Fwd: Don Dorsey (was: Tomita Tribute Album)

To: Isao Tomita Mailing List <tomita at listbot.com>
Subject: Re: Don Dorsey (was:Re: Tomita Tribute Album)
From: ndkent <ndkent at optonline.net>
Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 08:22:44 -0400
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Isao Tomita Mailing List - http://listen.to/tomita/


> > The thing a lot of people forget is you really have to articulate and
> > tweak on a note by note basis, far more than just using velocity...
> > though a surprising number of interpreters don't even get that far.
> > While its possible to overcome the limitations of expressive lack on
> > polysynths and monosynths a lot of people don't even bother, the novelty
> > of doing it on a sequencer and hearing their patches seems satisfying
> > enough to the music maker but not to the listener. Thats always a trap.
> > A lot of electronic music gets made beacuse its satisfying to make to
> > the maker, a lot of the stuff that brings quick thrills and sounds neat
> > the first time has little staying power.
>
> That last sentence is an interesting train of thought, which I tend to agree
> with...

Its somewhat based on Brian Eno's writings.


>
> I have Don Dorsey's BachBusters CD and found that it had very little
> "staying power" for me as well. The music is has a very mechanical feel to it
> and is compounded by the fact that there is very little timbral variety in
> the sounds that he used throughout the recording. Compared to Tomita, there
> is a huge difference in listenability.
>
> One of the things about Don Dorsey's recordings was that he was on a record
> label known for their high quality recordings. The dynamic range and
> transient capability of the synths he used (DX7s?) offered a big "wow"
> factor. I know for a fact that his music was often used by high end stereo
> shops to show off their high dollar systems.
>
> Andrew Sanchez

They were on Teledec I think, Carlos' Switched on Bach 2000 was on that
label later.

Yes, in the mid 80s they were very well known for doing recordings with
big showy dynamic ranges.

Actually the first DX7 was only a 12 bit unit and you can hear it if
listened to closely, but yes that era and hat label were known for big
dynamic releases. Obvioulsy they didn't continue with Carlos as that
album was kind of "difficult" but contained valid and interesting experiments.

Obviously to me he next step in hi fi electronic music, though not
necessairily a good one, would be to do electronic pieces rendered
direct to digital files ;0


>
> > Its obviously Bermuda triangle, Daphnis/Bolero, Grand
> >Canyon, Dawn Chorus/Cannon that confound people (and the all synth
> >soundtracks).
>
> Strange that I own all of those except Bermuda Triangle, which met its
> death thanks to a two year old, a record player set to run at 78RPM and
> a very sharp-clawed cat named Suzy, set to run in every other direction
> :-( Thinking about it, all the CDs are rotting, so I'd better get 'em
> MP3'd sharpish anyway, before they go the same way as B. T.

I'm talking about CDs. No all CDs are not rotting, just some are, anyway
the new Snowflakes release seems to have been made for a 24 bit post CD
future. The CDs to the early ones are fairly easy to find all over the
world. As are used copies of the earlier ones as the sold more copies.

> To ask the obvious question, why do those works "obviously" confound
> people?
>
because they never had US CD releases and the ones with european CD
releases are long sold out. The US "Dolby Surround" series of the
earlier albums was made in huge quantities and sold for low prices. The
later ones "confound" people because they don't realize that up until
recently they were only out in Japan and rarely imported. Now I think
they are not available in japan on order (existing stocks in shops
only). Most of the online shops just order whatever you see listed. If
its no longer orderable, all the online shops won't have it.

> My next
> purchase willl be Snowflakes are Dancing and may buy that online if I don't
> find it here in town.

yes it was reissued this year in the U.S., remastered and low priced.
There was promotion for it in the U.S. though in classical markets, not electronica

> It's a matter of scale I suppose - he's not exactly in the public eye
> these days (was he ever "big" - I'm a bit too young to know!). The re-
> release of another "greatest hits" album might well sink without trace.

they did just that in England

> I was interested in Tomita's attitude, given his surprise that any of us
> still listen _and_ the fact he _isn't_ making money from it AFAIK.

I got the impression that he's extremely busy with composing his own
stuff, only partly using synths. While I don't know exactly what is
going on with his back catalog I do suppose you don't exactly dwell on
that sort of thing when your current projects are sucessful. Its like
artists who aren't doing much for whatever reason who this sort of thing
is overwelming to.

> If there was a mechanism where I could download "Planets" and he got the
> royalties, I'd be at the front of the queue
>

what irony! that was being set up, music.co.jp I think,using liquid
audio, but they went out of business. about 2 years ago. the trouble is
Japanese companies for all intents and purposes can't take credit cards
except in person, so it was a Japan only thing. His old collaborator,
Logic System had numerous tracks, but as soon as I worked out paying
with a friend, they were gone.

the trouble is more people say that than actually do, and the mechanisms
for affordable low cost transactions are still shakey. Like you can make
money on a $30 transaction but not a couple dollar one.

Anyway some of my friends, P-MODEL, who are one of the all time great
technopop groups and certainly the best still working, have their pay
MP3 album site up and available for overseas downloads and paymnent, so
I'll plug them.

http://netnavi.nikkeibp.co.jp/mp3/P-MODEL/e/

you can listen to excerpts and see a video to se if you like them first

nick


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