Louis and Bebe Barron
Encyclopedia
Bebe Barron and Louis Barron (23 April 1920 – 1 November 1989) were two American
pioneers in the field of electronic music
. They are credited with writing the first electronic music for magnetic tape
, and the first entirely electronic film score
for the MGM
movie Forbidden Planet
(1956).
in 1947. She moved to New York, and worked as a researcher for Time-Life
and studied musical composition
. She studied music with Wallingford Riegger
and Henry Cowell
. She married Louis in 1947 and he nicknamed her Bebe. They lived in Greenwich Village. She died on April 20, 2008 in Los Angeles
.
and electrical gear. He studied music at the University of Chicago
. He died on 1 November 1989 in Los Angeles
.
. Louis' cousin, who was an executive at the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3M), gave the newlyweds their first tape recorder
as a wedding gift. Using their newly acquired equipment, the couple delved into the study of musique concrète
.
The first electronic music
for magnetic tape
composed in America was completed by Louis and Bebe in 1950 and was titled Heavenly Menagerie. Electronic music
composition and production were one and the same, and were slow and laborious. Tape had to be physically cut and pasted together to edit finished sounds and compositions.
Norbert Wiener
from MIT played an important role in the development of the Barrons' composition. The science of cybernetics
proposes that certain natural laws of behavior apply to both animals and more complex electronic machines.
By following the equations presented in the book, Louis was able to build electronic circuit
s which he manipulated to generate sounds. Most of the tonalities were generated with a circuit called a ring modulator. The sounds and patterns that came out of the circuits were unique and unpredictable because they were actually overloading the circuits until they burned out to create the sounds. The Barrons could never recreate the same sounds again, though they later tried very hard to recreate their signature sound from Forbidden Planet. Because of the unforeseen life span of the circuitry, the Barrons made a habit of recording everything.
Most of the production was not scripted or notated in any way. The Barrons didn't even consider the process as music composition themselves. The circuit generated sound was not treated as note
s, but instead as 'actors'. In future soundtrack composition, each circuit would be manipulated according to actions of the underlying character in the film.
After recording the sounds, the couple manipulated the material by adding effects, such as reverb and tape delay
. They also reversed and changed the speed of certain sounds. The mixdown
of multiple sounds was performed with at least three tape recorders. The outputs of two machines would be manually synchronized, and fed into an input of a third one, recording two separate sources simultaneously. The synchronization of future film work was accomplished by two 16 mm projectors
that were tied into a 16 mm tape recorder, and thus ran at the same speed.
While Louis spent most of his time building the circuits and was responsible for all of the recording, Bebe did the composing. She had to sort through many hours of tape. She described it, "it just sounded like dirty noise". Over time, she developed the ability to determine which sounds could become something of interest. They may also have invented the tape loop. The tape loop gave the Barrons' sounds rhythm. They mixed the sounds to create the otherworldly and strange electronic soundscape
s required by Forbidden Planet.
at 9 West 8th Street in Greenwich Village
that catered to the avant-garde
scene. This may have been the very first electronic music studio in America. At the studio, the Barrons used a tape recorder to record everything and everyone. They recorded Henry Miller
, Tennessee Williams
, and Aldous Huxley
reading their work in a form of early audio book
. In June 1949, Anaïs Nin
recorded a full version of House of Incest
and four other stories from Under a Glass Bell
. These recordings were pressed on red vinyl
and released on the Barrons' Contemporary Classics record label
under the Sound Portraits series.
For a short time, the Barrons held a monopoly on tape recording equipment. The only other competition in town were the studios owned by Raymond Scott
and Eric Siday
. The connection through Louis' cousin working at 3M proved to be vital in obtaining batches of early magnetic tape
. Due to the lack of competition in the field, and to the surprise of the owners, the recording business was a success.
