), and a remake of Pirates of the Caribbean by Youtube user Silverlinemusic using the FL Studio Program. This shows the accessibility and ease of creating computer music.

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The creation of computer music in the 1950’s has opened the gates to a wide variety of genre and musical styling. The technology and accessibility has improved and continues to improve in an exponential amount to this very day. Without a doubt, the future holds more in store as we are only beginning to realize the potential of computer music.