Raymond Scott was a pioneer in electronic music. He invented
or helped electronic instruments. He attended Brooklyn Technical High School,
and was also an adventurous sound engineer. While recording in the 30s and 40s,
he was mostly in the control room adjusting acoustics by new and unorthodox
means, which would be used regularly in the future. Gert-Jan Blom and Jeff
Winner wrote about him, saying, “Scott sought to master all aspects of sound
capture and manipulation. His special interesting in the technical aspects of
recording, combined with the state-of-the-art facilities at his disposal,
provided him with enormous hands-on experience as an engineer.” In 1946, Scott
created Manhattan Research, a division of his company, Raymond Scott
Enterprises, Inc. which would design and manufacture electronic music devices. While
creating devices for himself, Scott also sold devices and serviced them “for
the creation of electronic music and musique concrete.” These sales also
included components such as ring modulators; tone, envelope, and wave shifters,
modulators and filters. Relying on his own creations like the Clavivox and the
Electronium, he recorded futuristic compositions for use in radio and
television commercials as well as entire songs for records. Scott made some of
the early devices capable of producing multiple tones automatically in a line.
Due to this, he later credited himself as the inventor of the polyphonic
sequencer. In 1964, Scott released “Soothing Sounds for Baby,” which sounds
familiar to Tangerine Dream’s and Brian Eno’s work from the mid ‘70s.
Raymond Scott influenced the Electronic music era by
creating and pioneering some of the early stuff that would define the genre.
From using the futuristic Sci-Fi sounds for commercials to creating simple
ambient tracks for toddlers, Scott laid the groundwork for this genre. To study
and read about a man who strove after something he loved is an honor. I only
hope to do the same in my studies and hopefully have an impact on this world
that I will help shift and change.
Sources:
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