Aside from the tape recorders, most of the equipment in the studio was completely built by Louis. One of the home made pieces included a monstrous speaker
which could produce very heavy bass. Electronic oscillator
s that produced sawtooth
, sine
, and square wave
s, were also a home built prize possession. They had a filter
, a spring reverberator
, and several tape recorder
s. The thriving business brought in the income to purchase some commercial equipment. The Stancil-Hoffmann reel to reel
was custom built by the inventor for looping the samples and changing their speed.
The Barrons' music was noticed by the avant-garde
scene. During 1952-53 the studio was used by John Cage
for his very first tape work Williams Mix. The Barrons were hired by Cage to be the engineers. They recorded over 600 different sounds, and arranged them with Cage's directions in various ways by splicing the tape together. The four and a half minute piece took over a year to finish. Cage also worked in the Barrons' studio on his Music for Magnetic Tape with other notable composers, including Morton Feldman
, Earle Brown
, and David Tudor
. It was Cage who first encouraged the Barrons to consider their creations "music".
scene did not reap many financial rewards. They turned to Hollywood, which had already been using electronic instruments such as the theremin
in film soundtracks for several years.
In the early 50s, the Barrons collaborated with various celebrated filmmakers to provide music and sound effects for art film
s and experimental cinema. The Barrons scored three of Ian Hugo
's short experimental films based on the writings of his wife Anaïs Nin. The most notable of these three films were Bells of Atlantis (1952) and Jazz of Lights (1954). The Barrons assisted Maya Deren
in the audio production of the soundtrack
for The Very Eye of Night (1959), which featured music by Teiji Ito
. Bridges-Go-Round (1958) by Shirley Clarke
featured two alternative soundtracks, one by the Barrons and one by jazz musician Teo Macero
. The film's two versions showed the same four-minute film of New York City
bridges. Showing the two versions back-to-back showed how different soundtracks affected the viewer's perception of the film.
In 1956 the Barrons composed the very first electronic score for a commercial film – Forbidden Planet
, released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
.
) is today recognized as the first entirely electronic score for a film. Eerie and sinister, the soundtrack was unlike anything that audiences had heard before. Music historians have often noted how groundbreaking the soundtrack was in the development of electronic music
.
On the album sleeve notes of the Forbidden Planet soundtrack, Louis and Bebe explain:
The producers of the film had originally wanted to hire Harry Partch
to do the music score. The Barrons were brought in to do only about twenty minutes of sound effect
s. After the producers heard the initial sample score, the Barrons were assigned an hour and ten minutes of the rest of the film. The studio wanted to move the couple to Hollywood where most of the film scores were produced at the time. But the couple would not budge, and took the work back to their New York studio.
The music and the sound effects stunned the audience. During the preview of the movie when the sounds of the spaceship landing on Altair IV filled the theater, the audience broke out in spontaneous applause.
Later, the Barrons turned over their stunning audio creation to GNP Crescendo records for distribution. GNP had previously demonstrated its expertise in producing and marketing science fiction film soundtracks and executive album producer Neil Norman had proclaimed the film (and the soundtrack) his favorites.
Not everyone was happy with the score. Louis and Bebe did not belong to the Musicians' Union
. The original screen credit for the film, which was supposed to read "Electronic Music by Louis and Bebe Barron", was changed at the last moment by a contract lawyer from the American Federation of Musicians
. In order to not upset the union, the association with the word music had to be removed. The Barrons were credited with "Electronic Tonalities". Because of their non-membership in the union, the film was not considered for an Oscar
in the soundtrack, or special effects category.
The Musicians Union forced MGM to title the Forbidden Planet score "electronic tonalities", not "music". And seeing the handwriting on the wall, used that excuse to deny them membership in the 1950s; the union's primary concern was losing jobs for performers rather than the medium itself. As a result, the Barrons never scored another film for Hollywood. As the years passed, the Barrons did not continue to keep up with technology, and were perfectly content to make their music in the way they always had. Interestingly though, modern digital technology is now imitating the rich sounds of those old analog circuits. Bebe's last work was Mixed Emotions in 2000, from raw material collected at the University of California, Santa Barbara studio. It sounds remarkably like the Barrons trademark classic material.
