Real OG Electronic Music

So for years I’ve given a ton of credit to acts like Tangerine Dream, Brian Eno and Cerrone for being “founding fathers” (so to speak) of electronic music.  And although each of these individuals/acts have undoubtedly had an immeasurable impact on electronic music, I just discovered Bebe and Louis Barron, who have almost certainly influenced each of the above mentioned performers.

This couple/duo (they were married until 1970, although they continued to compose together until Louis’s death in 1989) began producing tape-based electronic music as early as 1951/52 in their (now lost) “Heavenly Menagerie” recording.  Based on what I can tell, their biggest work was probably the score for Anais Nin’s 1956 film “Forbidden Planet”, which was the first ever electronic film score.

What I find particularly interesting about their work, beyond the fact that it took place in the 50’s, is that Louis actually built their circuits using the 1948 book “Cybernetics: Or, Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine”, by mathematician Norbert Wiener from MIT.  The circuit created sounds and patterns that were relatively un-recreatable and the lifespan of the circuits in the machines themselves was apparently pretty unpredictable and very finite, so they more or less recorded everything.  Once they had some recordings together, Bebe would add effects (mostly reverb and tape delay) and - get this - she would actually cut and paste bits of tape (on which their sounds were recorded) together to create the desired sound and to that end, Bebe Barron is credited with being the first person to use “tape loops” to create rhythmic elements in the Barron’s “music” (they didn’t really call it music… see the video interview below…).

If you’d like more information, particularly on Bebe Barron, check out Pete Grenader’s “Matrixsynth” Blog.  Pete Granader has a bunch of cool info on modular/analog synths (if only I had about $20k to spend…) in addition to some really great ambient music.  Check it out and next time someone tries to impress you with their knowledge of electronic music history, see if they know who Bebe and Louis Barron are… you might just show them up…

By the way, I just got the inkling to YouTube Bebe Barron and found this interview… very interesting!