New music technology in 1970

Answer 1

The 1980s was a long time in music technology and the decade saw some huge changes in the technology. Live music technology changed little during the time but recording techniques and equipment made the transition from analogue to digital. The consumer market was based on vinyl records and cassette tapes. Records were by far the better quality and although they used a very delicate surface to store the audio content, they provided years of good quality. Indeed, they still offer good quality today. Cassettes were more convenient and were becoming the more popular medium for buyers. Unlike records, cassettes could be used in portable player such as cars. Sony introduced the Walkman, the first personal music player. In the studio, recordings were made onto analogue tape. Larger studios used 2" wide tape which would hold 24 tracks. With a reel diameter of 10 1/2" and a run time of around 17 minutes per reel, they were a cumbersome method to use. However, quality was excellent and 24 track recorders were the industry standard. The whole signal chain was analogue, from the microphone, mixer, effects and mastering. The digital elements of the signal chain were limited to a few effects units at the time. By the end of the decade, CDs had made an appearance in the consumer market. The CD claimed to have far better quality than records or cassettes and the claim is generally accepted as correct. (Some vinyl die hards maintained that CDs failed to capture some of the musical detail that a record would contain. It is certainly the case that a record would sound somewhat different to a CD) Studios had largely converted to digital by 1990 as well. The 24 track analogue recorder had been replaced by a more compact digital tape format. Computers had made an appearance by this time: Effects units had become software based, digital mixers were becoming popular and hard disks were seen as viable storage media as an alternative to tape. With the move to digital production, the signal chain from the mixer to CD was almost completely in the digital domain and analogue equipment was being removed from the studios. One of the great benefits of the move to digital was the reduction of noise in recordings. A record from 1980 would normally contain an amount of hiss generated by the tapes used in the recording. The digital production systems eliminated that noise and reduced distortion to levels that were too low to measure. The 80s also heralded digital music capture in the for of MIDI. MIDI was a consumer data format intended to drive keyboards. It was very quickly adopted by large scale production studios and transformed the electronic music world. The use of digital control of sound modules worked very well with digital audio capture. Together, they allowed new breeds to music styles to emerge. The development of digital music in the 80s paved the way for small and low cost studios. Most home based and project studios today are based loosely on the methods developed by the larger studios of the late 80s.

Answer 2

Perhaps the most important event in music history during the 1980's was MTV, or Music Television. MTV brought with it the music video which is the idea that you can have visuals to accompany songs. It was not a new concept, in fact the concept of music videos had been around for at least a couple of decades, but MTV is what made Music Videos more popular.

Answer 3

Usually Classics