In 1962, the Barrons moved to Los Angeles
. Although they divorced in 1970, they continued to compose together until the death of Louis in 1989. Bebe Barron was the first Secretary of the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States
from 1985 to 1987.
In 2000, she was invited to create a new work at University of California, Santa Barbara
, using the latest in sound generating technology to collect sounds there. From October through early November 2000, she did all the actual composing in Jane Brockman's Santa Monica studio with Brockman serving as recording engineer. The sounds collected at UCSB were imported into Digital Performer on the Mac and organized to create Bebe's final work, Mixed Emotions.
Bebe Barron remarried in 1975, Louis died in 1989, and Bebe died April 20, 2008.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
pioneers in the field of electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
. They are credited with writing the first electronic music for magnetic tape
Magnetic tape
Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic recording, made of a thin magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic. It was developed in Germany, based on magnetic wire recording. Devices that record and play back audio and video using magnetic tape are tape recorders and video tape recorders...
, and the first entirely electronic film score
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
for the MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
movie Forbidden Planet
Forbidden Planet
Forbidden Planet is a 1956 science fiction film directed by Fred M. Wilcox, with a screenplay by Cyril Hume. It stars Leslie Nielsen, Walter Pidgeon, and Anne Francis. The characters and its setting have been compared to those in William Shakespeare's The Tempest, and its plot contains certain...
(1956).
Bebe Barron
She was born as Charlotte May Wind in Minneapolis on June 16, 1925, the only child of Ruth and Frank Wind. She earned her music degree at the University of MinnesotaUniversity of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
in 1947. She moved to New York, and worked as a researcher for Time-Life
Time-Life
Time–Life is a creator and direct marketer of books, music, video/DVD, and multimedia products. Its products are sold throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia through television, print, retail, the Internet, telemarketing, and direct sales....
and studied musical composition
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
. She studied music with Wallingford Riegger
Wallingford Riegger
Wallingford Constantine Riegger was a prolific American music composer, well known for orchestral and modern dance music, and film scores...
and Henry Cowell
Henry Cowell
Henry Cowell was an American composer, music theorist, pianist, teacher, publisher, and impresario. His contribution to the world of music was summed up by Virgil Thomson, writing in the early 1950s:...
. She married Louis in 1947 and he nicknamed her Bebe. They lived in Greenwich Village. She died on April 20, 2008 in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
Louis Barron
He was born on 23 April 1920 in Minneapolis. As a young man, Louis had an affinity for working with a soldering gunSoldering gun
A soldering gun is a tool for soldering metals using tin-based solder to achieve a highly conductive contact. The tool uses a pistol shape, and has a trigger style switch so it can be easily operated with one hand. The body of the tool contains a transformer with a single-turn secondary element...
and electrical gear. He studied music at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
. He died on 1 November 1989 in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
Early works
The couple married in 1947 and moved to New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Louis' cousin, who was an executive at the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3M), gave the newlyweds their first tape recorder
Tape recorder
An audio tape recorder, tape deck, reel-to-reel tape deck, cassette deck or tape machine is an audio storage device that records and plays back sounds, including articulated voices, usually using magnetic tape, either wound on a reel or in a cassette, for storage...
as a wedding gift. Using their newly acquired equipment, the couple delved into the study of musique concrète
Musique concrète
Musique concrète is a form of electroacoustic music that utilises acousmatic sound as a compositional resource. The compositional material is not restricted to the inclusion of sounds derived from musical instruments or voices, nor to elements traditionally thought of as "musical"...
.
