Music Technology Forum – Week 6: Oral Talks/Classical Music

This week in Music Technology Forum, a select few of us did oral talks on their chosen producer. Each oral comprised of information on the chosen producer, including: the history and background, their influences, people they have worked with, studio’s they have worked in, when the producer was selected, what makes up their style and what do they bring to the field of music production. Audio samples were also played to show off their style and techniques the producer uses. Each oral presentation went up to 10 minutes, and 5 of those 10 minutes could be used on audio.

Alyssa used a PowerPoint presentation in her oral, which in my opinion helped deliver the message across a lot better. Her chosen Producer, Barry Gibb is the second most successful producer after George Martin. Born on the 1^st of September 1946, Barry started his producing career in 1965. He worked with a number of celebrities including: Barbra Steisand, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, Dionne Warwick and many others.

Lauren’s presentation consisted of a talk on Nigel Godrick, plus samples of his work. His main area of production is alternative rock acts such as Radiohead, Travis and Beck. Nigel Godrick has also worked with the world known band U2. Nigel’s biggest influence – his father, is a music technician working in England.

Scott chose to do Bob Ezrin for his oral presention. Bob Ezrin was born in 1949. Known for being a very demanding producer, he has worked with artists such as Alice Cooper, Kiss, Pink Floyd and The Deftones. He loves writing credits on some of the albums he has produced, pretty much making it his trademark.

Brendan’s oral was on the producer Matt Bayles. As displayed with the audio samples, Matt Bayles is primarily a metal producer. He has produced bands such including: Pearl Jam, Mastodon, Buried Inside and other metal acts.

After the oral presentations, Stephen focused on the aspects of classical music. The classical music genre can be quite complex, using up to hundreds of instruments at a time. A common technique to record classical music is to hang three microphones above the conductor. Not a lot of tweaking is done with classical music so the listener feels he is listening to a live production.

References:
1. Steve Fieldhouse (2007) - University of Adelaide.
2. Alyssa Wong (2007) - University of Adelaide.
3. Lauren McMahon (2007) - University of Adelaide.
4. Scott Philp (2007) - University of Adelaide.
5. Brendan Godfrey (2007) - University of Adelaide.