First Daphne, now Fred, another name to add to the roster of revived sonic revolutionaries from ye olde England of Amateur Tape Recording magazine and fanatical dedication to tinkering with sound, as well as actually inventing such things as the Oramics machine and in Fred's case, the Chromasonics system. Its this dedication to boffinry that cracked the Enigma code, you know. Fred was a radar engineer during the war; the sonic bleeps might have inspired his interest in sound.
In the studio: ring modulators, tape recorders, mixers, filter circuits, a keyboard, which Fred assures us 'will play tunes', but he's not some old square who's going to practise anything like a tune on it - oh no! Fred uses it for 'making sounds' - yes, that's how advanced he was - sounds like those on 'Mysterioso', which as you can guess from the title, perfectly fits the bill as far as the modern love of Haunting Music goes. Along with that we have 'Spooks', 'Ghosts' and 'Maniac Laughter', all of which, thanks to Fred's treatments, are brief but wonderful improvements on mere BBC sound effects tracks.
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| Fred & Daphne |
'Let's see what we can do with a loop and electric guitar' says Fred before the track, 'Broken Guitar'. He brilliantly deconstructs that most treasured instrument of teenage Pop - he's hipper than that, daddy-oh - so hip that he's making the future of electronic music. Witness 'Voltage Control 2', which wouldn't sound out of place on an Ekoplekz album.
The collection's littered with examples of the sound of things to come from the likes of The Focus Group, Jon Brooks and the rest of that crazy gang for whom early English eccentricities in electronic music are such a source of inspiration. 'Voix Angelique' is a particularly fine example. Brilliant work by
Public Information.
In New Zealand in the 1960's/70's my father BRH (Ben) Emmett corresponded with Fred Judd via the AMateur Tape REcording Magazine. BEn hand-made a Chromasonics machine (that looked like a square tv - though few people in NZ had TV those days). Dad used it on stage in concerts with his accordion band - the colors on the screen triggered by the tone/pitch of the music being played. I was in this band and remember this well - I even had the machne in storage for a few years after dad died in 1976, but sadly it is long gone. I have a photo of my father with the chromasonics machine that he would have sent to FRed Judd. Interestingly dad was East London born the same age as Fred Judd.
ReplyDeleteAlso dad (Ben Emmett) had some CASTLE RECORD Sound Effects 45’s from Fred Judd that dad used for various tape recording projects here in New Zealand in the 1970’s! I had these 45’s in storage for a while after my father died.
In New Zealand in the 1960's/70's my father BRH (Ben) Emmett corresponded with Fred Judd via the AMateur Tape REcording Magazine. BEn hand-made a Chromasonics machine (that looked like a square tv - though few people in NZ had TV those days). Dad used it on stage in concerts with his accordion band - the colors on the screen triggered by the tone/pitch of the music being played. I was in this band and remember this well - I even had the machne in storage for a few years after dad died in 1976, but sadly it is long gone. I have a photo of my father with the chromasonics machine that he would have sent to FRed Judd. Interestingly dad was East London born the same age as Fred Judd.
ReplyDeleteAlso dad (Ben Emmett) had some CASTLE RECORD Sound Effects 45’s from Fred Judd that dad used for various tape recording projects here in New Zealand in the 1970’s! I had these 45’s in storage for a while after my father died. - Joan Emmett Brown
That's a great story!
ReplyDelete