AMERICAN MUSIC SERIES                                                         207 a,b; q-s; aa

Les Paul

with Joan Thomson

Mahwah, New Jersey

Bell Labs

April 3, 19, 1978

June 16, 1978

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Side a                                                                                                             pp. 1-17

Building a disc recorder--Judy Canova--childhood experiences: building a crystal set--acquiring a harmonica--family background--player-piano--acquiring a guitar--what makes the guitar popular--influence of his mother--playing on a program at Marquette Univ.--playing jobs--piano player Harold Teen--starting an orchestra--amplification--Gene Autry--cowboy band with Joe Woverton: learning the guitar--joining their band.

Side b                                                                                                                        pp. 17-34

Joining the band (continued)--playing with the band: hoe-downs, etc.--becoming partners with Joe Woverton on radio stations--name Red-Hot Red--first job in Escanaba--going to St. Louis with Woverton--playing on the radio and in an orchestra--harmonica--making arrangements, working in Chicago--playing nightclubs, NDC and CBS--playing piano at the Sundodger Rendevous--landing another job--ways to amplify a bass--Edison--early piano lessons.

Side q                                                                                                                        pp. 1-23

Editing techniques--working with orchestra sounds--other machine--program using filters--John Gates--keyboard--chamber and/or fly--reverb--effect of the hall--sound production with microphones, oscillators, etc.--programming scales and arpeggios--making the sound of various instruments--changing the pitch--echo chamber problems--non-linear processing--making the machine sound like a violin--erasing notes--effect produced when you it a bell--digital vs. analog oscillator--putting a pickup underneath a guitar--analyses--Fletcher-Munson curve--reverb--perception.

Side r                                                                                                             pp. 23-50

Special purpose computers--Digital Equipment Corporation LSI-11--lesson on the machine--editing--improvising over existing material--Lover--overdubbing--a computer “orchestra”--amount of time working on the machine--purpose of the machine--transferring telephone technology to music--keyboards--tubing for input--pitch detection--distortion--access to the machine--importance of feedback from machine--approaching different companies with the idea for the multiple track machine--imitating the sound of a drum and a cymbal--cymbals and bells--phase--recording--digital record board--possibility of all-digital studio--new video disc--reproducing a bass sound--controlling aspects of a sound.

Side s                                                                                                             pp. 50-70

Controlling the amount of “random” introduced--Roger Powell’s assistance--effects on the machine--comparison with Jon Appleton’s Synclavier--future development of the machine--technology for the eye to trigger devices on the machine--importance of educating young children in music--Max Mathews and his conception of future machine capabilities--rapid development of technology in the last hundred years--first amplifiers--loudspeakers--solid body guitar--All-Tech Lansing speakers--Chowning’s Cloud? clod? {sp} system--Western electric equipment--changing Hitler’s speech--storage of instructions that generate sound--frequency modulation--Mark II and Mark III--Milton Babbitt--Sherman Fairchild.

Side aa                                                                                                           pp. 1-17

Recording studio: characteristics--studio builder--his “player-piano jukebox”--microphones--Ampex 300 tape recorder--four-channel mixer--items to be given to the Smithsonian--control room and studio--his Ampex invention--people he would like to tape for his book and film projects--mixing panel--German tape advances--new console built--possible future developments--his guitars--system of pickup--Gibson--what makes his pickup unique.