Have you seen today's Google Doodle? We here at Premier CX are thrilled to see today's Doodle is marking the 66th anniversary of the 'Studio for Electronic Music'. The first of its kind, this pioneering studio based in Cologne Germany paved the way for the musical landscape as it lies today. We ask ourselves, would Premier CX be what we are today without the Studio for Electronic Music?
From technicality to creativity the Studio became the hub of electronic music. Today along with Google we celebrate a few of the breakthroughs made during the time of the studio's existence from 1951-2000. How have these breakthroughs influenced the work we do?
The Incorporation of natural sound material
Something very important for us here at Premier CX using sound effects. Back in the mid 1950's at the Studio for Electronic Music a new musical concept was developed. Moving away from the idea of organised music; which had previously dominated the music industry, the idea of using devices such as speech and song to achieve a continuum between electronic and human sounds was tested.
This was the start of early sound effects. 'Without people such as Koenig, we would never have that huge movie experience you hear today, or those amazing TV shows that use no sound recorded on site, other than the people conversing (every TV show by the way!) the creation of “distortion” and “reverb” effects, affects everything from the “bing” on your fridge, to the click of your text tone'
Max Edmunds (Head of Studio, Premier CX)
Truly 'electronic' sound
Another exciting development which has shaped todays music and continues to do so as new methods emerge, is that of 'really electronic' music as Koenig called it (Koenig 1991-2002). He wanted to create music from technical resources in the studio rather than just disguising traditional instrumental performances as had been done so before. Koenig developed a computer program that could produce episodes of 'amplitudes' without regard to parent 'instrumental' parameter.
This was taken further by younger composers that joined the Studio for Electronic Music later, exploring the concept of electronic sound generation and transformation in a more playful and unconventional way. They worked on producing sound electronically, mechanically or recording via microphone and manipulating electronically using sounds such as animal sounds, crowds, radio stations, construction site noises and even conversation.
This is of key importance to Premier CX.
'Without early “Sound Generation” there would be no music other than live recorded and unproduced. Worst of all, for us, no IVR’s or On-Holds! The experimentation of sine waves, to square waves and sawtooths, lead the way to storing and producing media digitally. All sound is made of waves, and generating these waves electronically allows us to retrospectively store them!'
Max Edmunds (Head of Studio, Premier CX)
Studio Automation
Finally, where would we be without the automation process within music. Now everything is automated, creating opportunity for new creativity above and beyond human capability solely. This was started back in the 1970's in the Studio for Electronic Music along with other studios worldwide.
Our Head of Studio Max explains 'Automation of sound has allowed us to go wild, with crazy sound effects, from changing the pitch and tone of voice, to being able to create the best possible frequency spectrum to work on mobile networks, limiting noise cancelation! It has also allowed us to compress, EQ and produce some really high-quality voices, without the inclusion of breaths, artefacts or nasty feedback'.
A big thanks to The Studio of Electronic Music
So, it looks like things have come a long way since the very first musical composition at The Studio for Electronic Music way back in the early 1950's and just look where it's taken us!
'It’s truly amazing that the modern electronic studio as we know it is celebrating its 66th anniversary this year! Technology has changed massively over the years, but the essence of what was originally created back then, is still at the heart of every recording studio. Creating new and experimental sounds is still the bedrock for any music producer in the industry, and something we at Premier CX take pride in, whether its creating bespoke music tracks for a FTSE 100 company or mixing an atmospheric sound scape for a client's on hold production, creativity is at the heart of everything we do'
Kevin O'Connor - Sales Director Premier CX
From Premier CX we would like to personally thank The Studio for Electronic Music for its massive contribution towards the music industry and the influence it has had on making Premier CX who we are today.