The first electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
for magnetic tape
Magnetic tape
Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic recording, made of a thin magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic. It was developed in Germany, based on magnetic wire recording. Devices that record and play back audio and video using magnetic tape are tape recorders and video tape recorders...
composed in America was completed by Louis and Bebe in 1950 and was titled Heavenly Menagerie. Electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
composition and production were one and the same, and were slow and laborious. Tape had to be physically cut and pasted together to edit finished sounds and compositions.
Method
The 1948 book Cybernetics: Or, Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, by mathematicianMathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
Norbert Wiener
Norbert Wiener
Norbert Wiener was an American mathematician.A famous child prodigy, Wiener later became an early researcher in stochastic and noise processes, contributing work relevant to electronic engineering, electronic communication, and control systems.Wiener is regarded as the originator of cybernetics, a...
from MIT played an important role in the development of the Barrons' composition. The science of cybernetics
Cybernetics
Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems. Cybernetics is closely related to information theory, control theory and systems theory, at least in its first-order form...
proposes that certain natural laws of behavior apply to both animals and more complex electronic machines.
By following the equations presented in the book, Louis was able to build electronic circuit
Electronic circuit
An electronic circuit is composed of individual electronic components, such as resistors, transistors, capacitors, inductors and diodes, connected by conductive wires or traces through which electric current can flow...
s which he manipulated to generate sounds. Most of the tonalities were generated with a circuit called a ring modulator. The sounds and patterns that came out of the circuits were unique and unpredictable because they were actually overloading the circuits until they burned out to create the sounds. The Barrons could never recreate the same sounds again, though they later tried very hard to recreate their signature sound from Forbidden Planet. Because of the unforeseen life span of the circuitry, the Barrons made a habit of recording everything.
Most of the production was not scripted or notated in any way. The Barrons didn't even consider the process as music composition themselves. The circuit generated sound was not treated as note
Note
In music, the term note has two primary meanings:#A sign used in musical notation to represent the relative duration and pitch of a sound;#A pitched sound itself....
s, but instead as 'actors'. In future soundtrack composition, each circuit would be manipulated according to actions of the underlying character in the film.
After recording the sounds, the couple manipulated the material by adding effects, such as reverb and tape delay
Delay (audio effect)
Delay is an audio effect which records an input signal to an audio storage medium, and then plays it back after a period of time. The delayed signal may either be played back multiple times, or played back into the recording again, to create the sound of a repeating, decaying echo.-Early delay...
. They also reversed and changed the speed of certain sounds. The mixdown
Audio mixing (recorded music)
In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
of multiple sounds was performed with at least three tape recorders. The outputs of two machines would be manually synchronized, and fed into an input of a third one, recording two separate sources simultaneously. The synchronization of future film work was accomplished by two 16 mm projectors
Movie projector
A movie projector is an opto-mechanical device for displaying moving pictures by projecting them on a projection screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illumination and sound devices, are present in movie cameras.-Physiology:...
that were tied into a 16 mm tape recorder, and thus ran at the same speed.
While Louis spent most of his time building the circuits and was responsible for all of the recording, Bebe did the composing. She had to sort through many hours of tape. She described it, "it just sounded like dirty noise". Over time, she developed the ability to determine which sounds could become something of interest. They may also have invented the tape loop. The tape loop gave the Barrons' sounds rhythm. They mixed the sounds to create the otherworldly and strange electronic soundscape
Soundscape
A soundscape is a sound or combination of sounds that forms or arises from an immersive environment. The study of soundscape is the subject of acoustic ecology...
s required by Forbidden Planet.
Recording studio
Soon after relocation to New York, the Barrons opened a recording studioRecording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
at 9 West 8th Street in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
that catered to the avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
scene. This may have been the very first electronic music studio in America. At the studio, the Barrons used a tape recorder to record everything and everyone. They recorded Henry Miller
Henry Miller
Henry Valentine Miller was an American novelist and painter. He was known for breaking with existing literary forms and developing a new sort of 'novel' that is a mixture of novel, autobiography, social criticism, philosophical reflection, surrealist free association, and mysticism, one that is...
, Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
, and Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel...
reading their work in a form of early audio book
Audio book
An audiobook or audio book is a recording of a text being read. It is not necessarily an exact audio version of a book or magazine.Spoken audio has been available in schools and public libraries and to a lesser extent in music shops since the 1930s. Many spoken word albums were made prior to the...
. In June 1949, Anaïs Nin
Anaïs Nin
Anaïs Nin was a French-Cuban author, based at first in France and later in the United States, who published her journals, which span more than 60 years, beginning when she was 11 years old and ending shortly before her death, her erotic literature, and short stories...
recorded a full version of House of Incest
House of Incest
House of Incest is a slim volume of 72 pages written by Anaïs Nin. Originally published in 1936, it is Anaïs Nin's first work of fiction. But unlike her diaries and erotica, House of Incest does not detail the author's relationships with famous lovers like Henry Miller, nor does it contain graphic...
and four other stories from Under a Glass Bell
Under a Glass Bell
Under a Glass Bell, originally published in 1944, was the first book by Anaïs Nin to gain attention from the literary establishment. It was published by Nin's own printing press, which she named Gemor Press...
. These recordings were pressed on red vinyl
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
and released on the Barrons' Contemporary Classics record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
under the Sound Portraits series.
For a short time, the Barrons held a monopoly on tape recording equipment. The only other competition in town were the studios owned by Raymond Scott
Raymond Scott
Raymond Scott was an American composer, band leader, pianist, engineer, recording studio maverick, and electronic instrument inventor....
and Eric Siday
Eric Siday
Eric Siday was a composer and musician. While most commonly known for his pioneering work in electro-acoustic music, his early career was that of a hot-jazz violinist in the London dance bands in the Roaring ’20s, including Ray Starita's Piccadilly Revels...
. The connection through Louis' cousin working at 3M proved to be vital in obtaining batches of early magnetic tape
Magnetic tape
Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic recording, made of a thin magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic. It was developed in Germany, based on magnetic wire recording. Devices that record and play back audio and video using magnetic tape are tape recorders and video tape recorders...
. Due to the lack of competition in the field, and to the surprise of the owners, the recording business was a success.
Aside from the tape recorders, most of the equipment in the studio was completely built by Louis. One of the home made pieces included a monstrous speaker
Loudspeaker
A loudspeaker is an electroacoustic transducer that produces sound in response to an electrical audio signal input. Non-electrical loudspeakers were developed as accessories to telephone systems, but electronic amplification by vacuum tube made loudspeakers more generally useful...
which could produce very heavy bass. Electronic oscillator
Electronic oscillator
An electronic oscillator is an electronic circuit that produces a repetitive electronic signal, often a sine wave or a square wave. They are widely used in innumerable electronic devices...
s that produced sawtooth
Sawtooth wave
The sawtooth wave is a kind of non-sinusoidal waveform. It is named a sawtooth based on its resemblance to the teeth on the blade of a saw....
, sine
Sine wave
The sine wave or sinusoid is a mathematical function that describes a smooth repetitive oscillation. It occurs often in pure mathematics, as well as physics, signal processing, electrical engineering and many other fields...
, and square wave
Square wave
A square wave is a kind of non-sinusoidal waveform, most typically encountered in electronics and signal processing. An ideal square wave alternates regularly and instantaneously between two levels...
s, were also a home built prize possession. They had a filter
Audio filter
An audio filter is a frequency dependent amplifier circuit, working in the audio frequency range, 0 Hz to beyond 20 kHz. Many types of filters exist for applications including graphic equalizers, synthesizers, sound effects, CD players and virtual reality systems.Being a frequency dependent...
, a spring reverberator
Reverberation
Reverberation is the persistence of sound in a particular space after the original sound is removed. A reverberation, or reverb, is created when a sound is produced in an enclosed space causing a large number of echoes to build up and then slowly decay as the sound is absorbed by the walls and air...
