Bts & Fairlights

[chaz@chinet.chi.il.us (Charlie Kestner)]

Vickie here.

Kjetil T. writes in response to Jeff Burka's defense of my question:

> Methinks it doesn't take much to tick you off. Let Vickie decide when
> she should feel hurt, I don't think she needs you to be her big
> brother. I did not intend to hurt anyone's feelings, but my sense of
> judgement may be influenced by growing up in a tough environment :)

Well you haven't hurt my feelings, if that's what you were referring to.
This newsgroup is centered around questions and answers. I'd rather you
chose my question to pick on than a new reader. Anyway, Jeff is a mighty
nice big brother to have. I'd be honored to have him for one anytime.

> this category). When I saw Vickie's post, this black-white view of
> synthesizers sort of clicked in. Yeah, I know, thinking that Vicky
> should be thinking along either of these lines is silly, knowing how
> broadminded Vicky is. Sorry about that.

Personally, my attitude toward synthisizers is more close-minded than
I'd like to admit. I hear *so* much misuse that I tend to go flatline
whenever I hear synthisizers. I come alive when I hear them being used
in an interesting or different way. Kate is a prime example of that.
Her use of "Orch5" on "The Dreaming" song is the ultimate example. At
the time she used it, it was totally unknown and I was intrigued and
fascinated by the sound. Nowadays, it's *everywhere* (ogodhelpmeifihear
anotherorch5illGoAblolutelyBONKERS!!) and I despise it. But, when I go
back and listen to the song TD again, I still like it there. Why? I think
it's because Kate used it in such an innovative way, and incorporated it
into the structure of the song so well, that it's still part of the land-
scape and doesn't stand out on it's own. If ever a museum opens dedicated
to Orch 5, TD darn well better be in there as, not only the first use (as
far as I know) but as still the best use of it (IMHO).

I think the Fairlight discussion is interesting, and useful to new readers
who are curious about Kate's methods of writing and recording. I have an
interview where Kate talks about using the Fairlight on HoL. It's true
that she used a lot of Fairlight sounds, especially within The Ninth Wave,
but she also talks about writing songs on it, writing other musician's
parts, having those parts transcribed and then bringing in live musicians
to play those parts. The string section of "Cloudbusting" is the example
that comes to mind immediately. Ron Hill, if you're reading, do you have
the Totally Wired interview on-line handy? It's fascinating. 

Peter Gabriel is another artist who has used the Fairlight in very
interesting and innovative ways. We have a documentary on the making
of PGIV (aka Security) where he goes out to a dumpyard to get samples
of various sounds, such as him blowing through pipes and smashing a
TV set. He manipulated the sounds and incorporated them into the 
structure of the songs so well that (to me) they still hold up today,
instead of having that very quickly dated, oh no, not a Fairlight again,
sound. 

> I'll admit one other thing: I have a record with Altiplano (Chilenean
> group, plays a lot of flutes etc.). On one of the songs they use all
> sorts of weird instruments to make the sound of rain, wind, and
> bird-calls. While I don't think my enjoyment of their music would be
> any less if they used a synthesizer, my admiration for the production
> would be considerably less.

I agree with you about this. Whenever possible, real instruments should
be used. Nothing, no machine, can compare. I was thinking about this
recently when I was writing about Yma Sumac. I was going back and listening
to these amazing sounds of birds and animals and unusual instruments. This
was the 1950's and they were real sounds. Someone could do the same thing
today with a Fairlight, but it wouldn't be the same.

Vickie (one of Vickie'n'Chris)
katefans@chinet.chi.il.us

ps, I accidentially posted a couple of Chris-written articles on my
account. His name is *not* Vickie Ann Mapes, the last time I checked.