About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherBloomsbury Publishing

ISBN-101501367269

ISBN-139781501367267

eBay Product ID (ePID)8057275814

Product Key Features

Number of Pages336 Pages

Publication NameDancing to the Drum Machine : How Electronic Percussion Conquered the World

LanguageEnglish

SubjectHistory & Criticism, Recording & Reproduction, Musical Instruments / Percussion

Publication Year2022

TypeTextbook

AuthorDan Leroy

Subject AreaMusic

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height0.9 in

Item Weight17.7 Oz

Item Length9.1 in

Item Width6 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceCollege Audience

LCCN2022-015196

Dewey Edition23

ReviewsDan LeRoy takes on a subject that could easily result in a dry, strictly-for-geeks read - the history of machine-rhythm - and turns out a juicy deep-dive that will appeal equally to the lay-person interested in the evolution of pop culture as to the gear-head and serious musician. What this richly researched and entertaining book shows is that far from dehumanizing and deskilling music, the drum machine depended on human imagination: the vision and dedication needed to create the technology in the first place, the ingenuity of amateur and professional musicians alike, as they struggled with these newfangled boxes and extracted magic from them. It's a story that's largely untold and LeRoy tells it with vivid clarity., "Dan LeRoy takes on a subject that could easily result in a dry, strictly-for-geeks read - the history of machine-rhythm - and turns out a juicy deep-dive that will appeal equally to the lay-person interested in the evolution of pop culture as to the gear-head and serious musician. What this richly researched and entertaining book shows is that far from dehumanizing and deskilling music, the drum machine depended on human imagination: the vision and dedication needed to create the technology in the first place, the ingenuity of amateur and professional musicians alike, as they struggled with these newfangled boxes and extracted magic from them. It's a story that's largely untold and LeRoy tells it with vivid clarity." -- Simon Reynolds, author of Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture and Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-84

Dewey Decimal786.709

Table Of ContentForeword by Nick Rhodes: Timing is Everything Prologue 1. From Boats to Babies: How Drum Machines Began 2. The Rhythm Aces 3. Beat Brothers: Sly Stone and J.J. Cale 4. "The Machines Are Fighting Back" 5. Teutonic Sonics: Germany and Programmed Rhythm 6. Turn the Beat Around: Eno, Disco and the Drum Machine 7. Our Drum Machine Could Be Your Band 8. The Drum Machines That Weren't 9. Punch the Clock: The Joy and Pain of Drum Programming 10. Without Me, You Would Not Even Have Thought of Writing This Book 11. Give the (Electronic) Drummer Some 12. Inside and Outside the Box: The Linn Revolution 13. "Have You Seen This New Drum Machine? Shit! " 14. 808 State 15. Hip Hop's Electric Guitar 16. Worker Bees of the DMX 17. Destination Emulation 18. Mr. K's Last Laugh 19. The Mammals Arrive: The Linn 9000 and the End of the Drum Machine 20. Computer Love 21. Time Out of Time Appendix: I Am Echo Acknowledgments

SynopsisDancing to the Drum Machine is a never-before-attempted history of what is perhaps the most controversial musical instrument ever invented: the drum machine. Here, author Dan LeRoy reveals the untold story of how their mechanical pulse became the new heartbeat of popular music. The pristine snap of the LinnDrum. The bottom-heavy beats of the Roland 808. The groundbreaking samples of the E-MUSP-1200. All these machines--and their weirder, wilder-sounding cousins--changed composition, recording, and performance habits forever. Their distinctive sounds and styles helped create new genres of music, like hip hop and EDM. But they altered every musical style, from mainstream pop to heavy metal to jazz. Dan LeRoy traces the drum machine from its low-tech beginnings in the Fifties and Sixties to its evolution in the Seventies and its ubiquity in the Eighties, when seemingly overnight, it infiltrated every genre of music. Drum machines put some drummers out of work, while keeping others on their toes. They anticipated virtually every musical trend of the last five decades: sequencing, looping, sampling, and all forms of digital music creation. But the personalities beneath those perfect beats make the story of drum machines a surprisingly human one--told here for the very first time., Dancing to the Drum Machine is a never-before-attempted history of what is perhaps the most controversial musical instrument ever invented: the drum machine. Here, author Dan LeRoy reveals the untold story of how their mechanical pulse became the new heartbeat of popular music. The pristine snap of the LinnDrum. The bottom-heavy beats of the Roland 808. The groundbreaking samples of the E-MU SP-1200. All these machines-and their weirder, wilder-sounding cousins-changed composition, recording, and performance habits forever. Their distinctive sounds and styles helped create new genres of music, like hip-hop and EDM. But they altered every musical style, from mainstream pop to heavy metal to jazz. Dan LeRoy traces the drum machine from its low-tech beginnings in the 1950s and 1960s to its evolution in the 1970s and its ubiquity in the 1980s, when seemingly overnight, it infiltrated every genre of music. Drum machines put some drummers out of work, while keeping others on their toes. They anticipated virtually every musical trend of the last five decades: sequencing, looping, sampling, and all forms of digital music creation. But the personalities beneath those perfect beats make the story of drum machines a surprisingly human one-told here for the very first time.

LC Classification NumberML1092.L57 2022