, and several tape recorder
Tape recorder
An audio tape recorder, tape deck, reel-to-reel tape deck, cassette deck or tape machine is an audio storage device that records and plays back sounds, including articulated voices, usually using magnetic tape, either wound on a reel or in a cassette, for storage...
s. The thriving business brought in the income to purchase some commercial equipment. The Stancil-Hoffmann reel to reel
Reel to Reel
* For the audio technology, see "Reel-to-reel audio tape recording"Reel to Reel is the debut album by Grand Puba. It was Puba's first solo venture, following group projects with the likes of the short lived group Masters of Ceremony and Brand Nubian. Both of the group’s albums were critically...
was custom built by the inventor for looping the samples and changing their speed.
The Barrons' music was noticed by the avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
scene. During 1952-53 the studio was used by John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
for his very first tape work Williams Mix. The Barrons were hired by Cage to be the engineers. They recorded over 600 different sounds, and arranged them with Cage's directions in various ways by splicing the tape together. The four and a half minute piece took over a year to finish. Cage also worked in the Barrons' studio on his Music for Magnetic Tape with other notable composers, including Morton Feldman
Morton Feldman
Morton Feldman was an American composer, born in New York City.A major figure in 20th century music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School of composers also including John Cage, Christian Wolff, and Earle Brown...
, Earle Brown
Earle Brown
Earle Brown was an American composer who established his own formal and notational systems...
, and David Tudor
David Tudor
David Eugene Tudor was an American pianist and composer of experimental music.- Biography :Tudor was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He studied piano with Irma Wolpe and composition with Stefan Wolpe and became known as one of the leading performers of avant garde piano music. He gave the...
. It was Cage who first encouraged the Barrons to consider their creations "music".
Film works
The Barrons quickly learned that the avant-gardeAvant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
scene did not reap many financial rewards. They turned to Hollywood, which had already been using electronic instruments such as the theremin
Theremin
The theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...
in film soundtracks for several years.
In the early 50s, the Barrons collaborated with various celebrated filmmakers to provide music and sound effects for art film
Art film
An art film is the result of filmmaking which is typically a serious, independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience...
s and experimental cinema. The Barrons scored three of Ian Hugo
Hugh Parker Guiler
Hugh Parker Guiler also known as Ian Hugo was Anaïs Nin's husband from 1923 until her death in 1977, and a skilled engraver and filmmaker in his own right.-Biography:...
's short experimental films based on the writings of his wife Anaïs Nin. The most notable of these three films were Bells of Atlantis (1952) and Jazz of Lights (1954). The Barrons assisted Maya Deren
Maya Deren
Maya Deren , born Eleanora Derenkowsky, was an American avant-garde filmmaker and film theorist of the 1940s and 1950s...
in the audio production of the soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
for The Very Eye of Night (1959), which featured music by Teiji Ito
Teiji Ito
was a Japanese composer and performer. He is best known for his scores for the avant-garde films by Maya Deren.Ito was born in Tokyo, Japan into a theatrical family. His father, Yuji Itō, was a composer and costume designer, and his mother, Teiko Ono, was a dancer who worked in both traditional...
. Bridges-Go-Round (1958) by Shirley Clarke
Shirley Clarke
Shirley Clarke was an American independent filmmaker.-Early life:Born Shirley Brimberg in New York City, Shirley Clarke was the daughter of a Polish-immigrant father who made his fortune in manufacturing. Her mother was the daughter of a multimillionaire Jewish manufacturer and inventor. Her...
featured two alternative soundtracks, one by the Barrons and one by jazz musician Teo Macero
Teo Macero
Teo Macero , born Attilio Joseph Macero, was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and record producer...
. The film's two versions showed the same four-minute film of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
bridges. Showing the two versions back-to-back showed how different soundtracks affected the viewer's perception of the film.
