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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Johann Johannsson - The Sun’s Gone Dim And The Sky’s Turned Black (IBM 1401, A User’s Manual)
“In 1964, a computer – the IBM 1401 Data Processing System – arrived in Iceland, one of the very first computers to be imported into the country. The 1401 has been called the “Model T” of the computer industry – the first affordable, mass produced digital business computer . The chief maintenance engineer for this machine was Jóhann Gunnarsson, my father. A keen musician, he learned of an obscure method of making music on this computer – a purpose for which this business machine was not at all designed. The method was simple. The computer’s memory emitted strong electromagnetic waves and by programming the memory in a certain way and by placing a radio receiver next to it, melodies could be coaxed out – captured by the receiver as a delicate, melancholy sine-wave tone.
When the IBM 1401 was taken out of service in 1971, it wasn’t simply thrown away like an old refrigerator, but was given a little farewell ceremony, almost a funeral, when its melodies were played for one last time. This “performance” was documented on tape along with recordings of the sound of the machine in operation. When my father told me about this in the year 2001, I felt that, besides being a nice, touching story, it reflected many things that I was interested in. Man-machine interaction, old, discarded technology, the nostalgia for old computers, human and artificial intelligence, technological progress and human evolution, the “spirit” and the machine. I started to write music using those themes, basing it on those 30 year old recordings of the IBM 1401 computer.”
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Super Meat Boy Soundtrack - Forest Funk (Ch 1 Light World) by dB soundworks
Now available via a name-your-price method in all sorts of formats. From the The Game, FYI.
Link: Free Sampler of "The Social Network" Soundtrack
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails scores the soundtrack to David Fincher’s upcoming Facebook origin-story film, The Social Network. He’s offering a free five-track sampler, encoded in high-quality 320kbps MP3s.
It’s good. I like “We March On.”
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Moving On (The End) by Michael Giacchino, from Lost: The Final Season Soundtrack (7:55)
The sixth season’s soundtrack just came out today. Here’s the ending theme from the series finale.
Link: The Loudness Wars: Why Music Sounds Worse
Most have heard the term “loudness war,” but it’s really fascinating to actually read about the details about how audio works, how dynamic range is good and how sometimes convenience and technology might not always be a great match.
And if the article is a little “too long, didn’t read” for you, then this video is also a great, short alternative regarding the issue.
