Question

1-What technological innovations changed the way music was produced and recorded in the early 1960s? Include in your answer how producers influenced the music?

Answer 1

• Technological advancements have given rise to musical technologies that are not only changing the way music is being created, but how it is being enjoyed. The performances we hear are all an outcome of music technology. Technological experts have been creating new ways for musicians to create music, and new ways for people to listen to it.
• The ability to record and distribute music was a huge step in the advancement of music. It allowed the public to listen to music whenever they wanted to and even record their own music with ease. Most of the music we listen to on a daily basis today has been recorded. Without it, we would have to hear it live or not even hear it at all.
  
• In the 1960's, people in America were fond for change and new gadgets. The 60's were the years that had some of the most significant changes in history. Some of them being:
• 2, 4, and 8 track recorders
• Audio cassettes
• Noise Reduction Systems
• Record Players
• Prerecorded tapes
• Compact Discs
• In 1962, Henry Kloss developed the KLH Model 11 Portable stereo. It had a record player, amplifier, and two speakers which all folded into a "suitcase" for transportation. It ran on A/C power but was a large step in the development of portable music players.
• The cassette tape came in 1964 by Phillips (Norelco).It was created in order to have a easier, more compact way to record then the reel-to-reel tapes.
• The Compact Cassette was a revolutionary technology that started the path to the recording technology we have today. It was a product that everyone wanted and changed how people listen to music.
• The four track and eight track cartridges coexisted on the market for a long time in the 60's. The four track had a head start over the eight track by being developed in 1956 but being dormant until the 60's. The eight track then took the basic four track technology and refined it, making it the more popular format for consumers to buy for portable music.
• However, the four track did become popular as a car accessory. Ernie Muntz, a west-coast used car dealer added the four track tape cartridge system to his used cars to boost his sales. This caught on and Ford Motors added eight track tape players as an option in their line of 1966 model cars. The home player version was not introduced for another year.
• The main problem that consumers wanted fixed was the quality of their music players. The only downfall with the cassettes was that they had very poor quality compared to the larger playback devices. People had what they wanted with the small sizes of the cassettes, but the sound quality was inferior. That led to engineers competing to come up with a method to increase the sound quality of cassette tapes.
• The engineer to do this was Ray Dolby. In 1965, he developed a hiss-reduction technology called Dolby noise reduction. The first commercially successful one was Dolby A. It was made only for professional recording studios and gained widespread acceptance. It was able to provide 10 dB of noise reduction. This was a big step for the quality of music.
• By the 1960s,FM radio was in full swing, all while record players became household items and record sales built a new source of revenue for artists and producers. At this point in music production, tracks were mixed during live performances in specialized recording studios. This is also when major record labels began dominating the music industry. Record labels would support many artists, in the hopes that a few of them would become lucrative superstars. Together the artists and labels would produce and advertise records, get them onto radio, and plan live performances.