In 1956 the Barrons composed the very first electronic score for a commercial film – Forbidden Planet
Forbidden Planet
Forbidden Planet is a 1956 science fiction film directed by Fred M. Wilcox, with a screenplay by Cyril Hume. It stars Leslie Nielsen, Walter Pidgeon, and Anne Francis. The characters and its setting have been compared to those in William Shakespeare's The Tempest, and its plot contains certain...
, released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
.
Forbidden Planet
The soundtrack for Forbidden Planet (19561956 in film
The year 1956 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 5 - The Ten Commandments opens in cinemas and becomes one of the most successful and popular movies of all time, currently ranking 5th on the list of all time moneymakers * February 5 - First showing of documentary films by...
) is today recognized as the first entirely electronic score for a film. Eerie and sinister, the soundtrack was unlike anything that audiences had heard before. Music historians have often noted how groundbreaking the soundtrack was in the development of electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
.
On the album sleeve notes of the Forbidden Planet soundtrack, Louis and Bebe explain:
We design and construct electronic circuits which function electronically in a manner remarkably similar to the way that lower life-forms function psychologically. [. . .]. In scoring Forbidden Planet – as in all of our work – we created individual cybernetics circuits for particular themes and leit motifs, rather than using standard sound generators. Actually, each circuit has a characteristic activity pattern as well as a "voice". [. . .]. We were delighted to hear people tell us that the tonalities in Forbidden Planet remind them of what their dreams sound like.
The producers of the film had originally wanted to hire Harry Partch
Harry Partch
Harry Partch was an American composer and instrument creator. He was one of the first twentieth-century composers to work extensively and systematically with microtonal scales, writing much of his music for custom-made instruments that he built himself, tuned in 11-limit just intonation.-Early...
to do the music score. The Barrons were brought in to do only about twenty minutes of sound effect
Sound effect
For the album by The Jam, see Sound Affects.Sound effects or audio effects are artificially created or enhanced sounds, or sound processes used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media...
s. After the producers heard the initial sample score, the Barrons were assigned an hour and ten minutes of the rest of the film. The studio wanted to move the couple to Hollywood where most of the film scores were produced at the time. But the couple would not budge, and took the work back to their New York studio.
The music and the sound effects stunned the audience. During the preview of the movie when the sounds of the spaceship landing on Altair IV filled the theater, the audience broke out in spontaneous applause.
Later, the Barrons turned over their stunning audio creation to GNP Crescendo records for distribution. GNP had previously demonstrated its expertise in producing and marketing science fiction film soundtracks and executive album producer Neil Norman had proclaimed the film (and the soundtrack) his favorites.
Not everyone was happy with the score. Louis and Bebe did not belong to the Musicians' Union
Musicians' Union
Organizations calling themselves the Musicians' Union include:*Musicians' Union *Musicians' Union *Several locals of the American Federation of Musicians, e.g. Musicians' Union Local No. 6 San Francisco*Musicians Union of South Africa...
. The original screen credit for the film, which was supposed to read "Electronic Music by Louis and Bebe Barron", was changed at the last moment by a contract lawyer from the American Federation of Musicians
American Federation of Musicians
The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada is a labor union of professional musicians in the United States and Canada...
. In order to not upset the union, the association with the word music had to be removed. The Barrons were credited with "Electronic Tonalities". Because of their non-membership in the union, the film was not considered for an Oscar
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
in the soundtrack, or special effects category.
Later works
The full impact of the Barrons' contribution can only be realized when one understands that they did not even know what to call their creations. It was John Cage, working with the Barrons in their studio for his earliest electronic work, who convinced them that it was "music".The Musicians Union forced MGM to title the Forbidden Planet score "electronic tonalities", not "music". And seeing the handwriting on the wall, used that excuse to deny them membership in the 1950s; the union's primary concern was losing jobs for performers rather than the medium itself. As a result, the Barrons never scored another film for Hollywood. As the years passed, the Barrons did not continue to keep up with technology, and were perfectly content to make their music in the way they always had. Interestingly though, modern digital technology is now imitating the rich sounds of those old analog circuits. Bebe's last work was Mixed Emotions in 2000, from raw material collected at the University of California, Santa Barbara studio. It sounds remarkably like the Barrons trademark classic material.
In 1962, the Barrons moved to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. Although they divorced in 1970, they continued to compose together until the death of Louis in 1989. Bebe Barron was the first Secretary of the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
from 1985 to 1987.
In 2000, she was invited to create a new work at University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
, using the latest in sound generating technology to collect sounds there. From October through early November 2000, she did all the actual composing in Jane Brockman's Santa Monica studio with Brockman serving as recording engineer. The sounds collected at UCSB were imported into Digital Performer on the Mac and organized to create Bebe's final work, Mixed Emotions.
Bebe Barron remarried in 1975, Louis died in 1989, and Bebe died April 20, 2008.
Quotations
- "[Barrons' music sounds like] a molecule that has stubbed its toes." — From the Diary of Anais Nin, Volume 7 (1966-1974).
Works
- Heavenly Menagerie (1951-52) Tape
- Bells of Atlantis (1952) Film score
- For an Electronic Nervous System (1954) Tape
- Miramagic (1954) Film score
- Forbidden Planet (1956) Videotape; Laserdisc MGM/UA Home Video, 1991; 2-DVD Warner edition, 2006
- Jazz of Lights (1956) Film score
- Bridges-Go-Round (1958) one of two alternative soundtracks, the other composed by Teo MaceroTeo MaceroTeo Macero , born Attilio Joseph Macero, was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and record producer...
- Crystal Growing (1959) Film score
- Music of Tomorrow (1960) Tape
- The Computer Age (1968) Film score
- Time Machine (1970) on Music from the Soundtrack of 'Destination Moon' and Other Themes, Cinema Records LP-8005
- Space Boy (1971) Tape; revised and used for film of same name, 1973
- More Than Human (1974) Film score
- Cannabis (1975) Film score
- The Circe Circuit (1982) Tape
- Elegy for a Dying Planet (1982) Tape
- New Age Synthesis II on Totally Wired (1986) Pennsylvania Public Radio Associates Cassette Series
- What's the Big Hurry? (date unknown) http://www.archive.org/details/WhatsTheBigH from Sid Davis Productions
- Mixed Emotions by Bebe Barron (2000) CD
Further reading
- Barron, Louis and Bebe. Forbidden Planet soundtrack LP. Small Planet Records (1956). Album sleeve notes.
- Holmes, Thom (2002). Electronic and Experimental Music (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-93644-6
- Stone, Susan. The Barrons: Forgotten Pioneers of Electronic Music. Text and Audio Broadcast. NPRNPRNPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
, Morning Edition, February 7, 2005. - Brockman, Jane, The First Electronic Filmscore—Forbidden Planet: A Conversation with Bebe Barron, "The Score" published by the Society of Composers & Lyricists, Vol. VII, No.3, Fall/Winter 1992 (ISSN1066-5447).
- Wierzbicki, James (2005). Louis and Bebe Barron's Forbidden Planet: A Film Score Guide. The Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-5670-0
- Zvonar, Richard, Strange Cues from the ID, e/i Magazine, Issue 3, http://www.ei-mag.com, pp. 18-23, 2004?
External links
- The Wire'sThe Wire (magazine)The Wire is a British avant garde music magazine, founded in 1982 by jazz promoter Anthony Wood and journalist Chrissie Murray. The magazine initially concentrated on contemporary jazz and improvised music, but branched out in the early 1990s to various types of experimental music...
100 Records That Set The World On Fire (When No One Was Listening) - "Bebe Barron, Scored the Science Fiction Film Forbidden Planet"- AllAboutJazz.com - Posted: 2008-04-28
- The First Electronic Filmscore--Forbidden Planet: A Conversation with Bebe Barron (1925-2008), by Jane Brockman, 1992